*Update* December 2011: This card offer is no longer available. Check out the current details of the Citi ThankYou Preferred Card instead. Citi ran a great promotion in October on a few sites, including Creditnet, which ended up only lasting a few weeks before it was pulled offline. Well, it's back! The Citi ThankYou Preferred Card is once again offering new cardholders the opportunity to earn up to 50,000 bonus points during the first year of use. If you want to read all the details about the pros and cons of this credit card, check out my original post: Citi ThankYou Preferred Card Review: 50,000 Bonus Promotion. For a brief update, read on.
The reason this card offer is worth mentioning again is because we frankly don't see many no annual fee credit cards that come along offering $500 bonuses. I thought it was unfortunate that Citi only offered it for a short period of time when it was previously launched, so I'm glad to see it back on the market again. If you didn't read my previous post, the "catch" with this card is that it will take more time than normal to bank the entire 50,000 point bonus. Other competing credit card offers generally require a certain amount of spending during the first 3 months to get your full bonus. The Citi ThankYou Preferred Card, on the other hand, requires a certain amount of spending over the first year before you realize the full $500 bonus. Here's a quick breakdown of what you'll need to do:
How to Get the 50,000 Bonus Points
- During first 6 months: Spend $5,000 and get 25,000 bonus points in return
- During next 6 monts: Spend another $5,000 and get the remaining 25,000 bonus points
It's really not that difficult to manage if you at least spend a little over $800 per month on the card, but you will have to commit to using the card for a year. You can't just spend $10,000 during the first 6 months and then expect to receive the full 50,000 bonus. That's not how it works. Citi wants to get a longer-term customer for their $500 gift. The rest of the details are rather average for a credit card with no annual fee. 1 point per dollar spent on all purchases, an anniversary bonus of up to 3% each year, and your points will never expire. It is worth noting that if you redeem your Citi ThankYou points for travel instead of for $500 gift cards, you can often find deals that will increase the value of your 50,000 points. That's one reason why I especially like the Citi ThankYou Network. While it's not as awesome as it used to be several years ago, there are still great travel deals to be found. Are you currently using the Citi ThankYou Preferred Card? If so, let us know what you think in the comments below. If not, consider applying for the Citi ThankYou Preferred Card today and start working towards a $500 bonus in 2012.
