Over at one of my favorite deal news websites, I noticed that Citibank is offering a bunch of bonus points for people who sign up for their ThankYou Premier rewards card as its latest Citi rewards card offer.

As regular readers know, I don’t recommend that people go chasing after credit card rewards or applying for new credit cards just to get credit card points or miles. If, on the other hand, you are currently in the market for a new credit card AND you are looking for a rewards credit card, this offer might be interesting.

First, off, be sure to read all of the fine print in the credit card agreement as well as my Citibank ThankYou Premier rewards card review. On of the big things you will want to note is that this card comes with a very steep annual fee. That should knock it out of the running for most people, but if you tend to rack up a lot of spending on a card for whatever reason, you might be able to make money by earning more rewards than you pay for the annual fee.

Second, although the ad claims that you can get $500 in gift cards with 50,000 ThankYou points, that is only true if you get certain gift cards or redeem your Thank You points for certain denominations of cards. Make sure to read my Citibank rewards catalog review form more information on how to turn miles and points into rewards.

Citi Premier ThankYou Rewards Card

Basically, the Citi Premier Thank You credit card rewards program works like this:

1. You get 1 ThankYou Point for ever $1 you spend
2. You get 1.2 Thank You points for every $1 you spend at gas stations, grocery stores, drugstores and certain parking charges.
3. You earn 1 point for each mile you fly if you buy your airline tickets using the Citibank credit card.
4. You get an anniversary bonus each year based on how long you have been a cardholder. So if you’ve had your Citi card for two to three years, you earn a 3 percent annual bonus on the points you earn charging things to your credit card.

The special offer gives you 50,000 points IF you spend $2,000 within the first three months the card is open. If you have a big purchase planned, or if you are the type of person who charges everyday things to credit cards and then pay it off every month, the target should be pretty easy to hit.

This is not a good credit card for anyone who won’t spend a lot of money on the card since it has a $125 annual fee. You have to earn those dollars back with points in order to make it a money maker. Otherwise, you’ll just be paying high bank fees for no reason. Keep in mind that it will take approximately $12,500 in charges to get $125 worth of gift cards at the rate of 1 point per dollar spent.

Remember, the 50,000 free bonus points will cover your annual fee for the first year, but after that, you’ll have a credit card with a high annual fee, so you need to make it worthwhile by redeeming your Thank You points for merchandise, cash back, gift cards or free travel.

The interest rate for this Citibank Premier rewards card is 13.99%, 17.99% or 21.99% depending upon your credit score, so this is also not a card you want to carry a balance on.

Who Is Citi ThankYou Premier Card Best For?

This card is best for people who travel a lot. You earn points for each mile flown, plus 1 point for each dollar the ticket costs. If you frequently fly business class or first-class this card should pay off well for you.

Other potential situations that would make this a good credit card are those who make big purchases a few times each year and pay them off quickly, and for those who use their cards instead of cash and then pay off the balance each month.

Customers interested in other rewards credit cards may wish to check out the Capital One Rewards catalog to see how it stacks up with this program.

Related posts:

1. Citibank Rewards Credit Card Offers: Premier Card
2. Review Citibank Rewards Points Elite Level Premier Pass Card

Latest Citibank ThankYou Rewards Premier Card Offer originally published at Personal Finance Blog - FinanceGourmet.com

There are tons of Citibank rewards credit cards. Like most other credit card rewards programs, there are a wide range of items that you can redeem your credit card miles for, ranging from travel items like free airline tickets to discount car rental or free hotel room nights.

In addition, you can redeem your Citi rewards points for merchandise, gift cards and even get cash back from your Citibank MasterCard or Citibank Visa rewards card.  One popular card is the Citibank Rewards Premier Credit Card.

Citibank Rewards Catalog Travel

In 2009, the Citibank travel rewards were changed from flat-rate awards to awards based upon the actual cost of the airline ticket. The current rate is approximately 100 points for every dollar the plane tickets costs. So a free airline ticket reward for a round-trip fare that costs $300 would require redeeming 30,000 points.

