Citi Prestige sign-up bonus: 40,000 miles for S$800 spend

EXPIRED This article relates to an offer or promotion which has now expired.
 

Citi has a new bonus miles offer for its Prestige card running between now and the end of June 2022, allowing you to net 40,000 bonus miles for payment of the annual fee and with a minimum spend of S$800 in the first two months, provided you’re not currently a primary Citi Prestige cardholder, or you cancelled your card more than 12 months ago.

Previously the Citi Prestige card was offering a 25,000 miles sign-up bonus, with no minimum spend required, however that has been superseded by this offer.

The great thing about this deal is that existing Citi cardholders, such as those with the Citi PremierMiles or Rewards cards in their wallets, are eligible for this Prestige card sign-up bonus.

That allows you to effectively ‘buy’ a very useful stash of 40,000 miles for 1.34 cents each, even if you put no value on the card’s other perks, like unlimited lounge access and airport limo transfers.

The spend requirement of S$800 in the first two months is also very modest, and can even include Citi PayAll transactions under the latest excellent 2.5 mpd offer.

Sign-up bonus

Here are the full details of the latest Citi Prestige card sign-up bonus, for applications by 30th June 2022.

Provided you don’t currently hold a Citi Prestige card as the primary cardholder and haven’t held one in the 12 months before application, you’ll be eligible for a bonus of 40,000 miles, subject to having S$800 of spending to make from the approval date until the end of the second full calendar month, not including the calendar month of card approval.

For example, if you are approved for the card on 7th May 2022, the qualifying spend period is from that date until 31st July 2022 (two full calendar months from 1st June 2022).

It is subject to payment of the annual fee, which is S$535. Your card must be approved within 30 days of the application date.

Pro Tip: Try to get approved towards the beginning of the month to give yourself almost three months to meet the spend threshold.

Here’s how Citi outlines the offer:

  APPLY HERE

Citi ThankYou Points (TYPs) transfer to airline miles including KrisFlyer, Asia Miles and Avios, at a 2.5:1 ratio, so 100,000 TYPs is equivalent to 40,000 miles.

Remember the Citi Prestige card earns 1.3 mpd for local transactions, so you will also earn 1,040 miles for the minimum S$800 spend itself, for a total earning of 41,040 miles, though these extra 1,040 miles aren’t part of the bonus – since you would receive them anyway without any offer running.

Cost per mile is the annual fee (S$535) divided by the bonus (40,000) = 1.34 cents each.

Important! If you do not meet the minimum spend requirement (S$800) within the qualifying spend period, no bonus miles will be awarded.

Full terms and conditions for the sign-up offer can be found here.

Eligible spend

With this sign-up offer you’ll have to make sure your minimum S$800 spend falls under eligible categories, which Citi defines as:

Any retail transactions (including internet purchases) which do not arise from:

• Annual fees, interest charges, late payment charges, GST, cash advances, instalment / easy / extended / equal payment plans, preferred payment plans, balance transfers, cash advances, quasi-cash transactions, all fees charged by Citibank or third party, miscellaneous charges imposed by Citibank (unless otherwise stated in writing by Citibank)
• Funds transfers using the card as source of funds
• Bill payments (including via Citibank Online or via any other channel or agent)
• Payments to educational institutions
• Payments to government institutions and services (including but not limited to court cases, fines, bail and bonds, tax payment, postal services, parking lots and garages, intra-government purchases)
• Payments to insurance companies (sales, underwriting, and premiums)
• Payments to financial institutions (including banks and brokerages)
• Payments to non-profit organisations
• Betting or gambling (including lottery tickets, casino gaming chips, off-track betting, and wagers at race tracks) through any channel
• Top-ups or payment of funds to payment service providers, prepaid cards and any prepaid accounts
• Transit-related transactions
• Transactions performed at establishments/businesses/merchants that fall within an excluded Merchant Category or a merchant that has been excluded by the bank, as sent out in www.citibank.com.sg/rwdexcl (this list of excluded Merchant Categories or merchants may be updated from time to time)

Citi PayAll transactions are counted towards the minimum spend, with regular offers to buy miles at competitive rates, including the latest deal earning 2.5 mpd with the Citi Prestige card, which means buying miles at just 0.8 cents each.

That could make a rental payment, income tax bill or insurance payment a perfect way to meet the S$800 minimum spend under this bonus miles earning offer, if you don’t have any other spend coming up.

When are the bonus miles credited?

Bonus miles are awarded in the form of 100,000 Citi ThankYou Points within three months of the end of the qualifying spend period.

For example:

• Card approved: 7th May 2022
• Spend period: 7th May – 31st July 2022
• Bonus miles awarded: By 30th October 2022

Bear in mind there is a S$26.75 fee each time you transfer Citi ThankYou Points to airline miles, and unfortunately the points do not pool with those accrued on other Citi cards.

Citi Prestige benefits

The Citi Prestige card earns 1.3 mpd for local transactions (SGD) and 2 mpd for overseas spend (FCY), however there is also a “relationship bonus”, which offers small boost based on your banking tenure as a Citi customer.

