topic Re: Is there a good Citi rewards card? in Credit Cards

Is there a good Citi rewards card?

amakol — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 04:11:13 GMT

As you can see I currently have the TYP. Got it for the sign-up bonus and a relationship with Citi, but it hasn't been as useful as I thought with the 2x points on dining/entertainment.

This got me thinking - if I were to PC is there anything else that's better? Dividend catches my eye but I've read that the categories aren't anywhere near as good as Freedom or Discover. Citi keeps them hidden so I don't know what they are. Might be better to stick with TYP. Diamond Preferred and Simplicity have no rewards. I don't have a use for AAdvantage since I don't fly often.

It seems like they're more of a BT / 0% intro APR bank.

Re: Is there a good Citi rewards card?

H4LO — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 04:12:47 GMT

@bonehead88 wrote:
As you can see I currently have the TYP. Got it for the sign-up bonus and a relationship with Citi, but it hasn't been as useful as I thought with the 2x points on dining/entertainment.

This got me thinking - if I were to PC is there anything else that's better? Dividend catches my eye but I've read that the categories aren't anywhere near as good as Freedom or Discover. Citi keeps them hidden so I don't know what they are. Might be better to stick with TYP. Diamond Preferred and Simplicity have no rewards. I don't have a use for AAdvantage since I don't fly often.

It seems like they're more of a BT / 0% intro APR bank.

Seeing as the TYP aren't really that great rewards wise... There is no real good card.

Re: Is there a good Citi rewards card?

ztnjpv — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 04:26:00 GMT

I PC'd to the Hilton Reserve last year. You get a free room at any Hilton property with $10k spent in a year. That can be worth a few hundred $$ when you use it on a high end brand in a high price area.

I put $10k on it via mostly Amazon payments transfers to my wife. It's very deliberate. I stopped using it when I hit the $10k mark. The anniversary is coming up. Almost time to start using it again....

Re: Is there a good Citi rewards card?

red259 — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 04:25:05 GMT

@H4LO wrote:
@bonehead88 wrote:
As you can see I currently have the TYP. Got it for the sign-up bonus and a relationship with Citi, but it hasn't been as useful as I thought with the 2x points on dining/entertainment.

This got me thinking - if I were to PC is there anything else that's better? Dividend catches my eye but I've read that the categories aren't anywhere near as good as Freedom or Discover. Citi keeps them hidden so I don't know what they are. Might be better to stick with TYP. Diamond Preferred and Simplicity have no rewards. I don't have a use for AAdvantage since I don't fly often.

It seems like they're more of a BT / 0% intro APR bank.
Seeing as the TYP aren't really that great rewards wise... There is no real good card.

My girlfriend uses this TYP card and it drives me up a wall.

Re: Is there a good Citi rewards card?

Anonymous — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 04:44:37 GMT

@red259 wrote:
@H4LO wrote:
@bonehead88 wrote:
As you can see I currently have the TYP. Got it for the sign-up bonus and a relationship with Citi, but it hasn't been as useful as I thought with the 2x points on dining/entertainment.

This got me thinking - if I were to PC is there anything else that's better? Dividend catches my eye but I've read that the categories aren't anywhere near as good as Freedom or Discover. Citi keeps them hidden so I don't know what they are. Might be better to stick with TYP. Diamond Preferred and Simplicity have no rewards. I don't have a use for AAdvantage since I don't fly often.

It seems like they're more of a BT / 0% intro APR bank.
Seeing as the TYP aren't really that great rewards wise... There is no real good card.
My girlfriend uses this TYP card and it drives me up a wall.

I was surprised to see people using it in its old form, where there wasn't a 2x category! Very mediocre card.

Re: Is there a good Citi rewards card?

CreditScholar — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 04:48:02 GMT

@ztnjpv wrote:
I PC'd to the Hilton Reserve last year. You get a free room at any Hilton property with $10k spent in a year. That can be worth a few hundred $$ when you use it on a high end brand in a high price area.

I put $10k on it via mostly Amazon payments transfers to my wife. It's very deliberate. I stopped using it when I hit the $10k mark. The anniversary is coming up. Almost time to start using it again....

+1. The Hilton Reserve is one of Citi's best products IMO, along with it's AA cards. I have a feeling that they will be releasing new cards once the AA/US merger finishes, but until then I'd look to Hilton or AA. The rest of their rewards cards are quite lackluster for the majority of people out there.

Re: Is there a good Citi rewards card?

