The Citi Premier Card is a great option if you enjoy collecting rewards across a wide range of spending categories, appreciate the versatility of redeeming points for prizes or transferring them to travel partners, and are interested in the potential outsized value of these options.

The $95 annual fee Citi Premier card offers excellent value for consumers who spend heavily across many categories. Spending at restaurants, grocery stores, petrol stations, airlines, and hotels all nets triple points with the Citi Premier Card.

However, the card needs to catch up in areas where earnings are not involved, such as the lack of travel and purchase protections that come with many other cards that charge an annual fee.

Rewards

Gaining Benefits

If you have more than one Citi credit card or other Citi banking product, you may combine the points you've earned with the Citi Premier Card with the ThankYou program.

The Citi Premier Card was designed with frequent fliers in mind, offering three ThankYou points for every dollar spent on dining out, grocery shopping, petrol, airfare, and lodging, and one point for every dollar spent on everything else.

After making $4,000 in purchases during the first three months of creating your account, you will receive 60,000 bonus points.

Prize Money

Citi ThankYou points may be exchanged for cash at half a penny per point. ThankYou points are more valuable than cash when used to pay off a mortgage or a school debt since each point is equivalent to one penny.

Money Cards

Gift cards from restaurants and stores may be redeemed for as little as 1,000 ThankYou points for a $10 gift card through the Citi ThankYou rewards program. Citi will have offers on gift cards for specific companies every so often. Like a prepaid credit card, Citi also allows you to redeem Happy gift cards, which can be redeemed at a wide range of retailers.

Spend Your Points

You may use your ThankYou Points at various stores that Citi ThankYou partners with. You may use your ThankYou points as payment at checkout with specific partners, including Amazon.com and Best Buy.

Your ThankYou points are also redeemable at any online store that accepts PayPal. In addition, you may apply points toward a bill credit to pay for earlier petrol purchases from BP/Amoco and Shell by selecting the Shop With Points option.

Reservations Made Using ThankYou.com

Citi's ThankYou.com website allows you to reserve various vacation options. The Citi ThankYou travel center offers competitive pricing, on par with other primary online travel agents like Expedia and Orbitz, for most basic itineraries.

A part of your booking can be paid for using ThankYou points even if you don't have enough for the whole amount. When redeemed for travel purchases made with a Citi Premier Card, ThankYou points are valued at 1 cent apiece.

Hand Off To Travel Companions

The program's single most valuable feature is the ability to transfer ThankYou points to airlines and redeem them for international business class. In particular, KLM's frequent award ticket sales provide an incredible bargain.

Airline alliances include Singapore Airlines, JetBlue's TrueBlue, and Avianca's LifeMiles. Citi has expanded your choices for redeeming points by adding Choice Hotels as a transfer partner at a 1:2 ratio.

What Is The Monetary Value Of The Incentives?

Because of its status as a premium credit card, Citi Premier's points are best put to use on trips. We discovered that Citi's no-annual-fee credit cards.

When redeemed for merchandise or other non-travel incentives, such as gift cards, your Citi Premier points will be worth precisely one cent each. Converting your travel awards into cash is especially useful if you go on only a few trips.

Right now, the best way to use your points is to trade them in for cheap flights on a travel partner's airline. Citi ThankYou points are always worth 1 cent when redeemed for trips booked via Citi, but by transferring them to the correct program, you might earn as much as 1.9 cents per point.

Are You A Good Fit For This Card?

The Citi Premier Card is a great option if you frequently purchase at restaurants, grocery stores, petrol stations, airlines, and hotels. You can make the most of your ThankYou Points by booking travel through ThankYou.com or transferring them to airline partners.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and the Chase Sapphire Reserve are great options if you frequently travel and want to earn substantial returns on your travel spending in addition to receiving other benefits, such as lounge access, car rental insurance, and trip delay/cancellation insurance, or purchase protections, such as an extended warranty.