Simplicity vs Thank you preferred.

[tcbofade]

As some of you know, DW is being bombarded with invitations to apply for various Citi cards.

For a variety of reasons, I'm making her wait until 01 June to apply.  Both Simplicity and Thank You Preferred are offering 18 months Zero percent on BT's which is our primary goal.

Is one or the other of the cards "better" than the other?

Easier/harder to get?

Do you think that she can get BOTH of them?

[bs6054]

If you spend on groceries/drug stores/gas, you should get the version of TYP that has 5% off those things for 12 months.

Otherwise it comes down to length of good APR time, whether you want a 1% reward with TYP, and the TYP is a NPSL card.

[enharu]

Citi has a one app per 30 or 60 day policy now. The thank you preferred is harder to get from what I know.

[tcbofade]

Thank you!

[Radek7752]

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@tcbofade wrote:

As some of you know, DW is being bombarded with invitations to apply for various Citi cards.

For a variety of reasons, I'm making her wait until 01 June to apply.  Both Simplicity and Thank You Preferred are offering 18 months Zero percent on BT's which is our primary goal.

Is one or the other of the cards "better" than the other?

Easier/harder to get?

Do you think that she can get BOTH of them?

---

I have both of them and I would say that the ThankYou Preferred has stricter underwriting. As for which is better? At the end of the day neither is really a top rewards card (unless you get the 5% on certain categories offer for the TYP) and both are vastly eclipsed by more popular cash back/travel rewards cards. Citi offers watered down, convoluted "rewards" on the Simplicity that I pay 0 attention to and I can't even find it on my page anymore. I keep the TYP because I like it for some strange reason and I keep the Simplicity because I frequently get 0% balance transfer offers, even after the intro rate. I think the ThankYou Premier is better, although it has the fee.

[bs6054]

The 5% TYP is very useful if you charge a lot (or manufacture spend) in those everyday categories,  just for 12 months of course, but unlimited in those 12 months.  Otherwise, the TYP is just a 1% NPSL card, except for its ability to make TYP from lower level cards more valuable at redemption.   I really don't see the value of the normal TYP without a forward, except for the $150 bonus.

[tcbofade]

Hmmm.  None of the offers that she has received mention a $150 sign up bonus.

Both cards are offering 0% for 18 months, so if the Simplicity is "easier" to get, I'll think that we'll go that route.

[bs6054]

This is the current standard offer:

https://creditcards.citi.com/credit-cards/citi-thankyou-preferred-card/

15K points after you spend $1000 in first 3 months.

[lanc]

It looks like there is a targetted offer for 18months w/o a signup bonus or 12 months no apr bt with a 150$ bonus