topic Re: Citi/Sears/TYP Changing the Game in 2024 :( in Credit Cards

Citi/Sears/TYP Changing the Game in 2024 :(

MJ-san — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 06:45:05 GMT

TL/DR: max 15k points/month for $1500 gas/grocery/dining and min 7.5k points for $750 spend. Two thresholds and fixed bonuses. Sign up once for full year, works every month, hence the headline "Earn up to 180,000 points":

This new offer is a fixed 7,500 points at $750 spend ... OR 15,000 points at $1,500 spend. For quick reference, that works out to a cash back of: $750 = $75 = 10% / $1000 = $75 = 7.5% / $1250 = $75 = 6% / $1500 = $150 = 10% / $1750 = $150 = 8.6% / $2000 = $150 = 7.5%

Previous offers I've gotten were "10x bonus points after $1,200 up to 15k" or "20x bonus points after $1,200 up to 20k bonus points"

The good: it's for every month, not just 3-6 months of the year.

The bad: the fixed points at $750 and $1500 make getting the lower one easy, and the higher one really hard, with nothing in between. Will have to watch spend and at $750 switch over to Amex BCP (6%) or USB Kroger (5%) to maximize earnings.

@coldfusion noted a similar offer on his TYP but 10k points at $1,000 or 20k points at $2,000 so they are definitely customizing these offers. https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/I-m-just-loving-this-SYW-card-10-CB-gas-dining-grocery-Q1-23/m-p/6728689#M1859762

Re: Citi/Sears/TYP Changing the Game in 2024 :(

coldfusion — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 02:18:11 GMT

Just note that these are bonus TYP, you still get also get the non-categorized 1 TYP/% spend so actual net earning would be 11 TYP/$ at exactly the $750 NS $1500/month thresholds.

I would have preferred getting your offer instead in mine as the $750 mininum is more in line with my organic gas/grocery/restaurant spend.

Re: Citi/Sears/TYP Changing the Game in 2024 :(

MJ-san — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 02:26:26 GMT

Agree - $750 is doable, just requires care to switch to another card at $751 and beyond

I'm hoping they still do some other bonuses (travel, home improvement, online, etc) but I've been saying for years "how in the heck are they making money on this portfolio" as I was netting between $2.5 and $4k a year for the last three years. I'm guessing they are trying to address that 😇

Re: Citi/Sears/TYP Changing the Game in 2024 :(

Bockrocker — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 03:02:14 GMT

Interesting. Haven't received anything comparable for the SYW version. Only way I could reasonably meet these is paying my rent with gift cards from Walmart with fees on both ends. But would still be up about 7% all said and done.

Re: Citi/Sears/TYP Changing the Game in 2024 :(

xenon3030 — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 21:50:51 GMT

While almost all Sears stores are closed, it is interesting to see the ways that this card is keeping up itself. After completing the Sears business closure, I hope that Citi would take over this card and its reward model.

Re: Citi/Sears/TYP Changing the Game in 2024 :(

ptatohed — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 10:40:45 GMT

@MJ-san wrote:
TL/DR: max 15k points/month for $1500 gas/grocery/dining and min 7.5k points for $750 spend. Two thresholds and fixed bonuses. Sign up once for full year, works every month, hence the headline "Earn up to 180,000 points":

This new offer is a fixed 7,500 points at $750 spend ... OR 15,000 points at $1,500 spend. For quick reference, that works out to a cash back of: $750 = $75 = 10% / $1000 = $75 = 7.5% / $1250 = $75 = 6% / $1500 = $150 = 10% / $1750 = $150 = 8.6% / $2000 = $150 = 7.5%

Previous offers I've gotten were "10x bonus points after $1,200 up to 15k" or "20x bonus points after $1,200 up to 20k bonus points"

The good: it's for every month, not just 3-6 months of the year.

The bad: the fixed points at $750 and $1500 make getting the lower one easy, and the higher one really hard, with nothing in between. Will have to watch spend and at $750 switch over to Amex BCP (6%) or USB Kroger (5%) to maximize earnings.

@coldfusion noted a similar offer on his TYP but 10k points at $1,000 or 20k points at $2,000 so they are definitely customizing these offers. https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/I-m-just-loving-this-SYW-card-10-CB-gas-dining-grocery-Q1-23/m-p/6728689#M1859762

While I do understand "The bad", hopefully this is just one of many offers you may get throughout '24. I think you guys should be very happy to have the TYP earning Sears card. While I do love my SYW card, I'd much rather earn citi TYPs instead of SYW points. Let's see what '24 brings us both.

Re: Citi/Sears/TYP Changing the Game in 2024 :(

MJ-san — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 20:33:38 GMT

@ptatohed you are very right I'm just being a greedy ba---rd. With this new scheme and no other bonuses, it's $990 in rewards for the year or 11%. Definitely an amazing rate of return. I just ran the report in Quicken and my total in deposits from Citi Cash Rewards since 3/21 is $7962 (that's including a DoubleCash, CustomCash, and Sears/TYP) so the Sears card alone is probably $6900 of that. It's insane how much they keep paying me to use their cards.

Re: Citi/Sears/TYP Changing the Game in 2024 :(

SouthJamaica — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 20:57:56 GMT

@MJ-san wrote:
@ptatohed you are very right I'm just being a greedy ba---rd. With this new scheme and no other bonuses, it's $990 in rewards for the year or 11%. Definitely an amazing rate of return. I just ran the report in Quicken and my total in deposits from Citi Cash Rewards since 3/21 is $7962 (that's including a DoubleCash, CustomCash, and Sears/TYP) so the Sears card alone is probably $6900 of that. It's insane how much they keep paying me to use their cards.