H4LO — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 04:57:22 GMT

@CreditScholar wrote:
@ztnjpv wrote:
I PC'd to the Hilton Reserve last year. You get a free room at any Hilton property with $10k spent in a year. That can be worth a few hundred $$ when you use it on a high end brand in a high price area.

I put $10k on it via mostly Amazon payments transfers to my wife. It's very deliberate. I stopped using it when I hit the $10k mark. The anniversary is coming up. Almost time to start using it again....
+1. The Hilton Reserve is one of Citi's best products IMO, along with it's AA cards. I have a feeling that they will be releasing new cards once the AA/US merger finishes, but until then I'd look to Hilton or AA. The rest of their rewards cards are quite lackluster for the majority of people out there.

Seeing as how the Hilton points have been devalued as well..... AA are their best cars.

Re: Is there a good Citi rewards card?

CreditScholar — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 05:19:59 GMT

@H4LO wrote:
@CreditScholar wrote:
@ztnjpv wrote:
I PC'd to the Hilton Reserve last year. You get a free room at any Hilton property with $10k spent in a year. That can be worth a few hundred $$ when you use it on a high end brand in a high price area.

I put $10k on it via mostly Amazon payments transfers to my wife. It's very deliberate. I stopped using it when I hit the $10k mark. The anniversary is coming up. Almost time to start using it again....
+1. The Hilton Reserve is one of Citi's best products IMO, along with it's AA cards. I have a feeling that they will be releasing new cards once the AA/US merger finishes, but until then I'd look to Hilton or AA. The rest of their rewards cards are quite lackluster for the majority of people out there.
Seeing as how the Hilton points have been devalued as well..... AA are their best cars.

I still see some value in Hilton points, but for standard redemptions it doesn't look so good. International C&P can still regularly get 0.7-0.8cpp, which isn't too bad. Given 3 points per dollar spent, that equates to 2.1-2.4% return.

If you spend exactly 10k for the annual night, you'll get 30k points plus the free weekend cert. Assuming a value of $250 for that free night (which is conservative compared to the prices of some of their properties), you're getting a total of $460-490 return on that 10k spend. That's 4.6-4.9%, which is fantastic.

Whether or not it's worth spending beyond that initial 10k is another story...

Re: Is there a good Citi rewards card?

clocktick — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 05:26:50 GMT

This will give you an idea of the Dividend's categories in previous years. I also have the Diamond Preferred. They both offer decent BT offers but other than that, not so much. Once in a while the Diamond Preferred has a category or two for a small amount of time. I have 6 Citi cards and the best, to me, is the Citi Reserve.

Re: Is there a good Citi rewards card?

red259 — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 06:04:12 GMT

@H4LO wrote:
@CreditScholar wrote:
@ztnjpv wrote:
I PC'd to the Hilton Reserve last year. You get a free room at any Hilton property with $10k spent in a year. That can be worth a few hundred $$ when you use it on a high end brand in a high price area.

I put $10k on it via mostly Amazon payments transfers to my wife. It's very deliberate. I stopped using it when I hit the $10k mark. The anniversary is coming up. Almost time to start using it again....
+1. The Hilton Reserve is one of Citi's best products IMO, along with it's AA cards. I have a feeling that they will be releasing new cards once the AA/US merger finishes, but until then I'd look to Hilton or AA. The rest of their rewards cards are quite lackluster for the majority of people out there.
Seeing as how the Hilton points have been devalued as well..... AA are their best cars.

Not necessarily. The citi hilton card has a great bonus with the two free weekend nights. Granted the Hilton devaluation means long term points earning is not the greatest but you get another free weekend night each year if you have 10k annual spend, although if you are redeeming points for lower cat hilton stays the redemption rate is still fairly decent. Each person's needs are different and I'm sure an AA deval is on the way.

Re: Is there a good Citi rewards card?

Anonymous — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 06:06:54 GMT

@CreditScholar wrote:
@ztnjpv wrote:
I PC'd to the Hilton Reserve last year. You get a free room at any Hilton property with $10k spent in a year. That can be worth a few hundred $$ when you use it on a high end brand in a high price area.

I put $10k on it via mostly Amazon payments transfers to my wife. It's very deliberate. I stopped using it when I hit the $10k mark. The anniversary is coming up. Almost time to start using it again....
+1. The Hilton Reserve is one of Citi's best products IMO, along with it's AA cards. I have a feeling that they will be releasing new cards once the AA/US merger finishes, but until then I'd look to Hilton or AA. The rest of their rewards cards are quite lackluster for the majority of people out there.

