PSA: The Citi Rewards Card’s strange expiry policy

Pop quiz: How long do you think the ThankYou Points earned on your Citi Rewards Card are valid for?

If you said “five years” and thought that was a silly question — after all, Citi says as much on their website (or at least they used to) — you’d be wrong. 

You see, Citi has a very unusual policy when it comes to the Citi Rewards Card. Points aren’t valid for five years; they’ve valid for up to five years, with a further three month grace period at the end of that.

This quirk can easily catch you off guard if you’re not aware of it, so read on and be informed!

The Citi Rewards Card’s expiry policy

If you have a Citi PremierMiles, Citi ULTIMA or Citi Prestige Card, you have little to be concerned about. The Citi Miles and ThankYou Points earned on these three cards never expire, so long as the card account remains open. 

However, the Citi Rewards Card works differently. Inside the T&Cs, you’ll find this clause regarding points validity. 

A casual reading might lead to the conclusion that points are valid for 60 months, or five years, but that’s not the case at all. Let’s read on.

In fact, there’s a 60-month “points validity period” that commences from the approval date. After the end of this 60-month period, there’s a further 3 month grace period, after which all the points earned in that initial 60-month period expire!

In other words:

ThankYou points earned on the Citi Rewards Card expire five years (plus a 3-month grace period) from card approval or renewal date, not from when the points are earned!

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)

The validity of ThankYou points earned on the Citi Rewards Card is therefore anywhere from 3 months to 63 months.

How do I check when my points expire?

In the past, it was possible to check the expiry of your ThankYou points via the Citi ThankYou Rewards portal.

Unfortunately, the portal was retired in February 2024, and Citi has yet to introduce similar functionality to its mobile app.

Instead, customers are advised to monitor their e-Statement, where they’ll be alerted to points expiring within the next three months.

Back when all Citi cards had a validity of five years, you could also derive the points expiry date by check the expiry date of your card, then adding three months to it (since a new card would be issued every time a points validity period ended).

However, more recent reports say that newly-issued Citi cards have a validity of three years, so this is no longer a reliable way of doing things. Also, if your card has been replaced due to loss or fraudulent transactions, your revised card’s expiry year will be out of sync with the points validity cycle.

If you’ve forgotten your points validity cycle, my advice is to call up Citi (or use the Live Chat feature), get the expiry date, and set calendar reminders at five-year intervals. It’s a bit of work, but just a one-time exercise.

What to do with expiring ThankYou points?

If you’ve just learned that your Citi Rewards points are expiring sooner than you thought, here’s your options for spending them.

Conversion to airline miles (via Citi)

Ideally, you should be converting as many of your ThankYou points to airline miles as possible.  Citi has 10 airline partners and one hotel partner (but please, don’t transfer your points there as it’s terrible value), with transfers available at the following ratios.

Frequent Flyer Programme	Conversion Ratio (ThankYou Points: Partner)
	25,000: 10,000
	25,000: 10,000
	25,000: 10,000
	25,000: 10,000
	25,000: 10,000
	25,000: 10,000
	25,000: 10,000
	25,000: 10,000
	25,000: 10,000
	25,000: 10,000
	25,000: 10,000

All transfers have a S$27.25 conversion fee.

Conversion to airline miles (via Kris+)

Given that transfers to mileage programmes are in blocks of 10,000 miles, it’s quite likely you’ll have some ThankYou points leftover.

Fortunately, ever since October 2021, Kris+ has offered ThankYou points to KrisFlyer miles conversions, with a smaller minimum block of 10,000 points = 3,400 miles

Bank	Transfer Ratio
	10,000 TYP: 3,400 miles

Transfers are instant and do not have conversion fees, but do note you’ll take a 15% haircut compared to using the Citibank transfer portal. For further details, refer to the post below.

Kris+ adds instant KrisFlyer transfers from Citi credit card points

Pay with Points

If you still have leftover expiring points, then your only remaining choice will be to cash out via Pay with Points, which offers a rate of 4,400 points = S$10. That’s very poor value, equivalent to 0.57 cents per mile, but it still beats nothing!

To do this, open your Citi mobile app, navigate to your points balance and select Pay with Points. You’ll then see a list of transactions that you can redeem with points. 

What if my points expire?

If you allow your Citi ThankYou Points to expire by mistake, don’t give up! It might be possible to request a reinstatement. 

Members of the MileChat have reported receiving a 100% reinstatement upon appeal, with a further three-month validity. 

It’s important to note that points reinstatement is an unofficial policy, and Citi could discontinue it at any time, so don’t rely on this coming to your rescue. 

Standard Chartered does the same thing

If this policy sounds oddly familiar, it might be because Standard Chartered has a similar expiry policy for 360° Rewards Points. These are valid for up to three years, and even worse- there’s no grace period. In an extreme example, whatever points the cardholder below earns on 31 December 2022 will expire on 1 January 2023!

At least 360° Rewards Points earned on the Standard Chartered Visa Infinite or X Card never expire.

Conclusion

ThankYou points earned on the Citi Rewards Card are valid for up to five years (plus a 3-month grace period), not five years as you might otherwise think. Note down your expiry date today, and remember to cash out your balance before then.

Don’t get caught out!