Citi Premier Card Review (Old Review NOT being Updated)
Updated August 7, 2023. Please see our updated review here.
The Facts
The Math
To achieve excellent rewards power of the card, you need to use the miles/points transfer feature and know how to leverage Citi transfer partners' programs, which can be very rewarding and challenging at the same time. For example, if you happen to value ThankYou points at 1.5 cents a piece with the miles/points transfer feature as we do, Citi Premier returns impressive 4.5% travel rewards for groceries & gas & dining & airlines & hotels & travel agencies, almost single-handedly covering all the important bonus categories. That is why it is currently rated #1 Best Credit Card for Rewards. However, for general spending, we recommend looking somewhere else. For example, Citi Double Cash which usually returns 2% cashback can be a great card to pair with Citi Premier, as you may transfer Double Cash's cash rewards to ThankYou points and activate miles/points transfer feature to unlock the full potential of the card - an unmatched 3% travel rewards based on our valuation. If you don't know how to use the transfer feature effectively / just don't want to bother with the hassles and rather prefer fixed-value travel rewards, you probably want to check out the competitors such as Chase Sapphire Reserve, US Bank Altitude Reserve, and Wells Fargo Propel Amex, each of which offers a 1.5-cent fixed-value travel redemption option.
Citi Premier vs. Citi Prestige: Citi Premier used to live in the shadow of its big sibling after Citi Prestige's 2019 relaunch. However, with the August 2020 revamp, Citi Premier finally becomes a powerhouse for bonus categories and neck and neck with Citi Prestige. The main differences between the two cards are: (1) After considering the $250 annual travel credit, Prestige is $150 a year more expensive than Premier. (2) Prestige offers 2 more points on dining & airlines & travel agencies & cruise lines, but 2 fewer points on groceries & gas, while both have the same 3x points on hotels. (3) Prestige offers more travel perks, such as airport lounge access, Global Entry reimbursement, etc. Their hotel benefits are different too: Prestige offers 4th Night Free twice per year, while Premier offers $100 discount for a hotel stay over $500 once a year. The bottom line is that you need to look at your spending pattern as well as their travel perks to decide which one comes out on top.
Citi Premier vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred: They have the same annual fees, and both waive foreign transaction fees; currently we have similar valuation for Chase UR and Citi ThankYou points. Sapphire Preferred has 5-3-2 bonus categories covering travel & dining & streaming & online groceries, while ThankYou Premier has groceries & gas & dining & most travel as the 3x categories. You need to do your own math to see which one comes out ahead. However, the real difference between the two lies in the different transfer partners: Citi has Avianca, Turkish, Cathay Pacific, Etihad, etc., while Chase has United, Southwest, British, Hyatt, etc.; they share some partners, such as JetBlue, Singapore, Flying Blue.
Citi Premier vs. Amex EveryDay Preferred (EDP): The annual fees are the same, and our current valuation for Amex MR and Citi ThankYou points is the same at 1.5 cents per point. Assuming that you have at least 30 transactions per month, EDP's earning rate is 4.5-3-1.5, while Citi Premier's is 3-1; based on our valuation, while both return 4.5% for gas, EDP returns extra 2.25% for grocery (with a $6K annual cap) and extra 0.75% for general spending, and Citi Premier returns extra 2.25% for dining & most travel categories. Again, as their bonus categories and transfer partners are mostly different, we actually think they can be complementary to each other and form a great combo.
The Conclusion
With the August 2020 revamp to offer 3x points on grocery & gas & dining & airlines & hotels & travel agencies, Citi Premier is currently ranked #1 Best Credit Card for Reward and also as one of our Top 10 Best Credit Cards.
