citi rewards travel exclusion

Mainly Miles

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Citi Rewards Card Review (2024)

Here’s our review of the Citi Rewards credit card issued in Singapore. It forms part of our series of credit card reviews, which are all summarised on our dedicated Credit Cards page .

Dollar amounts refer to SGD, and ‘miles’ refer to KrisFlyer Miles, except where stated. This review was updated on 20th February 2024 .

  Mainly Miles Says

A $1,000 monthly cap for  4 mpd on most online spend, plus offline shopping,  is the primary benefit of the Citi Rewards card, allowing you to accrue 48,000 miles per year and also tap into the bank’s extensive range of transfer partners.

Throw in $1 earning blocks and “up to five years” of points validity, 4 mpd for Amaze-linked physical transactions, plus regular Citi bonus miles offers, and it’s definitely one worth considering.

  Two Versions?

The Citi Rewards card previously came in two varieties – a Visa and a Mastercard.

It was therefore possible to apply for and hold both cards (as I currently do) and enjoy double the monthly spend cap ($2,000 instead of $1,000) in the 4 mpd category.

Unfortunately the Visa card has now been discontinued, and it is only possible to apply for a new Citi Rewards Mastercard .

If you’re holding the Citi Rewards Visa card, or both cards, you’ll still be able to use the Visa card at least until it expires.

  Eligibility

• Minimum Age:  21
• Minimum Income (Singaporean / PR):  $30,000/yr
• Minimum Income (Non-Singaporean / PR):  $42,000/yr

The Citi Rewards card has an annual income requirement of $30,000 for most applicants, an accessible entry-level threshold for Singaporeans and Permanent Residents, making it widely accessible.

  Annual Fees & Interest Rates

• Annual Fee (principal):  $196.20 (first year free)
• Annual Fee (supplementary):  $98.10 (first year free, up to 2 cards)

The Citi Rewards card has an annual fee of $196.20 , waived for the first year. The supplementary card fee of $98.10 per card for up to two additional cards is also waived for the first year.

A third supplementary card and any further ones issued attract the $98.10 fee, even in the first year.

Most people have reported having the annual fee waived after the first year of card membership on request, though this is at Citi’s discretion and may also depend on your spending habits. Others have reported a $100 credit offered instead of the fee waiver.

Other fees and interest rates for the Citi Rewards card include:

• EIR:  27.9%
• Interest-free period:  21 days
• Minimum payment:  1%  (or current balance if < $50)
• Late payment fee:  $100
• Cash advance fee:  8%  (minimum $15)
• Overlimit fee:  $40

Full details can be found at the card’s information sheet .

  Sign-up bonus

The current sign-up bonus for the Citi Rewards card is 16,800 miles , awarded as 40,000 ThankYou Points and subject to a minimum spend of only $800 in the first two full months from card approval.

The offer is valid for applications made by 30th April 2024.

All the details are available in our full article covering the deal here .

  Regular earn rates

The Citi Rewards card earns:

• 0.4 mpd for every $1 of general local and overseas spend

That’s clearly not an attractive earn rate, since you should be earning at least 1.2 mpd / 1.3 mpd for general spend locally (outside bonus categories) and 2+ mpd overseas, however the big draw for this card is of course the bonus earn rate, outlined below.

You should not be using the Citi Rewards card for general spending outside the bonus categories (see entry-level general spend cards like the  Citi PremierMiles , or DBS Altitude or UOB PRVI Miles for good general spend earn rates).

  Bonus earn rates

• 4 mpd for every $1 spent online in eligible categories (local or overseas)
• 4 mpd for every $1 spent when you shop for shoes, bags and clothes online or in-store at retail merchants, or department stores (locally or overseas).

This excellent rate is capped at the first $1,000 spent in this category per statement cycle, so you’re limited to earning a maximum of 4,000 miles per statement month at the 4 mpd rate.

After that, further spend in the same statement month will earn the (very low) 0.4 miles per $1, though this is then unlimited.

  Eligible transactions (general spend)

Citi maintains a list of merchants and / or MCC codes which will not earn Citi ThankYou Points here .

Some of the most important exclusion categories, which apply to this card whether you’re making transactions at the 0.4 mpd or what you think should be the 4 mpd rates, are:

• Education Institutions (MCC 8211 – 8299)
• Government Services, including tax payments (MCC 9000 – 9999)
• Hospitals (MCC 8062)
• Insurance (MCC 6300)
• Real Estate Agents and Managers – Rentals (MCC 6513)
• Utilities (MCC 4900)

Note that education, insurance, hospitals and tax payments are specifically excluded from miles earning.

  Eligible transactions (bonus spend)

Here’s the full list of MCC codes  which currently qualify  for 4 mpd (10 Citi ThankYou points per dollar) both locally and overseas,  including online transactions , according to the terms and conditions document :

• MCC 5311: Department Stores
• MCC 5611: Men’s and Boy’s Clothing and Accessories Stores
• MCC 5621: Women’s Ready to Wear Stores
• MCC 5631: Women’s Accessory and Specialty Stores
• MCC 5641: Children’s and Infant’s Wear Stores
• MCC 5651: Family Clothing Stores
• MCC 5655: Sports and Riding Apparel Stores
• MCC 5661: Shoe Stores
• MCC 5691: Men’s and Women’s Clothing Stores
• MCC 5699: Miscellaneous Apparel and Accessory Shops
• MCC 5948: Luggage and Leather Goods Stores

For online retail transactions outside of the above MCCs, which also qualify for 4 miles (10 Citi ThankYou points) per $1 spent both locally and overseas, there are exclusions to be aware of.

These are in-app mobile wallet transactions (e.g. using Apple Pay or Google Pay), plus the following travel-related transactions :

• MCC 3000 to 3350: Airlines, Air Carriers
• MCC 3351 to 3500: Car Rental Agencies
• MCC 3501 to 3999: Lodging – Hotels, Motels, Resorts
• MCC 4112: Passenger Railways
• MCC 4411: Cruise Lines
• MCC 4511: Airlines, Air Carriers (Not Elsewhere Classified)
• MCC 4722: Travel Agencies and Tour Operators
• MCC 5962: Direct Marketing – Travel-Related Arrangement Services
• MCC 7011: Lodging – Hotels, Motels, Resorts (Not Elsewhere Classified)
• MCC 7512: Car Rental Agencies (Not Elsewhere Classified)

These exclusions mean you should not be using the Citi Rewards Card for hotel bookings or to buy flights either directly with airlines or via online travel agents, including the likes of Marriott, Singapore Airlines, Jetstar and Expedia.

You would only earn 0.4 mpd in these cases , which is clearly very poor.

Also remember that tapping the card at a merchant (contactless payment) is not an online transaction.

From 1st April 2024, Citi is expanding its travel-related spend exclusions slightly, according to a new terms and conditions document .

• MCC 4111: Transportation – Suburban and Local Commuter Passenger, including Ferries
• MCC 4112: Passenger railways
• MCC 4789: Transportation Services Not Elsewhere Classified

Despite the exclusion of travel-related spend, 4 mpd in the online category is the most useful feature of the Citi Rewards card , which includes things like Grab and Gojek rides (MCC 4121 at the time of writing), online grocery shopping, StarHub or Singtel bills (but not for recurring), and food delivery services like Foodpanda and Deliveroo.

  Be careful with in-app payments

With the Citi Rewards card it’s very important to remember that while most online spend earns you 4 mpd, in-app mobile wallet transactions (e.g. using Apple Pay or Google Pay) are specifically excluded .

For example:

• If you use your Citi Rewards Card via Apple Pay in the Foodpanda app when placing an order, you’ll earn only 0.4 mpd for the transaction.
• If you use your Citi Rewards card directly via the Foodpanda app when placing an order, you’ll earn 4 mpd for the transaction (provided you’re still within your first $1,000 of bonus spend in the statement cycle).

The exclusion also applies to Kris+, which since August 2021 moved exclusively to to in-app payments via Apple Pay or Google Pay. That means it’s no longer possible to tap into the Citi Rewards Card’s 4 mpd rate at any Kris+ merchant when paying via the app, since the offline payment method was removed.

  Pair with Amaze for 4 mpd in-store

Another option with the Citi Rewards card is to pair it with a free Amaze card by Instarem.

You can only link a Mastercard to Amaze, so it’s the Citi Rewards Mastercard this will work with, not the Visa version.

Any spend made on the Amaze card comes with the same MCC as it would using your credit card directly, but codes as an online transaction, even for in-store spend.

That means you can use it for things like dining and shopping in Singapore or overseas and still tap into the card’s 4 mpd bonus category for online spend, provided you avoid travel-related transactions.

For example, you can earn 4 mpd at the likes of Cold Storage, 7-Eleven and Subway on your Citi Rewards card when paired with Amaze in this way.

This may be useful if you don’t maximise the $1,000 monthly cap in the regular online spend category directly with the card.

  Are KrisFlyer miles credited directly?

No, rather than being credited miles directly  you’ll accrue ‘Citi ThankYou Points’  for your spending on this card.

