Citi ThankYou Premier Card Review (NOT updated)
Updated August 15, 2018. Please see our updated review here.
The Facts
The Math
If you redeem TY points for airfare (1 point = 1.25 cents), this card essentially returns 3.75% on travel and gas, 2.5% on dining and entertainment, and 1.25% on other purchases. This is by no means amazing considering the fact that several less expensive or even no-annual-fee cards return 2% cashback on everything. However, if you transfer TY points to frequent flyer programs, you may get better value, and this card is very competitive among our favorite miles/points cards.
New ThankYou Premier vs. Old ThankYou Premier (before April 19, 2015): First of all, the annual fee has been reduced from $125 to $95, with a $30 saving. Kudos Citi! Secondly, Citi almost flipped the 3x and 2x categories, with some surprising nice additions. The old ThankYou Premier has dining and entertainment as the 3x categories and airlines and hotels as the 2x. The new ThankYou Premier has travel and gas as the 3x categories and dining and entertainment as the 2x. Citi not only added gas stations to the mix, which by itself is pretty amazing, but also expanded the travel by including almost everything you can think of: airlines, hotels, car rentals, travel agencies, commuter transportation, taxi and limousine, railways, cruise, bridge and tolls, parking, campgrounds and trailer parks, timeshares, bus lines, motor home and recreational vehicle rental, and boat leases and boat rentals. So we would say the changes are positive in general.
ThankYou Premier vs. Citi Prestige: Since July 2017, both cards offer exactly the same redemption options - 1.25 cents per point for fixed value flight redemption or flexible miles/points transfer. Citi Prestige has a much higher annual fee of $450; however after the $250 annual airline credit, the effective annual fee becomes $200, which is merely $105 more than ThankYou Premier's. For that, you receive airport lounge access, 4th Night Free through ICNHR, and a higher level of travel protection (including roadside). Talking about rewards, both cards have very similar 3-2-1 earning structure; however, for most consumers, ThankYou Premier actually offers better rewards as it covers gas stations and all travel categories (not just limited to airlines/hotels/travel agencies); if you have Citigold, you need to do your math to figure out if the 15% relationship bonus offsets the loss of certain 3x categories. So which card is better? Citi Prestige is for travelers who value airport lounge access, hotel privileges, and/or travel protection. ThankYou Premier is for consumers who spend big in gas and/or travel other than airlines/hotels/travel agencies.
ThankYou 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 travel/dining as the 2x categories, while ThankYou Premier has the travel/gas as the 3x categories and dining/entertainment as the 2x. On paper, Citi has Chase beaten since it not only covers gas and entertainment but offers one additional point for travel as well. However, the real difference between the two lies in the different transfer partners: Citi has Cathay Pacific, Etihad, Garuda, etc., while Chase has United, Southwest, British, Korean, Hyatt, etc.; Singapore is the only partner that is in both programs.
ThankYou Premier vs. Amex EveryDay Preferred (EDP): The annual fees are the same, and our current valuation for Amex MR and Citi ThankYou points is similar. Assuming you achieve 50% monthly bonus on EDP, they both return 3x on gas, but their other bonus categories are very different (ThankYou Premier has 3x travel, 2x on dining and entertainment, while EDP has 4.5x groceries). So it is your spending pattern and preference in redemption that will help you decide which card to go with. On paper, ThankYou Premier is better for travel, dining, entertainment, and foreign purchases, while EDP is better for grocery and general spending. In reality, they can be complementary to each other and form a great combo.
The Conclusion
With the July 2014 enhancement of ThankYou program and the April 2015 overhaul in bonus categories, ThankYou Premier has been a very competitive product. Scoring high in signup bonus, rewards and protection, ThankYou Premier is currently ranked as one of our Top 10 Best Credit Cards.
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The Facts
- Annual Fee: first year free and $95 thereafter
- Signup Bonus: (1) 60,000 points ($750 in airfare or 60K miles of Singapore, Cathay Pacific, Flying Blue, Etihad, etc.) after you spend $4,000 within 3 months of new account opening. The bonus won't be available if you have opened or closed ThankYou Preferred, ThankYou Premier, or Citi Prestige in the past 24 months. (2) 50,000 points ($625 in airfare or 50K miles of Singapore, Cathay Pacific, Flying Blue, Etihad, etc.) after you spend $4,000 within 3 months of new account opening. The bonus won't be available if you have opened or closed ThankYou Preferred, ThankYou Premier, or Citi Prestige in the past 24 months. Historical best bonus of this card: 60,000 points in mid 2018; 50,000 points many times in the past years.