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The Facts
- Annual Fee: $95
- Signup Bonus: 60,000 points ($600 in cash or 60K miles of Avianca, Singapore, Cathay Pacific, Flying Blue, JetBlue, etc.) after you spend $4,000 within 3 months of new account opening. Note there is no more first annual fee waiver like before. The signup bonus won't be available if you have received a new account bonus on this card in the past 48 months. Historical best bonus of this card: 80,000 points in 2022; 75,000 points in 2023; 60,000 points in mid 2018 with the first year annual fee waived; 50,000 points many times with the first year annual fee waived in the past years.
- Application Landing Page
- Rewards: 3x groceries & gas & dining & airlines & hotels & travel agencies, and 1x everywhere else
- Best Use of ThankYou Points: ThankYou (TY) Rewards is Citi's rewards program and the points can be redeemed for cash, merchandise, gift cards, and travel, at up to 1 cent per point (note: cash rewards have 1 cent value). In addition, as a premium ThankYou card, Citi Premier offers an enhanced redemption option: you may transfer TY points to miles/points of several frequent traveler programs. Please see our featured review Marriott vs. MR vs. UR vs. TY vs. C1 vs. CR for the programs that allow points transfer to frequent traveler accounts.
- Other Benefits: (1) $100 annual hotel discount when you purchase a hotel stay $500 or more, before taxes and fees, through ThankYou.com, once per calendar year. (2) Waived foreign transaction fees. (3) Citi Entertainment - special access to entertainment, sports, dining, and virtual events, in terms of presale and preferred tickets, exclusive offers, etc.
- Other Facts: Citi Premier has been issued as either a World MasterCard or a World Elite MasterCard. Most likely you will be offered a Word Elite MasterCard with the following standard benefits: MasterCard Luxury Hotels & Resorts (a collection of 2,000+ luxury hotels worldwide that offer complimentary breakfasts for two, room upgrades upon availability, early check-in, late check-out, and a special amenity such as a certain amount of hotel credit up to $100 per stay, free internet, or welcome gift, etc.), MasterCard Travel & Lifestyle Services (offers for hotels, airfare, private jets, airport concierge, car rentals, chauffeured cars, cruise lines, tours, vacation packages, golf, sports and entertainment event tickets, etc.), complimentary ShopRunner membership (free two-day shipping and returns at participating stores), complimentary DoorDash benefits (3 months of complimentary DashPass membership & $5 off first two orders per month through 9/30/2022), monthly $5 Lyft credit after 3 rides each month, 5% discount for every HelloFresh order, $5 rewards for every $20+ Fandango purchase, the Dining Program (special amenities at participating restaurants), the Nightlife Program (exclusive access to and recognition at participating night clubs), Priceless Cities, Priceless Surprises, Priceless Causes, Priceless Golf, 24/7 World Elite concierge service, MasterCard Cellular Wireless Telephone Protection (up to $800 for a stolen or damaged phone as long as you charge your monthly cellphone bills to the card), MasterCard ID Theft Protection, etc.
- History: Citi ThankYou Premier was first introduced in early 2011 to replace the long lasting PremierPass Credit Card Elite Level. Citi made a few changes, but kept the most critical feature "flight points" intact. Back then, ThankYou Premier was a very interesting product, and for some that could use full potential of the card it was one of the best cashback equivalent credit cards in the market. That is why it was placed on our prestigious Top List. Unfortunately, in October 2013 Citi devaluated ThankYou Premier by taking away the flight points feature as well other useful perks. One positive change was the introduction of the new 3-2-1 rewards structure, which mimicked Chase Sapphire Preferred's. However, at that time, ThankYou had only one transfer partner (Hilton) and was mostly considered cashback equivalent (fixed value rewards) and that is why we considered it as a mediocre product and removed it from our Top List. In July 2014, with the enhanced miles transfer feature, ThankYou Premier suddenly became interesting again. In April 2015, Citi made additional adjustments to the card by reducing the annual fee and changing the bonus categories, which in general is considered very positive. In October 2018, Citi changed the name from Citi ThankYou Premier to simply Citi Premier while keeping all the features intact. In August 2020, Citi revamped the card again to offer 3x points on groceries & gas & dining & airlines & hotels & travel agencies, replacing the previous 3-2-1 rewards structure and substantially increasing its rewards power. In April 2021, the 1.25 cpp fixed-value travel redemption will be reduced to 1 cpp, while the miles/points transfer feature is not affected.
