Back in January 2019, Citibank started offering its first-ever sign up bonus on the Citi Rewards card, where cardholders could earn up to 22,800 miles by spending S$3,000 in the first 3 months of approval.
The latest edition of this offer was due to expire on 31 March 2020, but Citi has extended it to 30 June 2020, while also relaunching the Citi Rewards as a Mastercard.
| Existing Citi Rewards Visa cardholders: don’t worry. A Citibank Singapore spokesperson has confirmed that existing cards can be used until expiry. Upon expiration, customer consent will be sought on conversion to a Mastercard, and points will be transferred over accordingly |
How does the offer work?
The details of the offer remain the same as before.
Sign up for the Citi Rewards card here
New-to-bank customers (defined as those who don’t currently hold a principal Citi credit card and haven’t in the past 12 months) who spend S$3,000 in the first 3 months after approval will receive 27,000 bonus ThankYou points (equivalent to 10,800 miles).
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.
| Citi is rather generous with its definition of “the first 3 months after approval”- this includes the period from card approval to the end of the calendar month, plus three full calendar months after that. In other words, if you get approved on 2 February, you’ll have until 31 May to hit the spending |
Assuming you spend the S$3,000 on eligible 10X categories (and honestly, if you don’t, you’re using this card wrong), you’re looking at a total of 57,000 ThankYou points:
- 3,000 base points
- 27,000 bonus points for spending on 10X categories
- 27,000 bonus points for hitting sign up bonus
This is a total of 22,800 miles.
| What are eligible 10X categories? |
Eligible 10X categories include all spending at online merchants (excluding travel), and offline spending at merchants with the following MCCs:
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Remember: the cap on 10X points is S$1,000 per statement month, so you’ll need to spread out your spending over the qualifying period to maximize your total miles.
Do note that if you want the sign up offer, you cannot apply through SingSaver. You must apply via the official Citibank website. If you prefer to get S$200 cash from SingsSaver instead, submit your application via this link.
The full T&C of this sign up bonus can be found here.
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 Executive Club, and Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles.
ThankYou points can be transferred to 11 different frequent flyer programs and 1 hotel partner at a 5:2 ratio.
| Transfer Ratio (Points: Miles) |
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5:2 |
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5:2 |
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5:2 |
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5:2 |
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5:2 |
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5:2 |
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5:2 |
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5:2 |
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5:2 |
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5:2 |
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5:2 |
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5:2 |
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 youโve 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 (S$25 each).
Conclusion
This is a great sign up bonus if you do not already hold a Citbank credit card, especially given the first year fee waiver.
However, do note that there are some important differences between the Citi Rewards Visa and Citi Rewards Mastercard- the latter does not earn any points for GrabPay top-ups. Also, Mastercard users have reported issues with getting 10X points on certain online transactions like Amazon, Guardian Online, and Deliveroo. It pays to monitor your points balance and call in as needed.
I’ve updated the credit card sign up bonus page to reflect this latest information.
Can people with rewards Visa now apply a new rewards MasterCard?
Hope the new online applies to MasterCard now with MasterCard as the only card.
You can, but you won’t get any bonus obviously.
Thanks. Okay for no bonus. Just have another card for 1K online. Did not want to go through the trouble to apply the MasterCard before. Now hope it is easy.
“Existing Citi Rewards Visa cardholders: donโt worry. A Citibank Singapore spokesperson has confirmed that existing cards can be used until expiry. Upon expiration, customer consent will be sought on conversion to a Mastercard, and points will be transferred over accordingly”
I applied Citi reward visa at the start of march. Looks like I might be among the last batch of Citi reward visa user XD