Wow, that's a lot of money.

Re: Citi/Sears/TYP Changing the Game in 2024 :(

MJ-san — Sun, 31 Dec 2023 08:03:32 GMT

@SouthJamaica @Yup. It was about $60k spend over 2 years and 8 months on the Sears card. Depending on which bonuses were in play it was grocery/dining, appliances, home improvement, utility, and online. The rest came from my other Citi cards - only 2-5% back there though!

Re: Citi/Sears/TYP Changing the Game in 2024 :(

xenon3030 — Tue, 02 Jan 2024 19:51:02 GMT

My today's offer was 100$ bonus if spending 1k in each month (or 200$ per 2k). The spend threshold is very high. I would pass, if it does not get combined to the other offers that might come at the middle of each month.

Re: Citi/Sears/TYP Changing the Game in 2024 :(

ptatohed — Tue, 02 Jan 2024 21:52:14 GMT

Absolutely nothing for me from SYW for Q1. So.... 5% Gas nusenda, 5% Rest's Disco, and 5% Groc freedom. It'll be weird going back to 3 cards instead of just one for everything, lol.

Re: Citi/Sears/TYP Changing the Game in 2024 :(

Bockrocker — Tue, 02 Jan 2024 21:53:54 GMT

Email for this offer on SYW card:

https://ibb.co/sCvt2G9

Re: Citi/Sears/TYP Changing the Game in 2024 :(

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy — Wed, 03 Jan 2024 01:00:23 GMT

i just received this offer today and dang.... that's way too much required spend for me T_T

Re: Citi/Sears/TYP Changing the Game in 2024 :(

issac2x — Wed, 03 Jan 2024 03:10:56 GMT

Wish they gave me the 750 one like yours @MJ-san got the 1K version. Still its doable for me but might require calculating my organic spend more ugh.

@ptatohedmy offer came later than expected so they might still be sending these out like batches.

Re: Citi/Sears/TYP Changing the Game in 2024 :(

ptatohed — Wed, 03 Jan 2024 06:22:57 GMT

@issac2x wrote:
Wish they gave me the 750 one like yours @MJ-san got the 1K version. Still its doable for me but might require calculating my organic spend more ugh.

@ptatohedmy offer came later than expected so they might still be sending these out like batches.

Wow, you are right @issac2x . I checked my email earlier today and nothing. Read your post and decided to check again. Yup! I love this idea, I really do, I just wish the spending requirements were lower than $1000. I've been able to hit the $700-800 ones but $1000 might just be too much. Unfortunately our grocery spend is nil since we usually get our groceries from Target and Walmart. Otherwise, we'd probably be able to hit the $1,000. Darn, this is a tough one. Don't want to pass it up but not sure I want to do what it takes to reach $1000 spend.

ptatohed, earn up to $2,400.00 back in statement credits this year with this offer!1

Activate this limited-time offer by 2/15/2024!

Use your card each month for the rest of the year on eligible gas station, grocery store, and restaurant purchases.

Activate Now

Each month you can earn a:

$100

Statement Credit

when you spend $1,000‍ -‍ $1,999.99 each‍ ‍month*

$200.00

Statement Credit

when you spend $2,000 or more each‍ ‍month*

*Activation required. Rewards are based on eligible gas station, grocery store, and restaurant purchases each month until 12/31/2024.

Re: Citi/Sears/TYP Changing the Game in 2024 :(

Bockrocker — Wed, 03 Jan 2024 08:00:56 GMT

Unsure about the TYP version, but for SYW at least Walmart and Target are classified as grocery. Walmart also sells up to $500 visa gift cards which you can use to pay utilities/insurance etc as it's unlikely you'd beat the ~12% discount with another card (actually I think Target sells GC too, but only low denominations. Can always buy closed loop cards to save for later, or Amazon cards sold at many "real" grocery stores.)

Mild challenge for many of us, but the opportunity to get $2400 in cashback from a single card in a single year is pretty nuts (actually $2700 for SYW version with 3% grocery on first 10k). I wonder if they will still be throwing in other offers.

Re: Citi/Sears/TYP Changing the Game in 2024 :(

kaws — Thu, 04 Jan 2024 07:31:06 GMT

Does SYW count Target in store gift cards as grocery? Does online work? For example, Home Depot, Starbucks cards, visa gift cards count as groceries?

for Walmart, do you have to add the SYW to Walmart Pay to code as groceries in store and online?

Re: Citi/Sears/TYP Changing the Game in 2024 :(

Bockrocker — Thu, 04 Jan 2024 15:12:45 GMT

Both WM and Target count as groceries in store. I suspect online orders do not (but can't say for sure). I don't think they receive L3 data to know exactly what you are buying...not that charges for $505.95 are exactly mysterious. Over $500 is likely to trigger fraud alerts the first time at some stores.

Re: Citi/Sears/TYP Changing the Game in 2024 :(

kaws — Thu, 04 Jan 2024 18:16:25 GMT

Thank you! I'll give target online a try with both a gift card and non grocery items I have to buy anyway.

Once the purchase posts can you tell what category it is?

Re: Citi/Sears/TYP Changing the Game in 2024 :(

coldfusion — Sat, 06 Jan 2024 18:22:30 GMT

@kaws wrote:
Thank you! I'll give target online a try with both a gift card and non grocery items I have to buy anyway.

Once the purchase posts can you tell what category it is?

I'd suggest you make a smallish test purchase first to make sure it codes correctly before going all-in.

Once the purchase posts to the account after 1-2 days you should be able to log in online and click on it for details and it will list the merchant category.