Note that in order to redeem Citibank ThankYou rewards for free airline tickets, you must book the plane tickets through the Thank You rewards website which always seems to have fares that are slightly higher than the same airfare found on any of the major, non-affiliated travel websites like Expedia or Travelocity. That extra charge means you’ll never quite get a full 1 percent redemption value.

There are still some travel items in the 2011 Citibank rewards catalog that have a flat-rate redemption of miles or points.

Car rental certificates from Avis, for example, can be had for 3,500 points for a $25 certificate, 6,000 points for a $50 car rental certificate, or 10,000 points for a $100 certificate.

Likewise, there are major hotel rewards certificates available as well including Hyatt, Marriott Hotels, and The Ritz-Carlton. Rewards certificates can be used for free hotel stays or a discount off your rate. $100 certificates are redeemed at 1 percent, or 10,000 points for each $100, while lower value certificates are redeemed at a lower rate of 6,000 points for $50.

Citibank Rewards Catalog Gift Cards

As with the rewards travel certificates, if you redeem points for gift cards, you’ll get a much better deal if you get $100 gift cards than if you cash in less points for smaller rewards.

A $100 gift card to Barnes & Noble yields a respectable 1 percent at a rate of 10,000 points for a $100 card.

A $50 gift card to Barnes & Noble costs 6,000 points for a return of just 0.8 percent, and a $25 gift card is even worse, ringing in at 3,500 points for a 0.7 percent rate of return on your rewards points.

Good financial advice is to look for cards to retailers you should at anyways and be sure to redeem your points for higher value gift cards to maximize the value of your reward.

Compare to the Capital One rewards catalog…

Citibank Rewards Cash Rewards

Citibank cash rewards are some of the lowest value rewards thanks to an overpriced redemption rate. The smart financial move is that would be better off finding a better value gift card at a store or retailer where you would normally shop anyway. Otherwise, you’ll be getting way less than 1% cash back from your Citi rewards card.

A $50 cash reward costs 8,000 points and a $100 cash reward costs 16,000 points. That works out to a redemption rate of 0.625 percent, way below the "average" rate of 1 percent that savvy credit card users should should for.

Citibank Rewards Catalog Merchandise

Like most credit card rewards catalogs, the Citibank rewards catalog for 2011 has pages of merchandise you can redeem points for. Valuing these rewards is harder because the prices on most items can fluctuate.

The best finance advice is to find out how much you could buy the item for (including tax and shipping) from a retailer and then compare that price to the number of points required to purchase the item. If the resulting rate of return on the your credit card points is lower than 1 percent, see if you can find gift cards for a merchant that sells the item. Redeem your ThankYou points for a $100 gift card (or several) at a 1 percent redemption rate and then buy the item with the gift cards instead of overpaying with your points.

Do watch for "sales" where the Citi cards people mark certain rewards down from time to time. The lower point totals may make redeeming your miles for those rewards a good deal.

What’s your favorite reward in the Citibank rewards catalog?

Related posts:

1. Capital One Rewards Catalog 2011 Is Here
2. Credit Card Rewards Catalog

Citibank Rewards Catalog 2011 originally published at Personal Finance Blog - FinanceGourmet.com

Not long ago, comparing rewards cards was pretty straight forward. Most credit card offers gave cardholders one point, or one mile, for each dollar spent and charged to the card. Credit card rewards programs sometimes offered bonuses for earning miles either for using the cards during specific periods of time or when shopping at certain types of stores. Often, these special offers came in the form of “double miles” or even “triple points”.

These days, such offers are non-expiring specials on some credit cards. Other cards, such as some Capital One rewards cards offer a base miles earning rate other than 1 mile per dollar. My Capital One No Hassle Miles credit card, for example, has a base miles earning rate of 1.25 miles for each dollar spent, with two times miles per dollar spent when the card is used in certain types of retail shopping establishments.

Of course, comparing which card offers the highest miles earned per dollar spent is useless without also comparing what rewards those miles or points can be redeemed for.

In order to determine which rewards cards are good values and which ones are below average (or worse) it pays to keep in mind that the “average” cash back credit card offers 1 percent cash back on all standard purchases. That works out to $1 cash back for every $100 spent. If the rewards program offers a value equal to or greater than 1% of dollars spent, the program can be considered average. Bigger rewards equal bigger value.

