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For the second time, Citi has extended the sign-up promotion on its PremierMiles Visa card on the very same day the promotion was set to end. This time the 21,000-mile bonus, which requires an eligible retail spend of S$7,500 in the first three months of card approval, has been extended to applications received by 31st March 2019.
Citi also added an easier to attain lower bonus level on 1st January 2019, where you can earn an additional 6,400 miles for a spend of S$3,000 within the first three months of card approval, with first year fee waiver. This is also valid for applications received by 31st March 2019.
The cost per mile comes in at 0.9 Singapore cents each if you go with the 21,000-mile offer, but is technically a free bonus for the 6,400-mile offer with no annual fee levied in year one.
This is certainly one of the best sign-up bonuses around, now improved with an offer for those with less upcoming spend, and you should certainly consider the PremierMiles Visa if you don’t currently hold this card.
21,000 Miles Sign-up bonus
Provided you don’t currently hold a Citi credit card and haven’t held one in the last 12 months, you’ll be eligible for a bonus of 21,000 miles, subject to having S$7,500 of spending to do in the three full calendar months from the end of the calendar month of card approval.
For example, if you are approved for the card on 8th February 2019, the qualifying spend period is from that date until 31st May 2019 (three full calendar months from the end of February 2019).
It is subject to payment of the annual fee, which is S$192.60.
6,400 Miles Sign-up bonus
If you prefer not to pay the annual fee, Citi was previously offering S$120 cashback, however this was changed on 1st January 2019. New cardmembers who opt not to pay the annual fee but who spend at least S$3,000 in the same three full calendar months from the end of the calendar month of card approval (as defined above) will earn a 6,400 miles bonus.
The terms and conditions for this new offer can be found here.
The standard earn rate is additional
You will still earn the standard rate of 1.2 Citi Miles per S$1 spent locally or 2.0 Citi Miles per S$1 spent overseas, in addition to the bonus amounts.
That means if you go for the full 21,000 bonus miles offer by spending S$7,500 over three months, you’ll net an extra 9,000 miles assuming you use the card for local spend, for a total of 30,000 miles (21,000 + 9,000).
That’s only 500 miles short of a Business Class redemption to Hong Kong in the latest Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 Business Class seat. Check out our full review of that product, in case you’re wondering whether it’s worth it!
For the 6,400 bonus miles offer you’ll receive 3,600 miles assuming local spend, for a total of 10,000 miles (6,400 + 3,600).
Of course you’re probably already using a card giving you a similar miles earning rate for local transactions, so the true bonus over and above what you would earn anyway is only 21,000 miles or 6,400 miles respectively for most people.
Here’s how Citi advertises the 21,000 miles bonus (as a 30,000 miles bonus):
And here’s how they break down the 6,400 miles bonus (as a 10,000 miles bonus):
What about existing or former Citi customers?
No change here, if you are an existing Citi credit card holder, or had a Citi credit card account which was terminated in the last 12 months, you won’t be eligible for the sign-up bonus above, and instead can choose either from first year fee-waiver, or:
- 10,000 Citi Miles on approval and payment of the annual fee (S$192.60).
- An additional 4,000 Citi Miles (14,000 miles total) and a S$100 Kaligo.com e-voucher, if you spend S$7,500 on the card within the first 3 months.
Again you will still earn the standard rate of 1.2 Citi Miles per S$1 spent locally or 2.0 Citi Miles per S$1 spent overseas, in addition to the bonus amounts. That means if you go for the maximum bonus miles offer by spending S$7,500 over three months, you’ll again net an extra 9,000 miles assuming you use the card for local spend, for a total of 23,000 miles (10,000 + 4,000 + 9,000).
Here’s how Citi advertise this one:
The cost per mile in this case increases to 1.38 cents each, still reasonable in our view.
Earning rates
As we’ve mentioned above – the Citi PremierMiles Visa earns 1.2 miles for every S$1 spent locally (i.e. transacted in SGD), and 2.0 miles for every S$1 spent overseas (i.e. transacted in foreign currency).
Citi has one of the widest range of frequent flyer programs for you to transfer your points into, including British Airways, Qatar Airways, Thai and Qantas, making these very flexible points to accrue.
Put your points into Asia Miles, for example, to get the best redemption rate on the Qatar Qsuite flying daily from Singapore to Doha.
The fee-free deal effectively makes the bonus miles free, but even if you go for the 21,000 miles bonus the cost per mile is attractive at 0.92 cents each, provided you have S$7,500 spending to do in the next 3 months. See our full review for more details, including a full list of transfer partners.
| Citi PremierMiles Visa | ||
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Sign-up Bonus: | 6,400 / 21,000 miles |
| Annual Fee: | Free / S$192.60 | |
| Cost per mile: | Free / 0.92¢ | |
| Min Spend: | S$3,000 / S$7,500 in 3 months | |
| Min Income: | S$30,000/yr | |
| Citi Miles credit to the following programs: | ||
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The Citi PremierMiles Amex is still excluded
There is still no sign-up bonus for the Citi PremierMiles Amex card, which features a slightly better local earning rate of 1.3 miles per S$1 spent, but in most other aspects is the same as the PremierMiles Visa offering.
Other changes
Separately, Citi has also extended the Agoda up to 7 miles per S$1 promotion for bookings made until 31st July 2019, for stays until 31st December 2019. Previously this offer ended today, for stays until 31st July 2019.
Summary
Another extension of a good sign-up offer for the Citi PremierMiles card, this time with an added incentive for those without so much to spend in the next three months, or those who simply want to avoid the annual fee but still earn some miles.
The income requirement for this card was also cut to S$30k per annum in June last year, making it even more accessible.
Do be aware though of some other changes to Citi products recently, namely an increase in the foreign transaction fee and some additional miles earning MCC category exclusions, which you’ll want to be wary of to ensure your spend is eligible for meeting the minimum thresholds.
While not as attractive as some of the sign-up bonuses we’ve seen in the past for this card – 21,000 miles is worth about S$420 against a future redemption with Singapore Airlines under the KrisFlyer scheme, and a similar amount with many of the other programs you can transfer Citi Miles into, like Asia Miles and Avios.
That more than justifies the annual fee if you go down the higher earning route, which also entitles you to a recurring 10,000 miles per year bonus on each subsequent renewal. Citi Miles also never expire, so there’s no rush to transfer them into KrisFlyer or any other scheme until you’re ready.
As we also mentioned in our full review of the card, there are also regular ‘cheap miles’ promotions for existing cardholders, one of them offering 31,200 bonus miles for a spend of S$9,000 over a 2-month period in 2017, for an administrative fee of S$238, an absolute no-brainer for the miles collector. Fingers crossed for another offer like that in 2019.
In summary we think this is one to have in your wallet, assuming you don’t already. The sign-up bonus alone is worth it, whichever spend level you are comfortable with. Even for existing Citi credit card holders, a 14,000 miles bonus is worth considering.