Upgraded ThankYou Premier Grocery Bonus Not Posting
Over the past few years Citi has made some interesting moves in the credit card space. They went all-in on the premium market with their Prestige card only to gut its benefits several times over the next few years. Their ThankYou Premier card has similarly gone through a ton of changes, the result of which is that it isn’t top of mind generally for most people.
Well I should say it wasn’t. Citi had announced some changes coming to the ThankYou Premier card in August which piqued many people’s interest. To start, the card loses its 3X earnings on some travel and 2X on entertainment in favor of 3X earning on grocery and restaurants. There are some other changes. Check them out here.
A Nice Bonus – Citi Moves Up Some Changes
One of the big positive changes is the addition of the grocery category bonus and Citi even made that better by starting it early. As of June 2, 2020 the ThankYou Premier card earns 3X points on grocery. But what if you recently upgraded to the Premier? How long will it take then?
MtM Contributor Ian Snyder upgraded to a ThankYou Premier about 3 weeks ago and unfortunately he is not earning 3X on grocery purchases. “Upgraded about 3 weeks ago. Made a couple charges, and the first posted at 1x with the merchant clearly stated as grocery.” He has also confirmed that he has received his new physical ThankYou Premier card so the account should be switched over.
What Is Happening With Citi Bonus Category Earning?
Citi is notoriously slow with their product changes and some cards have taken months to fully switch over in the past. It does seem if you are planning to upgrade to a ThankYou Premier that you probably shouldn’t expect bonus category earning right away. I’m sure Ian will follow up with Citi and we’ll post any updates about it here, but my advice is to be proactive about it either way.
Upgraded ThankYou Premier Grocery Bonus Not Posting – Bottom Line
Citi product changes aren’t the smoothest process, but they tend to work out in the end. In this case Citi’s systems don’t seem to be recognizing the bonus categories after a few weeks, but hopefully they’ll both fix it and make it right. It’s a good reminder to always proactively check to make sure you are earning the points that you deserve!
Have you recently upgraded to a ThankYou Premier card? Is it earning 3X points on grocery? Let us know in the comments!
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Holding both Rewards+ and Premier (not an upgrade), stores seem to categorize identically. Other commenters may also be accustomed to Visa or AmEx, which may have different merchant category codes for the same business (like my local bakery, which is grocery on Visa, restaurant/cafe on MasterCard, and general merchandise on AmEx).
My purchases at “traditional” grocery stores finally posted and they do indeed show 3X TY points, just not WMT grocery stores (Neighborhood Markets). This is consistent with the Citi MileUp card which is supposed to earn 2X AAdvantage miles at grocery stores but do not (for me) at WMT Neighborhood Markets. These same stores earned 5X UR points during Chase’s recent bonus promo on my CSR, even though I’ve never received 5X UR points at them for the Freedom card’s grocery category.
No 3X TY points at several different WMT Neighborhood Markets for me. This isn’t an upgraded card, either. Opened new 3 months ago.
I’ve had mixed results. Some grocey at 3x and some at 1x