PSA: The Citi Rewards Card’s strange expiry policy

Think your Citi Rewards points are valid for 5 years? Not quite. Validity may be shorter than you think, which can lead to nasty surprises.

Pop quiz: How long do you think your Citi Rewards points are valid for?

If you said “five years” and thought that was a silly question — after all, it says so plain as day on Citibank’s website — you’d be wrong. 

Citibank employs a rather unusual policy when it comes to the expiry of ThankYou points earned on the Citi Rewards Card. Points aren’t valid for five years; they’ve valid for up to five years (+a 3-month grace period), which can lead to some nasty surprises if you’re not prepared.

⚠️ Important Note
This article refers to the Citi Rewards Card only. Points earned on the Citi PremierMiles, Citi ULTIMA and Citi Prestige do not expire.

How Citi ThankYou points expiry works

If you pull up the Citibank cardmember’s agreement, you’ll find a section called Points Validity Period, which says:

💳 Citi Cardmember T&Cs

Points Validity Period means a period of:

a) 12 months for Citibank Silver and Clear Visa cardmembers; or

b) 60 months for Citibank Gold, Platinum, Visa Signature and WORLD Mastercard cardmembers, by reference to which Points are calculated, but so that the first Points Validity Period shall commence on the date when the cardmember is entitled to participate in the  program and expire at the end of 12 months or 60 months (as the case may be) thereafter and each subsequent Points Validity Period will commence on the expiry of the previous one

Focus on (b), which applies to Citi Rewards cardholders. Notice how it talks about a 60-month “points validity period” that commences on the “date where the cardmember is entitled to participate in the program” (i.e. card approval date). At the end of this 60-month period, another 60-month “points validity period” begins. 

If that’s too complicated, perhaps this section from the Citi Rewards 10X T&Cs will help.

💳 Citi Rewards 10X T&Cs
“Points Validity Period” means a period of 60 months for Eligible Cardholders by reference to which Points are calculated, but so that the first Points Validity Period shall commence on the date when the Eligible Cardholder is entitled to participate in the Program and expire at the end of 60 months thereafter and each subsequent Points Validity Period will commence on the expiry of the previous one

Maybe I’ll just give you the tl;dr: 

ThankYou points earned on the Citi Rewards Card expire five years (plus a 3-month grace period) from card approval datenot from when the points are earned!

To provide an illustration, suppose you’re approved for a Citi Rewards card on 15 October 2022.

  • All points earned between 15 October 2022 to 31 October 2027 will be valid till 31 January 2028 (60 months + 3 months grace)
  • On 1 November 2027, a new validity period will begin
  • All points earned between 1 November 2027 to 31 October 2032 will be valid till 31 January 2033 (60 months + 3 months grace) 

In other words, your Citi Rewards points will be valid anywhere from 3 months to 63 months. 

How do I check when my points expire?

To check your ThankYou points balance and expiry, login to the Citi Rewards portal and click on your name in the top right hand corner. This will bring up your points summary, which highlights any points expiring in the next 60 days. 

Click on “View Points expiring in the future”, and you’ll see the expiration date of your points balance. 

❓ Why do I see two sets of points?
If you see two sets of points, it means you’re in the overlap between the first and second validity periods. Remember, there’s a three month grace after the first period ends.

My Citi Rewards Mastercard was approved in July 2021, so all the points I earn on this card expire on 31 October 2026, i.e. 60 months + 3 months grace. 

What to do with expiring ThankYou points

If you’ve just found out that your Citi Rewards points are expiring sooner than you thought, you can transfer them to the following loyalty programmes with a S$26.75 fee.

