I have a Citi Diamond Preferred card that I got as a balance transfer card to pay off a bunch of debt. That’s long paid off. This card has no benefits other than merchant offers & something called “My Deals” that I’ve never used. I got an offer in the mail to switch to their Citi Rewards+ card which earns Thank You points, rounds up to the nearest 10, & does allow for transfer to Jet Blue. No annual fee & no credit inquiry to affect 5/24 status.
I’m an intermediate travel card user & with a CSP & Bilt card already for transferable points.
My main question is, is it worth doing this product switch to start earning Thank You points which I don’t have any of since their other card I have just sits unused?
It would be good for grocery shopping & potentially my daily commute (I live in NYC so I use the MTA). I wouldn’t be doing a ton of spend but thought it might be a good way to get into their points ecosystem.
The Rewards+ has two purposes. One is to enhance your earnings with other cards in the Citi ecosystem, since if your ThankYou accounts are all linked properly the card gives a 10% rebate on up to 100k of point redemptions and transfers per year (so 10k points). The other is for use on low-dollar-value transactions like transit fares, where you can get 10 points on a $2 train ticket. It’s strictly better than the Diamond Preferred for rewards since it has some as opposed to none, but other than low-dollar-value purchases other cards will easily earn more.
Zadie said: @GoldCard3
I have literally no other Citi cards though, so is it even worth it?
I would say no. The biggest points multiplier on that card is 2x, and that’s only for 2 categories. If you’re using the points only for cash back you would be much better off getting a flat 2% card like the Citi Double Cash. But to echo other commenters here, if you combine the two, you can make the Double Cash into effectively a 2.2% card because of the Rewards+ 10% points rebate feature. So really the value comes in adding other Citi cards down the line. If that’s not of interest to you I would not bother with it.
Zadie said: @MIA1
Ahhhhh ok got it! Then it’s not worth the effort. Thank you!
I would counter this…
I would make the switch because it’s free and low-effort to do so. You likely just click a single button when you log in online to accept this offer.
It seems like it will still be a shoebox card for you, but along as you keep it open, you might as well have the better of the 2 cards.
If you ever switched to the Citi ecosystem for some reason, it would pair well with the Citi Strata, and you’d already have it without having to call and ask for a special product change.
@titusspinks
That’s a fair argument. I was thinking of getting the Capital One Venture next for their 2x catch all but I understand why “it’s better to have the better of the two cards”, especially since it wouldn’t be hurting me in anyway.
Zadie said: @GoldCard3
I have literally no other Citi cards though, so is it even worth it?
Do what I did… get another one of the cards, like the Custom Cash or the Double Cash. Use them, start banking the points. Once you get to or near 100k points in your TY account, then apply for the Rewards+.
Once your TY accounts are successfully merged with it, then cash out the 100k points and get your first free 10k.
I’m tapped out for my 2024 10k, but I am currently at 50k points banked towards my 2025 10k bonus.
@Holt
I don’t understand what you are trying to argue about. Nobody said anything about an $8 transaction. For a $2 transaction, you’d get 10 points from the Rewards+ card and 4 points from a 2% card. Obviously if the transaction were $8 the 2% card would earn a different amount.
@Holt
Literally the example I mentioned, transit tickets. A few weeks ago I paid $1.25 for a (full fare) bus ticket in Houston. Plenty of other transit systems have tickets for $2-3 a pop.
Rewards+ is an improvement over Diamond Preferred simply because it earns rewards. However, Citi has other cards like Double Cash and Custom Cash that offer better rewards. If Rewards+ is your only option then take it. However, it might be advantageous to ask Citi if you qualify for a product change to Double Cash or Custom Cash with no hard pull.
Zadie said: @Cliff
Can you convert those into points though? I’m not really interested in plain cash back.
As far as I know Rewards+ does not have the ability to transfer to partners. I think Double Cash has a few transfer partners but the transfer ratios are lower than Citi’s usual transfers, so they aren’t that useful. To get the best Citi points you’ll have to get Strata Premier and link it to other Citi cards including Rewards+, Double Cash, or Custom Cash.
@Cliff
It says on the mail I got “Points Transfer. Transfer ThankYou Points to TrueBlue for flights on JetBlue.” There’s nothing indicating there’s a note about when only connected to another Citi card so I assumed it was an agreement with a single airline for this card. I could very well be wrong though.