These transfer to KrisFlyer miles at a 2.5:1 ratio (so the standard accrual rate is 1 Citi ThankYou Point per $1 spent, which translates to  0.4 mpd , and the bonus rate is 10 Citi ThankYou Points per $1 spent, which is  4 mpd ).

For example, with a $1,000 eligible online spend (10x rewards points) per month over five months ($5,000 total spend), you’ll accrue 50,000 Citi ThankYou Points with this card, which can be converted to 20,000 KrisFlyer miles (4 mpd).

  Which loyalty schemes can I transfer into?

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

You can transfer your points into 10 different frequent flyer programmes (FFPs), plus into IHG points on the hotel loyalty side.

Here’s how Citi compares to other banks in Singapore.

Singapore credit card to FFP transfers

Citi Miles transfer at the same 1:1 ratio into all these programmes, giving you a wide range of flight redemption options including Oneworld and SkyTeam carriers.

Since Citi ThankYou Points transfer to most FFPs relatively quickly, there’s no rush to commit to a specific programme until you have a redemption in mind .

Simply transfer when you need to travel, into the scheme that works best for your preferred redemption.

↥  Is there a minimum transfer amount?

Yes, since March 2017 the minimum amount of Citi ThankYou Points you can transfer into airline miles is 25,000, and they must then be in blocks of 25,000. Previously, much more flexible 1,250-point block transfers were possible.

So if you have 99,999 Citi ThankYou Points, and you don’t have time to tick it over by making a small purchase (miles from purchases tend to reflect in your account within a few days), you’ll only be able to transfer 75,000 Citi ThankYou Points across to KrisFlyer (and will be left with 24,999 in your Citi ThankYou Points account).

  When do points credit?

Citi ThankYou Points should reflect in your account once the transaction posts, which typically takes anywhere between one and three days.

This includes the bonus points for eligible 4 mpd transactions.

You won’t have to wait until your monthly statement for the Citi ThankYou Points to be added, so if you’re making a purchase to achieve a short-term top-up they should be available to you within a few days.

  Checking your Citi TYPs

Previously, Citi allowed you to check the crediting of Citi ThankYou Points for your transactions on the Citi Rewards card on the Rewards portal via the Citi ThankYou Rewards Portal, using a desktop computer.

Here you could see what base points and bonus points you were awarded on a daily basis, and you could then tally those against transactions performed using your card, as illustrated below.

Points Summary page:

Unfortunately Citi no longer provides an online ThankYou Rewards Portal, and you can only view transactions and make points transfers via the Citi SG mobile app ( Apple | Google ).

I can see from the rewards portal that the $18.00 charge on 20th November was awarded 180 points (18 + 162) two days later on 22nd November, and the $29.83 charge on 23rd November was awarded 290 points (29 + 261) two days later on 25th November.

No transaction-level or date-based rewards points accrual summaries are available here, however you can see how many points you have accrued so far this month, for posted (not pending) transactions.

This should allow you to reconcile whether your transactions have earned base points and bonus points (total 10x rewards or 4 mpd) relatively easily, then you can query any shortfall with Citi via the customer service support channels if required.

Your Citi Rewards monthly statement also shows how many rewards points you accrued in that month, which should come to 10x your SGD spend if all your transactions were in the bonus category. If it doesn’t, it should be relatively easy to work out which ones didn’t qualify, earning only base points (1x), for example.

If you can work out that at least one transaction you expected to be in the bonus category does not have the 9x TYPs bonus when posted to your statement, and you haven’t reached $1,000 in bonus spend during that statement cycle, remember you’ll need to contact Citi to find out why.

  Do Citi ThankYou Points expire?

Yes, Citi ThankYou points accrued using the Citi Rewards card points “are valid for a period of 60 months” . That’s five years, which sounds very generous, but it’s not as simple as they make out .

In fact you have to accrue and redeem your points in fixed five-year periods, which is not really the same thing. For example, if you open your card account on 1st July 2023 your first 60-month reward period ends on 30th June 2028. All remaining points accrued on that date will then expire 3 months later, no matter whether you earned them five years ago or in the last week of June 2028!

We have a full article outlining how the policy works and how you also need to be careful when approaching your five-year expiry date to ensure you won’t be left with wasted ‘orphan’ expiring miles, which takes a little planning on your part!

This strange policy is quite unlike the Citi PremierMiles card (see our review ) and Citi Prestige card (see our review ) where the miles earned never expire .

  Citi ThankYou Points don’t pool between cards

Not all credit card points are perfect, and our main bugbear with Citi is that it does not pool points across your cards and allow you to transfer them to your preferred FFP as a single (accumulated) transfer.

For example, if you have 30,000 Citi Miles on your Citi PremierMiles card and 75,000 Citi ThankYou Points on your Citi Rewards card (worth 30,000 miles), you won’t have the option to transfer those two amounts into 60,000 KrisFlyer miles.

Instead, you will have to pay the transfer fee for each card (i.e. twice in this example).

It also means you have to transfer all your points into miles before cancelling any Citi cards you hold, since you generally won’t be allowed to combine them with those accumulated on other Citi cards.

  What is the transfer cost to KrisFlyer miles?

It’s the same for all 11 transfer partners which are part of the programme, $27.25 each time you transfer Citi ThankYou Points to airline miles (like KrisFlyer miles).

This is the annoying fee you are being hit with for any transfer from each of your Citi cards, as explained above.

  How long do miles take to credit to KrisFlyer?

The official line is “up to 5 working days” . In reality the last few times we converted, it took 24-48 hours on each occasion. Here are our recent data points for transfer times from Citi:

• KrisFlyer: 24 hours (48 hours for transfers initiated on a Sunday)
• Asia Miles: 2 days
• BA Avios: 2 days
• Qatar Avios: 4 days

That’s not a bad turnaround, especially if you are looking to jump on a flight redemption that’s currently available.

  Instant free transfer to KrisFlyer miles via Kris+

Since October 2021, it’s become possible to link your Citi Rewards and KrisPay accounts and instantly transfer as little as 10,000 Citi ThankYou Points into KrisPay miles via the Kris+ app .

The transfer ratio is 10,000:3,400 (e.g. 10,000 Citi TYPs = 3,400 KrisPay miles).

You won’t want to be using the converted KrisPay miles against Kris+ merchant purchases, due to the awful value of 0.67 cents per mile, but you can immediately transfer them 1:1 into your KrisFlyer account as KrisFlyer miles.

As you’ll notice the ratio means taking a 15% ‘hit’ on the usual 25,000:10,000 Citi TYPs to KrisFlyer miles transfer ratio, so it’s only of interest if you need a small amount to meet a specific redemption threshold, or have a small balance ‘stuck’ in Citi ThankYou Points (more than 10,000 but less than 25,000), which you aren’t going to be adding to in future.

You shouldn’t be using this as your regular Citi TYPs to KrisFlyer transfer method, as it effectively devalues your bonus miles earning rate from 4 mpd to 3.4 mpd.

There are important factors to be aware of, firstly you’ll have to move any points transferred from Citi to KrisPay into KrisFlyer miles within seven days , otherwise they are stuck in KrisPay (where you definitely don’t want them).

The second is just as important, you cannot use any of the KrisPay miles you have earned from your Citi TYPs transfer for any Kris+ purchase, no matter how small, as that automatically renders the entire transfer stuck in Kris+ until expiry, six months later.

The golden rule therefore is to transfer in to KrisPay miles via Kris+, then transfer straight out to KrisFlyer. Even with that seven-day window available, our advice is don’t wait .

  Points rounding

Every eligible transaction you make using the Citi Rewards card is rounded down to the next whole Singapore dollar (after conversion from foreign currency, if applicable), before Citi ThankYou Points are then assessed.

• $25.49 rounds down to $25
• $25.99 rounds down to $25

The appropriate multiplier of Citi ThankYou Points is then applied to the transaction, depending on its nature.

Example (regular 0.4 mpd earn rate):

• $25 x 1 TYP = 25 TYPs ( 10 Miles )

Example (4 mpd earn rate):

• $25 x 10 TYP = 250 TYPs ( 100 Miles )

↥  Minimum spend to earn points

Since every amount you spend is rounded down to the nearest dollar before Citi ThankYou Points are accounted for, $1.00 is the minimum transaction amount in order to earn points, or its equivalent in foreign currency for overseas spend.

This is a nice perk for Citi cards, with UOB, OCBC and now Maybank using the annoying $5 rounding method, where even a $4.99 transaction earns no rewards or miles at all!

No such worries with the Citi Rewards card, unless your transaction is extremely small.

  FCY fee / cpm overseas

The Citi Rewards card has a 3.25% foreign currency transaction fee, which is among the highest on the market in Singapore.

You won’t be wanting to make transactions in foreign currency at the basic 0.4 mpd earn rate with this card, which would be equivalent to ‘buying’ miles at an unbelievable 8.6 cents each, an insanely poor proposition.

At the 4 mpd bonus rate though, which would apply for example to an online payment charged in US Dollars or a department store transaction in Sydney, it’s a different matter altogether.

Here’s how that cost per mile compares to other credit cards in Singapore offering 4 mpd for at least some form of eligible transactions in foreign currency.