Long-time Citi customers with Citigold status get the best rates here of up to 1.42 mpd locally and 2.12 mpd for FCY spend.

The card also comes with some other perks, and although they’ve largely been useless during COVID-19, with travel back on the agenda they are once again nice value propositions you may consider worth having:

• Unlimited Priority Pass lounge access, plus one guest
• Fourth night free when you book a consecutive four-night+ stay at any hotel or resort
• 25,000 miles on renewal when you pay the annual fee
• Two complimentary limo rides to or from Changi Airport per quarter, with a minimum spend of S$12,000 in the same quarter

Citi also rolls out frequent offers to Prestige customers, including the ability to buy cheap miles via Citi PayAll, plus recent 3 mpd on travel spend and 4 mpd on food delivery offers.

  APPLY HERE

Citi TYP are very flexible

One of the best things about Citi ThankYou Points (and Citi Miles) in Singapore is the wide range of transfer partners compared with other bank loyalty points.

You can transfer your miles into 10 different frequent flyer programmes and into IHG points.

Singapore credit card to FFP transfers

As you can see from the table above, Citi gives you a wide range of flight redemption options including oneworld and SkyTeam carriers.

Convertible loyalty points like Citi TYPs are therefore intrinsically more valuable to you, because the range of transfer options protects you against devaluation in a single programme, and opens up a wider variety of redemption options.

For a full list of which credit card loyalty points balances transfer into which frequent flyer programmes or hotel loyalty schemes in Singapore, check out our comprehensive guide here. It also gives examples of some of the alliance and partner airline redemptions you can achieve that you might not have considered before.

SingSaver alternative

If you’re new to Citi cards (not just new to the Prestige card in this case), you can also consider an alternative deal through SingSaver running until 4th May 2022, where you’ll instead be eligible to receive one of the following gifts:

• Apple iPad 9th Gen (worth S$499); or
• Dyson V8 Slim Fluffy (worth S$549); or
• SMEG Breakfast Set (worth S$536); or
• S$350 Cash via PayNow

This one’s valid for those who haven’t held any Citi credit card as the primary cardholder in the last 12 months prior to application.

The offer is applicable for a number of Citi credit cards including the Prestige card, and is subject to just S$500 minimum spend in the first 30 days of card approval, though do note the annual fee of S$535 remains payable, making the 40,000 miles offer outlined above better value in our book.

Apple iPad 9th Gen (worth S$499)
or
Dyson V8 Slim™ Fluffy (worth S$549)
or
SMEG Breakfast Set (worth S$536)
or
S$350 cash

APPLY HERE

For the SingSaver offer, you’ll have to follow these application steps:

1. Apply via this link, which will take you to the SingSaver landing page for Citi cards.
2. Click ‘Apply Now’ and enter your email address on the redemption form, then click ‘Confirm’.
3. Submit your application and take a screenshot of your Application Reference Number (12 alphanumeric characters)
4. Within 14 days of application, complete the SingSaver rewards form sent to your email address.
5. Have the card approved by 4th June 2022, activate it and make a minimum spend of S$500 within the first 30 days of account opening.

You’ll then receive a rewards notification from SingSaver confirming the redemption details for your gift within four calendar months (do take note, it’s far from immediate!).

Terms and conditions are available here.

New Citi Prestige cardholders will earn an increased 40,000 mies sign-up bonus provided they apply before 30th June 2022 and make a modest spend of S$800+ in the first two full calendar months of card membership.

The S$535 annual fee is payable, which makes this the equivalent of paying 1.34 cents per mile, even if you think the card has no value beyond the miles themselves.

Existing Citi cardholders are also eligible, and you might even qualify having cancelled your Citi Prestige card more than 12 months ago (for example, if you cancelled the card in March 2021 or earlier, you’re now eligible for the sign-up bonus again).

SingSaver also has some competitive sign-up deals, including S$350 cash via PayNow for applications by 4th May for a minimum spend of S$500, but the annual fee remains payable so we would go for the bonus miles option under this latest offer from Citi, especially now that travel is opening up.

Fast Facts Annual fee: $535/yr EIR: 26.9% Local earn rate: 1.3 miles per $1 Overseas earn rate: 2 miles per $1 Lounge access: Unlimited (Priority Pass) Foreign transaction fee: 3.25% Minimum Age: 21 Minimum income: $120,000/yr
Apple iPad 9th Gen (worth S$499) or Dyson V8 Slim™ Fluffy (worth S$549) or SMEG Breakfast Set (worth S$536) or S$350 cash APPLY HERE	40,000 miles when you spend APPLY HERE

If you’re new to all Citi credit cards in the last 12 months, you can also consider a 25,000 miles sign-up bonus for the Citi PremierMiles card, on payment of the S$192.60 annual fee and for making the same S$800+ spend in the first two months, equivalent to buying miles at a more competitive 0.77 cents each.

(Cover Photo: Shutterstock)