Citi Premier Refresh

[Anonymous]

According to TPG, Citi Premier will be refresh on August 23rd, 2020.

New:

-3X on Supermarket and Restaurant categories

-annual $100 credit on any $500 or more hotel stay booked through Thankyou.com

Gone:

-no more 25% portal redemption bonus

-3X on Non-air Travel like parking, tolls, cruise

-2X on Entertainment

Same:

-3X on Air Travel and hotels

-3X on Gas

-$95 AF

So what do you guys think of the refreshed Citi Premier?

[kdm31091]

Losing the 25% bonus is not great, although I'm not sure the portal is always the best deal anyway. Someone with more experience might have more input.

Honestly though, supermarket and dining are really common categories at this point so it just becomes another option among many. They are dropping the less common categories like parking fees and entertainment (although only 2x entertainment, so really is not a big deal anyway). If you like ThankYou points it seems like an okay option, but still not a must have card. For everyday consumers who don't know/care about 25% bonus etc, these changes are probably positive; for reward maximizers like us, less positive.

Since the Double Cash now gives a straight 2x TYP on everything, not sure it would be worth holding DC, Premier, and Prestige as some do after the refresh since the Premier is only giving an incremental 1x on certain things, and the Prestige has 5x dining anyway.

[MrDisco99]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Gone:

-no more 25% portal redemption bonus

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So... TY points are now 1cpp unless transferred to airlines?

I mean... I guess I'll probably keep mine just because I have 72K points I still need to use.  Most of the TY points I've redeemed have been done through the portal just because the transfer partners are not that useful to me.  Looks like the card as a whole may not be that useful after I use those points.

[kdm31091]

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@MrDisco99 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Gone:

-no more 25% portal redemption bonus

---

So... TY points are now 1cpp unless transferred to airlines?

I mean... I guess I'll probably keep mine just because I have 72K points I still need to use.  Most of the TY points I've redeemed have been done through the portal just because the transfer partners are not that useful to me.  Looks like the card as a whole may not be that useful after I use those points.

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Right. The 25% bonus is being dropped although existing users still have a year before that happens. 1cpp through the portal

[Anonymous]

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@MrDisco99 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Gone:

-no more 25% portal redemption bonus

---

So... TY points are now 1cpp unless transferred to airlines?

I mean... I guess I'll probably keep mine just because I have 72K points I still need to use.  Most of the TY points I've redeemed have been done through the portal just because the transfer partners are not that useful to me.  Looks like the card as a whole may not be that useful after I use those points.

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Existing cardmembers still will get 1.25 cpp on Citi travel portal until April 10th, 2021. 

[MyFault]

Has anyone seen this yet?

https://www.dansdeals.com/credit-cards/citi-premier-will-lose-25-travel-redemption-bonus-will-change...

Disappointing imo. I had actually thought of getting this card, vs the Citi Costco, to get into Citi. Now it looks like i'll be avoiding it.

Citi xfer partners are useless, and without the 25% Bonus booking travel in the Thank You portal that's a big hit to the SUB value.

I think i'll just continue to avoid Citi for a while, and go after the Costco card after i'm back under 5/24 and have the last Chase cards i want.

[kdm31091]

The more I think about it I'm thinking Citi is trying to reduce people only using the card for bonus spending by making the card pretty well rounded for the average consumer. Now, for maximizers and travel point enthusiasts, it's not a great thing, but those who don't want to juggle a lot of cards is I think who Citi is trying to appeal to here.

Customers like us who juggle cards and maximize each purchase are not ideal for the lenders as I'm sure they want to see us using it for non-bonus spend too. Refreshes like this are probably meant to encourage that. The new Premier covers enough bases for the everyday person that they probably would end up using it for most of their spend even nonbonus.

That said, I think Citi needs to stop messing with their cards. They are constantly changing the benefits/rewards/categories and it's not a great look from a customer point of view.

[Anonymous]

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@kdm31091 wrote:

The more I think about it I'm thinking Citi is trying to reduce people only using the card for bonus spending by making the card pretty well rounded for the average consumer. Now, for maximizers and travel point enthusiasts, it's not a great thing, but those who don't want to juggle a lot of cards is I think who Citi is trying to appeal to here.

Customers like us who juggle cards and maximize each purchase are not ideal for the lenders as I'm sure they want to see us using it for non-bonus spend too. Refreshes like this are probably meant to encourage that. The new Premier covers enough bases for the everyday person that they probably would end up using it for most of their spend even nonbonus.

That said, I think Citi needs to stop messing with their cards. They are constantly changing the benefits/rewards/categories and it's not a great look from a customer point of view.

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I was looking to pick up the Citi Premier along with the Double Cash later this year. It's 50-50 now.

[Citylights18]

Its a shame to see the 1.25 ccp go but that is the trend in the industry; trading higher earning rates for loss of the enhanced redemption rates.

If you had the Citi Trifecta of Prestige, Premier and Double Cash you'll still have quite a lot of value.

Dining 5x

Air Fare 5x

Hotels 3x

Gas 3x

Supermarkets 3x

Everything Else 2x

You lose 3x from car rentals, tolls, ride share, travel agencies (big) and replace it with 3x groceries. But you can't stack the 4th night free on the Prestige with the 1.25 redemption on the Premier anymore making that perk less valuable. I would argue that 4th night free is a waste of time when you can get 30-40% cash back by booking with DOSH at expensive properties.

There are Citi offers which tend to be good.  But you could get them with the Prestige or DC so you don't really need the Premier.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/targeted-citi-credit-card-spend-offer-get-4x-points-on-select-categor...

[Anonymous]

My thoughts- it's almost tempting, but not quite.

3% on gas, groceries, and restaurants would capture a lot of my spend. But, Discover and Chase are 5% rotating so this card is only useful for half the year. And, for that half the year it's only 1% better in those categories than the Double Cash.

The annual fee doesn't even bother me that much given the $100 hotel credit. I'd find a way to make use of that, maybe force myself to take a vacation. But, it's not really worth it for me to add an additional card.

Now, if they merged the benefits of this and the Double cash then I'd be all over it.