Redeem Credit Card Miles for Free Flights

Redeeming credit card points for free flights is a long-standing tradition. With both credit card companies and airlines tightening their belts, however, there have been big changes in how to redeem points for free airline tickets.

Many credit card rewards programs require you to book your tickets through them or a designated company. Doing so allows the company to collect fees from the airlines like a travel agent does, allowing them to offset the cost of rewards tickets.

Most credit card customers were savvy enough to use their miles and points only on more expensive flights, which is why most rewards programs have eliminated tiers of rewards based on miles. Instead, many programs charge a certain number of miles for a certain price range of airline ticket.

Others, like the Citibank rewards program cost a certain amount of points to redeem for the exact cost of the ticket. A recent check showed it cost 15,700 points to to get a free airline ticket that cost $149.40 directly on Expedia for the same flights.

Redeem Credit Card Points for Gift Cards

One great way to redeem points without traveling is to get free gift cards for gifts or to merchants that you use on a regular basis. A few years ago, we furnished our baby bedroom with free Babies R Us gift cards we got be redeeming 10,000 miles for every $100 gift certificate, the equivalent of 1 percent cash back.

There are still good deals to be found redeeming credit card miles for free gift cards, but you have to do the math and keep a close eye on the details within each program.

For example, the Capital One rewards catalog shows that a $100 Babies R Us gift card requires redeeming 15,500 miles. That is a lot more than the 10,000 miles it took a few years ago. However, with a base mileage earning rate of 1.25 miles per dollar, that $100 gift card works out to $12,400 of spending. That’s still worse than 1 percent, but not as bad as it looks at first glance.

Choosing the Right Rewards Card

The best rewards programs are usually those that offer rewards at approximately a 1 percent redemption rate that have significant bonus earnings where you shop regularly. For example, if you shop a lot at XYZ Stores and they have a Miles Supreme Plus Visa card where you earn 1 point per dollar spent but earn 2 points (or more) for every dollar spent at XYZ stores, those bonus miles will add up and make your point redemptions more valuable than ever.

Whatever credit card rewards program you go with, always read everything you receive about the program and monitor both the earnings rate and the cost of redeeming rewards, as these can change frequently. What starts out as a good deal, may end up becoming less valuable with one quick little notice that the company hopes you don’t end up reading or understanding.

With a little persistence and research, you can find the right rewards card for you and your family.

Related posts:

1. Amazon Rewards Visa Credit Cards
2. Capital One No Hassle Rewards – Gift Cards

How To Compare Rewards Credit Cards originally published at Personal Finance Blog - FinanceGourmet.com

The huge government bailout of banks during the height of the banking crisis was the cause of much concern and hand wringing. Among political types, the debate centered around the theoretical concepts of whether or not the government should be involved in propping up banks and whether or not such involvement constituted something “socialist.”

Whenever the political theories involved, as a more practical matter, there were some very real concerns about how and when the government might be able to undo some of the things they had done. One example was the government’s bailout of Citigroup. The Treasury provided $25 billion to the banking giant. In exchange, it got an enormous amount of preferred stock. At the peak, the U.S. Treasury owned approximately 27 percent of Citigroup stock.

This unprecedented arrangement left some very difficult questions up in the air to be determined later, not the least of which is how does someone — the U.S. Government included — get out of a 27 percent position in a major financial institution without causing more problems?

Thankfully, recovering markets and an improving situation at Citigroup have made it unnecessary to answer such questions under difficult scenarios. Rather, the Treasury has been selling off the shares of Citigroup stock it owns over an extended period of time. The shares have been mopped up by the market. While all of those shares do have an effect on the stock and the markets, it hasn’t been something that sticks out, and so things have gone on as normally as possible.

An interesting milestone is approaching for the TARP program regarding the Citigroup bailout.

In addition to the $25 billion cash the government traded for preferred stock, the Treasury paid $3.25 per share to convert the preferred stock into regular common stock. In total, the Feds are into Citigroup for about $45 billion.

