[Final Day For 25% Travel Bonus And Old Categories] Citi Premier® Card Will Lose 25% Travel Redemption Bonus And Will Change Up Bonus Categories

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Update, 4/9/21: Today is the last day for Citi Premier® Card grandfathered cardholders to take advantage of the 25% bonus on travel and bonus points on entertainment and non-airfare/hotel travel categories.


Update, 4/19/20: Citi has clarified that Citi Premier® Card will continue to earn 3 points per dollar for all purchases at (online and physical) travel agencies even after these changes!

Citi currently awards triple points on all travel agency purchases and it seems likely that all purchases from travel agencies will continue to earn triple points as many agencies don’t differentiate what exactly they are charging you for.

This can be seen in footnote 5 on this page:


Originally posted on 4/8/20:

Nobody loves tinkering with their credit card benefits more than Citi.

In 2018 they massively downgraded their Prestige card for a 2nd time.

Last year they got rid of most of their credit card benefits.

The Citi Premier® Card Card is now up for changes, but to their credit, Citi is giving a good amount of advance notice.

As of 4/10/21 you will no longer get a 25% bonus when you redeem points for travel. Previously you were able to receive a value of 1.25 cents per point on travel, but now you’ll be capped at just 1 cent per point. That’s very uncompetitive compared to Chase and their 25% increased points value for travel on Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card/Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card or 50% increased points value for travel on Sapphire Reserve.

Additionally on 4/10/21, current cardholders will lose triple points categories on travel besides for airfare and hotels. That means you won’t get triple points on categories like travel agencies, car rentals, cruises, public transportation, timeshares, boat rentals, taxis, tolls, trains, parking, Uber, Lyft, etc. New customers won’t get these categories if they apply after 8/22/20.

Finally on 4/10/21, current cardholders will lose double points on entertainment, such as sporting events, amusement parks, zoos, museums, tourist attractions, theater, concerts, movies, video rentals, internet steaming media, etc.

There is good news too though.

Starting on 8/23/20 the card will earn triple points on supermarkets and dining. And it will retain triple points on airfare, hotels, and gas.

And on 8/23/20, the card will also offer an once annual $100 credit for making a $500+ hotel booking through Citi.

These changes will also affect the Citi Trifecta as you can pool Citi ThankYou points together from cards like:

  • The Citi Double Cash® Card offers 2% cash back or 2 points per dollar spent everywhere that can be transferred into ThankYou points. If you also have a Citi Premier® Card Card you can transfer points into miles or get a 25% added value for paid airfare. No annual fee.
  • The Citi Rewards+® Card offering 15,000 points for spending $1,000 in 3 months. This card can’t transfer points on its own, but can transfer points if you have one of the Citi cards above. This card automatically rounds up rewards earned on every purchase to the nearest 10 points, meaning you earn 10 points on a $0.50 Amazon balance reload. Earn 2 points on $6K in annual spending at supermarkets, 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months, and a 10% points rebate when you redeem points, up to a 10K points rebate per year. If you also have a Citi Premier® Card Card you can transfer points into miles or get a 25% added value for paid airfare, plus get a 10% points rebate on transferred or redeemed miles. No annual fee.

If you have a killer combo like that, you’ll want to book travel by 4/9/21 in order to take advantage of the 25% Premier bonus before it goes away.

Then again, if you have a Citi Rewards+ you’ll still get a 10% points rebate on Premier redemptions, so you’ll still be able get more than 1 cent per point.

Will you keep your Citi Premier® Card after these changes?

HT: farmbochur, via DDF and Gary

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35 Comments On "[Final Day For 25% Travel Bonus And Old Categories] Citi Premier® Card Will Lose 25% Travel Redemption Bonus And Will Change Up Bonus Categories"

All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.

herb

“This card automatically rounds up rewards earned on every purchase to the nearest 10 points, meaning you earn 10 points on a $0.50 Amazon balance reload.” isn’t this dangerous to do for risk of being shutdown?

Naj

My Citi Rewards+ card was shutdown because they determined I was making low cost purchases to earn rewards points. It wasn’t due to $0.50 amazon balance reloads, though–I have a bill that I can pay in $0.01 increments with a cc and I made too many of those. In hindsight, it was pretty obvious that was engaging in perk abuse I just didn’t read the T&C closely to realize it was against policy. I lost about 5K CITI points but honestly I’ve been trying to get rid of these cards anyway because I don’t have much use for thankyou points. Be warned though, they do shut accounts

Cap

Perhaps this will be temporary for Citi considering no one is traveling?

