Citi Rewards+® Card Review

The Citi Rewards+® Card is an unusual but very helpful card for anyone who is a fan of Citi ThankYou Points. This no-annual fee card offers a simple proposition: an interesting earning structure and a 10% points rebate on the first 100,000 points redeemed per year. In our Quidget_RewardsPlus review, we will look at the welcome offer, earning structure, card perks and share our overall thoughts.

Current Welcome Offer

The current welcome offer of the Citi Rewards+ is as follows:

• Quidget_RewardsPlus_Bonus
• No annual fee

Citi Application Rules

Citi has a few application rules to keep in mind. Citi will not approve you for more than one card every eight days, and two cards every 65 days.

The terms we are seeing now, which are a change from the norm, are the following:

Bonus ThankYou^® Points are not available if you have received a new account bonus for a Citi Rewards+^® account in the past 48 months.

It seems like Citi is moving away from the family terms they had for ThankYou cards (striked through below) and moving towards the similar set up they have for the American Airlines cards.

Also, Citi treats the Rewards+ card as part of the ThankYou Points family of cards. So, if you have earned a welcome offer on or closed one of the following cards in the last 24 months you are not eligible for this offer:

• Citi Rewards+
• Citi ThankYou^® Preferred
• Citi ThankYou^® Premier/Citi Premier^®
• Citi Prestige^®

Citi Rewards+® Card Review: Earning Structure

The Citi Rewards+ card's earning structure is quite interesting and as follows:

• 2x per dollar at supermarkets and gas stations on the first $6,000 per year (and then 1x thereafter).
• The Rewards+ also earns 1x on all other purchases.
• On top of that, the Rewards+ automatically rounds up to the nearest 10 points on every purchase!
  • This means that a pack of gum costing $1.50 earns you 10 ThankYou Points from this rounding up, as does a $0.50 Amazon balance reload.
  • The rounding up also applies to the bonus categories. For example, a $37 purchase at a gas station would earn 80 TYPs (37 x 2 = 74, which rounds up to 80).

Turning These ThankYou Points Into Transferrable Currencies

Although the Rewards+ earns Citi ThankYou Points, your use of these points is limited if you do not also have a Citi Premier or Citi Prestige card. ThankYou points earned through the Rewards+ card can only be transferred to JetBlue. You cannot transfer to Citi's many other transfer partners if you do not also have a Citi Premier or Citi Prestige card. If you do also hold the Citi Prestige or Citi Premier, you can combine your ThankYou points from your Rewards+ with those from your Citi Premier or Citi Prestige account. This enables you to transfer your points to any of Citi's valuable travel partners.

Citi Rewards+ Card Benefits

The Citi Rewards+ card offers only one benefit, but is is a doozey. You get 10% points back when you redeem your ThankYou points, up to the first 100,000 points redeemed per year. This applies to all redemption options, such as gift cards, travel rewards, and shop with points. This is an excellent benefit that any fan of ThankYou Points would enjoy having.

If your ThankYou points are combined this rebate works across all cards. So if you have your Rewards+ card and Citi Premier card ThankYou points combined then a transfer to any of their transfer partners would trigger the rebate. It is not only ThankYou points earned from the Rewards+ card.

Our Analysis

It's easy to understand why the Citi Rewards+ is a helpful card to keep. Rounding purchases to the nearest 10 points can be great for those with small daily purchases, such as a coffee or a newspaper on the way into work. Also, the 10,000-point rebate per year on redemptions is great, especially for a card without an annual fee. The fact that the rebate applies to all redemption options is nice, but redeeming points for gift cards or cash back rarely every makes sense.

On the other hand, 2x at supermarkets and gas stations is disappointing, but understandable for a no fee card. The Citi Premier earns 3x uncapped on both categories. Since many folks who open a Rewards+ card will already have a Citi Premier, these bonus categories make little sense for the Rewards+. It would be nice to see these categories replaced with something less common, like entertainment, which was a bonus category for the Citi Premier until a few years ago.

The Citi Rewards+ is a nice complement to the Citi Premier, Citi Double Cash Card, and Citi Custom Cash Card cards since the 10% points rebate is something none of these other cards offer. That perk alone, especially for ThankYou point enthusiasts, makes this card a long term keeper.

Citi Rewards+® Card Review: ToP Thoughts

Anyone who is a fan of Citi ThankYou Points should probably consider adding the Citi Rewards+ to their wallet eventually. Receiving 10,000 TYPs back every year on redemptions without paying an annual fee is terrific. The quirky rounding up for purchases only sweetens the deal. While it would be nice to see this card have different bonus categories than restaurants and gas stations, the 10,000-point rebate alone makes this card a long-term keeper.

What role does the Rewards+ play among your ThankYou Points cards? Join the discussion in our Facebook group!

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