So far, sales of Citigroup stock have generated $41.6 billion. That means that the government need only earn approximately $3.4 billion on the remaining shares it owns in order to “break-even”. Any amount above and beyond that actually ends up generating a profit for the government on its investment in Citigroup. That shouldn’t be too hard considering it was just announced that during the 4th quarter, they have authorized up to 1.5 billion shares to be sold.

With Citigroup stock trading for north of $4 per share, this quarter’s sales could cross the mark and turn the Citigroup bailout into a profitable investment for the government.

Say what you want about the politics and theory of the matter, when was the last time you heard of the United States Government actually turning a profit on something it did “for the good of the country?”

Related posts:

1. Sell Banks Stocks or Buy Bank Stocks
2. Free Government Grants for Moms and Government Grants for Dads

Government Making Profit From Bank Bailout? originally published at Personal Finance Blog - FinanceGourmet.com

It is standard lobbying practice for any industry about to come under additional regulation from Congress to shout to the press, and whoever else will listen, that any and all proposed regulations or laws of any kind would adversely affect the poor customer. Thus, any additional rules or regulations of any kind on credit card companies would make things worse for credit card customers.

More reading: Citibank Thankyou Points catalog.

Grandstanding aside, while poorly thought out regulations can hamper entire industries and harm customers, many times new government oversight can have a positive affect both on the industry as a whole, and on the experience of customers as well. In the case of recent credit card legislation, the new rules and regulations on banks and credit card issuers were thoroughly debated not just between Republicans and Democrats, but within those parties as well.

Fortunately, the by-product of real debate is often good legislation. Unfortunately, the power of lobbyists can overwhelm good debate when the sides are fractured.

What emerged from Congress in the form of newer, tougher, credit card industry regulation was indeed thoroughly debated, but was it good for customers, or did it, as the industry claimed, hurt ordinary credit card holders?

The general answer to that question remains open. Clouding the issue is the overall tightness of the credit markets, compounded by the nearly overnight end to the traditional way of doing business in the banking and finance industry. If it is harder to get a credit card there is no way of knowing whether that is the result of over-reaching rules issued by Congress, or if it is just that so many financial institutions have shaky balance sheets cluttered with “toxic assets.”

One area that keeps being mentioned in the press that has negatively affected consumers is that credit card reward programs are becoming more stingy. However, little evidence is cited other than the occasional card holder who says that they are getting less value from their credit card mileage or credit card points than they used to. The catch is that many credit card rewards programs were being trimmed before the credit card laws were even passed!

I made note in this personal finance blog that Capital One NoHassle Rewards were less valuable than they were just one year before back in 2008 when I used 10,000 Capital One miles for each $100 gift certificate to major retailers. Nobody can blame credit card laws for that!

Let me know if you see a downward revision in your credit card rewards program. If you have an old rewards catalog, don’t throw it out. Instead, keep it to compare how your rewards change over time, and if a credit card company is screwing you, don’t be afraid to open a new reward credit card or even a cash back credit card and throw that old in the shredder.

Related posts:

1. Credit Card Rewards Catalog
2. New Credit Card Laws Change the Rules in 2009

Credit Card Rewards Programs – Are New Laws Making Them More Stingy? originally published at Personal Finance Blog - FinanceGourmet.com

The Citibank PremierPass credit cards offers higher point earnings for frequent travelers, but comes with a steep annual fee.  And, most cardholders were recently nailed with a steep increase in interest rate even if they had good credit.  Do the PremierPass pros outweigh the cons?

Earn Points Citi Premier Pass Card

The basic Citibank rewards points chart looks like this.

• 2 ThankYou Points earned for ever $1 spent at Grocery Stores, Gas Stations, Drugstores, Parking, and Public Transportation like subways.
• 1 Thank You Point earned for all other $1 spending.
• 1 Thank You Point earned for every mile flown on any airline, including other people whose tickets you bought with the card.

ThankYou Points Redeem Chart

* Since there is no fixed flight option anymore, I tested a couple of flights through the booking system and it appears that tickets are pricing at approximately 100 points per dollar.

Reward Value is average unless you maximize shopping at the 2 for 1 points locations.

Thank You Points Earned For Flying

Of course, the value of this particular card is not in its spending rewards which are mostly average, but rather in the value of getting ThankYou Points for flying on any airline.