Frequent Flyer ProgrammeConversion Ratio
(ThankYou Points: Partner)
krisflyer logo25,000: 10,000
asia miles logo25,000: 10,000
british airways logo25,000: 10,000
etihad guest logo25,000: 10,000
evaair logo25,000: 10,000
flyingblue logo25,000: 10,000
ihg logo25,000: 10,000
qantas logo25,000: 10,000
qatar logo25,000: 10,000
thai airways logo25,000: 10,000
turkish airlines logo25,000: 10,000

If you have points that are due to expire, but are just shy of a 25,000 points block, you can make transfers via Kris+ with its smaller minimum block of 10,000 points = 3,400 miles

BankTransfer Ratio
10,000 TYP: 3,400 miles

Transfers are instant and do not have conversion fees, but do note you’ll take a 15% haircut compared to using the Citibank transfer portal. For further details, refer to the post below.

Kris+ adds instant KrisFlyer transfers from Citi credit card points

If you still have leftover points after this, the next best option is to redeem your points for a Cash Rebate at a rate of 4,400 points = S$10. 

And finally, any remaining points can be redeemed via Pay with Points, at a similar rate of 4,400 points= S$10 (but with no minimum conversion)

Standard Chartered does the same thing

If this policy sounds oddly familiar, it might be because Standard Chartered applies a similar expiry policy for 360° Rewards Points. These are valid for up to three years, and even worse- there’s no grace period. In an extreme example, whatever points the cardholder below earns on 31 December 2022 will expire on 1 January 2023!

At least 360° Rewards Points earned on the Standard Chartered Visa Infinite or X Card never expire.

Conclusion

ThankYou points earned on the Citi Rewards Card are valid for up to five years (plus a 3-month grace period), not five years as you might otherwise think. Note down your expiry date today, and remember to cash out your balance before then.

Don’t get caught out!

Aaron Wong
Aaron Wong
Aaron founded The Milelion to help people travel better for less and impress chiobu. He was 50% successful.

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smeedee

I called in to make sure I understood the terms & conditions as you had, Louis. The CSO read off my point expiry by tranche: x points by end Sep-2019 (the 5-year anniversary of my card approval); y points by Jan-2021 (2 years later); and z points with no indicated expiry. The CSO was unable to shed any light on how this tallies with our reading of the terms. I suggest verifying the points on the Citi Rewards card with a CSO as the terms and conditions are not particularly well drafted, in my opinion. Mustn’t let those hard earned… Read more »

Louis Tan

You know what, my actual balance is weird like this too. I’d assumed it was just some error – but since you have points expiring in Jan 2021 I’m guessing it’s related to some promo or something (though I don’t remember any).

I’ll try asking Citibank about it, too. I’m unable to explain it based on just reading those (sometimes self-contradictory) T&Cs…

Miles Hedgehog

How confusing. If one transfers miles, do they have to be done in 10.000 mile blocks too?

Louis Tan

Yup, 10k mile blocks, which makes it rather painful to avoid getting orphan miles.

Rach

I have the same issue here.

x points by end of Sep-19 (the 5-year anniversary of my card approval);
y points by Jan-2021; and
z points do not expire

30/09/2019 CITI REWARDS WORLD MASTERCARD (xxxx) x points
31/01/2021 CITI REWARDS WORLD MASTERCARD (xxxx) y points
Do Not Expire CITI REWARDS WORLD MASTERCARD (xxxx) z points

That’s weird

Ortloc

Since there is an overlap of the 3-months grace period and the following 5-year points earning period, will the points pool? Pooling would help those accumulate enough points to redeem expiring orphan points to miles.

Lion Den

These banks should just use plain English in their tnc ! The tnc is so difficult to comprehend, but thanks to Milelion for deciphering it for the layman.

lance

FYI, the ThankYou Rewards portal is no longer available. Source from this message in Citibank online website. “Please be informed that Cardholders will no longer be able to perform any rewards redemptions, view redemption history and points expiry information via the Citibank Online – Citi ThankYou Rewards Portal with effect from: 21 January 2024 for Citi PremierMiles Cards and Citi Rewards Cardholders 25 February 2024 Citi ULTIMA Card, Citi Prestige Card, Citi Platinum Card, Citi Clear Platinum Card, Citi Gold Card, Citi Classic Card, Citi Clear Classic Card, Citi Clear Card, Citi Business Card and Citi Corporate Cardholders You can… Read more »

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