Citi® ThankYou rewards is the program Citi offers for its rewards credit card customers. Flexible, lucrative and easy to use, ThankYou points can be converted to cash back, statement credits or — to really maximize your earnings — used for travel through the Citi portal or any of Citi’s travel partners.
What Are Citi ThankYou Points?
Citi offers ThankYou points as rewards for many of their credit cardholders as well as some qualified checking account holders. As of July 18, 2022, Citi discontinued its ThankYou program for new Citi checking account holders. However, if you already have a ThankYou account linked to your Citi checking account, opened prior to July 17, 2022, you can continue to accrue and redeem points.
When it’s time to redeem points, you can cash them in for:
- Statement credits
- Charity donations
- Online bill payments
- Payments toward a linked mortgage or student loan
- Shopping through certain retailers
- Gas
- Gift cards
- Travel
You can redeem points at ThankYou.com. The rate at which you earn points — as well as how many points you can earn per year — varies depending on the Citi card you have.
Do Citi ThankYou Points Expire?
Your ThankYou points never expire if you use certain Citi cards, including some AT&T branded Citi cards, the Citi Prestige card, Citi Rewards+, Citi ThankYou Preferred and Citi Premier. Other cards may have expiration dates of up to 5 years from the day you earned the points.
Accessing Your ThankYou Points
The Citi ThankYou portal is intuitive and easy to use. You can check your points balance online and redeem points through the portal or through partner websites if you are using the “Shop with Points” feature.
Make sure to budget carefully and pay off your balance as quickly as possible to avoid interest charges. If you miss a payment on your Citi credit card, you may not be allowed to redeem ThankYou points until the account is brought current with the minimum payment due. You may have to call Citi or go online to request to have your points reinstated.
Cards That Offer Citi ThankYou Points
Since ThankYou points are Citi’s rewards program, any Citi rewards credit card is eligible to earn ThankYou points. Cards that use the ThankYou points reward system include:
- Citi Rewards+: 2x points at supermarkets and gas stations for the first $6,000 per year, 1x on other purchases, 10% points back on redemptions, round up to the nearest 10 points on every purchase
- Citi Premier: 3x points at restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, air travel and hotels, 1x all other purchases
- AT&T Points Plus Card: 3x points at gas stations, 2x points at grocery stores, 1x on other purchases
Additionally, the Citi Double Cash and Custom Cash cards offer cash back in the form of ThankYou Points. There are also several recently-discontinued cards that still earn points if you got the card before it was discontinued, such as the Citi ThankYou Preferred card and Premier Pass/Expedia cards. There are Citi business credit cards that reward you with ThankYou points, as well.
It’s important to read the fine print on your card to determine exclusions and limits to the points you can earn. This is just an overview of what’s available and which cards you may want to consider as the best for earning and redeeming Citi ThankYou rewards.
How Much Are Citi ThankYou Points Worth?
In general, it’s safe to say that Citi ThankYou points could be worth up to 1 cent per point. But the points can be worth as little as 0.5 cents per point if you redeem them for cash back or a statement credit. Additionally, the points might be worth more if you redeem them for travel through a partner airline.
Ways To Redeem Your Citi ThankYou Points
There are several ways to redeem your points. Here are the details.
Redeem ThankYou Points for Statement Credits
- Worth: $0.005 per point
It’s easy to redeem your ThankYou points for a statement credit through Citi’s Pay with Points program. Keep in mind that applying your points to your credit card balance will not count toward your minimum monthly payment. But, you will save on interest and potentially pay down your balance faster.
Redeeming ThankYou points for a statement credit isn’t the most lucrative way to use your points, though. You would need 10,000 ThankYou points for a $50 statement credit, which means each point is worth only half a cent.
Redeem ThankYou Points as Charitable Donations
- Worth: $0.005 per point
You can also make a charitable contribution using your ThankYou points. Again, each point is only worth half a penny when you choose this option. It is better to make donations to your favorite charities in cash and use your ThankYou points in a way that they will have more value.
If you’re interested in using credit card rewards to make charitable donations, you might consider one of the best cash back credit cards like the Citi Double Cash card and donating the cash back you earn, instead.
Redeem Toward Online Bill Pay Through Citi
- Worth: $0.01 per point
If you have a Citi checking account and you use it to pay your bills online, you can redeem your ThankYou points toward paying those bills. You’ll get one cent per point when you choose this option. If you don’t have enough points to pay your entire bill, you can split the payment between points and cash.
You can’t use points to pay for recurring payments or express payments. But if you are running short one month and need to pay something like your electric bill or cell phone bill, cashing in your points may help.
