In a recent article, Clark complained about the inconvenience of having to convert Thank You points to cash. I have always converted my points to a statement credit, and I did so under the “Thank You Points” change yesterday, which was my first time.
I didn’t notice any difference other than the wording
I love that there no longer is a $25 minimum in order to convert points
The second item is worth any extra step that Clark is referring to and which, frankly, I did not notice in my redemption process.
Excellent point, I had not thought of that! My guess is that you don’t get the 1% for those credits, if so a sneaky way to get back part of the 2% by Citibank. I’ll see if I can figure that out, you’ve peaked my curiosity!
ratbert2k, great name by the way, the reason why you haven’t got an answer is not surprising as it’s this: you get NOTHING if you redeem your points as a statement credit.
Thank you for bringing this up, lots of us - including me - have taken the bait on this one, thinking it’s better than shopping somewhere with it (which is typically some overpriced place) or using it at Amazon (which is similar to a statement credit if you have an Amazon credit card, which gets 3% there for non-Prime members and 5% for Prime members, far better than getting a credit).
I just checked a recent statement where I requested a statement credit. I made a regular payment, and I got the 1% for that in its entirety, but I also got a statement credit, and I got 0 for that.
That means, and it’s too late at night here for a lot of brainpower, but Citi screws you out of your 1% if you take a statement credit, as I’ve foolishly been doing seeing it as convenient and reducing my amount to pay on my card. This seems to be a subtle trick to reduce what they pay you.
It would be better to take the deposit option to a bank account. It can be any number of points, a Citi savings or checking account OR “verified” non-Citi savings or checking account (defined as if you’ve used that account to pay your card account at least 2 times).
It does say that statement credits aren’t considered a payment…way at the bottom of the general page about Thank You points, as opposed to saying so where that’s given an option, e.g. “Statement credit (note: is not considered a payment).” What I think is sneaky, sneaky, a great way to get people to think they’re getting 2% when they may only be getting 1%! It is a payment, as it reduces the amount that you have to pay. Another tip from me is that a gas station that’s attached to a grocery store only gets 1% from Citi Costco, but 2% from this one (provided you don’t take the 1% as a statement credit!).
If I redeem my awards as a statement credit, I forgo the 1% credit on that “payment”, thus losing 1% of my 2% rebate ( or .02% of my original purchase). So the Citi 2% rebate is really a 1.98% rebate if you redeem as statement credits. Mildly annoying, but too small for me to worry about.
I’ve had the Citi DC Card for years. I’ve seen many times that Rewards to statement credit does not give you the full amount. But my monthly statement does not say that and I can’t find evidence of that anywhere. I think it’s a myth. Show me in writing where applying your points to statement credit will short you.
