Review of the Citi ThankYou® Points Rewards Program

The Citi ThankYou Network is a credit card rewards program. It lets you earn points in multiple ways and pool them in a single account so you can get the rewards you want faster. Having carried both a Citi credit card and debit card for years, I’ve become familiar with Citi’s ThankYou reward program. And I thought it would be a good time to review the program, including how you can earn ThankYou points and what you can do with them once you have them.

Ways To Earn Citi ThankYou Points

The program enables you to earn ThankYou Points when you make a purchase with an eligible Citi® credit card, Citibank® debit card or an enrolled Morgan Stanley Smith Barney FMA® Card. You can also earn points for banking with Citibank with an enrolled checking account, booking eligible travel with Expedia® or shopping at over 300 retailers through the ThankYou Bonus Center run by Citi. Here’s a quick summary of the various ways you can earn ThankYou Points:

• Participating Citi® credit card. Here is a list of the cards that are part of the ThankYou network:
  • Citi ThankYou Premier Card
  • Citi Forward Card – $300 Gift Card
  • Citi ThankYou SM Preferred Rewards Card – $100 Gift Card
  • Citi Forward® Card
  • Citi ThankYou(SM) Preferred Rewards Card – $250 in Gift Cards
  • Citi Forward® Card for College Students
  • CitiBusiness® World Card
• Morgan Stanley Smith Barney FMA® Card enrolled in ThankYou Network
• Having an enrolled Citibank checking account and other linked banking products and services
• Shopping through the ThankYou Bonus Center with over 300 major retailers, or in-store using a participating Citi® credit card
• Plus, get bonus points through special ThankYou® Network promotions
• Points with Citi®–You can earn points for every $1 spent on purchases with your Citi Credit Card. You can get points for using your Citibank checking account and other qualifying Citibank products and services.
• Points with Expedia.com®–Expedia.com® is the exclusive travel sponsor of ThankYou Network. You can earn points when booking eligible travel on Expedia.com® no matter how you pay. If you’ve got a Citi Credit Card or Citibank Debit Card, use it to book your travel and earn even more points.
• Points for Shopping–You can get rewarded for shopping at your favorite retailers. Points are earned when you shop online by linking through thankyou.com, or in-store by using your Citi Credit Card. Shop at over 400 online retailers, such as Macy’s, Best Buy, and Target—and earn additional points for every dollar you spend. Use your Citi Credit Card at a growing number of stores, such as Timberland, Eddie Bauer or FAO Schwarz—and earn additional points for every dollar you spend. Also, when you make purchases from participating catalogs or purchase gift certificates, you’ll earn additional points for every dollar you spend.

Purchasing Points

You may purchase ThankYou Points in increments of 1,000 points for $25 charged to any eligible credit or debit card, regardless of whether it is a Citi card or not. You may only purchase points if you have points in your ThankYou Member Account that were earned through one of our Sponsors. When you purchase points with a credit card or debit card that participates in ThankYou Network, you get the points you purchased, as well as ThankYou Points for making the purchase using your card.

Purchased points are non-refundable. A purchase cap of 10,000 points per calendar year will apply. You may not purchase points to offset any PremierPass Flight Points. All points purchased will expire one year from the end of the month in which they were purchased.

Where and How You Get Rewards

Once you have accumulated points, the ThankYou Network has a variety of rewards, which can easily be found on their website.

• 1.You can redeem ThankYou Points for statement credits, issued in the form of a billing statement credit to the Card Account of the ThankYou Member, in denominations of $15, $25, $50, $100, $175 and $250 only
• You have the option to receive cash back if you choose. You can redeem your ThankYou® Points for a $50 Cash Reward. There is no annual dollar cap or limit to the number of cash redemptions you make. For every 8,000 points equals $50 cash back. All cash rewards are mailed directly to your address on file.
• You can redeem ThankYou Points toward any student loan program or monthly mortgage payment issued in the form of a check made payable to your financial lending institution – mortgage or student loan program only; in denominations of $25, $50, $75, $100, $250, $500, $750 and $1000 only.
• You have the option to cash in your points for a charitablie gift. You can redeem ThankYou Points for charitable contributions, issued in the form of a check made payable to the charity, in denominations of $5, $25, $50, $75 and $100 only.
• There are a number of other rewards to choose from which inlcude gift cards from a wide variety of retailers and resteraunts. To help you find your rewards there is a rewards page that will get you started.

If you’re a registered ThankYou Member, you can add rewards you find to either your Wishlist or the cart. A complete list of the available rewards can be found on the Terms and Conditions page.

All Cash Rewards redemptions are final. ThankYou Points redeemed for Cash Rewards cannot be returned unless the check has been cancelled by ThankYou Network and a stop payment is placed, resulting in a return order status and automatic reinstatement of member’s ThankYou Points into their ThankYou Member Account. Please note that a check may be cancelled if, for example there was a misspelling on the check or the member never received it. All Cash Rewards checks not received 10 days after shipment are to be reported to ThankYou Network as lost/stolen.

You can also redeem for rewards by calling the Service Center at 1-800-THANKYOU. The lines are open Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 1 a.m. ET and Saturday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET. Your Wish Fulfilled allows you to redeem your ThankYou Points to create your very own reward. All you need is 10,000 points in your account to get started.