ThankYou Premier 50K Bonus Changing
I believe the Citi ThankYou Premier card is one of the best around. In fact, it outdoes its main competitor the Chase Sapphire Preferred in almost every way. Even though I value Chase Ultimate Rewards higher than ThankYou points, the 3X earning on travel with the Premier is preferable to 2X with the Sapphire.
The bonus on the ThankYou Premier has been 50,000 points after $3K in spend for close to a year. (With the exception of a brief jump to 60K.) According to One Mile at a Time that is going to change on January 28, 2016. He has an affiliate relationship with Citi, so I assume that is where he is getting his information and thus I deem it to be pretty reliable.
ThankYou Premier Rundown
As a reminder, here is a quick rundown of the ThankYou Premier features and benefits:
- 3X ThankYou Points per $1 spent on travel including gas, airfare, hotels, cruises, car rental agencies, travel agencies, railways, public transportation, tolls, taxis, parking and much more.
- 2X ThankYou Points per $1 spent on dining out and entertainment.
- ThankYou® Points are worth 25% more when redeemed for airfare, hotels, cruises and car rentals through the ThankYou® Travel Center, as compared to gift cards.
- Transfer points to a variety of travel loyalty programs from airlines to hotels.
Change – But Which Direction?
Ben’s post at OMAAT says the offer will change but does not confirm if it will go up or down. I honestly can’t see it going up, but who knows. (The previously mentioned 60K was a mistake and wasn’t supposed to be a public offer.) The good news is that Citi is pretty good at honoring higher offers if you applied within the last 90 days. That is of course if you decide to apply. Should you?
Should You Apply?
Before the current 50K up front offer, Citi was giving a 50K bonus split over two years. You received the first 20K after $2K in spend during year one and 30K after $3K in spend in year two. I actually signed up for the card under this offer. It is complicated, but it does have the benefit (for the bank) of making you keep the card past the first year.
My guess is that this type of bonus was too complicated and I would venture to guess the bonus will drop to 40K points instead of splitting again, but who knows. The question of whether you should apply really comes down to your priorities. If you are eyeing this card, then it might make sense to apply before the offer changes on January 28, 2016. If you aren’t in a position to apply, then I wouldn’t worry. Bonuses come and go and it is unlikely to drop significantly and if it does then it will likely come back. Of course that is just a guess.
Where to Apply
This 50K bonus offer is available directly on the Citi website and also through affiliate links. As a reminder you can support Miles to Memories by applying for cards through our indirect affiliate links. You can find out more information here. It does really help to support the site, but please never apply for a card unless you are ready and it makes sense for you
Related: Slow & Steady Doesn’t Make You A Loser
Conclusion
I do think it is newsworthy when one of the best bonuses around is set to change. This card is one I carry in my wallet and thus one I recommend, especially for people who travel a lot. If you are thinking about applying, then now may be a good time, but then again it might not be.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is the old king of travel rewards cards. Right now
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Learn more about this card and its features!
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
I was approved for the 65000 TY points after $3500 spend in three months. I wonder why no one mentions this since I got this from a public link
I am not aware of there ever being a 65K offer on this card. There was a 60K offer that was available for a few days and I mentioned it in the body of this post and also linked to the article I originally wrote about it at the time.
Mind sharing where you found this 65K link from?
Can you please do a post on why you value this card more than the CSP 2x UR? I just don’t get it, but maybe I’m being dense.
If you value UR at 2 cents (always an assumption, but for me, I can get 2 cents on BA from LA to Hawaii fairly easily), then the bonus categories are worth 4%.
With Premier, you are getting 3x with a flat return of 1.25%, meaning you are getting a 3.75% total return. Of course you can transfer to Singapore…You could also get the prestige, but then you have that annual fee…
Thanks.
It gets complicated trying to value points and I no longer feel Ultimate Rewards are worth 2 cents each. Also, ThankYou points are slightly more valuable to me because I have a Prestige so they are worth 1.6 cents for AA airfare, but as you say it has the AF. There is also the question of how many points one has. I earn a lot of Ultimate Rewards with my Chase Ink and thus ThankYou points are in shorter supply. If I’m being honest with my personal evaluation, then UR are worth slightly more thank TYP, but I still think the Premier edges the Sapphire Preferred out.
With all of that said, if someone was new I would probably recommend getting both since they both have amazing bonuses and a waived first year annual fee. At that point the person could determine which rewards program and card works best for them. I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer. Also, I would rather convert my Sapphire Preferred to a Freedom which also earns me more points throughout the year!
Citi keeps claims you can’t get the prestige and the premier because the thank you points are same product even though 2 separate cards .. Need to find a way confirm this . Have you applied for both since citi went with the 18 month rule?
Yes I have been approved for both the Premier & Prestige cards in the past year and both apps had the 18 month language. They are separate products as is the ThankYou Preferred.
I have the Prestige and just signed up for the Premier this morning with no issues. I used your link Shawn as I appreciate your posts. Keep up the good work.
Thanks DW! I appreciate the kinds words and support.
Just like Shawn said, theres too many data points to prove thats not true. Not sure where you got that info, but its obvious someone is giving you BS information. How can one card with a $450 AF be the same product as the $95 AF?? Thats a flaccid joke. I would just apply one at a time but you must still follow the standard application timing rules, or your application WILL be declined. One Citi application per week and no more than two applications per 60-day period.
Actually Chase just said the same thing to me about the southwest plus and premier cards. The supervisor said he can not confirm that I would get the bonus on premier because I got the bonus on plus and then went on to say they are both southwest cards and have the same reward type so they are the same product.
I don’t believe that as well because there are a lot of data points saying otherwise.
Hey CJ. Your experience with the rep is actually nothing new. Its always “officially” said that way. Furthermore, Chase is NOT Citi. Totally different banks that do different things with totally different TC which change ALL THE TIME, so Chase saying something doesnt mean jack for Citi, but its still important to watch CC trends.
The real point here is that you can in fact get both CC and both rewards for BOTH Citi and Chase CC discussed earlier. How you go about doing that and the timing of your app is up to you.
Just remember the first rule of fight club. We dont talk about fight club.
Dont talk about fight club, yeah
I was calling in to apply and the guy told me that during the TC speech and I was like wait a sec, can i talk to a manager.
Interesting news man. Your probably right. Bonus will decrease or T&C will change to make it harder. Almost impossible Citi will say “Happy New Year! 100k Offer!”.
And if they do say that, you bring up a good point: Citi is pretty solid snake at honoring higher offers if you applied within the last 90 days so that will be your main hedge. If you can apply and makes sense, do it now and watch what Citi offers next month then you will be protected in any major downside change. If it goes up, then you can call for a match offer.