The Math
To achieve excellent rewards power of the card, you need to use the miles/points transfer feature and know how to leverage Citi transfer partners' programs, which can be very rewarding and challenging at the same time. For example, if you happen to value ThankYou points at 1.5 cents a piece with the miles/points transfer feature as we do, Citi Premier returns impressive 4.5% travel rewards for groceries & gas & dining & airlines & hotels & travel agencies, almost single-handedly covering all the important bonus categories. That is why it is currently rated #1 Best Credit Card for Rewards. However, for general spending, we recommend looking somewhere else. For example, Citi Double Cash which usually returns 2% cashback can be a great card to pair with Citi Premier, as you may transfer Double Cash's cash rewards to ThankYou points and activate miles/points transfer feature to unlock the full potential of the card - an unmatched 3% travel rewards based on our valuation. If you don't know how to use the transfer feature effectively / just don't want to bother with the hassles and rather prefer fixed-value travel rewards, you probably want to check out the competitors such as Chase Sapphire Reserve, US Bank Altitude Reserve, and Wells Fargo Propel Amex, each of which offers a 1.5-cent fixed-value travel redemption option.
Citi Premier vs. Citi Prestige: Citi Premier used to live in the shadow of its big sibling after Citi Prestige's 2019 relaunch. However, with the August 2020 revamp, Citi Premier finally becomes a powerhouse for bonus categories and neck and neck with Citi Prestige. The main differences between the two cards are: (1) After considering the $250 annual travel credit, Prestige is $150 a year more expensive than Premier. (2) Prestige offers 2 more points on dining & airlines & travel agencies & cruise lines, but 2 fewer points on groceries & gas, while both have the same 3x points on hotels. (3) Prestige offers more travel perks, such as airport lounge access, Global Entry reimbursement, etc. Their hotel benefits are different too: Prestige offers 4th Night Free twice per year, while Premier offers $100 discount for a hotel stay over $500 once a year. The bottom line is that you need to look at your spending pattern as well as their travel perks to decide which one comes out on top.
Citi Premier vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred: They have the same annual fees, and both waive foreign transaction fees; currently we have similar valuation for Chase UR and Citi ThankYou points. Sapphire Preferred has 5-3-2 bonus categories covering travel & dining & streaming & online groceries, while ThankYou Premier has groceries & gas & dining & most travel as the 3x categories. You need to do your own math to see which one comes out ahead. However, the real difference between the two lies in the different transfer partners: Citi has Avianca, Turkish, Cathay Pacific, Etihad, etc., while Chase has United, Southwest, British, Hyatt, etc.; they share some partners, such as JetBlue, Singapore, Flying Blue.
Citi Premier vs. Amex EveryDay Preferred (EDP): The annual fees are the same, and our current valuation for Amex MR and Citi ThankYou points is the same at 1.5 cents per point. Assuming that you have at least 30 transactions per month, EDP's earning rate is 4.5-3-1.5, while Citi Premier's is 3-1; based on our valuation, while both return 4.5% for gas, EDP returns extra 2.25% for grocery (with a $6K annual cap) and extra 0.75% for general spending, and Citi Premier returns extra 2.25% for dining & most travel categories. Again, as their bonus categories and transfer partners are mostly different, we actually think they can be complementary to each other and form a great combo.
The Conclusion
With the August 2020 revamp to offer 3x points on grocery & gas & dining & airlines & hotels & travel agencies, Citi Premier is currently ranked #1 Best Credit Card for Reward and also as one of our Top 10 Best Credit Cards.
© 2011-2023 DrCreditCard.net All rights reserved.