Citi has re-launched its bonus miles offer for the Prestige card, just two days after the previous deal ended, now running from 2nd May 2023 through to 30th June 2023, allowing you to net 48,000 bonus miles on payment of the annual fee and with a minimum spend of S$800 in the first two months, even if you’re an existing Citi credit card holder.
This excellent reinstated deal allows you to effectively ‘buy’ a very useful stash of 48,000 miles for 1.13 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, though it now excludes payments where you are not charged the Citi PayAll service fee.
Sign-up bonus
Here are the full details of the latest Citi Prestige card sign-up bonus, for applications between 2nd May 2023 and 30th June 2023.
Provided you don’t currently hold a Citi Prestige card as the primary cardholder and haven’t held a Citi Prestige card in the 12 months before application, you’ll be eligible for a bonus of 48,000 miles.
That means existing Citi credit card holders, for example those with the PremierMiles and/or Rewards cards in their wallet, are also eligible to apply and receive the bonus.
The deal is subject to having S$800 of spending to make from the approval date until the end of the second full calendar month.
For example, if you are approved for the card on 15th May 2023, the qualifying spend period is from that date until 31st July 2023 (two full calendar months from 1st June 2023).
It is subject to payment of the annual fee, which is S$540. Your card must be approved within 30 days of the application date.
Pro Tip: Try to get approved towards the beginning of a month to give yourself almost three months to meet the spend threshold.Here’s how Citi outlines the offer:
Citi ThankYou Points (TYPs) transfer to airline miles including KrisFlyer, Asia Miles and Avios, at a 2.5:1 ratio, so 120,000 TYPs is equivalent to 48,000 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 49,040 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$540) divided by the bonus element (48,000) = 1.13 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. Currently there is a deal for 2.2 mpd on all Citi PayAll payments totalling at least S$8,000 between now and 20th August 2023, which means buying miles at just 1 cents each.
That could make a rental payment, income tax bill or insurance payment a good way to meet the S$800 minimum spend under this bonus miles earning offer.
You can even achieve the spend buying Cold Storage or NTUC vouchers for future shopping, if you don’t have any immediate expenses coming up.
Do note that the terms and conditions for the latest sign-up offer specifically exclude Citi PayAll transactions where you opt not to be charged the Citi PayAll service fee from the eligible spend category for the sign-up bonus.
When are the bonus miles credited?
Bonus miles are awarded in the form of 120,000 Citi ThankYou Points within three calendar months of the end of the qualifying spend period.
For example:
- Card approved: 15th May 2023
- Spend period: 15th May – 31st July 2023
- Bonus miles awarded: By 30th October 2023
Bear in mind there is a S$27.00 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.
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
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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.
Summary
In this new offer, which effectively repeats the previous deal, new Citi Prestige cardholders will earn a 48,000 mies sign-up bonus provided they apply between 2nd May and 30th June 2023 and make a modest spend of S$800+ in the first two full calendar months of card membership.
The S$540 annual fee is payable, which makes this the equivalent of paying 1.13 cents per mile, even if you think the card has no value beyond the bonus miles themselves.
Existing Citi credit card holders who don’t have a Prestige card are also eligible, which is great news for many of our readers who already hold a PremierMiles and/or Rewards card.
You might even qualify having cancelled your Citi Prestige card more than 12 months ago (for example, if you cancelled the card in April 2022 or earlier, you’re now eligible for the sign-up bonus again).
| Fast Facts
Annual fee: $540/yr |
| 48,000 miles when you spend APPLY HERE |
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