Cost per mile on overseas credit card transactions (4 mpd cards) (Best to worst, February 2024)

Cost per mile also accounts for an additional 0.3% ‘spread’ over money changer currency rates, though this doesn’t apply to all banks and all foreign currencies, so is a worst-case scenario.

As you can see the Citi Rewards card comes in at a very competitive cost of 0.86 cents per mile , so you should definitely be using this card for online transactions in FCY (non-travel spend), subject to the monthly cap.

The Amaze card paired to your Citi Rewards Mastercard also comes into play here, allowing you to avoid the 3.25% fee when making overseas spend, instead being subject only to the Amaze FCY rate, which tends to be only around 0.5% higher than the spot rate.

  What else can Citi ThankYou Points be used for?

Under Citi’s ‘Pay with Points’ option via the mobile app, you can use your available points to offset for a statement credit instead of converting them into frequent flyer miles, transaction-by-transaction.

As you can see I can offset this S$73.39 on my Citi Rewards card using 27,447 ThankYou Points, but that’s terrible value – these could be converted to over 10,000 KrisFlyer miles!

This values your ThankYou Points at only 0.267 cents each, whereas you’ll get upwards of 0.76 cents if you convert them to airline miles, like KrisFlyer miles, assuming a valuation of 1.9 cents per mile.

Note that this includes a current 15% discount (till 29th February 2024) when you redeem points to offset transactions made on your card – the usual rate is even worse at 0.227 cents per point!

Even if you only value KrisFlyer miles at 1.5 cents each, your ThankYou Points are worth 0.60 cents each, so conversion into airline miles is by far the best deal .

  Other benefits

There are a few other perks with the Citi Rewards cards, the key benefits which will be of most interest to our readers are:

• Complimentary travel insurance when you pay for your round-trip air ticket, or pay the taxes and fees on an award redemption ticket, using your Citi Rewards card. The complimentary travel insurance is underwritten by HL Assurance (full details here ).
• Citi World Privileges , available to all Citi cardholders. These include restaurant, shopping and lifestyle benefits plus up to  10% cashback at Booking.com  (Visa cards only).
• Up to 14% fuel savings at Shell .

  Citi PayAll

The Citi Rewards card participates in the bank’s ‘PayAll’ programme, a facility allowing you to pay a fee to use your card and still earn miles on a range of payment types that would otherwise be excluded from miles earning, or not usually possible with a credit card.

At the time of writing, PayAll supports:

• Tax payments to IRAS
• Rent payments to your landlord in Singapore
• Education payments to a school or tuition centre in Singapore
• Condo Management Fees
• Electricity payments in Singapore
• Renovation fees
• Wedding expenses
• Childcare services
• Domestic helper service fees
• Donations or charitable payments
• Utility bills

Citi charges a 2.2% service fee for PayAll transactions, so the bad news for Citi Rewards cardholders is that with an earn rate of only 0.4 mpd you are ‘buying’ miles for an outrageous 5.5 cents each when using your Rewards card at the local earn rate for these payments.

Example, for a $1,000 education payment:

• Total Spend: $1,000
• PayAll Fee (2.2%): $22
• Total Spent: $1,022
• TYPs Earned: 1,000
• Miles Earned: 400 (1,000 / 2.5)
• Cost per Mile: 5.50 cents ($22 / 400)

What’s the point of this option then?

Citi regularly runs promotions for its PayAll service, typically by hiking the earn rate on all its eligible cards (including the Rewards cards) to a higher level, allowing you to buy miles at a far more competitive rate for these expenses.

Here’s an example of the cost per mile available during four recent promotions.

During these promotions it goes from being a terrible deal to use your Citi Rewards card for PayAll payments to a great or even excellent deal, with the opportunity to buy miles at very competitive rates. The current offer ends on 29th February 2024, but watch out for the next one since there are typically two per year.

Citi also offers a zero-fee option for PayAll payments, which does not earn any card rewards.

This may be a useful way for you to defer your payment to the next statement cycle and hang on to the cash in your bank account for a little longer.

  Terms and conditions

Here are links to the full terms and conditions applicable to the Citi Rewards card.

  Citi Rewards 10X rewards T&C   Citi Rewards 10X rewards T&C (from 1 Apr 2024)   Citi Rewards 10X rewards FAQs   Citi Rewards 10X rewards FAQs (from 1 Apr 2024)   Citi Rewards Information Sheet   Citi Rewards Cardmembers Agreement

Our Summary

The Citi Rewards Card doesn’t enjoy the $2,000 monthly cap you’ll get with the DBS WWMC alternative ( soon reducing to S$1,500 ), at least now that it’s not possible for new cardholders to pick up both the Visa and Mastercard version, so the $1,000 monthly cap on bonus spend is the major limitation.

Furthermore, online travel spend is unfortunately not awarded the bonus rate.

However, on the plus side you have Citi’s wide range of transfer partners to tap into and points can last up to five years (but sadly for or as little as three months towards the end of your first five-year card validity period).

There’s also the occasional opportunity to participate in bonus miles promotions, including competitive rates to buy miles through Citi PayAll, plus the option to pair the card with Amaze for 4 mpd on in-store spend too like restaurant dining and grocery shopping.

Links on Mainly Miles may pay us an affiliate commission.

(Cover Photo: Shutterstock)

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Currently I have the Visa version expiring in June 2024. Citi is giving me the option to convert but I have taken note of the $1000 cap.

This below is taken from their website. ( https://www.citibank.com.sg/gcb/credit_cards/mastercard_rewards-credit-card )

Is the conversion to Mastercard mandatory? No. It is not mandatory. Without your opt-in consent, your card will be renewed as Visa which will be sent to you before its expiry. However with your opt-in consent to convert to Mastercard, you will enjoy no annual fee charged to your account for the upcoming card anniversary.

I am going to call Citi and see if I can maintain both my Visa and also apply for a new MC card. I am unsure if anyone is in the same situation as me.

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Ultimate guide to the Citi travel portal

fCiti is a TPG advertising partner.

The new Citi travel portal launched earlier this year , offering an enhanced user experience, more hotel options and a new feature for booking activities and attractions. Citi Travel with Booking.com is powered by Rocket Travel by Agoda, utilizing the features and booking availability of Booking.com's brands.

In this article, we will explore the functionality of the new Citi travel portal, discuss any potential drawbacks and clarify who can access this booking engine. Additionally, we will provide a step-by-step guide on using the portal to book your desired travel experiences and explain how to pay using your ThankYou points.

What is the Citi travel portal?

There are four main selling points for using Citi Travel with Booking.com.

First, it provides a one-stop shop for travel that you can pay for with your Citi ThankYou points while booking multiple elements of a trip simultaneously. This can be simpler than transferring points to separate airline or hotel partners and booking your trip piece by piece — and you can even use as many or as few points as you want. The downside is that you might achieve less value from your points to gain simplicity.

Second, the portal allows you to use points to pay for travel beyond flights and hotels, such as guided tours and theme park tickets. You can't do this with Citi's list of transfer partners, and you may achieve better value paying for travel with points in Citi's portal than you would by cashing out your points .

Third, certain card benefits require using the Citi travel portal. This is true of hotel benefits built into the Citi Prestige® Card (no longer open to new applicants) and Citi Strata Premier℠ Card (see rates and fees ). We'll explore those below.

The information for the Citi Prestige has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Lastly, if you're paying for travel (and not using points), you may be interested in the bonus points available when using Citi Travel with Booking.com. Competitors like the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal , American Express Travel and Capital One Travel offer higher earn rates (depending on which credit cards you have) when booking your travel in the bank's portal rather than directly.

With the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card , you can earn 10 points per dollar on reservations for hotels, rental cars and eligible attractions.

Through June 30, 2024, Citi cardholders can earn bonus points as follows:

• 10 points per dollar on reservations for hotels, rental cars and eligible attractions with the Citi Prestige® Card (no longer open to new applicants)

Through December 31, 2025, Citi cardholders can earn bonus points as follows:

• 5 points per dollar on these same bookings with the Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card (no longer open to new applicants) and the Citi Rewards+® Card (see rates and fees )

The information for the Citi ThankYou Preferred card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

The fact that Citi's portal provides a one-stop shop for your vacation is its main strength. The ability to book hotels, rental cars and even entrance tickets to tourist attractions in one place (and even pay for these with your points) provides great simplicity.

Related: The ultimate guide to Citi ThankYou Rewards

How to use the Citi travel portal

Citi's portal sets itself apart from competitors by being available to anyone with a credit card earning Citi ThankYou points . For comparison, some travel portals reserve their best features for cardholders with expensive premium credit cards . Thus, you can access the portal with the $495-a-year Citi Prestige Card and the no-annual-fee Citi Rewards+ Card .

You can access Citi Travel with Booking.com by clicking this link and logging into your Citi account. If you have multiple Citi credit cards, you must select which card you want to use for booking travel. Once you select a card, you're ready to start booking travel.

How to book flights using the Citi travel portal

Booking flights in Citi's portal functions similarly to other portals. You'll choose whether this is a one-way or round-trip flight and provide the route, number of passengers, dates and class of travel. Unfortunately, you can't book multi-city itineraries.