If you few from Denver to Chicago, that is 903 miles, or 903 points earned for flying.  A round-trip ticket makes it 1806.

If you make that trip one a month for a whole year that is 21,672 ThankYou points, enough for a $210 plane ticket, and that is without using any of your points earned without flying.  In this case, the $210 reward will cover the $75 annual fee.

To put it another way, you have to fly at least 7,500 miles per year to cover the cost of the annual fee and turn this credit card from a money loser into a break-even rewards card.

Update: How to use Citibank rewards points for free thank you miles flights.

Citibank Rewards Cons

Citibank ThankYou Rewards recently ended their fixed point option for flight ticket rewards, so budgeting the points is now tougher.  In order to find out how much a flight costs, you have to log into Expedia via the ThankYou Points website and enter flight information like you were going to buy a plane ticket online through Expedia.  What you get back are trip prices in points instead of dollars.

The major drawback of this process is that the online travel agencies are well known for a scam which involves changing the price at the last minute before you buy a ticket.  They get away with this by saying that the system you are looking at is just the reservation system and that it might not be up to date.  Only when you enter your credit card information does it check the real system that has the actual fare you have to pay.  So, the price can suddenly go up once you try and actually book the airfare.

For rewards this is particularly unpleasant because after you’ve carefully crafted a travel plan that allows you to use your points for a vacation for 2 to Hawaii, you’ll suddenly be informed that the flight is going to cost you 44,000 points instead of 38,000 points.  Multiply that across 2 tickets and you can see how big of difference there is between 88,000 points and 76,000 points.

Annual FEE and Expenses

$75 annual fee is terrible on virtually all credit cards, but frequent travelers might make it up with this card.

Interest rate is quoted as 13.24% Variable, but many customers with 740+ credit scores reported getting their rate increased without cause to over 16%, so beware about the Citibank credit card interest rate quotes.

Is Citi PremierPass Credit Card Worth It?

The answer for all credit cards with an annual fee is NO.  In this case, there can be some value here but only if you travel a lot.  The extra 1 point per mile flown can add up quickly for frequent travelers.

Difference Between Citi PremierPass and Citi PremierPass Elite

There is a Citi PremierPass basic card (non-Elite).  It has no annual fee, but is a basic, no frills, reward card with a standard 1 point for $1 point earning schedule.  You do get 1 point for every 3 miles you fly on tickets you buy with the card, but that won’t add up to much unless you fly a lot, in which case you are going to be better off with the Elite card.

Find a more robust card if you aren’t going to go for the elite level on this one.

Check out more detailed credit card reviews here on Finance Gourmet.

Related posts:

1. Citibank Rewards Credit Card Offers: Premier Card
2. Latest Citibank ThankYou Rewards Premier Card Offer

Review Citibank Rewards Points Elite Level Premier Pass Card originally published at Personal Finance Blog - FinanceGourmet.com

According to an email received this week, the fixed flight option will no longer be available as of March 1st.

Quick Summary

• Before 3/1/09 – Great deal for flights between $200 and $400 (the closer to $400 the better the deal).  Still a good deal for flights over $400.
• After 3/1/09 – Deal Gone.  You pay 100 points per dollar.  Average travel reward at best.

Check here for updated information about 2011 Citibank rewards credit card programs.

Look here for an updated review of the Citibank rewards catalog 2011.

Fixed Point Travel Flight Option

What does that mean for Citibank credit card holders?  A worse deal.

Until 3/1/09 you can get a domestic flight reward on “virtually any airline” for 20,000 ThankYou Points, up to $400.  If the ticket is more than $400 then it is 5,000 points for every $50.

That works out to 50 points per dollar for a $400 flight and then 100 points per dollar after.  That, of course, only works at exactly $400, but any flight over $200 costs you less than 100 points per dollar.

Even if you go over $400, you are still getting a good deal because that first $400 comes at what is essentially a 50% discount.

Variable ThankYou Point Flight Rewards

Starting on March 1, 2009, the “variable” rewards cost kicks in a 100 points per dollar.  That’s it.  No discount, no “deal”.  Just the same old regular everyone has the exact same thing 100 points for $1 travel reward.

