How to Earn and Use Points in 2023

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The Citi ThankYou Rewards program is popular among credit card enthusiasts, in part because there are many ways to earn and redeem points. Some of the very best Citi credit cards earn ThankYou Rewards, including the popular Citi Premier® Card and no-annual-fee options like the Citi® Double Cash Card, Citi Rewards+® Card
, and Citi Custom Cash℠ Card. Citi is an Insider partner.

You’ve got plenty of options when it comes to redeeming your points. The simplest route is cashing them out as a statement credit or check. You can also use them toward travel booked through the Citi portal, gift cards, merchandise, or charitable contributions.

But simplicity will not give you the best value. If you have the Citi Premier® Card or Citi Prestige® Card
(no longer available to new applicants), you can transfer points to 14 airlines and two hotel transfer partners, which include JetBlue, Air France-KLM, Wyndham, and Choice Hotels. Redeeming points this way is often the best way to get maximum value from your Citi points, especially if you redeem for expensive first- or business-class award flights.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg, but the point is that the Citi ThankYou program can be lucrative and useful for almost anyone. If you’re thinking of applying for one of the best credit cards like the Citi Premier® Card, Citi Custom Cash℠ Card, or  Citi® Double Cash Card, keep reading to learn more about how you can put your Citi credit card rewards to work for you.

We’re focused here on the rewards and perks that come with each card. These cards won’t be worth it if you’re paying interest or late fees. When using a credit card, it’s important to pay your balance in full each month, make payments on time, and only spend what you can afford to pay.

How to earn Citi ThankYou points

The easiest way to rack up Citi ThankYou points is with a Citi credit card, which you can easily apply for online. Fortunately, Citi offers several rewards cards geared to different types of spenders and rewards enthusiasts. 

One key thing to remember about Citi ThankYou points: If you have multiple Citi cards, you can pool your rewards into a single account and redeem them from there. 

Credit cards that earn Citi ThankYou points

Citi Premier Card

The Citi Premier® Card is currently the only card open to new applicants that allow transfers to Citi’s full list of airline and hotel partners. The card offers a great welcome bonus of 60,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first three months of account opening (worth around $960 in travel, based on Insider’s valuations). There’s a $95 annual fee.

There are plenty of reasons to consider the Citi Premier card other than unlocking lucrative award redemptions. Cardholders earn 3x points in a wide range of categories (supermarkets, restaurants, gas stations, air travel, and hotels) and 1 point per dollar on everything else.

You’ll also get $100 off a single hotel stay of $500 or more (excluding taxes and fees) booked through thankyou.com once per calendar year.

Citi Double Cash Card

The no-annual-fee Citi® Double Cash Card is a great card if you don’t want to keep track of bonus categories because it effectively earns 2% cash back (2x points) on all purchases — 1 point per dollar (1%) when you make a purchase and another 1 point per dollar (1%) when you pay it off.

The Citi® Double Cash Card offers a 0% intro APR on balance transfers for 18 months (balance transfers must be completed in the first four months from account opening), followed by a 18.74% – 28.74% Variable APR. The card is not currently offering a welcome bonus. 

Citi Custom Cash Card

The Citi Custom Cash℠ Card is an excellent option, and it’s offering a bonus of $200 cash back, fulfilled as 20,000 ThankYou® Points, after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first six months of account opening. That’s a decent offer for a no-annual-fee card, but the biggest reason to consider the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card is the ability to earn up to 5x rewards on your everyday purchases.

Cardholders earn 5% cash back (awarded as 5x ThankYou points) on up to $500 in purchases in the eligible category they spend the most in each billing cycle (then 1%), and 1% on all other purchases. The categories that qualify are restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, select travel, select transit, select streaming services, drugstores, home improvement stores, fitness clubs, and live entertainment — so most people should find it easy to maximize this bonus.

New cardholders also receive a 0% intro APR on balance transfers and purchases for 15 months, followed by a 18.74% – 28.74% Variable APR.

Citi Rewards+ Card

With the no-annual-fee Citi Rewards+® Card, you can earn a welcome bonus of 20,000 bonus points after spending $1,500 in purchases in three months from account opening.

You’ll earn 2x points on the first $6,000 spent at supermarkets and gas stations each year (then 1x points) and 1x points on other purchases.