Here's an example search from Chicago to Los Angeles. Note that you can use cities for your search if you don't have a specific airport preference.

The Citi Travel portal offers many filters and sorting options to help you find the most suitable travel options. These filters allow you to refine your search based on price, duration, departure and arrival times, number of connections and even your preferred airline. Furthermore, you can sort the results using these options without losing any filtering choices.

To change the sorting order of the results, click on the "Best overall" drop-down menu on the right side above the price of the first result.

Once you have selected a flight, you will be prompted to provide passenger information, including names, dates of birth, frequent flyer numbers and known traveler numbers for TSA PreCheck and Global Entry (if applicable).

Additionally, before making your payment, you can upgrade to a higher class of travel if it is available. This is the first time you'll see the cost to book a main cabin fare instead of a basic economy fare.

And if your fare class lets you select a seat, you can do so before heading to the payment page.

On the final page, you'll choose how you want to pay (with your points, credit card or a mix of the two) and complete your purchase. The redemption rate is an underwhelming 1 cent per point. For context, our valuations peg ThankYou points at 1.8 cents apiece, which you should be able to get by maximizing Citi's transfer partners .

How to book hotels using the Citi travel portal

Booking hotels will feel familiar to those who have used other portals.

You should choose your Citi Strata Premier or Citi Prestige card before beginning your hotel search if you intend to use those cards' benefits. Strata Premier cardholders can use a $100 hotel credit each calendar year on a booking of $500 or more. In contrast, Prestige cardholders get a fourth night free on hotel bookings in the portal, available up to twice per calendar year.

From here, you can add filters to help you reduce your results, such as by price, neighborhood, star rating and nearby attractions.

Once you pick a property, you'll see details on its amenities and features.

Then, you can select your desired room.

After choosing a room type, you can pay with points at checkout. Again, each point is worth a lackluster 1 cent.

You'll also have the option to view the cancellation policy before paying. Since policies can vary, ensure you know whether it's possible to change or cancel your booking before you make the final payment.

However, if you book a hotel that's part of a major loyalty program — like Hilton Honors or Marriott Bonvoy — through Citi, you likely won't earn points, nor will you enjoy any elite status perks on your reservation.

Hotel Collection and Luxury Collection properties

Alongside its revamped portal, Citi has introduced two new hotel programs, namely the Hotel Collection and the Luxury Collection. These programs offer similar advantages to other luxury hotel programs offered by credit cards .

Reservations through the Hotel and Luxury Collection have no minimum stay requirements. However, access to the Luxury Collection is exclusive to Citi Strata Premier and Citi Prestige cardholders.

You will receive guaranteed benefits such as daily breakfast for two people and complimentary Wi-Fi for Hotel Collection bookings. In addition to these perks, the Luxury Collection offers a $100 on-property credit, which can be used based on the policies of each hotel. Both programs also provide other benefits, such as early check-in, late checkout and room upgrades (specifically for Luxury Collection bookings, subject to availability at check-in).

Unfortunately, you can't filter search results specifically for Hotel and Luxury collections properties. To identify these properties, you must look for a tag or description indicating their inclusion in your search results.

Related: A comparison of luxury hotel programs from credit card issuers: Amex, Capital One, Chase and Citi

How to book rental cars using the Citi travel portal

Searching for rental cars feels familiar and works quickly.

After providing your location, dates, times and age, click "Search." From the available results, you can use the following filters:

• Vehicle type
• Rental company
• Free cancellation option availability

After choosing a car, you can see the full details and cancellation policy on the next page.

As with other items in Citi Travel with Booking.com , you can add your rental car to the shopping cart (if booking multiple travel elements) or go straight to check out to pay and reserve. Again, you can pay with points at a rate of 1 cent apiece.

How to book attractions using the Citi travel portal

One standout feature of Citi's travel portal is the ability to book attractions along with your hotels, flights and rental cars. This convenient option allows you to make a single transaction for all your travel needs, and you can even use your points to pay for them.

To access this feature, look for the "Attractions" option in the main search bar. However, depending on your location within the portal, you may need to click "More" in the drop-down menu and select "Attractions" from there.

Once you search for a destination, you'll see all available options— from entrance tickets for tourist sights to guided tours. For example, you can book a guided walking tour of the Hollywood Sign.

When you see an activity or tickets you want to purchase, click on the tile. This will take you to a page with details about this offering and cancellation policies.

One noteworthy option is Chicago CityPASS tickets, including access to five popular attractions. Click on "Check availability" in the top right corner to choose your preferred date to find pricing and availability.

As with other elements of Citi's portal, you can pay for attraction bookings using ThankYou points with a value of 1 cent apiece.

More things to consider about the Citi travel portal

Now that you know how to use the Citi travel portal, here's some general guidance to maximize your experience.

As always, we recommend comparing prices. There is no guarantee that Citi Travel with Booking.com will offer the best price for your trip. It's recommended to compare the prices you see on the portal with prices available when booking directly with hotels, airlines, rental car companies or tour providers.

If you plan to pay with points, check if you can get better value by using fewer points with Citi's transfer partners . Transferring points to programs like Wyndham Rewards may let you get more value from your points. Check out our guide to redeeming Citi ThankYou points for high-value redemption ideas.

Also, if you book hotels or car rentals through Citi's travel portal, you may forfeit any elite status earnings and benefits. Many loyalty programs require direct bookings to recognize elite status and provide associated perks. Evaluate whether the benefits you would be giving up are worth it.

Finally, Citi Strata Premier and Citi Prestige cardholders have exclusive benefits within the travel portal. Premier cardholders can enjoy $100 off a hotel stay of $500 or more once a calendar year, while Prestige cardholders can get a fourth night free on hotel stays of four nights or more twice a calendar year. If you're making an eligible hotel reservation, you'll see the option to use your available benefit on the payment screen.

You'll also see the benefit(s) highlighted on the hotel search page if you have one of these cards. This includes information on how many more times your benefit can be used.

If you don't see these benefits, check the top right corner of the portal and ensure your Premier or Prestige card is the active card for your searches.

Bottom line

Citi's revamped travel portal allows you to search and make travel reservations for flights, hotels, rental cars, and even tours and attractions. You can book travel up to a year in advance and pay using your Citi ThankYou points or any travel credit card .

Additionally, if you hold the Citi Strata Premier or Citi Prestige, you can utilize your hotel benefits through the portal.

However, it's important to consider potential tradeoffs. Assess your elite status with hotel or rental car companies and determine if you might get better value by booking your travel through another platform. If convenience is your deciding factor, this user-friendly portal offers many results when planning your upcoming vacation.

Additional reporting by Kyle Olsen.

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When Do Hotels Charge Your Credit Card?

Fact Checked

Published: Sep 19, 2024, 9:00am

Table of Contents

When do hotels charge your card, do hotels charge before or after your stay, charges when booking through third-party websites, the best hotel credit cards, frequently asked questions (faqs).

If you’ve ever checked into a hotel, you’ve gone through the motions of handing over your credit card and ID in order to gain access to your room. But what exactly are hotels asking for your credit card upon arrival for? Didn’t you put a card down when you booked online, well before your arrival at the hotel itself? And what if you add charges to your room, like room-service, internet usage or laundry services?

It can feel confusing to understand when exactly a hotel charges your credit card. Unfortunately, there’s no exact formula or specific time that fits each reservation. Instead, we’ve compiled factors to help you determine when you’ll be charged—whether that’s the time you booked, at check-in itself or at checkout.

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There are many factors to determine when a hotel charges your credit card. These include, but are not limited to, what platform you used to book your room, whether you are traveling on points and the cancellation policy.

Almost always, however, upon check-in, you should expect to put a card down for incidentals. The incidental hold charge is a temporary hold on your credit card that will be released following check out, provided there are no damages or deep-cleaning required. Additionally, the card you put down for incidentals is the card that will be used for additional fees beyond the cost of your room. These charges may include dining, minibar usage, gratuities, spa or fitness services and internet fees, if applicable.

Beyond incidentals, it’s also possible to determine when your credit will be charged based on how you booked your stay.

At the Time of Booking

In order to book a hotel, you’re going to need a payment to confirm the reservation. Does this mean your card is charged as soon as you click submit? Well, that depends.

Sometimes, when using third-party booking sites such as Booking.com and Hotels.com, you have a “Pay Now” option, where your card is charged in full upon booking. Nonrefundable room rates are typically charged at the time of booking, as well.

Chase Travel℠ , like all major credit card travel portals, charges your card upon booking, though there are some fees that might not be reflected in the price—such as resort fees. These specific fees will be collected upon check-in instead.

Additionally, if you’re redeeming points through your travel credit card, such as American Express Membership Rewards® , you must pay with points at the time of booking. Your purchase will be reflected in your point balance immediately, meaning you pay at the time of booking.

Prior to Check-In

Being charged prior to check-in is a gray area and proves the importance of reading the terms and conditions prior to booking. EVEN Hotels by IHG, for example, states that your credit card will be charged between the time of booking and time of arrival for the total amount of your stay. In this case, your card can be charged at any point after you’ve booked and until you arrive.

