Citibank extends sign up bonus on Citi Rewards card till 31 Jan 2020

Oct 5, 2019

In January this year, Citibank started offering its first-ever sign up bonus on the Citi Rewards Visa and Citi Rewards Mastercard, which allowed cardholders to earn up to 22,800 miles.

This offer was supposed to expire on 30 September 2019, but has been extended once again until 31 Jan 2020. As far as I can see, the offer remains exactly the same; only the dates have changed.

Offer Recap

New-to-bank customers (those who don’t currently hold a principal Citibank card and haven’t in the past 12 months) who spend $3,000 in the first 3 months of approval will receive 27,000 bonus ThankYou points (equivalent to 10,800 miles).

Assuming the $3,000 is spent on eligible 10X categories, you’re looking at a total of 57,000 ThankYou points (27,000 sign up bonus +3,000 base (1X) + 27,000 bonus (9X)), or 22,800 miles. Remember: the cap on 10X points is $1,000 per statement month, so you’ll need to spread your spending over the qualifying period to maximize your total miles.

Eligible 10X categories include all spending at online merchants (excluding travel), or offline spending at merchants with the following MCCs:

MCC 5311: Department Stores
MCC 5611: Men’s and Boy’s Clothing and Accessories Stores
MCC 5621: Women’s Ready to Wear Store
MCC 5631: Women’s Accessory and Specialty Stores
MCC 5641: Children’s and Infant’s Wear Stores
MCC 5651: Family Clothing Stores
MCC 5655: Sports and Riding Apparel Stores
MCC 5661: Shoe Stores
MCC 5691: Men’s and Women’s Clothing Stores
MCC 5699: Miscellaneous Apparel and Accessory Shops
MCC 5948: Luggage and Leather Good Stores

The 27,000 bonus points will be credited within two calendar months of meeting the spending criteria- for example, if you hit it in the third month, you’ll receive the bonus points by the end of the fifth month.

This offer is available regardless of whether you sign up for the Citi Rewards Visa card, or the fast-disappearing Citi Rewards Mastercard. If you’re the sort who spends a lot online, you might be interested in getting both cards in order to double your monthly 10X cap to $2,000.

Why earn points with Citibank?

Citi points are one of the most useful points currencies in Singapore, thanks to the sheer number of transfer partners available. Most banks offer just KrisFlyer, or at most, Asia Miles. Citi has 11 different transfer partners, including some with great sweet spots like Etihad Guest, British Airways Avios and Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles.

Thank You points earned on the Citi Rewards card are valid 5 years from the date of card opening.

The downside is that Citi points do not pool. If you’ve accumulated points on both the Citi Rewards Visa and the Citi Rewards Mastercard, those will not be combined for the purpose of redemption, and you’ll have to pay two separate redemption fees ($25 each).

Conclusion

This is a great sign up bonus to take advantage of if you do not already hold a Citbank credit card- in terms of spend to miles, it also represents a better payoff than the current Citi PremierMiles Visa sign up bonus. Do keep in mind that the total number of miles on offer is lower than the PremierMiles (22,800 versus 40,000), but on the other hand, there’s no need to pay the first year fee on the Rewards card either.

I’ve updated the credit card sign up bonus page to reflect this latest information. As a reminder, I recently wrote another article on which cards have extended their offers for the rest of the year, and I’ve updated that one too.

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