Dang, I just checked my credit file, and it looks like I closed my last Citi ThankYou Premier card in June 2017. I still have my Citi Prestige card open (and can’t wait to see how they refresh it this month).

According to Citi’s rules, I’m not eligible to earn another bonus on a ThankYou card because I’ve opened OR closed a ThankYou card within the last 24 months. But man, if you’re eligible to apply for this offer, there is absolutely no reason you shouldn’t hop all over it – especially if you’re over 5/24.

I have some FOMO about this offer. Because this offer is an easy $900 toward travel.

Here’s my expert analysis. 🧐

Dat Citi ThankYou Premier 60,000 point offer tho

Right now, you can earn 60,000 Citi ThankYou points when you’re approved for the Citi ThankYou Premier card and spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.

This card earns:

• 3X Citi ThankYou points on travel, including gas stations
• 2X Citi ThankYou points on dining and entertainment
• 1X Citi ThankYou point on all other purchases

There is a $95 annual fee, but it’s waived the first year.

Each Citi ThankYou point is worth 1.25 cents each when you book travel through Citi. The sign-up bonus alone is worth $750 in airfare – on any airline, with no blackout dates.

But it’s that 3X category I really like. If you spend a lot on travel, or if you commute and spend a lot on gas, you can do well with this card. And if you complete all your minimum spending on travel and gas, you would:

• Earn the bonus of 60,000 Citi ThankYou points
• And earn an additional 12,000 Citi ThankYou points ($4,000 X 3)
• For a total of 72,000 Citi ThankYou points

Those points would be worth an astounding $900 (72,000 X 1.25) in airfare booked through Citi. That’s an excellent deal for a card with the annual fee waived the first year.

Even if all your minimum spending is in the 1X category, you’d earn 64,000 Citi ThankYou points – which are still worth $800 toward travel (64,000 X 1.25).

The Plastiq angle

• Link: Sign-up for Plastiq and get $500 dollars to spend fee-free

This card is a MasterCard – so you can use it to pay rent, mortgages, car notes, tuition, student loans, utility bills, and more with Plastiq.

If you used the ThankYou Premier card to make $4,000 worth of payments on Plastiq, their 2.5% fee would be $100 ($4,000 x 2.5%). Not bad. The cost of fees would eat into the value of your sign-up bonus, but it’s something to think about. Especially if you have trouble spending that much organically in a few months.

Now for the advanced level

You can also transfer Citi ThankYou points to 15 airline loyalty programs to book award flights:

• Avianca
• Asia Miles (Cathay Pacific)
• EVA Air
• Etihad Guest
• Flying Blue (Air France / KLM)
• Garuda Indonesia
• Jet Airways
• JetBlue
• Malaysia Airlines
• Qantas
• Qatar Airways
• Singapore Airlines
• Thai Airways
• Turkish Airlines
• Virgin Atlantic

They’re all at a 1:1 ratio, except JetBlue – which has a 5:4 ratio. And you have to transfer points in 1,000-point increments.

Look at those airlines. There’s nothing domestic with a 1:1 transfer. But there are some useful gems in there. To max them out, you have to get (or be) super geeky with your points.

That’s not to say there aren’t easy wins. You could transfer to:

• Singapore Airlines and fly to Hawaii on United for 35,000 miles round-trip in coach (you can book this on Singapore’s site)
• Flying Blue for cheap domestic travel on Delta (price varies, but they have a calculator – you can book on the Air France site)
• Etihad for cheap hops to/from Brussels for 5,000 or 7,000 miles each way (must call to book and takes about a week for the transfer)
• Virgin Atlantic to fly from East Coast to London for 20,000 miles round-trip in coach (there are fuel surcharges, but could be helpful for expensive flights)
• Qantas for hops around Australia, or save your points and fly Emirates First Class
• Avianca for cheap flights with Star Alliance partners

Of all Citi’s partner airlines, I’ve personally used Singapore Airlines and Flying Blue the most. Oh, and Etihad.

Citi ThankYou points definitely have particular uses. They aren’t as user-friendly as, say, Chase Ultimate Rewards points. That said, this offer is a nice way to boost your points balance. And you can never have enough flexible points!

Plus, you can easily get more than $1,000 in value when you transfer points, depending on your redemption.

Bottom line

You bet your tuchus I’d hop all over this offer if I could. For those who haven’t opened OR closed another ThankYou card in the past 24 months, this is an easy way to add 60,000 Citi ThankYou points to your account.

The $95 annual fee is waived the first year. But it’s also one of the few cards with a solid 3X category for gas station spending. If you spend a lot on gas, that might make it a long-term keeper.

Depending on how you spend and redeem, this offer is easily worth $800, $900, or even over $1,000 in value toward airfare. And keep in mind, you can still use MasterCards to pay mortgages (and most other bills) via Plastiq.

This is also an easy win if you’re over 5/24 and looking for a nice bonus to earn. The only reason to NOT get in this offer would be if you wanna see what the new Citi Prestige refresh will be – because getting this offer will preclude you from earning another ThankYou card bonus for 2 years. If you have no interest in the Prestige card (or have already had one for over 2 years), now’s the time to rack up some more ThankYou points.

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