+2.

The prestige (or old Premier) can be a good rewards churning card for a select few people as well, though the flight miles feature, but you will need to be spending quite a bit and traveling quite a bit for it to actually make a difference. There's also an additional bonus for Citigold / PB customers, which makes it better. Some may still find Chase / Amex / other cards more worthwhile, but for some, the Citi Prestige may just work out well.

Re: Is there a good Citi rewards card?

CreditScholar — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 06:11:10 GMT

@red259 wrote:
@H4LO wrote:
@CreditScholar wrote:
@ztnjpv wrote:
I PC'd to the Hilton Reserve last year. You get a free room at any Hilton property with $10k spent in a year. That can be worth a few hundred $$ when you use it on a high end brand in a high price area.

I put $10k on it via mostly Amazon payments transfers to my wife. It's very deliberate. I stopped using it when I hit the $10k mark. The anniversary is coming up. Almost time to start using it again....
+1. The Hilton Reserve is one of Citi's best products IMO, along with it's AA cards. I have a feeling that they will be releasing new cards once the AA/US merger finishes, but until then I'd look to Hilton or AA. The rest of their rewards cards are quite lackluster for the majority of people out there.
Seeing as how the Hilton points have been devalued as well..... AA are their best cars.
Not necessarily. The citi hilton card has a great bonus with the two free weekend nights. Granted the Hilton devaluation means long term points earning is not the greatest but you get another free weekend night each year if you have 10k annual spend, although if you are redeeming points for lower cat hilton stays the redemption rate is still fairly decent. Each person's needs are different and I'm sure an AA deval is on the way.

+1. You can be absolutely sure of that, the only questions are when and how bad will it be?

Currently they have larger and more immediate concerns to deal with relating to the merger, but once that's finished a deval won't be too far away.

Re: Is there a good Citi rewards card?

H4LO — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 06:21:34 GMT

@CreditScholar wrote:
@red259 wrote:
@H4LO wrote:
@CreditScholar wrote:
@ztnjpv wrote:
I PC'd to the Hilton Reserve last year. You get a free room at any Hilton property with $10k spent in a year. That can be worth a few hundred $$ when you use it on a high end brand in a high price area.

I put $10k on it via mostly Amazon payments transfers to my wife. It's very deliberate. I stopped using it when I hit the $10k mark. The anniversary is coming up. Almost time to start using it again....
+1. The Hilton Reserve is one of Citi's best products IMO, along with it's AA cards. I have a feeling that they will be releasing new cards once the AA/US merger finishes, but until then I'd look to Hilton or AA. The rest of their rewards cards are quite lackluster for the majority of people out there.
Seeing as how the Hilton points have been devalued as well..... AA are their best cars.
Not necessarily. The citi hilton card has a great bonus with the two free weekend nights. Granted the Hilton devaluation means long term points earning is not the greatest but you get another free weekend night each year if you have 10k annual spend, although if you are redeeming points for lower cat hilton stays the redemption rate is still fairly decent. Each person's needs are different and I'm sure an AA deval is on the way.
+1. You can be absolutely sure of that, the only questions are when and how bad will it be?

Currently they have larger and more immediate concerns to deal with relating to the merger, but once that's finished a deval won't be too far away.

Until then.

But even then, using British Airways Avios on AA metal.

Re: Is there a good Citi rewards card?

Open123 — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 06:22:29 GMT

@CreditScholar wrote:
+1. You can be absolutely sure of that, the only questions are when and how bad will it be?

Currently they have larger and more immediate concerns to deal with relating to the merger, but once that's finished a deval won't be too far away.

Right, it's around the corner.

The question isn't if, but when. Once the M&A dust settles, we'll see a short honeymoon period, then it'll be subtlely introduced. I have enough these combined miles to hedge by accruing some more.

Re: Is there a good Citi rewards card?

CreditScholar — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 06:43:03 GMT

@Open123 wrote:
@CreditScholar wrote:
+1. You can be absolutely sure of that, the only questions are when and how bad will it be?

Currently they have larger and more immediate concerns to deal with relating to the merger, but once that's finished a deval won't be too far away.
Right, it's around the corner.

The question isn't if, but when. Once the M&A dust settles, we'll see a short honeymoon period, then it'll be subtlely introduced. I have enough these combined miles to hedge by accruing some more.

You're not concerned at all with acquiring (essentially) a commodity that has an unknown future value?

