Citi Credit Cards offering 3.25% cash rebate on foreign currency spend

Citibank has launched a new targeted promotion for selected Citi Credit Cards, which offers a 3.25% cash rebate on foreign currency spend (whether in-person or online) till 30 June 2023. 

Gearing up to travel soon? You can now offset your foreign transaction fee when you spend your next holiday with Citi Credit Cards, Enrol now and make a min. of S$3,000 in combined foreign currency spend with your eligible Citi Credit Cards and receive 3.25% cash rebate.

-Citibank

A minimum FCY spend of S$3,000 is required, and a spending cap of S$6,000 applies. 

Unfortunately, the Citi PremierMiles Card is excluded, which leaves the Citi Rewards Card as the sole option of interest to miles chasers.

Earn 3.25% rebate on FCY spend with Citi Credit Cards

This offer is targeted, and requires registration. To see if you’re eligible, login to the Citi Mobile App and tap on “Get More” at the bottom. Scroll down and look for the banner above to register.

From 19 April to 30 June 2023, registered Citi cardholders will receive a 3.25% cash rebate on all FCY spend (both in-person or online), subject to a minimum FCY spend of S$3,000 and capped at S$6,000 throughout the entire promotion period. 

In other words, the maximum rebate that can be earned is S$195.

This offer is valid for the following cards:

• Citi Cash Back Card
• Citi Cash Back+ Card
• Citi Lazada Card
• Citi M1 Credit Card
• Citi Rewards Card
• Citi SMRT Credit Card

Note the exclusion of the Citi PremierMiles Card, which already has its own separate offer for 4 mpd on in-person FCY spend with a minimum spend of S$5,000. Also note that Citi is running a separate 3.25% rebate offer for the Citi Prestige Card (which has already hit its registration cap).

For avoidance of doubt, the S$3,000 minimum spend can be combined across different cards. To illustrate:

When will the cash rebate be credited?

Eligible cardholders who have fulfilled the qualifying criteria will receive their 3.25% cash rebate by 30 September 2023.

If you have spent across multiple cards, the entire cash rebate will be credited to the card with the highest FCY spend amount. 

Do note that Citibank generally doesn’t have a good track record of keeping to its fulfilment timelines, so it’s possible you might be waiting longer than this.

What spending does not qualify?

Qualifying spend for this promotion includes all FCY transactions (whether in-person or online), excluding Citi’s usual rewards exclusion categories such as:

• Charitable donations
• Education expenses
• Financial institutions
• Government transactions
• Insurance premiums
• Prepaid account top-ups

A full list of excluded transactions can be found here. 

Qualifying spend will be determined by transaction date based on Singapore time (GMT+8), so be careful about spending on the last day of the offer!

Terms & Conditions

The T&Cs for the FCY spend promotion can be found here.

Is the offer worth it?

I’m only going to look at the Citi Rewards Card, since it’s the only one miles chasers would be interested in.

Here’s how much it normally costs to use your Citi Rewards Card for foreign currency spending, based on the regular FCY earn rate and fee. 

	FCY Earn Rate	FCY Fee	CPM
Citi Rewards	4.0*	3.25%	0.81
*On online transactions (except travel) and offline shopping transactions only, otherwise 0.4 mpd

Citi Rewards Cardholders earn 4 mpd on online transactions (excluding travel) and offline shopping transactions in FCY, so you’re basically paying 0.81 cents per mile (ignoring the spread charged by Mastercard/Visa, which varies by currency but tends to be ~0.3%). 

With a 3.25% rebate, the miles essentially become free (again, ignoring the Mastercard/Visa spreads), provided you meet the S$3,000 minimum spend.

But what if your normal strategy is to pair the Citi Rewards Card with Amaze? The Citi Rewards Card will earn 4 mpd with Amaze (except on travel-related transactions), and you’ll pay an implicit FCY fee of ~1.5% due to the spread Amaze charges above Mastercard’s rates. 

You’re basically choosing between: 

• Use Citi Rewards Card: 4 mpd on online transactions and offline shopping, with 0% fee
• Use Amaze + Citi Rewards Card: 4 mpd on online and offline transactions, with 1.5% fee (less InstaPoint rebates of up to 1%)

If I knew I could hit the minimum spend, I’d lean towards using the Citi Rewards Card directly in order to enjoy the “free” miles (keeping in mind to spend just S$1,000 in April, May and June to avoid breaching the 4 mpd cap).

Otherwise, the Amaze + Citi Rewards Card would be a safer option. Keep in mind: this pairing earns 4 mpd on both online and offline transactions of all sorts, excluding travel-related transactions such as airline tickets and hotel bills. If you use the Citi Rewards Card directly, you’re limited to online transactions and offline shopping transactions.

Conclusion

Citi Credit Cardholders should check their Citi Mobile App and see if they’ve been targeted for a 3.25% cash rebate offer on foreign currency spend, available with a minimum spend of S$3,000 and capped at S$6,000.

If you’re able to spend this exclusively in the Citi Reward Card’s bonus categories, it could be a good deal indeed.