Citi Forward vs. Citi Dividend

[Anonymous]

The Citi mtvU card is being discontinued and replaced with Citi Forward. I'm thinking about calling in and seeing if I can PC to Citi Dividend instead. What do you guys think? How do the two cards compare? They look fairly similar but I like the rewards of the Dividend a little better (rotating 5%).

[Anonymous]

I like to keep a rotating 5% card (I have the Freedom but Dividend or More works too) + Citi Forward b/c I spend a lot on restaurants and Amazon, both of which give 5 points per dollar on the Forward. The other categories on Forward are not heavy spending areas for most people (movie theaters, record stores, book stores) so it makes sense to carry it only if you eat out or shop on Amazon a lot. I consider it a niche card which if it applies to your spending can save you a considerable amount of money.

[Anonymous]

I shop a ton at Amazon. I have the Amazon Chase card. Where do you see the Forward 5% rewards? Is that a permanent feature of Forward and not a rotating category like on Freedom?

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:
I shop a ton at Amazon. I have the Amazon Chase card. Where do you see the Forward 5% rewards? Is that a permanent feature of Forward and not a rotating category like on Freedom?

---

Believe it or not Citi Forward actually earns better rewards on Amazon than the Chase Amazon card.

Here are the reward categories:

Restaurants (including fast food)

Book stores (including all Amazon purchases)

Record stores (including Itunes)

Movie theaters

These categories are not rotating. They earn 5 points/dollar on the Thank You network which can then be exchanged for statement credit (3.3% cash back), gift cards (4-5% cash back), and a bunch of other stuff. There is an annual cap of 75K points ($15K spending) in the bonus categories. All other purchases and category spending above $15K earn only 1 point/dollar, which as you can see from the point to cash back conversion is not good. So it makes sense to use Forward only for category spending.

[Anonymous]

Wow great to know. Well I am definitely keeping the Forward then.