topic Re: Maximizing Citi Rewards+ / TY points? in Credit Cards

Maximizing Citi Rewards+ / TY points?

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 03:39:14 GMT

Hi so I have the Citi rewards+ and the prestige card. I wanted to get the most points as I can since it rounds up to 10 points. I was wondering if I go to self checkouts and do multi transactions would it still give me the rounded up points per transaction? (If I do multi $2 purchases etc).

Also I don't know what to use my TY points on, I also have Chase which I redeem for travel but my Citi prestige is mainly for food atm... debating if I should cancel it when my AF comes up as I don't think I'll be traveling anytime soon....

Re: Maximizing Citi Rewards+ / TY points?

mongstradamus — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 05:49:24 GMT

Maybe add double cash to get guaranteed at least 2x TYP?

Re: Maximizing Citi Rewards+ / TY points?

wasCB14 — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 08:10:27 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hi so I have the Citi rewards+ and the prestige card. I wanted to get the most points as I can since it rounds up to 10 points. I was wondering if I go to self checkouts and do multi transactions would it still give me the rounded up points per transaction? (If I do multi $2 purchases etc).

Also I don't know what to use my TY points on, I also have Chase which I redeem for travel but my Citi prestige is mainly for food atm... debating if I should cancel it when my AF comes up as I don't think I'll be traveling anytime soon....

$495 is a pretty big AF if you don't have a fair amount of travel. Have you at least been able to get the $250 travel credit?

Which Chase card(s) do you have?

Re: Maximizing Citi Rewards+ / TY points?

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 13:15:52 GMT

1. The real value of Rewards+ is the 10% rebate on point redemption. It adds 10% (actually 11.1%) to all SUBs and earn rates. In other words, Double Cash effectively earns 2.22 TY points. Prestige effectively earns 5.56 TY points for restaurants, etc.

2. Most people use Rewards+ at coffee shops to get 10 points per cup. But since you have Prestige, you already do better than that on coffee shop purchases > $2. If you buy lottery tickets one at a time, Rewards+ makes sense there. But overall, it's very difficult to amass a lot of TY points ten at a time.

3. I would argue Amex Gold is a better restaurant card than Citi Prestige UNLESS you have $200K at Citi (i.e. CitiGold). CitiGold brings down the Prestige AF to $350 total, or net $100 after travel credit. Otherwise, the net AF is $245. Amex MR and Citi TY are worth roughly the same to me. Assume 1.7 cents. Amex Gold net AF is $30 after airline incidental and food credits. Prestige earns 5x vs Amex 4x. So $70 net AF differential divided by 1.7% = $4,118. If you are CitiGold and spend more than $4118 at restaurants, Prestige works in your favor. This number comes down if you have Rewards+ and earn 5.56x TY points on restaurant spend. It also comes down if you assume 2 cents per point for both MR and TY. If you aren't CitiGold or don't spend $4K per year on restaurants, then Amex Gold > Prestige for restaurant spend.

There are other factors to consider. Amex Gold is also a great grocery card. Citi Prestige beats Gold on Airfare 5x to 3x, but Prestige offers no travel insurance perks while Gold does. Prestige offers 3x on cruises and hotels, which Gold has no other earn rates. Prestige's main superpower is 4th night free, but it's limited to twice a year and you have to use their portal which means your stays won't count for status. Gold offers $100 off on two night stays in their (limited) Hotel Collection.

4. The best use of TY points is travel partners. I like to wait for promotions before actually transferring the points. "Get 25% extra LifeMiles," etc. If you aren't traveling soon, you have time to wait for these specials. Figure out which transfer partners you can use. For example, LifeMiles is a partner of United and you can book United flights for less miles on LifeMiles than you can on United. A flight that would have cost $400 or 25,000 miles on United cost me 20,000 miles on LifeMiles (2 cents per point).

Re: Maximizing Citi Rewards+ / TY points?

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 15:37:11 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
1. The real value of Rewards+ is the 10% rebate on point redemption. It adds 10% (actually 11.1%) to all SUBs and earn rates. In other words, Double Cash effectively earns 2.22 TY points. Prestige effectively earns 5.56 TY points for restaurants, etc.

Interesting points, does this require pooling all TYP into Reward +? Does it stack with 1.25cpp from Premier travel portal booking?

Re: Maximizing Citi Rewards+ / TY points?

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 16:18:37 GMT

You pool your Rewards+ into your Prestige or Premier, redeem TY points from Prestige or Premier, and get the 10% rebate simply because you have the Rewards+.

See this article

Re: Maximizing Citi Rewards+ / TY points?

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 19:13:45 GMT

Excellent. I think I now have my 2 year plan to collect premier and the reward +... 3% on everything would be great.