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.
If you get a statement credit, do you get the 2nd 1% back on that amount for paying your bill? I never found a satisfactory answer to that question, and so always requested cash instead.
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!).
I switched over to Wells Fargo’s 2% card last year because they offered a sign-up bonus, and because they pay the entire 2% on the statement where the charges appear. Taking the cash back as a statement credit there obviously does no harm.
I’m surprised to hear about the coding of gas stations with Citi Costco. I don’t usually use that card for gas, but I do use their Dividend card, which has rotating categories that sometimes include gas. I always get the proper cash back for gas at my local Kroger.
Most of the time I use Penfed for gas, which pays 5% all the time, but only for pay-at-the-pump. If for some reason the card reader at the pump isn’t working, I use the Costco card inside.
