Back in August 2023, Citibank launched a brand new welcome promotion for the Citi Prestige Card, which offered up to 71,000 miles to cardholders who paid the S$540 annual fee and spent S$1,000 in local currency & S$1,000 in foreign currency within two months of approval.
This offer, which is open to both new and existing Citi credit cardholders, was originally due to lapse on 31 October 2023, but has now been extended till 29 February 2024.
Citi Prestige 71,000 miles sign-up offer
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| Apply here |
| T&Cs |
From 1 November 2023 to 29 February 2024, new Citi Prestige cardholders can earn up to 177,500 bonus ThankYou points (equivalent to 71,000 miles) by completing the following:
| TY Points | Miles | |
| Pay S$540 annual fee | 62,500 | 25,000 |
| Spend S$1,000 in local currency | 57,500 | 23,000 |
| Spend S$1,000 in foreign currency | 57,500 | 23,000 |
| 177,500 | 71,000 |
For avoidance of doubt, all components of this offer are independent. In other words, you can choose to spend S$1,000 in local currency for 23,000 bonus miles, S$1,000 in foreign currency for 23,000 bonus miles, or S$1,000 each in local and foreign currency for 46,000 miles.
This offer is valid for anyone who has not cancelled a Citi Prestige Card in the past 12 months. You are eligible even if you currently hold another principal Citi card.
Assuming that meeting the minimum spend is not an issue, you’re basically paying a S$540 annual fee for 71,000 bonus miles, which works out to a very competitive rate of 0.76 cents per mile.
Don’t forget that the bonus points are awarded on top of the regular base earn rate, so all in all you’re looking at 74,300 miles, broken down into:
- 25,000 bonus miles for paying the S$540 annual fee
- 23,000 bonus miles & 1,300 base miles for spending S$1,000 in local currency
- 23,000 bonus miles & 2,000 base miles for spending S$1,000 in foreign currency
What counts as qualifying spending?
The S$1,000 local and foreign currency spend must be made within the first two months from approval, defined as the period starting from approval date till the end of the second calendar month after that.
For example, if the card is approved on 15 November 2023, the qualifying period runs from 15 November 2023 to 31 January 2024.
In other words, you actually have 2-3 months to hit the minimum spend, and should apply as early in the month as possible to maximise your time.
Qualifying spend excludes the following:
| โ Qualifying Spend Exclusions |
| (i) any Equal Payment Plan (EPP) purchases, (ii) refunded/disputed/unauthorised/fraudulent retail purchases, (iii) Quick Cash and other instalment loans, (iv) Citi PayLite/Citi Flexibill/cash advance/quasi-cash transactions/balance transfers/annual card membership fees/interest/goods and services taxes, (v) bill payments made using the Eligible Card as a source of funds, (vi) late payment fees and (vii) any other form of service/ miscellaneous fees (vii) Citi PayAll transactions where the customer is not charged the Citi PayAll service fee |
Amaze transactions will count toward qualifying spend (with a handful of exceptions for transit), but remember they’ll all be processed in local currency, so you’ll need to find another way to meet the S$1,000 minimum foreign currency spend.
Citi PayAll transactions will count towards qualifying spend, but only if the admin fee is paid. Prior to 2 May 2023, even no-fee payments would count as qualifying spend!
Citi PayAll currently supports the following payments:
| ๐ฐ Citi PayAll: Supported Payments | |
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Citi is currently offering 1.8 mpd on all Citi PayAll transactions, subject to a minimum spend of S$8,000 from now till 29 February 2024. This represents an opportunity to buy miles at 1.22 cents each (given a 2.2% admin fee), while meeting the minimum local spend for the sign-up offer.
For the full details, refer to the article below.
Citi PayAll offering 1.8 mpd on all payments; buy miles at 1.2 cents each
When will the miles be credited?
Bonus points will be credited within three calendar months from the end of the qualifying spend period.
