Back in August this year, Citi upsized its 48,000 bonus miles for new Citi Prestige cardholders to a generous 71,000 miles deal, subject to a minimum spend of S$2,000 in the first two months of card membership, an offer made even sweeter because new-to-card customers are eligible, allowing existing Citi credit card holders with other products to benefit.
While this new offer was set to end on 31st October 2023, Citi has extended the 71,000 miles sign-up bonus by a full four months, now valid for those who apply by the end of February 2024.
This excellent deal allows you to effectively ‘buy’ a very useful stash of 71,000 miles for 0.76 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$2,000 in the first two months also remains relatively modest, and can even include Citi PayAll transactions, combining nicely with a 1.8 mpd earn offer for the bank’s payment platform.
Sign-up bonus
Here are the full details of the latest Citi Prestige card sign-up bonus, for applications between 1st November 2023 and 29th February 2024.
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 up to 71,000 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 spending S$1,000 in local currency and S$1,000 in foreign currency from the approval date until the end of the second full calendar month.
For example, if you are approved for the card on 15th November 2023, the qualifying spend period is from that date until 31st January 2024 (two full calendar months from 1st December 2023).
Here’s how it’s structured.
- 25,000 miles: For payment of S$540 annual fee
- 23,000 miles: For spending S$1,000 in local currency
- 23,000 miles: For spending S$1,000 in foreign currency
- 71,000 miles: Maximum total haul
You must pay the annual fee under this deal, 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 177,500 TYPs is equivalent to 71,000 miles.
Remember the Citi Prestige card earns 1.3 mpd for local transactions and 2 mpd for overseas spend, so you will also earn 3,300 miles for the minimum S$2,000 spend itself (S$1,000 x 1.3 + S$1,000 x 2), for a total earning of 74,300 miles, though these extra 3,300 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 (71,000) = 0.76 cents each.
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$2,000 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 1.8 mpd on all Citi PayAll payments totalling at least S$8,000 between 18th October 2023 and 29th February 2024, which means buying miles at just 1.2 cents each.
That could make a rental payment, income tax bill or insurance payment a good way to meet the minimum local spend element 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 177,500 Citi ThankYou Points within three calendar months of the end of the qualifying spend period.
For example:
- Card approved: 15th November 2023
- Spend period: 15th November – 31st January 2024
- Bonus miles awarded: By 30th April 2024
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.
| Citi Prestige Relationship Bonus Actual miles earn rates (mpd) |
|||
| 0 – 5 years | 6 – 10 years | > 10 years | |
| Local Spend Citigold / Private Client |
1.36 | 1.38 | 1.42 |
| Overseas Spend Citigold / Private Client |
2.06 | 2.08 | 2.12 |
| Local Spend Regular |
1.32 | 1.34 | 1.36 |
| Overseas Spend Regular |
2.02 | 2.04 | 2.06 |
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 a newly-launched 4.5 mpd on travel spend offer, not to mention a recent 4 mpd on food delivery deal.
For full details, see our recently-updated comprehensive review of the Citi Prestige card.
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.
Summary
Citi’s upsized offer for new Citi Prestige cardholders has been extended by four months, with a generous 71,000 mies sign-up bonus offer for those who apply between now and 29th February 2024 and make a spend of at least S$1,000 locally and at least S$1,000 in FCY during the first two full calendar months of card membership.
The S$540 annual fee is payable, which makes this the equivalent of paying 0.76 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 with the bank.
You might even qualify having cancelled your Citi Prestige card more than 12 months ago (for example, if you cancelled the card in October 2022 or earlier, you’re now eligible for the sign-up bonus again).
| Fast Facts
Annual fee: $540/yr |
| 71,000 miles when you spend APPLY HERE |
(Cover Photo: Shutterstock)
Links on Mainly Miles may pay us an affiliate commission.