Citibank offers some great cards, but to be perfectly honest, their Thank You Points reward program is seriously lacking.
What’s the problem? We’re not expecting perfection, like the American Express Membership Rewards Program and the Chase Sapphire Preferred Points Program, where you can transfer points at a 1:1 ratio to major airline and hotel programs. But given that Citi is one of the largest banks in the world, you’d expect at the very least that there would be a wide range of redemption options where you can cash in at a rate of 100 points for $1 in rewards.
It’s very difficult to actually get rewards valued at 1 cent per 1 point redeemed in the program, as you can see in the following table:
| Reward Type | Redemption Options | Point Value |
|---|---|---|
| Cash | $50 = 8,000 points, $100 = 16,000 points. | 0.63 cents |
| Mortgage Repayment | $25 = 3,300 points. $1000 = 125,200 points. | 0.76 cents to 0.80 cents |
| Cash Gift Card | $25 = 4,000 points, $50 = 7,500 points, $100 = 14,000 points. | 0.63 cents to 0.71 cents |
| Gift Cards | $25 = 3,500 points, $50 = 6,000 points, $100 = 10,000 points (limited availability) | 0.71 cents to 1.00 cent |
In fact, the $100 gift card is your only hope of getting a good point redemption rate. Unfortunately, the $100 gift cards are only available at a fraction of their retail partners, which means you have to click about 500 times to figure out which stores offer them. However, do not despair! We’ve done the leg work so that you won’t have to.
$100 Gift Cards for 10,000 Points: The Only Way To Use Citi Thank You Points
Only a select number of retailers on the Thank You Points network have $100 gift cards. The rest of the group typically tops out at $50 gift cards for 6,000 points. The group of retailers is:
- GAP
- Bath & Body Works
- Bloomingdale’s
- Brooks Brothers
- Cabela’s
- Foot Locker
- Hammacher Schlemmer
- L.L. Bean
- Land’s End
- Macy’s
- Marshalls
- Motherhood Maternity
- Nike
- Old Navy
- Orvis
- Pottery Barn, PB Teen
- Sephora
- Service Master Clean
- Staples
- TJ Maxx
- Timberland
- West Elm
- Williams Sonoma
Also, 50,000 points gets you a $500 gift certificate at Tourneau.
Don’t Even Think About Redeeming Until You Squirrel Away 10,000 Points
Be a smart shopper and squirrel away points until you hit the 10,000 mark.
It shouldn’t be too hard with the Citi Forward card, especially given the 8,500 point sign up bonus and 5 points per $1 spent on restaurants, movies, and books. Another great option is the Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards Card, with 6,000 points for signing up and 5 points per $1 spent at supermarkets, drug stores, and gas stations for the first year, and 0% APR on balance transfers for 15 months.
This post was featured in the Festival of Frugality, the Carnival of Financial Independence, and the Carnival of Financial Planning.