For example, if your card is approved in November 2023, your qualifying spend period ends 31 January 2024 and the points will be credited by 30 April 2024.
Terms and conditions
The T&Cs of this offer can be found here.
What can you do with ThankYou points?
ThankYou points earned on the Citi Prestige Card never expire, and can be transferred to a total of 11 different transfer partners.
Points can be transferred to miles in blocks of 25,000 Thank You points (10,000 miles). There are some great sweet spots with programmes like British Airways Executive Club, Turkish Miles&Smiles, and Qatar Privilege Club.
| Partner | Transfer Ratio (ThankYou Points: Miles) |
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25,000:10,000 |
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25,000:10,000 |
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25,000:10,000 |
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25,000:10,000 |
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25,000:10,000 |
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25,000:10,000 |
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25,000:10,000 |
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25,000:10,000 |
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25,000:10,000 |
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25,000:10,000 |
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25,000:10,000 |
Transfers cost a flat S$27, regardless of the number of points converted.
Citibank does not pool points across cards, so if you have both a Citi Prestige and Citi Rewards, for example, you’ll need to pay two conversion fees.
Citi Prestige Overview
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| Apply Here | |||
| Income Req. | S$120,000 p.a. | Points Validity | No expiry |
| Annual Fee | S$540 |
Min. Transfer |
25,000 TY points (10,000 miles) |
| FCY Fee | 3.25% | Transfer Fee | S$27 |
| Local Earn | 1.3 mpd | Points Pool? | No |
| FCY Earn | 2 mpd |
Lounge Access? | Yes |
| Special Earn | N/A | Airport Limo? | Yes |
| Cardholder Terms and Conditions | |||
The Citi Prestige Card earns 1.3 mpd on local transactions and 2 mpd on foreign currency transactions, which can be further buffed through a “relationship bonus” described below.
| ๐ซ Relationship Bonus | ||||||||
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The Citi Prestige card features a “relationship bonus” which awards 5-30% more points depending on your tenure with Citibank, and whether you have Citigold status. Contrary to popular belief, a 5% bonus does not mean you earn 1.3 * 1.05 = 1.37 mpd. Instead, the relationship bonus percentage is applied to your overall dollar spend amount to derive bonus points. For example, if you spend S$10,000 in a year with a 5% bonus, you get 5% * 10,000= 500 bonus points, or a paltry 200 miles. The bump in mpd is a mere 0.02! Here’s how much you can earn on local/overseas spending with the relationship bonus:
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Cardholders enjoy perks like unlimited lounge access (+1 guest), and complimentary airport limo transfers with a minimum spend of S$12,000 per calendar quarter. They will also receive the 4th night free on any hotel booking made through the Citi Prestige concierge, so there’s definitely ways to recover your annual fee.
Other perks include 1-for-1 dining offers at high-end restaurants in Singapore, complimentary golf games, and complimentary travel insurance when using the card to pay for air tickets (or taxes and surcharges on award tickets).
| Accidental Death | S$1,000,000 |
| Medical Expenses | S$50,000 |
| Travel Inconvenience | Flight Delay: S$400 Baggage Delay: S$400 Lost Baggage: S$1,000 |
| Policy Wording | |
For my updated review of the Citi Prestige Card, be sure to check out the post below.
I’ve also done an update to the annual $120K credit card showdown piece, which benchmarks the Citi Prestige to other competitors in its segment like the HSBC Visa Infinite and OCBC VOYAGE.
Conclusion
Citibank has extended the Citi Prestige Card’s welcome offer, with new cardholders enjoying up to 71,000 bonus miles when they spend S$1,000 in local currency and S$1,000 in foreign currency within two months of approval, and pay the S$540 annual fee.
This works out to paying 0.76 cents per mile, even less once you factor in the value of the lounge, limo and other benefits.
Existing Citi cardholders are eligible too, so be sure to sign up by 29 February 2024 if you’re interested.
Just to clarify, so if I get the card approved in October, will have till end of DECEMBER 2023 to hit the 1000 local and 1000 FCY spend? Correct?
