Citi ThankYou Preferred Card – $200 in Gift Cards | Review

How would you like a credit card that offers rewards as well as a nice 0% introductory APR on purchases and balance transfers?  Add to that a $150 gift card bonus?

Sounds interesting, right?

This is what the Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card is offering.  Join me as we walk through what the card offers…

The Citi ThankYou Preferred Card

Sign-Up Bonus

When you make $1,500 in purchases within 3 months of opening your account you will earn 20,000 bonus ThankYou Points.  That right there is good to redeem for $200 in gift cards or other rewards they offer.

ThankYou Point Rewards

The rewards program with the Citi ThankYou Preferred Card is the …wait for it… ThankYou Points program.

You earn 1 ThankYou Point for every $1 you spend on purchases.  No categories or signing up to get your points required.  Just a simple 1 for 1.  You can earn unlimited points and your ThankYou Points don’t expire.

You can earn 2x points when you use your card for entertainment and dining.

You can redeem your ThankYou Points for merchandise, travel, gift cards, statement credits/cash, event tickets, and more.  When redeeming your points pay attention to what the point redemption is.  You may find that you get better value with say gift cards than you do with merchandise.

If you shop through the ThankYou® Bonus Center you’ll have opportunities to earn bonus points.  There are over 600+ retailers represented there.

0% Intro APR

Here’s a sweet incentive for those with a balance to transfer from another card or if you’re planning on making a big purchase – you get a 0% Introductory APR for 12 months on both purchases and balance transfers.

If you have a balance elsewhere then transferring to a 0% intro APR can help you pay that balance down faster since you get to put more money towards the balance rather than towards interest.  I’ve done this in the past to help pay off credit card balances.

After the introductory APR expires your rate will be a variable APR from 12.99%-22.99% based on your creditworthiness.

Be aware there is a balance transfer fee of 3% for each transfer with a minimum of $5.  This is pretty much standard for most cards.

Foreign Travel

Your Citi ThankYou Preferred card will have Chip technology in it making foreign travel purchases easier and safer when you shop at merchants that accept payments with chip terminals.  Be aware there is a 3% foreign transaction fee when you use your card abroad.

Annual Fee

There is no annual fee for this card.

Finally

The Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card is a nice all-around rewards card.  There’s no annual fee, you get a bonus point offer to start, and you have a 0% intro APR that applies to purchases and balance transfers.  The rewards are easy to understand as it’s one point for every one dollar spent.

There are cards out there that offer richer points programs or longer intro APR periods, as well as cards that offer no foreign transactions fees.  That said, the Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card has a little bit of everything, touching base on a lot of credit card perks.

This card is similar in rewards to the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express or the Discover it® Card.  Both of the other cards offer up some higher rewards bonuses but you need to see which of the three cards has categories you will actually use more often.

*Always make sure you understand the terms of a credit card before you sign up. See the online credit card application for details about terms and conditions. Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate information. However all credit card information is presented without warranty. When you click on the “Apply Now” button, you can review the credit card terms and conditions on the issuer’s website. Citi is a paid advertiser of this site.