New Citi PayAll promo: Get up to S$200 cashback on recurring payments

Citibank has been throwing some serious money at Citi PayAll this year, with promotion after promotion. We just saw the conclusion of an uber-generous 2.5 mpd campaign, which could be further stacked with offers like S$100 cashback and S$200 GrabFood vouchers. Sensational stuff. 

Sure enough, Citibank has just launched another Citi PayAll promotion, offering S$120 cashback for customers making recurring payments, plus an additional S$80 cashback for new Citi PayAll users making their first transaction. 

S$120 cashback on Citi PayAll recurring payments

From 8 September to 31 December 2021, Citi PayAll customers who schedule recurring payments of at least six consecutive months and a minimum of S$1,500 per month will receive S$120 cashback.

The following cards are eligible for this offer:

• Citi ULTIMA Card
• Citi Prestige Card
• Citi PremierMiles Card
• Citi Cash Back+ Card
• Citi Cash Back Card
• Citi Rewards Card
• Citi Lazada Card

The first payment in the series must happen by 31 December 2021, but the subsequent five can come after 31 December 2021 if you wish. 

For comparison’s sake, this isn’t nearly as generous as the offer we saw from June to September, where customers who made six recurring payments of at least S$500 per month received S$100 cashback. Citi has tripled the minimum spend, while increasing the reward by only 20%. 

That said, it’s still useful for anyone with recurring payments to make. As a reminder, Citi PayAll supports the following recurring payments:

• Education expenses
• Insurance premiums
• Membership
• Misc. payments (e.g. parking, storage, utilities, wedding expenses)
• Rent

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to pay income tax with this offer, because Citi PayAll does not support recurring payments to IRAS. If you have taxes to settle, consider CardUp’s special promo for Milelion readers, which offers a 1.75% fee for a one-time payment of any amount, up to the total tax due. 

Even so, it should be fairly easy to find some kind of payment to make, given the broad definition of “misc. payments”. There’s even a category called “travel expenses”, which lets you transfer money into someone’s personal bank account.

The only caveat is that there may be income tax implications for the receiving party, depending on the nature of the payment- but in any case, IRAS doesn’t tax annual income that falls below the S$20,000 mark. 

Eligible customers will receive S$120 in the form of a statement credit within 12 weeks from the end of the promotion period. 

The T&C of the offer can be found here. 

What’s the cost per mile?

Assuming you make the minimum payment of S$1,500 per month for six months, you’ll be paying the following fees:

With S$9,000 worth of payments and S$60 in net fees, here’s the applicable cost per mile depending on your card:

Card	Earn Rate	Miles (S$9K payment)	CPM (S$60 fee)
Citi ULTIMA	1.6 mpd	14,400	0.42
Citi Prestige	1.3 mpd	11,700	0.51
Citi PremierMiles	1.2 mpd	10,800	0.56

These are fantastic prices to pay for miles, especially now that we’ve got a way to burn them through VTL travel. 

S$80 cashback for new Citi PayAll customers

If you haven’t made a Citi PayAll transaction before, you’ll receive a bonus S$80 cashback when you make at least one transaction by 31 December 2021. 

There’s no requirement that this be part of a recurring series, although you could obviously set one up and stack it with the S$120 cashback offer described above. 

The S$80 cashback will be credited in the form of a statement credit, also within 12 weeks from the end of the promotion period. 

Is it worth it?

Yes. 

Remember, you’re not just buying KrisFlyer miles; Citibank points can be transferred to 11 different frequent flyer programs, including some with great sweet spots like Etihad Guest, British Airways Executive Club, and Turkish Miles&Smiles. Even the newly-revitalised Qatar Privilege Club might be a good bet.

💳 Citibank Transfer Partners
For a full list of transfer partners, refer to this article

Assuming you opt for plain vanilla KrisFlyer miles, here’s the range of value you can get when redeeming them:

That’s well above the 0.42-0.56 cents per mile you’d be paying through this promotion. 

Conclusion

Citibank isn’t shy about splashing the cash on PayAll, and this latest promotion offers a great opportunity to buy some cheap miles all the way till the end of 2021. Don’t forget to cancel your existing PayAll series and set it up again, because the offer will not be automatically applied to existing setups. 

Like I said before, I don’t know where the funds for all this are coming from, but this is the bank that could offer an uncapped 8 mpd on Apple Pay, and you shouldn’t look a gift horse in any orifice.