Citibank ThankYou Rewards Variable Flight Pricing Denver to Miami

The exact same flights by going directly to Expedia.com (instead of through ThankYou Network)

Advice?

What was once a pretty solid rewards program has been mercilessly dragged back to average town.  There is nothing wrong with the ThankYou Rewards program, but there is nothing special about it either.

With Citibank giving the shaft to long-term customers by hiking interest rates on customers with good histories at the same time interest rates are falling in the real world, it is starting to seem more and more like Citibank will be ignoring its loyal customers to focus on the bottom line.

My advice is to use your rewards as soon as possible if you have a need coming up.  Then, start over and re-evaluate your options.  There may be a card that fits you better.  But, DO NOT CANCEL your Citibank card until you have the new one in hand.  The credit world has gone bonkers so it is possible that even a high credit score and high salary won’t result in an approval.

No related posts.

Citibank Credit Card Rewards Thank You Network Update originally published at Personal Finance Blog - FinanceGourmet.com

Today, I got a notice in the mail regarding my Citibank credit card.  Mind you, I chose this card a few years ago because of how its travel rewards worked.  It paid off.  We went to Hawaii this year.  Combined with some hotel reward points, three plane tickets and a week in a nice resort hotel were all free.  It was a great vacation.

However, I will be cancelling my Citibank card on Monday.  Good thing we used up most of the points on the vacation.

My notice says that with interest rates plummeting over the last year and with banks and financial institutions all over the country struggling to find and keep good customers who have strong credit and pay their bills on time, Citibank will be RAISING the interest rate on my credit card.

Frankly, given the state of the economy and the fact that I get a dozen credit card offers a week despite having opted out of everything we can, it is insulting to have ANY rate increase at all.  But, Citibank decided to make it so insulting that all their financially savvy customers will be cancelling their cards as well.

The new rate, if you are wondering, will be Prime + 10.99%.  I have credit cards with interest rates lower than the plus part of the new rate, let alone the rest of it.  16.99% is the kind of rate people with “not so good” of credit pay.  So, Citibank and I part ways next week.  I guess the billions of dollars the government will be giving them means that they don’t really need to keep their good customers anymore.

No related posts.

Citibank’s Recovery Plan? Gouging Customers originally published at Personal Finance Blog - FinanceGourmet.com

One of the toughest things about comparing all the different rewards credit cards out there is that the credit card companies aren’t very good about showing you what your points can buy until AFTER you sign up. Go ahead, try and find the rewards catalog for a reward credit card without logging into the site.

Most reward programs sound the same. Earn 1 point for every $1 you spend with some specials here and there thrown in to maybe give you more points at grocery stores, gas stations or elsewhere. The catch though is that it doesn’t matter how many points you earn, what matters is what you can get with those points. Remember Chuck e Cheese and Showbiz Pizza? 10,000 tickets gets you an 8″ stuffed animal. What do 10,000 points get you from your credit card?

Less than two years ago I used 40,000 points on my Capital One Miles Reward card to get $400 worth of gift certificates to Baby’s R Us. I pretty much furnished the nursery for free. It was a great deal. I logged in at Christmas time this year (2007) looking to do the same for a pregnant friend. Imagine my shock when I found out that the rate was now 18,000 points for a $100 gift card, not 10,000. That is nowhere near as sweet of a deal. In fact, I’m looking for a new card to replace this one. But, look at the big splashy front page and all the comparison sites out there and all you’ll see is that $1 gives you 1 point.

So, in hopes of helping everyone, I am collecting rewards point catalogs from all credit card companies. I’ll try and get as many as I can, but I just explained how they can be hard to get, so I’m asking for your help. Download your rewards catalog, or scan the one they sent you in the mail and email it to me at thegourmet@financegourmet .com I’ll turn them into pdf files and we’ll get a catalog going here that anyone can use. Don’t worry, if there is any identifiable information on it, I’ll black it out before it gets posted.

Related posts:

1. Credit Card Rewards Catalog Update
2. Credit Card Rewards Programs – Are New Laws Making Them More Stingy?

Credit Card Rewards Catalog originally published at Personal Finance Blog - FinanceGourmet.com