Many third-party sites waive the cancellation period in exchange for a lower nightly rate. Booking.com, for example, offers a nonrefundable rate or free cancellation until a certain date for a slightly higher price. In this case, you pay more for the added convenience of cancellation. Once the date for free cancellations has passed, your card may be charged. Hilton has a similar policy, where if a reservation is canceled after the nonrefundable period begins, you will be charged upon cancellation.

At Check-In

If you have not paid in full already, you may be charged once you check in. It’s standard for hotels to charge an incidental fee. It’s becoming more and more likely that you will be charged a daily property fee or resort fee—these cover the cost of property amenities. While there’s not one formula for what the incidental fee might be, it could be a daily charge or even a daily charge per person.

So, when you check in and hand over your card, make sure you understand exactly what is being charged. If it seems high, confirm what the incidental fee is. But it’s better to do your research before booking. Make sure you consider incidental fees like parking and property fees when evaluating your booking.

While putting a card down to book a hotel is required, it is possible to pay with a different card upon check-in if you have not yet been charged. For example, Hilton accepts debit and credit cards at check-in even if they are different from the one used to book, as long as the name matches the name on the reservation.

In rare cases, like Disney resorts, you may have an amount placed on hold to cover incidentals on day one and be charged the current balance on the room at some point during your stay for reservations longer than five days.

At Checkout

In many cases, the card you provide at check-in isn’t charged at that point. Think of it instead as starting a bar tab and keeping it open until it’s time to hit the road. Checking out is often when your card is finally charged. This delay in payment allows for people to acquire charges during their stay, whether it’s room-service, spa services or babysitting services. Those charges cannot be confirmed until it’s time to checkout.

This greatly depends on your booking terms and conditions. If you booked using points, your points are going to be deducted from your account immediately. If you use a third-party site, you may pay for the room in advance. In most cases, additional fees and charges, such as resort fees, and any charges incurred throughout the duration of your stay will be charged after.

Major hotel chains and groups strongly discourage guests from using third-party sites, from Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts to IHG. They claim booking directly guarantees the lowest rate and avoids any additional fees. However, there are benefits to booking through third-party websites—namely the convenience of being able to search a wide range of chain and boutique hotels in one place. The question is, when do third-party websites charge you for your hotel stay?

• Offers a “Book Now, Pay Later” program where guests are guaranteed to pay upon arrival at the hotel
• Book Now, Pay Later gives great flexibility for those who need to cancel or change their plans
• Note that not every hotel is a part of Book Now, Pay Later, and while Expedia doesn’t charge cancellation fees, some hotels might, so double check before booking
• Allows users to book nonrefundable rooms in which case their cards get charged upon booking
• For an additional charge, many rooms are available to book for a fully refundable rate up until a certain date under a “Reserve Now, Pay Later” policy

Booking.com

• After searching for your preferred city and dates, you’ll see a green checkmark that says “No prepayment needed – pay at the property,” where you will be charged upon check-in (be sure to read the cancellation policy)
• Alternatively, Booking.com has nonrefundable options, generally for a lower rate, where you’ll pay upon booking
• Some room choices offer the option to book with a free cancellation prior to your travel date, charging your card on a specified date, sometime between booking and between the date of check-in
• Offers a “Pay Now” option where you can pay in full upon booking
• “Book Now, Pay Later” option, where you can pay either at check-in or checkout at the hotel. With Book Now, Pay Later, you’ll receive an e-mail confirmation with the approximate amount due upon arrival at the hotel
• Pay in monthly installments with Affirm, if eligible

If you’re going to put your hotel stay on a credit card, you might as well put it on one of the best hotel credit cards on the market. This way, you’ll garner benefits, like points and loyalty rewards that make traveling all that much sweeter.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

• Receive up to $50 in Chase Travel℠ Hotel Credit annually.
• Receive 25% more value on travel redemptions through Chase.
• Earn 5 points per dollar on hotels booked through the Chase Travel℠ portal.
• Earn 2 points per dollar on all other travel purchases.

IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card

• Earn up to 10 points per dollar spent at IHG Properties.
• Earn 140,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
• Earn 5 points per dollar on travel, dining, and at gas stations.
• Redeem points for three nights, get the fourth free.

Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

• Receive a $300 annual credit for bookings through Capital One Travel which can be applied to hotels
• Earn 10 miles per dollar on hotels booked through Capital One Travel
• 10,000 miles anniversary bonus—or the equivalent of $100 toward travel each year
• Earn 2 miles per dollar on all other purchases

Find the Best Hotel Rewards Credit Cards of 2024

How much do hotels usually hold on a credit card.

Upon checking in, if your hotel isn’t already paid for, a hotel will typically hold the full room charge, along with an incidental fee. Incidental fees vary based on hotel, with some charging a daily incidental fee, and others charging a flat rate. They are typically in the $100 to $200 range.

Can I book a hotel with a debit card?

Most hotels will accept a debit card. If you choose to use a debit card to pay for a hotel, the biggest risk you encounter is that you might be asked to put down a security deposit upon check-in. This deposit could tie up your cash for the remainder of the stay.

Credit cards are generally a safer option when booking travel, thanks to more robust purchase protections—not to mention the reward potential.

How can I book a hotel room for someone else using my credit card?

If you want to book a hotel room for someone else, there are two things you need to do. First, ensure their name is on the reservation. Secondly, prepay for the room prior to checking in, but note that companies have differing policies on prepayment.

For example, Marriott requires you to call the hotel directly to receive a credit card authorization form, whereas Booking.com allows guests to book using a card belonging to someone other than the guest on the reservation. More likely than not, the person on the reservation will still need to provide a card for incidentals upon check-in. Note that you cannot gain loyalty points when booking a room for someone else, unless you will also be using that room.

Do hotels charge when you book?

Whether hotels charge when you book or not depends on various factors like the booking platform or the cancellation policy. When using credit card travel portals such as Chase Travel or Capital One Travel, oftentimes, in order to receive the benefits that come with using these cards, you need to use that card when you book. Additionally, when you book through third-party platforms, you have the option to pay now.

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Having solo traveled to over 80 countries across six continents, credit cards enthusiast Kaitlyn Rosati knows a thing or two about travel. Her work has been featured in publications like New York Daily News and Time Out, and she runs the blog No Man Nomad to provide tips on various destinations around the globe.

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Citi ThankYou Points: How to Earn and Use Them

Many or all of the products on this page are from partners who compensate us when you click to or take an action on their website, but this does not influence our evaluations or ratings. Our opinions are our own.

The Citi ThankYou® rewards program lets eligible credit card holders collect rewards, known as ThankYou® points, on purchases made with a qualifying card.

ThankYou® points can be valuable, especially for travelers, but the rewards program can be a bit of a challenge to navigate:

Redemption options vary depending on what specific Citi card you have.

Point values can also range widely.

While Citi does allow point transfers to multiple travel loyalty programs, access to this feature again depends on which card you have. And only a handful of Citi's travel partners are domestic programs.

Still, ThankYou® points are flexible and versatile, especially if you have specific redemptions in mind. Here’s how to make the most out of Citi ThankYou® points.

» MORE: NerdWallet's best Citi credit cards

In this article

Citi thankyou® points: the basics, how much are citi thankyou® points worth.

Credit cards that earn ThankYou® points

Other ways to earn ThankYou® points

The fine print

You can earn ThankYou® points by paying for purchases with an eligible Citi credit card. Rewards can be accessed by logging into your Citi account or by visiting the ThankYou website .

Generally, ThankYou® points can be redeemed for:

Gift cards.

Cash back or statement credits.

Shopping at participating retailers.

Charity donations.

If you have an eligible Citi credit card, you can also transfer points to certain travel loyalty programs or share points with other ThankYou rewards members .

» MORE: Citi trifecta: Earn 2%-5% on every purchase

The value of a Citi ThankYou® point can vary greatly depending on how you redeem it — for travel, cash back or something else.

There are two ways to use Citi ThankYou® points for travel: redeeming points through Citi or transferring to a qualifying travel program.

Booking your travel through Citi

When you book your travel through Citi and pay for your booking with points, ThankYou® points are worth 1 cent apiece.

» Learn more: The guide to the Citi Travel portal

Transferring points to Citi's partner airline and hotel programs

The exact value you get per point depends on what you do with it after you transfer, but NerdWallet estimates the overall transfer value at 1 cent per point.

Citi's airline transfer partners are mostly foreign carriers. JetBlue is the only domestic airline on the list, although a few of the carriers are members of alliances that include U.S. airlines.

Aeromexico (1:1 ratio).

Air France/KLM (1:1 ratio).

Asia Miles (1:1 ratio).

Avianca (1:1 ratio).

Emirates (1:1 ratio).

Etihad (1:1 ratio).

Eva Air (1:1 ratio).

JetBlue (1:1 or 1:0.8 ratio, depending on which card you have).

Qantas (1:1 ratio).

Qatar Airways (1:1 ratio).

Singapore Airlines (1:1 ratio).

Thai Airways (1:1 ratio).