Redeem for Mortgage Payments or Student Loans
- Worth: $0.01 per point
Just like using your points for online bill pay, you can also redeem points to make a mortgage or student loan payment. Again, you’ll get one cent per point, which isn’t the best return, but it’s better than a statement credit or cash back.
Using this option can help you keep your credit in good standing by avoiding a late payment.
Redeem for Shopping
- Worth: $0.008 per point
Citi’s “Shop with Points” program allows you to use your ThankYou points for purchases at select online retail partners, including Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, CVS, 1-800-Flowers and even PayPal — which means you can pay with points at any retailer that accepts PayPal as a form of payment.
To pay with points, choose an online retailer through the ThankYou portal, place your items in the shopping cart and, at checkout, choose ThankYou points as your form of payment. If you use PayPal to pay, you will be redirected to PayPal.
To use your points on Amazon, add a Citi rewards card to your Amazon account. You’ll have the option to pay with your ThankYou points for all or part of your purchase.
ThankYou points are worth roughly 0.80 cents — just under a penny — per point when you use them on Amazon and other e-commerce sites. That means using your ThankYou points for shopping provides a better value than redeeming them for a statement credit, but not as good as some other options.
Save on Gas
- Worth: $0.008 per point
When you fill up your fuel tank at BP, Amoco or Shell gas stations, you can redeem your ThankYou points for up to 50 cents off per gallon, up to a total value of $10. As with “Shop with Points,” your ThankYou points are worth 0.8 cents when you redeem for gas savings.
Redeem for Gift Cards
- Worth: $0.01 per point
Cashing in ThankYou points for gift cards is a popular way to make your points go a little further. In general, one point is worth one cent when you redeem for gift cards, so 10,000 points would get you a $100 gift card at hundreds of retail stores, websites, restaurants and even services like Spotify or Airbnb.
You can choose to receive an electronic gift card via email or have the gift card mailed to you. You’ll need at least 1,000 ThankYou points to earn a gift card, since most gift cards start at $10.
Redeem for Travel Through Citi ThankYou Travel Center
- Worth: $0.01-$0.0125 per point
The ThankYou Travel Center makes it easy to cash in your points for flights, hotels, rental cars and even cruises at a rate of roughly one cent per point. If you use your Citi Premier card, you’ll get a higher rate of 1.25 cents per point, which is one of the better values when it comes to redeeming ThankYou points.
To redeem your points through the Travel Center, simply book your trip online through the Citi portal. Travel booked with points through the portal may also count as qualifying miles in frequent flyer programs, which can help you qualify for higher tiers or earn free trips in the future, too. There are no blackout dates to use ThankYou points in the Travel Center.
Transfer to Travel Partners
- Worth: $0.015-$0.016 per point
Citi allows you to transfer ThankYou points to any of the company’s airline partners, which include JetBlue, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and about a dozen international airlines. You can also transfer points from Citi’s partners to another airline. For instance, you can’t transfer ThankYou points directly to Delta, but you can transfer them from Citi to Virgin and then from Virgin to Delta.
There are no transfer fees for transferring ThankYou points, so you don’t have to worry about spending extra money or losing value.
In most cases, when you transfer points, you’ll be able to redeem your points for roughly 1.5 to 1.6 cents per point. You can get even more value if you transfer points during an airline flash sale, when you need fewer points or miles to book a flight.
You must have at least 1,000 ThankYou points to initiate a transfer.
Takeaway
Citi ThankYou points provide multiple redemption options that can work for your budget, whether you are cashing them in to pay a bill and help your money stretch further or saving them to use for your dream vacation.
FAQ
- How much are 10,000 ThankYou points worth?
- Because ThankYou points are worth between $0.005 and $0.016 each, 10,000 points would be worth between $50 and $160, depending on how you redeem them.
- You may opt to pay $100 toward your mortgage, student loan or other bill. You can cash them in for a gift card worth $100. Or you can strategically use them for an airline ticket worth $150 or more.
- How much are 1,000 Citi ThankYou points worth?
- The value of 1,000 ThankYou points falls between $5 and $16. You'll get the best value by redeeming them for travel.
- How much are 2,500 Citi points worth?
- You could redeem 2,500 ThankYou points for a value of $12.50 to $40, depending on the redemption option you choose.
- How do I use Citi ThankYou points?
- To use your Citi ThankYou points, log in to the Citi ThankYou portal. There, you can choose your redemption method and redeem your points. You may be redirected to a partner website if you choose a redemption option through another company, like PayPal.
Sarah Sharkey contributed to the reporting for this article.
Information is accurate as of Jan. 18, 2023.
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