- Rewards: 3x travel and gas, 2x dining and entertainment, 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, returning up to 1 cent per point (note: cash rewards in form of statement credit or check have 0.5 cent value and in form of bill pay have 0.65 cent value). However, better than the regular TY cards (such as ThankYou Preferred), ThankYou Premier offers two enhanced redemption options: (1) when redeeming for travel (flights, hotels, car rentals, cruises, etc.) through ThankYou, you get 25% more value, making 1 TY point = 1.25 cents; (2) you may transfer TY points to miles/points of several frequent traveler programs. The second option was first added in January 2013 with Hilton as the sole partner and then expanded to quite a few airlines over years. Please see our featured review Marriott vs. MR vs. UR vs. TY vs. CR for the programs that allow points transfer to frequent traveler accounts.
- Other Benefits: Waived foreign transaction fees.
- Protection: ThankYou Premier offers the second highest level of consumer and travel protection among Citi cards.
- Other Facts: ThankYou Premier was issued in both MasterCard and Visa networks for a few years. However, after Citi started aligning its card portfolio with MasterCard in 2015, ThankYou Premier has been issued as either a World MasterCard or a World Elite MasterCard.
- 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 an 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 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.
The Math
If you redeem TY points for airfare (1 point = 1.25 cents), this card essentially returns 3.75% on travel and gas, 2.5% on dining and entertainment, and 1.25% on other purchases. This is by no means amazing considering the fact that several less expensive or even no-annual-fee cards return 2% cashback on everything. However, if you transfer TY points to frequent flyer programs, you may get better value, and this card is very competitive among our favorite miles/points cards.
New ThankYou Premier vs. Old ThankYou Premier (before April 19, 2015): First of all, the annual fee has been reduced from $125 to $95, with a $30 saving. Kudos Citi! Secondly, Citi almost flipped the 3x and 2x categories, with some surprising nice additions. The old ThankYou Premier has dining and entertainment as the 3x categories and airlines and hotels as the 2x. The new ThankYou Premier has travel and gas as the 3x categories and dining and entertainment as the 2x. Citi not only added gas stations to the mix, which by itself is pretty amazing, but also expanded the travel by including almost everything you can think of: airlines, hotels, car rentals, travel agencies, commuter transportation, taxi and limousine, railways, cruise, bridge and tolls, parking, campgrounds and trailer parks, timeshares, bus lines, motor home and recreational vehicle rental, and boat leases and boat rentals. So we would say the changes are positive in general.
ThankYou Premier vs. Citi Prestige: Since July 2017, both cards offer exactly the same redemption options - 1.25 cents per point for fixed value flight redemption or flexible miles/points transfer. Citi Prestige has a much higher annual fee of $450; however after the $250 annual airline credit, the effective annual fee becomes $200, which is merely $105 more than ThankYou Premier's. For that, you receive airport lounge access, 4th Night Free through ICNHR, and a higher level of travel protection (including roadside). Talking about rewards, both cards have very similar 3-2-1 earning structure; however, for most consumers, ThankYou Premier actually offers better rewards as it covers gas stations and all travel categories (not just limited to airlines/hotels/travel agencies); if you have Citigold, you need to do your math to figure out if the 15% relationship bonus offsets the loss of certain 3x categories. So which card is better? Citi Prestige is for travelers who value airport lounge access, hotel privileges, and/or travel protection. ThankYou Premier is for consumers who spend big in gas and/or travel other than airlines/hotels/travel agencies.
ThankYou 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 travel/dining as the 2x categories, while ThankYou Premier has the travel/gas as the 3x categories and dining/entertainment as the 2x. On paper, Citi has Chase beaten since it not only covers gas and entertainment but offers one additional point for travel as well. However, the real difference between the two lies in the different transfer partners: Citi has Cathay Pacific, Etihad, Garuda, etc., while Chase has United, Southwest, British, Korean, Hyatt, etc.; Singapore is the only partner that is in both programs.
ThankYou Premier vs. Amex EveryDay Preferred (EDP): The annual fees are the same, and our current valuation for Amex MR and Citi ThankYou points is similar. Assuming you achieve 50% monthly bonus on EDP, they both return 3x on gas, but their other bonus categories are very different (ThankYou Premier has 3x travel, 2x on dining and entertainment, while EDP has 4.5x groceries). So it is your spending pattern and preference in redemption that will help you decide which card to go with. On paper, ThankYou Premier is better for travel, dining, entertainment, and foreign purchases, while EDP is better for grocery and general spending. In reality, they can be complementary to each other and form a great combo.
The Conclusion
With the July 2014 enhancement of ThankYou program and the April 2015 overhaul in bonus categories, ThankYou Premier has been a very competitive product. Scoring high in signup bonus, rewards and protection, ThankYou Premier is currently ranked as one of our Top 10 Best Credit Cards.
© 2018 DrCreditCard.net All rights reserved.