Turkish Airlines (1:1 ratio).

Virgin Atlantic (1:1 ratio).

Accor Live Limitless (2:1 ratio).

Choice Hotels (1:2 or 1:1.5 ratio, depending on which card you have).

The Leading Hotels of the World (5:1 ratio).

Wyndham (1:1 ratio or 1:0.8 ratio, depending on which card you have).

Virgin Red (1:1 ratio).

The transfer ratio is frequently 1:1, meaning for every ThankYou® point you transfer, you get 1 point or mile in the partner program. However, there are a few exceptions. With JetBlue, for instance, the transfer ratios can vary:

If you have the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card or the Citi Prestige® Card , then you can transfer points to JetBlue at a 1:1 ratio.

For other cards, the ratio is 1:0.8, meaning for each ThankYou® point you transfer, you get 0.8 TrueBlue points from JetBlue. So 1,000 points translates into 800 TrueBlue points.

JetBlue, Wyndham and Choice are the only eligible travel partners for the Citi Rewards+® Card and the Citi Double Cash® Card . To unlock access to more transfer partners, you'd also need an eligible travel card like the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card .

You can also transfer points to Citi's hotel partners. There are four:

Because these ratios are less favorable, we recommend only using ThankYou points to top off your account for a specific redemption.

Booking events with Virgin Red

Use a 1:1 ratio to transfer Citi ThankYou points to Virgin Red, the loyalty program of Virgin Group. Virgin Red members redeem Virgin Points for events like virtual masterclasses, sporting matches or cruises.

Cash or cash-like redemptions

Redeeming for cash can cut the value of your rewards in half. For some cards, cash redeems at a rate of 0.5 cent per point in denominations of $50 and $100. And you can’t redeem cash into your bank account; you have to wait for a check to arrive in the mail.

Statement credit

When you redeem for a credit on your statement, you may get the same weak value as with cash back — 0.5 cent per point — but you have more flexibility in how much you redeem for. The redemption rate for a statement credit varies by card. Statement credits show up on your account within two billing cycles. It can help pay down your overall balance, but you’ll still be on the hook for the minimum payment.

Gift card redemptions typically start at 2,500 points. They generally redeem at a rate of 1 cent per point. Citi's ThankYou website has several brands and categories to choose from, including restaurants, department stores, travel and electronics, among others.

You can donate points (starting at 1,000) to charities on Citi's ThankYou.com site .

Shop With Points program

You can redeem ThankYou® points at participating retailers, including Amazon , Walmart and Walgreens, to name a few. But it's generally a poor value, as points used with those two retailers are worth only 0.8 cent each.

Pay With Points

After you've made an online or in-store out-of-pocket purchase, you're notified via the Citi mobile app whether that item is eligible to be covered by ThankYou® points. If so, you can apply your ThankYou points to the purchase in exchange for a statement credit that arrives within two to three business days. Purchase categories that may be eligible include dining out, groceries, entertainment and department stores, among others. You'll have to set up alerts to stay on top of purchases that qualify. If you decide to Pay With Points, a redemption value of 0.8 cent per point will apply. That's lower than the industry standard of a penny per point.

Credit cards that earn ThankYou points

Citi offers multiple products that earn the ThankYou® rewards currency. Here are some of its most prominent:

Citi Double Cash® Card

2% cash back on purchases (in the form of ThankYou® Points) distributed in two stages: 1% back for every dollar spent and 1% back for every dollar paid off.

Annual fee: $0

Sign-up bonus: Earn $200 cash back after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first 6 months of account opening. This bonus offer will be fulfilled as 20,000 ThankYou® Points, which can be redeemed for $200 cash back.

» MORE: Full review of the Citi Double Cash® Card

Citi Rewards+® Card

2 ThankYou points per $1 spent at supermarkets and gas stations (on up to $6,000 in purchases per year).

1 ThankYou point per $1 spent on all other purchases.

Rewards are rounded up to the nearest 10 points on every purchase.

Get 10% points back for the first 100,000 points you redeem per year.

Sign-up bonus: Earn 20,000 bonus points after you spend $1,500 in purchases with your card within 3 months of account opening; redeemable for $200 in gift cards at thankyou.com. Plus, as a special offer, earn a total of 5 ThankYou® Points per $1 spent on hotel, car rentals and attractions booked on CitiTravel.com through December 31, 2025.

» MORE: Full review of the Citi Rewards+® Card

Citi Custom Cash® Card

Earn 5% cash back (in the form of ThankYou® Points) on purchases in your top eligible spend category each billing cycle, on up to $500; earn 1% back on all other purchases.

Eligible categories include restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, select travel, select transit, select streaming services, drugstores, home improvement stores, fitness clubs and live entertainment.

0% intro APR for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers and then the ongoing 19.24%-29.24% Variable APR .

Citi Rewards+℠ Student Card

The Citi Rewards+ Student Card has been discontinued, but existing cardholders can continue using the card and earning rewards.

Citi Strata Premier℠ Card

10 ThankYou points per $1 spent on hotels, car rentals and attractions booked through Citi.

3 ThankYou points per $1 spent on restaurants, supermarkets, air travel, hotels not purchased through Citi, gas stations and EV stations.

$100 annual hotel savings on a single hotel stay of $500 or more purchased through Citi.

Annual fee: $95

Sign-up bonus: Earn 70,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months of account opening, redeemable for $700 in gift cards or travel rewards at thankyou.com

» MORE: Full review of the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card

Citi Prestige® Card

5 ThankYou points per dollar spent on dining out and air travel purchases.

3 ThankYou points per dollar spent on cruise lines and hotel purchases.

1 ThankYou point per dollar on all other purchases.

Annual fee: $495

Sign-up bonus: This offer is no longer valid on our site.

The Citi Prestige Card is no longer accepting applications, but existing cardholders may continue using their card and earning rewards.

AT&T Points Plus Card

3 ThankYou points per dollar spent at gas stations. 

2 ThankYou points per dollar spent at grocery stores (including grocery delivery services). 

1 ThankYou point for every dollar spent on all other purchases.

Annual fee: $0.

Sign-up bonus: Earn a $100 statement credit after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months of account opening. Plus Earn up to $240 back toward your qualifying AT&T wireless bills every year after qualifying activities.

» READ : 5 things to know about the AT&T Points Plus Card

With a Citi ThankYou® credit card, you may earn ThankYou® points as long as your account is open and current. Review your card's terms and conditions to know when ThankYou® points may expire.

It also helps to understand your credit card’s terms and conditions so that you’re aware of nonqualifying purchases. For instance, some cards earn points in categories like restaurants, but your purchase may not qualify for the higher rewards rate if the restaurant is located inside a department store.

Information related to the Citi Prestige® Card and the AT&T Points Plus Card has been collected by NerdWallet and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card.

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CITI TRAVEL with Booking.com

Introducing citi travel℠: your first stop to your next destination.

Earn ThankYou ® Points when you pay for part, or all, of your trip with your eligible Citi Card through the Citi Travel portal. Plus, you can redeem your points towards even more adventures through the Citi Travel portal. With customizable options and booking right from your Citi Mobile ® App for eligible cardholders, the way to go is now way easier.

Earn More ThankYou ® Points on Select Bookings Through the Citi Travel portal

10x the fun with citi strata premier℠.

Earn a total of 10x ThankYou ® Points on hotels and car rentals when you book on the Citi Travel portal. 1

5X the Fun with Rewards+ ®

Earn a total of 5x ThankYou ® Points on hotels and car rentals when you book on the Citi Travel portal. Offer expires December 31, 2025. 2

More Points, More Fun with Double Cash ®

Earn a total of 5 ThankYou ® Points per $1 spent on hotels and car rentals when you book on the Citi Travel portal. Offers expires December 31, 2024. 3

Offer provides 3 additional points on top of the 1 point per dollar on purchases and 1 point per dollar for payments on purchases

Earn More Points with Custom Cash ®

Earn an unlimited additional 4 ThankYou ® Points per $1 spent on hotels and car rentals when you book on the Citi Travel portal. Offers expires June 30, 2025. 4

Additional Citi Travel Portal Benefits

The citi travel portal offers perks to make your travel booking experience easier and more convenient., access to over 1.4 million hotel and resort options, competitive prices when booking flights, hotels, cars and attractions, 24/7 customer service support for your booking needs.

ThankYou ® Cards Make Every Day More Rewarding

It's easy to earn ThankYou ® Points with Citi credit cards. Find the one that helps you earn the most on your daily spending.

Citi Travel: Frequently Asked Questions

What is the citi travel portal.

Citi Travel is a travel booking portal that gives eligible Citi card members access to book flights, hotels, rental cars, and attractions at competitive prices, along with 24/7 customer support. Additionally, when you book through the Citi Travel portal using ThankYou ® rewards cards, you can earn ThankYou ® points on your travel spending which can then be redeemed to be used on your next journey.

How do I book through the Citi Travel portal?

To book through the Citi Travel portal:

• Login into your Citi Mobile App or directly into the Citi Travel portal using your Citi Online User ID and password.
• After that, search for the flights, hotels, car rentals or attractions you want to book and enter the necessary information (such as number of guests or passengers, travel dates, etc.)
• Confirm your booking and choose whether you want to pay with card, points, or a combination of these purchase options.ns.