Re: Is there a good Citi rewards card?

red259 — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 06:52:15 GMT

@CreditScholar wrote:
@Open123 wrote:
@CreditScholar wrote:
+1. You can be absolutely sure of that, the only questions are when and how bad will it be?

Currently they have larger and more immediate concerns to deal with relating to the merger, but once that's finished a deval won't be too far away.
Right, it's around the corner.

The question isn't if, but when. Once the M&A dust settles, we'll see a short honeymoon period, then it'll be subtlely introduced. I have enough these combined miles to hedge by accruing some more.
You're not concerned at all with acquiring (essentially) a commodity that has an unknown future value?

This is why the mantra is to spend points when you have them and not to sit on points in programs for a prolonged period of time.

Re: Is there a good Citi rewards card?

Open123 — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 07:04:34 GMT

@CreditScholar wrote:
You're not concerned at all with acquiring (essentially) a commodity that has an unknown future value?

AA miles wouldn't be my primary focus, but I've got enough points and rewards in other various programs, where this is one of the few remaining programs where I haven't exahusted all of my earning opportunities. In other words, I have no reservations on pushing the envelope with Citi and Barclays, where as with Chase and Amex, I'm much more reticent to risk alienating.

I'm hoping to harvest enough points to offset the inevitable devaluation, though I wouldn't pay any tangible or meaningful value for them. If I do nothing, my existing points will devalue to a greater extent, than if I had not made efforts to accrue more to offest the effect, at a price (Fico score fluctuation & Citi/Barclay) that is relatively meaningless to me.

Re: Is there a good Citi rewards card?

chwebb1 — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 09:39:23 GMT

@bonehead88 wrote:
As you can see I currently have the TYP. Got it for the sign-up bonus and a relationship with Citi, but it hasn't been as useful as I thought with the 2x points on dining/entertainment.

This got me thinking - if I were to PC is there anything else that's better? Dividend catches my eye but I've read that the categories aren't anywhere near as good as Freedom or Discover. Citi keeps them hidden so I don't know what they are. Might be better to stick with TYP. Diamond Preferred and Simplicity have no rewards. I don't have a use for AAdvantage since I don't fly often.

It seems like they're more of a BT / 0% intro APR bank.

FWIW, IMO the Dividend is a good compliment to Discover/Freedom. The categories don't seem to overlap as much as Discover/Freedom. I'm very happy with my Dividend.

Re: Is there a good Citi rewards card?

B335is — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 10:14:49 GMT

@CreditScholar wrote:
@Open123 wrote:
@CreditScholar wrote:
+1. You can be absolutely sure of that, the only questions are when and how bad will it be?

Currently they have larger and more immediate concerns to deal with relating to the merger, but once that's finished a deval won't be too far away.
Right, it's around the corner.

The question isn't if, but when. Once the M&A dust settles, we'll see a short honeymoon period, then it'll be subtlely introduced. I have enough these combined miles to hedge by accruing some more.
You're not concerned at all with acquiring (essentially) a commodity that has an unknown future value?

I know this was not directed at me, but as a holder of a few hundred thousand AA miles, I'm not too concerned. Who knows how long Barclays will continue issuing US cards, so that's an easy 35k. Citi is generally good for another round after 18 months (some reports have surfaced that the Executive AAdvantage isn't subject to the same wait period) and Citi isn't the same as Chase with sign up bonuses.

At this point the only Chase card that appeals to me any longer is the BA card just because of the transfer rate. If anything, I can see AA tightening up partner redemption/transferability before anything else, but I'm purely joining in on the speculation. The folks running the new AA are 95% US Airways management - they manage by pennies, so any level of deval is quite possible. Frankly, any rewards card is one potential day away from devaluation, we just know ahead of time in this instance due to the inevitable.

Re: Is there a good Citi rewards card?

ztnjpv — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 18:24:06 GMT

CreditScholar

said:

"If you spend exactly 10k for the annual night, you'll get 30k points plus the free weekend cert. Assuming a value of $250 for that free night (which is conservative compared to the prices of some of their properties), you're getting a total of $460-490 return on that 10k spend. That's 4.6-4.9%, which is fantastic."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I see you are as thorough as I. hahaha. Very well stated. This is exactly why I only use the card up to $10K. I plan to use my freebie in NYC where I have paid about $350 a couple of times (double tree Times Square)....so I value them even higher....especially if I end up at the Waldorf. Always wanted to stay there. :-)