The card also comes with a unique perk: Citi will round up your rewards to the nearest 10 points for each purchase you make. This means that a $1 candy bar would earn you 10 points, a $23 shopping trip at Walmart would net you 30 points, and so on. Cardholders also receive a 10% rebate on all redeemed points each year, on up to the first 100,000 points (maximum rebate of up to 10,000 points per year).

You’ll also get a 0% Intro APR on balance transfers for 15 months from date of first transfer and on purchases from date of account opening, followed by a 18.24% – 28.24% Variable APR. 

Citi AT&T Points Plus Card

The AT&T Points Plus℠ Card is the new no-annual-fee rewards credit card for AT&T mobile customers. New cardholders can earn a welcome bonus of $100 statement credit after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening. 

Cardholders also earn 3x ThankYou points at gas stations, 2x at grocery stores (including delivery services), and 1x on everything else. 

The AT&T Points Plus℠ Card also offers up to $240 annual statement credits after you set your card as the autopayment method on your AT&T wireless bill. You’ll earn a $20 monthly statement credit (after spending at least $1,000 in purchases in a billing cycle) or a $10 monthly statement credit (after spending at least $500 in a billing cycle). 

How to use Citi ThankYou points

While you can get the most from the Citi ThankYou program if you redeem rewards for travel, there are a ton of non-travel options when it comes to cashing in your points. Here are the major redemptions you can choose once you’re ready to use your points for travel, merchandise, and more. 

Transfer your points to airline partners

When you have the Citi Premier® Card or Citi Prestige® Card (no longer open to applications), you can transfer points to the full range of Citi ThankYou Rewards transfer partners, mostly at a 1:1 ratio.

If you don’t have the Citi Premier® Card or Citi Prestige® Card, you only have a handful of transfer options. If you only have the Citi Rewards+® Card, Citi® Double Cash Card, AT&T Points Plus℠ Card, or Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card (not available to new applicants) you can transfer points to Wyndham at a reduced 5:4 transfer ratio, or to Choice at a 1:1.5 ratio.

And for all Citi cards (other than the Citi Premier® Card and Citi Prestige® Card), JetBlue is an option with a 5:4 transfer ratio.

While the value you’ll get when you transfer points to airlines can vary, you’ll get the most bang for your buck if you transfer points so you can book flights in first or business class, or if you focus on itineraries that are unusually expensive to pay for with cash. 

Book travel through the Citi portal

The Citi ThankYou travel portal is where you can book flights, hotels, car rentals, and attractions. It’s an online travel booking platform that works in a similar way to Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) like Orbitz or Expedia. The Citi Travel Portal recently partnered with Booking.com and got a refresh, expanding the number of hotels available to book.

You’ll get a value of 1 cent per point when you redeem your points this way, and you can pay in full with Citi ThankYou points, cash, or a combination of both.

Cash in your points for gift cards

You can also redeem your Citi ThankYou points for gift cards to a wide range of retailers, restaurants, and more. You will usually get 1 cent per point with this option, but it depends on the retailer so make sure to check.

Shop with points

Citi also lets you shop directly with points with retailers like 1-800 Flowers, Amazon.com, Best Buy, Paypal, Shell, CVS, and BP/Amoco. Just remember that you’ll typically get less than 1 cent per point in value if you choose this option.

With that in mind, you may want to opt for a cash reward instead so you can use it for the purchases you want.

Get a statement credit or cash rewards

Finally, the Citi ThankYou program lets you cash in your rewards for cash as a statement credit or cash back at a rate of 0.5 to 1 cent per point, depending on the card. Note that your cash rewards will come in the mail in the form of a check within one to three weeks of redemption, so you should expect some lag time in between.

Other important details about the Citi ThankYou program

Before you sign up for a Citi credit card, you should also know that the Citi ThankYou program lets you pool points with other members. There is no fee to do so, but you can only share up to 100,000 points with other members within a calendar year.

Also note that points transferred to a new account expire within 90 days, so you should have a plan to use your points before you let another person pool rewards in your account. 

Either way, the fact you can share points makes the Citi ThankYou program a popular option among couples who travel together. Both partners can sign up for the same rewards credit cards to earn a big bonus, then you can pool your points in one account to redeem for premium airfare, accommodations, rental cars, and more.