Makes no sense to offer bonus cag’s on concerts and amusement parks for the rest of 2020.

I’m assuming the $100 credit for booking thru Citi’s portal will NOT have the accountholder’s hotel status benefits attached to reservation either?

I’m loving triple points on gas, groc, and dining though. I’m curious if Chase is will follow suit with Sapphire?

Thanks Dan

I like the

RenoRich

> Makes no sense to offer bonus cag’s on concerts and amusement parks for the rest of 2020.
Makes no sense *not* to offer bonus cag’s on concerts and amusement parks for the rest of 2020. What can it possibly cost Citi?

Lyla

Is there any talk about citi rebating any af from their cobranded a”advantage cards in the form of a statement credit since most benefits are useless now?

Mauro

Hi Lyla,

They are only offering a statement credit for the AA executive if you renew. They are offering $200 or $250.

HomeChef

If you call, can Citi book special rates, like conference rates or government rates?

Mauro

Hi HomeChef, no you are not allow to book AAA/AARP or GOV rates.

iahphx

This move seems boneheaded. I assume most of the people (including me) have this card for the very good travel/entertainment benefits. We’ve selected this card FOR THESE SPECIFIC BENEFITS. Indeed, I’ve recommended this card to many friends and family over the years who travel but want to keep things flexible and simple. You can usually get Citi to waive the annual fee by agreeing to put a modest amount of spend on the card. But now they’re going in an entire different direction, and all the reasons existing cardholders retain this card will be gone. Why not launch a different card with the new benefits and keep the Premier as a “travel card.” Weird.

ktc

do you still 5X for travel agencies with Prestige?

Mauro

Hi KTC,

Yes you do!:)

Confu

Good news for international grocery shopping…

David

Bad news! will try to use up my points and shut my account before 4/10/2021

David R

I have had this card since the travel redemption was $1.33 per 100 points. I’ve had enough. This card is nothing close to what it once was. Problem is, I am reluctant to use up my points to book travel because whatever travel I book is not going to be protected by the various travel protection features the card once had. Hopefully a worthwhile transfer opportunity to an airline or hotel will come along.

cbsfan1908@yahoo.com

I just got this card as my compromise to the Prestige which once my Premier intro bonus points post I will downgrade. Now these clown start up with another downgrade. I will shove it back at them and downgrade them to refund my fee once I milk the benefits. These guys deserve to be ponzied for millions of points with all this stealing and cheating they incessantly do.

cbsfan1908@yahoo.com

Will the $100 rebate be embedded in the upfront cost or a statement credit posting 6 weeks later?

Richard

My guess is that the $100 credit will be applied to the cost of your prepaid booking made on the Citi travel portal. Same as the 4th night free benefit with the Prestige.

sam

will i continue to get 3 points per dollar for paying local transit like train or bus?

Li Myles

Would be useful to see a revised analysis of competing Travel cards for example…Amex Green, Altitude Reserve, Saphire Reserve etc as many readers may wish to re-evaluate their strategy for cards to continue to hold and selection of each card for various types of spend, air, hotel, air b&b, cruise, rental car, Uber, local commuting, parking, etc as details matter

Shmooz

my premier is up for renewal, at this point i dont see keeping it except not sure what to do for the points not used yet. anyone getting a retention offer? they offered me nothing.

YF Deals

Not related but I tried applying for a Chase Business Ink and you can only apply if you sign in first, does it make sense that you can’t apply unless you have an account?

cbsfan1908@yahoo.com

Dan – but can’t we still transfer our Citi points to the same travel partners with a Citi Premier card and if so we should still be able to get 1.5%-2% redemption. I was under the impression that you usually advise transferring points to partners rather than redeeming for statement credits?

genius

Prestige cardholders will earn 5 points per dollar on $1,500 of purchases at online retailers and online grocery purchases through 8/31. Does this include amazon.com purchases? if yes any online purchse?

JS

I have the premier card and my wife as well both cards where opened around by the beginning of this year and we received a letter from Citi a few days ago that as of 6/2 we are receiving 3 points per dollar on grocery etc. that means not just the card holders who opened their card after 5/22 are receiving it nor probably all card holders are receiving the 3 points per dollar as of 6/2 earlier then originally posted that it will start on 8/23

united

1 day left to use premier card for categories that get bonus points. (like double points for entertainment…)

Also noticed that premier card is not allowing to create virtual card numbers with expiration past Aug. Used to be you can create them to be valid up to 12 months.

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