Citi Premier Card Review

If you have excellent credit and travel frequently, the Citi Premier Card may be a smart option for earning points toward your next trip. The points earned on airfare and hotel stays are quite competitive, especially for a travel card with a modest annual fee. What’s more, this card makes it pretty easy to rack up rewards even when you’re not in the air. You’ll earn points on restaurant tabs, gas purchases, and groceries, too. Plus, the robust redemption options mean you’ll earn points anyone can use.

Pros Explained

• Generous rewards-earning options: This card gives you lots of ways to earn bonus points on your everyday spending. You earn 3 points on air travel, hotels, groceries, gas, and dining purchases. So it's great for travel spending as well as other more frequent purchases.
• Flexible options for redeeming travel rewards: If you like to travel but don’t want to be tied down to a specific hotel or airline loyalty program, this card could be for you. You can book your choice of hotel or flight through the Citi travel portal. 
• Annual hotel discount: Once each calendar year, you get $100 off of a single $500+ hotel stay that you book through thankyou.com.

Cons Explained

• Only one U.S. airline transfer partner: The Citi ThankYou program will let you transfer your points to 16 frequent flyer partners with their own programs, but the list is noticeably lacking domestic airlines. JetBlue is the only one.
• No interest-free promotions for new cardholders: Getting a break on interest charges can be great for spreading out the cost of an unusually large purchase or paying down debt you’ve already accrued on another credit card. But unlike some competitors, this card doesn’t have 0% APR deals on purchases or balance transfers.

Citi Premier Card Bonus for New Cardholders

The Citi Premier Card gives you a bonus of 80,000 ThankYou points if you spend $4,000 on your card within three months of account opening. Based on The Balance’s estimate of the average value of a ThankYou point, this offer is worth $976 if used for travel—hundreds more than offers from some competing travel credit cards charging a similar annual fee. 

Earning Points & Rewards

One big benefit of the Citi Premier Card is the fact that its earning tiers are so generous. You’ll earn 3 points on purchases for airfare, hotels, groceries, gas, and dining; plus, 1 point on everything else. These are among the better rates offered on a travel card with tiered rates, and the categories cater to multiple types of spenders.

Using the consumer expenditure data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we can estimate how much you'd earn from some of these 3-point categories. In 2019 the average consumer spent $4,643 on groceries, $3,526 on dining, and $2,094 on gas. This spending would earn you 30,789 points. This doesn't even include the 1 point per dollar you would get on other purchases nor the 3 points on any airfare or hotel purchases you might make.

Your points will never expire provided you have an open Citi ThankYou credit card account. Also, there are no limits to the rewards you can earn.

Redeeming Rewards

There are many ways to redeem Citi ThankYou points earned with this card, but you may get more value from your points by using them for travel. If you book flights, hotels, cruises, car rentals, or other eligible travel directly through Citi’s ThankYou Rewards portal, your points will be worth 1 cent each, while redeeming for cash back or while shopping may get you less than that. (It’s unclear whether the per-point value for cash back is 0.5 cents or 1 cent with this card, and a Citi spokeswoman was unable to clarify.) At the Amazon checkout, you’ll get 0.8 cents per point.

Points may also be used for: 

• Gift cards (valued at 1 cent per point)
• Charity donations 
• Student loan or mortgage payments
• Paying bills

Transferring Points

One of the pluses of this card is the ability to transfer your points to frequent flyer programs. Citi has 16 airline partners, and Citi Premier cardholders can convert each ThankYou point into one mile or point in the partner programs. Factoring in the one domestic transfer option (JetBlue), the Balance found Citi Premier points are worth an average of 1.21 cents each when used for travel. 

How to Get the Most Out of This Card

Besides making sure to spend $4,000 within three months of account opening to earn the impressive bonus, make sure to use your card whenever you can earn the lucrative bonus points.

When it comes time to redeem, make sure to use your points for travel to get the most value. If JetBlue goes to the cities you travel between, consider converting your points to TrueBlue points rather than redeeming them for flights through Citi’s travel portal. Internationally, you’ll get the most value from your points when you transfer them to partner airlines.

Also, if you've got an upcoming trip where you think you'll be spending at least $500 on one hotel, consider booking it through thankyou.com. You'll be able to save $100 on that kind of stay once a year.

Other Features

• Sports, music, and even ticket presales, plus VIP access at some events

Customer Experience

Citi ranked sixth out of 11 national credit card issuers in the J.D. Power 2020 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study and scored below the industry average.

When it comes to customer service options, you can reach Citi online via mobile chat, with a secure message, or over the phone.

Security Features

You’ll have access to Citi Identity Theft Solutions, which offers personalized assistance when you’re a victim of identity theft. This service will help keep an eye on your TransUnion credit report and advise you on how to proceed if your information has been compromised.

Fees to Watch Out For

Fees on this card are standard among travel credit cards, including the lack of foreign transaction fees.