Can I use any Citi ® card to book through Citi Travel?

All Citi ThankYou ® Rewards Credit Cards

Citi Travel℠ is powered by Rocket Travel Inc., part of the Booking Holdings Inc. group of companies together with Booking.com.

1 You will earn 10 ThankYou Points for each $1 spent on hotels, car rentals, and attractions when you use your Citi Strata Premier Card to book them through the Citi Travel site via CitiTravel.com or 1-833-737-1288 (TTY: 711). For bookings made with a combination of points and your Citi Strata Premier Card, only the portion paid with your card will earn points. Points are not earned on cancelled bookings. If your account is closed for any reason, including if you convert to another card product, you will no longer be eligible for this offer. Citi Travel is powered by Rocket Travel Inc., part of the Booking Holdings Inc. group of companies together with Booking.com.

2 Earn a total of 5 ThankYou ® Points per $1 spent on hotel, car rental and attractions excluding air travel when booked through the Citi Travel℠ portal on cititravel.com or by calling 1-833-737-1288 and saying "Travel". Offer is valid through 11:59 PM 12/31/2025. You earn 1 ThankYou ® Point per $1 spent on the Citi Travel portal bookings. You will earn an additional 4 bonus ThankYou ® Points per $1 spent on hotel, car rental and attractions excluding air travel when booked through the Citi Travel portal or by calling 1-833-737-1288 through 11:59 PM 12/31/2025. The booking must post to your account during the promotional period to qualify. This offer may overlap with other special offers in which you are currently enrolled. You must use your Citi Rewards+ ® Card registered at the Citi Travel portal to earn the bonus points . For bookings made with a combination of points and your Citi Rewards+ ® Card, only the portion paid with your card will earn points. Bonus points will take up to 3 billing cycles to post to your account. To qualify for this offer, this account must be open and current. Points will not be earned on canceled bookings. If your account is closed for any reason, including if you convert to another card product, you will no longer be eligible for this offer. Citi Travel is powered by Rocket Travel Inc., part of the Booking Holdings Inc. group of companies together with booking.com.

3 Earn a total of 5 ThankYou Points per $1 spent on hotel, car rental, and attractions excluding air travel when booked through the Citi Travel℠ portal on cititravel.com or by calling 1-833-737-1288 and saying "Travel". Offer is valid through 11:59 PM Eastern Time (ET) 12/31/2024. You earn 1 ThankYou Point per $1 spent on the Citi Travel portal bookings and an additional 1 ThankYou Point per $1 paid on Eligible Payments (as defined in the Citi ThankYou ® Rewards Terms and Conditions for Citi Double Cash ® Card Accounts) made to your Citi Double Cash card account. You will earn an additional 3 bonus ThankYou Points per $1 spent on hotel, car rental, and attractions excluding air travel when booked through the Citi Travel portal or by calling 1-833-737-1288 through 11:59 PM Eastern Time (ET) 12/31/2024. The booking must post to your account during the promotional period to qualify. This offer may overlap with other special offers in which you are currently enrolled. You must use your Citi Double Cash Card registered at the Citi Travel portal to earn the bonus points . For bookings made with a combination of points and your eligible Citi Double Cash card, only the portion paid with your card will earn the additional points. Bonus points may take one or two billing cycles to post to your account. To qualify for this offer, this account must be open and current. Points will not be earned on canceled bookings. If your account is closed for any reason, including if you convert to another card product, you will no longer be eligible for this offer. Citi Travel is powered by Rocket Travel Inc., part of the Booking Holdings Inc. group of companies together with booking.com.

4 Earn an additional 4 Thank You Points per $1 spent on hotel, car rental, and attractions excluding air travel through the Citi Travel℠ portal or by calling 1-833-737-1288 (TTY: 711). Offer is valid through 11:59 PM Eastern Time (ET) 6/30/2025. The booking must post to your account during the promotional period to qualify. This offer may overlap with other special offers in which you are currently enrolled. You must use your Citi Custom Cash ® Card registered at the Citi Travel portal to earn the bonus points . For bookings made with a combination of points and your eligible Citi card, only the portion paid with your card will earn the additional points. Bonus points may take one or two billing cycles to post to your account. To qualify for this offer, this account must be open and current. Points will not be earned on canceled bookings. If your account is closed for any reason, including if you convert to another card product, you will no longer be eligible for this offer. Citi Travel is powered by Rocket Travel Inc., part of the Booking Holdings Inc. group of companies together with booking.com.

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Citi Rewards Credit Card Lets You Accumulate Points for Miles, Cash Rebates and More—MoneySmart Review 2024

If you shop a lot, buy groceries for the whole family, dine out often and take rides everywhere, the Citi Rewards Credit Card may be the most worth it for you. 

Its main draw is points accumulation which can be converted into frequent flyer miles or cash rebates. It offers 10X rewards points or $1 for 4 miles for online purchases across several categories such as online groceries, food delivery, ride-hailing, and offline purchases in department stores and several fashion brands. 

Let’s dig in to see what else this card offers.

Citi Rewards Credit Card—MoneySmart Review 2024

Citi rewards card: summary.

• Citi Rewards Card —How does it work?

Should I get the Citi Rewards Card?

• Citi Rewards Card —Sign-up promo

Alternatives to the Citi Rewards Card

See our credit card ranking rubric to find out how we rank credit cards.

The Citi Rewards Card by Citibank has been around for quite a few years and is one of the bank’s main cards for those who wish to rack up points in the Citi Rewards Programme.

The card lets you earn Citi Rewards points (which can also be exchanged for miles) when you shop online and offline, take Grab or Gojek rides or spend on online food or grocery delivery.

The Citi Rewards Card is a reliable option for building points within Citi’s Rewards Programme. It lets you earn points, which can be converted to miles on all sorts of purchases including—online shopping, offline sprees, Grab/Gojek rides, and even online food and grocery deliveries. Swipe it for everyday spending and watch those points pile up—pretty satisfying.

Citi Rewards Card

[HIGHEST VALUE GIFTS | LUXURY LIFESTYLE LUCKY DRAW]   Get   SUPER UPSIZED 6,140 SmartPoints  or SUPER UPSIZED S$400 Cash , on top of an  EXTRA S$80 Trip.com coupon , in as fast as 5 weeks from meeting the S$500 spend criteria!  T&Cs apply . Use SmartPoints to redeem your favourite product from our  Rewards Store  today.   PLUS stand a chance to win a  Luxury Dive Watch Date Edition (worth more than S$17,000)  and / or  a Luxury   Yacht Experience (worth S$9,150)   when you meet the Lucky Draw criteria! Check out our past Lucky Draw winners  here !

Rewards Features

Redeem rewards points across multiple categories via the Citi Mobile® App for dining and shopping vouchers, Pay with Points, cash rebates, and more

Annual Interest Rate and Fees

Minimum income requirements, documents required, wireless payment, card association, citi rewards card—how does it work .

The Citi Rewards Card offers rewards points when you spend with a base earn rate of: 1X point per $1 spent . You can earn up to 10X points (equivalent to 4 miles) for spending on certain items. 

Here’s what you can spend on to get that sweet, sweet 10X point earn rate:

• Online purchases, including: 
• Groceries (e.g. NTUC FairPrice, Cold Storage, Redmart)
• Food delivery (e.g. Deliveroo, Foodpanda)
• Ride hailing (e.g. Grab, Gojek)
• Offline in-store purchases
• Department stores 
• Men’s, women’s and children’s clothing stores 
• Sports and riding apparel stores
• Shoe stores
• Miscellaneous apparel and accessory shops
• Luggage and leather goods stores

The 10X Rewards comprise:

• 1X base point for every $1 spent 
• 9X bonus points for every $1 spent 

Here’s an example: 

  Bonus points are capped at 9,000 per statement month, so that’s the maximum amount you’ll get even though 7,200 + 4,950 = 12,150. 

However, with the base and bonus points, you’ll earn a total of 10,350 points. 

For any spending that does not qualify for the 10X rewards points, you receive the base earn rate of 1X reward point for every $1 spent.

Unfortunately, mobile wallet and travel-related transactions do not earn 10X points. This includes airlines, car rental agencies, travel accommodations, passenger transport and railways, cruises, travel agencies, and other travel-related purchases. So if you’re thinking of racking up points on big-ticket travel purchases, you’re out of luck.

Another benefit is free travel insurance when you buy and pay for your airfare with the Citi Rewards Card.