Correct. From the paragraph “For example, if the card is approved on 15 August 2023, the qualifying period runs from 15 August 2023 to 31 October 2023.
In other words, you actually have 2-3 months to hit the minimum spend, and should apply as early in the month as possible to maximise your time. “
Meanwhile nothing for loyal exisiting prestige card holders as always…..
I will always cancel after a year. Banks in Singapore do not value loyalty – they are all about on boarding “new” customers.
sian i can’t even apply… need to enter 10k in the field during application …. any workarounds? i don’t mind putting a 10k fd, but i will need to convert all my cards to secured cards which i don’t want to….
Same here. Would love to take advantage of the sign up promo but I dont earn the minimum required but around 6 digits after bonus factored in.
Had no problems applying DBS and UOB 120K cards and got them approved.
I hold a few cards with them for a long time so not sure if they can make an exception and issue me this.
so take this with a grain of salt, but from what i hear the lowest they will go for income is $115k.
however, you do have the option of a secured version of the card. i think you need to visit a branch to get this done though
This just proves my decision to keep the card recently, rather than cancel it was wrong. Clearly you are better to cancel the card and then subsequently get it again as a new card. No free miles for those who keep the card!
if i read the TC, paying road tax counts for the S$1,000 local spend. Am i correct?
Cancel the card today. Can get it again in Oct to enjoy this benefit?
Can I ask what the best way is to meet the $1,000 foreign currency spend if we are not traveling? Can this be fulfilled via online stores from other countries?
I was wondering about this as well. Can it be online spend in foreign currency
hi would medical expenses qualify?
wanted to sign up today but after clicking on apply now, a pop up window appears to select the offer and its still showing the old offer of 120k TY points that expired on 31st July. Called the customer service and the agent insisted that its the same promo while I see totally different T&Cs and requirements. And she had no internet access to see what i am trying to tell her. Though I am quite sure its just a matter of page not updated, wanted to be sure i will get the latest welcome package
yeah Citi has not gotten around to updating their pages (surprise surprise)- but the T&Cs are quite unambiguous.
It the card made from metal?
When does the annual fee get charged to the card, so that we can make the payment to get the miles?
Hi Aaron, would you know if online transactions in foreign currency count towards the 1k? Thanks much
Hi Aaron, have you experienced before the bank approving the promo (new-to-card) if one has cancelled the card 6 months ago?
how does one fulfil the $1000 foreign currency spend requirement from Singapore?
since “qualifying spend” exclusion is only a short list, is it safe to assume that GrabPay topups (which are not in that exclusion list) are also counted in the 1k qualifying spend? Haha
Have recently sign up for the card via the secured card method. But because the secured method only allow physical application. I will have to head to the bank and sign up. But from the TNC it says that only online and app application then can received the sign up reward. But i was told from the bank agent , physical application can also received. Anybody can confirm this ? Thanks ๐๐ผ
If i get the card approved in February 2024, will the qualifying period be till end April 2024? Even though the sign up for this is by 29 Feb 2024?
wondering about this too. in the T&Cs, โQualifying Periodโ refers to the period starting from the Eligible Card approval date to the end of that calendar month (โFirst Monthโ) and, two full calendar months immediately after the end of that First Month. Example: if the Eligible Card is approved on 15 November 2023, the Qualifying Period will be from 15 November 2023 (i.e. card approval date) to 31 January 2024 (i.e. two full calendar months starting from December 2023), both dates inclusive.
Hello, saw your recent post that Citi is nerfing hospital from its list. Is will payment to Mount Alvernia qualify as eligible spend in this case?
TIA!
Great write up. Hey would a supplementary card holder(wife) enjoy the perks as well? Specifically Airport lounge access
Supplementary card holders don’t get the unlimited visit benefit
Hi ML, i am still unclear on the overseas spend requirement. How would you clock that? I do worry if my assumption of certain online transactions end up as local spend instead.