Can you reinstate expired Citi ThankYou Points?

Contrary to popular belief, ThankYou Points earned on the Citi Rewards Card aren’t valid for five years. They’re valid for up to five years, because of a quirk in how the bank’s systems track points expiration.

This can easily catch many cardholders off guard, hence the need for Citi to post this clarification on the Citi Rewards Card’s website.

But what if, in spite of everything, you miss the memo and your points expire. Is it too late to do anything about it? 

Recap: Citi ThankYou Points expiry policy

ThankYou Points earned on the Citi Rewards Card are valid for 60 months from the date card opening, plus a further grace period of 3 months.

For example, if you were approved for a Citi Rewards Card on 15 October 2022:

• All points earned between 15 October 2022 to 14 October 2027 will be valid till 14 January 2028 (60 months + 3 months grace)
• On 15 October 2027, a new validity period will begin
• All points earned between 15 October 2027 to 14 October 2032 will be valid till 14 January 2033 (60 months + 3 months grace) 

In other words, your Citi Rewards points will be valid anywhere from 3 months to 63 months. Thank goodness for that three months grace period, because otherwise, some of your points could be valid for literally one day!

Citi Miles, and ThankYou Points earned on the Citi ULTIMA and Citi Prestige Card do not expire.

My experience with points reinstatement

While it used to be possible to check the expiry date of points via the Citi ThankYou Rewards portal, this was shut down in February 2024 and Citi has yet to port the functionality to its app.

In the meantime, customers are told to monitor their e-Statements for points expiry. The problem though, is that e-Statements don’t actually show points expiry dates. They only alert you if you have points expiring in the next three months.

Besides, not everyone checks their e-Statements regularly. I usually browse my credit card transactions through internet banking, rather than generating and downloading an e-Statement.

So guess who missed the reminder?

Apparently, my Citi Rewards Visa’s points validity period ended in February 2025, which means that three months later on 12 May 2025, all my 43,431 unredeemed points from February 2020 to February 2025 expired. Ouch.

Fortunately, I remembered that members of the MileChat had reported success with appealing for points reinstatement. The reinstatement amount used to be 80%, but apparently 100% reinstatements are now offered.

I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try, so I called up the hotline and was told that they’d submit a request and update me by SMS with 3-5 working days. It actually took two weeks and several follow ups, but finally I received the good news that 100% of my expired points would be reinstated, with a further 3-month validity.

We are delighted to inform you that our request has been approved. The 43,431.00 Points will be reflected on your account in 3-5 working days.

We encourage you to please make a redemption once the point are reinstatement. This is a one-time goodwill reinstatement will only be valid for 3 months and the points expiry date will align with your statement cycle date. Kindly note that there will be no further extension after this round of extension.

-Citibank

So I guess that counts as a happy ending (fnar fnar), but it’s important to note that points reinstatement is an unofficial policy, and Citi could discontinue it at any time. I certainly wouldn’t recommend relying on this coming to your rescue, so try to be a bit more vigilant than I was.

Conclusion

Citi Rewards Cardholders whose points have expired can contact the bank to request a reinstatement, subject to approval. In my experience, I managed to get a 100% reinstatement, and other members of The MileLion Community have reported similar success. 

Of course, it’s better not to let your points expire in the first place, and the sooner Citi adds the ability to check points expiry on its app the better.