If you’re a Citi cardholder, you might be confused as to what exactly counts towards the minimum qualifying spend for welcome offers or card benefits.
That’s because Citi has two sets of T&Cs: one which governs the welcome offers/card benefits, and another which governs overall rewards exclusions. And they don’t sing the same tune!
Thankfully, I’ve managed to get some official clarification from Citi, so we can lay this matter to rest once and for all.
How does Citi define qualifying spend?
Inside the T&Cs for any Citi welcome offer (e.g. Citi Rewards Card 16,000 bonus miles, Citi PremierMiles Card 30,000 bonus miles, Citi Prestige Card 50,000 bonus miles) or card benefit (e.g. Citi Prestige limo rides), you’ll find the following clause:
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“Qualifying Spend” refers to any retail transactions (including internet purchases) which do not arise from: (i) any Equal Payment Plan (EPP) purchases |
| ❓ Bill Payments? |
| Since this gets asked a lot, I should state for the record that “bill payments made using the Eligible Card as a source of funds” does not refer to Citi PayAll, nor CardUp. |
However, Citi has a separate rewards exclusion list that mentions the usual suspects like education, insurance premiums, charitable donations and GrabPay top-ups.
| ❌ Citibank Rewards Exclusion List (exclusion by MCC) |
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| MCC | Description |
| MCC 6529 | Quasi Cash – Remote Stored Value Load – Financial Institute |
| MCC 6530 | Quasi Cash – Remote Stored Value Load – Merchant |
| MCC 6534 | Quasi Cash – Money Transfer – Member Financial Institution |
| MCC 6540 | Non-Financial Institutions – Stored Value Card Purchase/Load |
| MCC 7349 | Cleaning and Maintenance, Janitorial Services |
| MCC 7511 | Quasi Cash – Truck Stop Transactions |
| MCC 7523 | Parking Lots, Parking Meters and Garages |
| MCC 7800 | Government-Owned Lotteries (US Region only) |
| MCC 7995 | Betting, including Lottery Tickets, Casino Gaming Chips, Off– Track Betting, and Wagers at Race Tracks |
| MCC 4829 | Wire Transfer Money Orders (WTMOs) |
| MCC 4900 | Utilities – Electric, Gas, Water, and Sanitary |
| MCC 5199 | Nondurable Goods (Not Elsewhere Classified) |
| MCC 5960 | Direct Marketing – Insurance Services |
| MCC 6012 | Financial Institutions – Merchandise, Services, and Debt Repayment |
| MCC 6050 | Quasi Cash – Financial institutions, Merchandise, Services |
| MCC 6051 | Non-Financial Institutions – Foreign Currency, Money Orders (Not Wire Transfer), Stored Value Card/Load, Travelers Cheques, and Debt Repayment |
| MCC 6211 | Securities – Brokers and Dealers |
| MCC 6300 | Insurance Sales, Underwriting and Premiums |
| MCC 6513 | Real Estate Agents and Managers – Rentals |
| MCC 8211 | Elementary and Secondary Schools |
| MCC 8220 | Colleges, Junior Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools |
| MCC 8241 | Correspondence Schools |
| MCC 8244 | Business and Secretarial Schools |
| MCC 8249 | Vocational and Trade Schools |
| MCC 8299 | Schools and Educational Services (Not Elsewhere Classified) |
| MCC 8398 | Charitable and Social Service Organizations |
| MCC 8062 (except Citi ULTIMA) |
Hospitals |
| MCC 8651 | Political Organizations |
| MCC 8661 | Religious Organizations |
| MCC 9211 | Court Costs Including Alimony and Child Support |
| MCC 9222 | Fines |
| MCC 9223 | Bail and Bond Payments |
| MCC 9311 | Tax Payments |
| MCC 9399 | Government Services (Not Elsewhere Classified) |
| MCC 9402 | Postal Services – Government Only |
| MCC 9405 | U.S. Federal Government Agencies or Departments |
| MCC 9754 | Quasi Cash – Gambling – Horse Racing, Dog Racing, State Lotteries |
| MCC 5993 | Cigar Stores and Stands |
| ❌ Citibank Rewards Exclusion List (exclusion by transaction description) |
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This leads people to assume, quite reasonably I should add, that these transactions will also not count towards qualifying spend.
After all, the general rule is that if transaction X earns points, it should also count towards welcome offer spending. So if transaction X doesn’t earn points, it also shouldn’t count towards welcome offer spending.
That’s the case for other banks, but not Citi. I reached out to a Citi spokesperson, who confirmed that each list stands alone. In other words: transactions on the rewards exclusion list — to the extent they’re not also mentioned in the exclusions for qualifying spend — will not earn rewards, but will count towards qualifying spend.
For example, I could charge a S$800 insurance premium to my Citi PremierMiles Card and qualify for the current 30,000 miles welcome bonus, though I would not earn any base miles for my spending. Likewise, I could charge a S$12,000 hospital bill to my Citi Prestige Card and qualify for two complimentary airport limo transfers, with zero miles earned.
Is it worth doing so?
This brings us to the next question: is it worth doing so?
Well, to the extent you can’t earn rewards on a given transaction with your other cards, then you might as well charge it to a Citi card and get something out of it. There’s no opportunity cost in that scenario.
However, I also want to point out that not all commonly-excluded transactions are lost causes. It’s still possible to earn rewards for:
The bigger problem is that there’s very few cards left that do, and it may not make sense to get one of them just for a one-off transaction.
Moreover, you could choose to pay most of these transactions via Citi PayAll for a 2.2% fee, earn rewards in the process, and have it count towards your qualifying spend. That’s probably a more enticing proposition during one of the periodic offers, however. The most recent one just ended on 29 February 2024, and it may be a while before we see another one.
Conclusion
Citi has confirmed that transactions on the rewards exclusion list will count towards qualifying spend for welcome offers and card benefits, to the extent they’re not also mentioned on the qualifying spend exclusions.
While you won’t earn any base miles or points, it could still be worth it to secure a welcome offer, or want to unlock limo rides on the Citi Prestige Card. And if you don’t have any alternative card that would earn rewards on that particular transaction, you might as well.
To the extent that The Milelion shall remain a blog focused on miles and points, the use of such legalese is a fresh editorial direction!
I feel better to park all the general spends like simply go, insurance and education spend on the no rewards citi as the opportunity cost of 1.2-1.6 is still lower than specialised card rates
For Citi Prestige card holders, has anybody successfully signed up for the GHA Discovery Titanium tier membership? I tried registering for it and keep getting a card verification error. Called the Prestige hotline and they said they have no idea as well.
Does paying insurance online count as min spend when using Citi Credit Card still earn rewards?