Citi Premier Card: 7 Reasons To Apply

Link: Apply now for the Citi Premier^® Card

The Citi Premier^® Card (review) is one of the most rewarding mid-range credit cards. While many people might be familiar with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (review), the Citi Premier is an often overlooked competitor (or complement, depending on how you look at it).

In this post, I wanted to share seven reasons you should get the Citi Premier if you don’t yet have it. In no particular order…

60,000 Citi ThankYou bonus points

The Citi Premier Card has an excellent welcome bonus of 60,000 ThankYou points after spending $4,000 within three months. On top of that, through June 30, 2024, you can earn a total of 10x ThankYou points per dollar spent on hotels, rental cars, and attractions (excluding air travel) booked through the Citi Travel Portal.

Personally I value ThankYou points at 1.7 cents each, so to me that bonus is worth an excellent $1,020, making it one of the best credit bonuses out there. Since a lot of people don’t have this card, these are some easy rewards points to rack up.

Those 60,000 points can earn you at least $600 in rewards, or can be converted into airline miles of ThankYou partners at a 1:1 ratio. That doesn’t even factor in the ability to earn 10x points on some travel purchases.

See here for the general restrictions on applying for Citi cards, and also be aware of Citi’s 24-month rule.

Reasonable $95 annual fee

We’ve seen quite a bit of inflation when it comes to credit card annual fees in recent years as credit cards have continued to become more rewarding. It’s noteworthy that the Citi Premier Card has an annual fee of just $95 per year, and there’s no cost to add additional authorized users.

There’s a lot of value in having a premium credit card, so paying a fee of under $100 per year is very reasonable, considering how much value you can get with the card.

The best 3x points bonus categories

Among credit cards with annual fees of under $100, the Citi Premier Card almost unarguably offers the best bonus categories. The Citi Premier offers 3x ThankYou points in the following categories:

• Airfare
• Dining
• Gas
• Groceries
• Hotels

Of particular note is earning 3x points on dining, gas, and groceries, which for many people covers most everyday expenses. The card also doesn’t have foreign transaction fees, making it a great card for purchases abroad.

Annual $100 hotel credit

Once every calendar year, the Citi Premier Card offers $100 off a single hotel stay of $500 or more, excluding taxes and fees. This is valid when booking through the Citi ThankYou portal. While there may be an opportunity cost to booking this way, many people will find this valuable, and in those cases, this alone can more than justify the annual fee.

Great Citi ThankYou transfer partners

The Citi Premier Card is ideal if you want to earn points that can be transferred to airline partners. These points hold their value quite well, and can give you some amazing premium travel experiences.

For example, Citi ThankYou points can be transferred to Air France-KLM Flying Blue, Avianca LifeMiles, Emirates Skywards, Etihad Guest, Singapore KrisFlyer, Turkish Miles&Smiles, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, and many more. The opportunities to redeem these points for premium travel are endless.

Best of all, if you have Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One, or Chase Ultimate Rewards points, there is some overlap between partners. In many cases, you can transfer points to the same partners from multiple programs.

Maximize the Citi Double Cash

This is arguably the most compelling reason to get the Citi Premier Card. The no annual fee Citi Double Cash® Card (review) is one of the best cards for everyday, non-bonused spending. The card offers 1x ThankYou points when you make a purchase, and 1x ThankYou points when you pay for that purchase, meaning you can earn up to 2x ThankYou points.

Rewards can be combined with those earned on the Citi Premier Card, and you could then transfer those rewards to ThankYou transfer partners. If you have the Citi Premier and Citi Double Cash you’d pay a single $95 annual fee, and you’d earn:

• 3x points on airfare
• 3x points on dining
• 3x points on gas
• 3x points on groceries
• 3x points on hotels
• 2x points on all other purchases

That’s incredible, and makes this one of the best credit card duos out there.

Get even more value with the Citi Rewards+ & Citi Custom Cash

There are two other incredible no annual fee complements to the Citi Premier Card — the Citi Rewards+^® Card (review) and the Citi Custom Cash® Card (review). Most significantly:

• The Citi Rewards+ offers 10% of your points back for the first 100,000 ThankYou points you redeem every calendar year; this includes ThankYou points earned on other cards, meaning that 2-3x points can potentially earn you the equivalent of 2.2-3.3x points back, when all is said and done
• The Citi Custom Cash offers 5x points on your top eligible spending category every billing cycle (on up to $500 of spending), with categories including drugstores, fitness clubs, gas stations, grocery stores, home improvement stores, live entertainment, restaurants, select streaming services, select transit, and select travel

If you really wanted to maximize rewards, you could pick up all three no annual fee complements to the Citi Premier, though even one or two could get you a long way.

Bottom line

The Citi Premier Card is an excellent credit card that’s all too often overlooked by people. The card has a solid welcome bonus, offers some of the best 3x points categories of any card, and perhaps most exciting of all is that this card allows you to really maximize the no annual fee Citi Double Cash Card, which is one of the best cards for everyday spending. The Citi Premier and Citi Double Cash are one of the best card duos out there.

If you have the Citi Premier, what has your experience been with the card?