Thank You Points Earned

A while back I did a post about redeeming Citi Thank You points. Last year we cashed in over $500 in gift cards from Citi just for using the card. A couple of people emailed me asking how I was able to get so many points. This morning I got the statement for my Citi Forward card and noticed we are close to getting another $100 gift card. As you can see it's all about the Bonus points:

So last month we charged $577 dollars but with the Category Bonus and the Card Member bonus we got a total of 2094 points. You need 3000 points to redeem a $25 gift card, 6,000 for $50 or 10,000 for $100 gift card. Most of the time, I try to save the points and go for the $100 dollar reward. You can get gift cards to major stores like Home Depot or Walmart, restaurants or you can also redeem for actual merchandise. I've found the prices a bit higher for actual merchandise so I always go with the gift cards.

The Citi Forward card gives you 1 point per dollar spent but you can earn five ThankYou Points for every dollar you spend on purchases at (1) book stores, (2) record stores, (3) restaurants, including fast food restaurants, (4) motion picture theaters, and (5) video entertainment rental stores ("qualifying merchants"). That's where the Category Bonus points come in.

Also, if you are a new customer I believe you can get close to 10,000 points if you sign up for paperless statements and spend $250 in the first 3 months. You also get 100 Card Member bonus points if you pay on time every month and don't go over credit line.

If I remember correctly this card also used to lower the APR every month for 6 months if you paid on time and didn't go over the credit line. I remember my initial APR was 14.99% but now it's down to 12.99% which is actually not bad for a credit card these days.

There you have it, easy way to get cash back BUT be very careful. They know people like me overspend and how's how they make their money. Only play this game if you can pay your balance in full every month.

HS