The card also gives you discounts—up to 14%—at Esso and Shell: 

• 5% Esso station discount + 5% Esso Smiles discount + 4% Citi Card discount 
• 5% Shell site discount + 5% Shell GO+ discount + 4% Citi Card discount = Total of 14% savings effectively

Most types of spending should be eligible for at least the 1X point earn rate, but there are some categories in which you cannot earn any points, according to the terms and conditions . They are :

• annual fees, interest charges, late payment charges, GST, cash advances, installment/easy/extended/equal payment plans, preferred payment plans, balance transfers, cash advances, quasi-cash transactions, fees and charges
• funds transfers using the card
• Bill payment
• educational institutions
• payments to government institutions and services including fines, taxes, postal services, parking
• financial institutions
• non-profit organisations
• betting or gambling
• top-ups to payment service providers, prepaid cards or prepaid accounts
• transit-related transactions

So scoring those sweet 10X points sounds pretty awesome, especially if you’re the type who’s always grabbing new threads, hopping into cabs, or feasting at home. This card’s a real winner for those who constantly find themselves picking up the tab for the fam—whether you’re ordering in during movie nights or when you’re organising those Lululemon hauls with your yoga crew.

Your points can then be converted to miles (10X points = 4 miles), or redeem them for vouchers, products or cash rebates. Check out Citibank’s website to find out the whole range of redemptions available.

But here’s the deal: to max out at 9X bonus points, you have to stick to spending no more than $1,000 per month on the statement. Anything over, and you’re missing out on extra rewards. If you’re regularly hitting that limit and then some, it might be worth looking into adding another card to your wallet for even more goodies. That might sound a little troublesome for the lazy folks who want to go all in for a single card.

Now, onto the not-so-great part: this card doesn’t give you any points for your travel expenses. Yeah, that’s kind of a bummer if you’re a globe-trotter. If you’re all about those travel adventures, it might be time to find a card that’s got your back no matter where you roam.

Citi Rewards Card sign-up promo

Sign up for the Citi Rewards Card and get a welcome gift of 40,000 bonus Citi ThankYou Points when you spend $800 in the first 2 months.

If you sign up on MoneySmart’s website , you also get exclusive MoneySmart promotions not available elsewhere. Check back for new promos as they are subject to change. 

If you’re still not too sure about the Citi Rewards Card, here are a couple of alternatives to consider:  

HSBC Revolution Card 

• 10X rewards points (equivalent to 4 air miles or 2.5% Cashback) for every S$1 spent online or via contactless payments
• 1X reward point for every $1 spent on all other categories

HSBC Revolution Credit Card

Key features.

10X Reward points (equivalent to 4 miles or 2.5% Cashback) on online purchases and contactless payments.

1X Reward point for all other types of spending.

No min. spend required.

No annual fee

Receive complimentary access to ENTERTAINER with HSBC app, with over 1,000 1-for-1 deals on dining, lifestyle and travel worldwide.

Cap of 10,000 rewards points per calendar month on eligible purchases. Other terms apply.

Standard Chartered Rewards+ Credit Card

• 10X rewards points (equivalent to 4 air miles) for every S$1 spent in foreign currency
• 5X rewards points for every S$1 spent locally

[LUXURY WATCH LUCKY DRAW] Get  S$200 Cash via PayNow or 2,990 SmartPoints  when you apply and spend a min. of S$500 in eligible transactions within 30 days from card approval date.  T&Cs apply .  Use SmartPoints to redeem your favourite product from our Rewards Store today.   PLUS stand a chance to win a Luxury Dive Watch Date Edition   (worth more than S$17,000) when you meet the Lucky Draw criteria!  Check out our past Lucky Draw winners  here !

10X Rewards Points per S$1 spent in foreign currency, including online spends

5X Rewards Points per S$1 spent in Singapore Dollars for local dining transactions

1X Rewards Points per S$1 on all other spends

1 year annual fee waiver, no minimum spend required

At MoneySmart, we strive to keep our information accurate and up to date. This information may be different from what you see when you visit a financial institution, service provider, or specific product site. MoneySmart shall not be liable to compensate the Customer should the information is not as updated as our Partner.

It all depends on your spending habits and what types of categories you are most likely to spend on, so you can use the right card to get the most number of points. 

However, if you are more interested in the points to be converted to miles, it may be more worth it getting an air miles credit card with a good earn rate. Plus, many also offer pretty good welcome bonuses! 

What is your favourite credit card sign-up promotion ? Share your recommendations in the comments!

Related Articles

7 Best Rewards Credit Cards in Singapore (2024): Citibank, OCBC, DBS & More

Best Citibank Credit Cards in Singapore – Credit Card Reviews 2020

7 Best Credit Cards for Online Shopping in Singapore (2022)

• Reward types, points & expiry
• What card do I use for…
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• Credit Card Lounge Benefits
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• Credit Card Reviews
• Points Transfer Partners
• Singapore Airlines First & Business Class Seat Guide
• Singapore Airlines Book The Cook Wiki
• Singapore Airlines Wi-Fi guide
• The Milelion’s KrisFlyer Guide
• What is the value of a mile?
• Best Rate Guarantees (BRGs) for beginners
• Singapore Staycation Guide
• Trip Report Index
• Credit Cards
• For Great Justice
• General Travel
• Other Loyalty Programs
• Trip Reports

The MileLion’s 2024 Credit Card Strategy

With all the nerfs that 2024 has seen so far, it's time to rethink card strategy. Here's my revised game plan for the rest of 2024

2024 hasn’t even reached the halfway point yet, but we’ve already seen nerfs to miles game favourites like the DBS Woman’s World Card, HSBC Revolution, UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card and Citi PayAll. That’s not to mention non-miles nerfs like the  HSBC Everyday Global Account and UOB Absolute Cashback Card!

This means it’s time for an update to The MileLion’s 2024 Credit Card Strategy , so it remains an up-to-date resource to forward to your friends, family and Tinder dates (and if the last two are one and the same, I really don’t need to know about it).

Before we start

Before we talk about specific cards, here’s a few important points to make. 

Not a comprehensive listing

First, this article is not intended to be a comprehensive listing of the best cards for each category.

For example, in the public transport section I’ve not included the StanChart Smart Card, even though it earns an impressive 5.6 mpd on bus and MRT rides. Likewise, for shopping I’ve omitted the OCBC Rewards Card which offers 4 mpd.

That’s because OCBC and StanChart cards don’t otherwise feature in my regular rotation, and by adding a single card I’d likely end up with orphan miles. Remember, the goal here is to share my strategy , not an encyclopedia. 

If you’re interested in a comprehensive listing of the best cards for a given category, you should instead refer to the articles below.

Don’t forget sign-up bonuses

Second, this article doesn’t take into account ongoing sign-up bonuses.

These are opportunities for new cardholders to earn a lump sum of miles by spending a minimum amount within a certain period following approval. You should absolutely try and leverage these first, because the effective earn rate (in terms of miles awarded to dollars spent) will be superior to many of the cards in this post.

I publish a monthly article that covers all the sign-up bonuses in detail, and you can also bookmark my Welcome Offers page to keep tabs on the latest promotions.

Categories can overlap

Third, categories can overlap or be subsets of each other, so don’t think about them too rigidly.

For example, a card which earns bonuses on contactless payments can be used at a restaurant, department store, supermarket, or anywhere that contactless payments are accepted. Likewise, if a card earns bonuses on foreign currency spend, it doesn’t matter whether that spend is dining, shopping or travel-related.

Check the definitions

Fourth, different cards may define the same category differently.

For example, what counts as “dining” for HSBC may be different from UOB. Always refer to the T&Cs for the exact list of eligible MCCs, and if you need to check the MCC of a given merchant, use the methods below.

Overall strategy

Broadly speaking, there’s two types of miles cards out there:

General spending cards (e.g. UOB PRVI Miles) earn a flat rate of 1.2-1.6 mpd on all transactions, whereas specialised spending cards (e.g. UOB Preferred Platinum Visa) earn 4 mpd on particular categories, and 0.4 mpd on everything else. 

Since specialised spending cards can cover such a wide range of transactions, however, it seems almost sinful to settle for the lower earn rates of a general spending card. Put it another way: someone who regularly utilises 4 mpd cards will earn a free flight much faster than someone who puts everything on a 1.2 mpd card.

Therefore, your goal should be to:

Use specialised spending cards as much as possible

It doesn’t mean that general spending cards are useless. As I’ve explained in the post below, they have a role to play in a well-balanced miles strategy. But they certainly shouldn’t be your first port of call!

Should you bother to get a general spending card?

Contactless Payments: UOB Preferred Platinum Visa, UOB Visa Signature

Contactless payments aren’t a category of spending as such, more like a method. But that works to your advantage. Since contactless terminals are so ubiquitous these days, earning 4 mpd on the vast majority of your spending should be straightforward. 

The UOB Preferred Platinum Visa (PPV) continues to be the go-to option, earning 4 mpd on all mobile contactless transactions. Simply add this card to your Apple, Fitbit, Google or Samsung Pay account and tap your phone or watch in-store to pay. 

Those who regularly spend beyond the UOB PPV’s monthly S$1,000 bonus cap can consider the UOB Visa Signature, which has a higher monthly bonus cap of S$2,000. Cardholders will earn 4 mpd on contactless transactions, with a minimum spend of S$1,000 per statement month.

Do note the difference in how each card defines contactless spending. You will not earn any bonuses if you tap the physical UOB PPV card!

For both cards, take care when dealing with UOB$ merchants such as Bread Talk, Cold Storage, Giant, Guardian and Starbucks. At UOB$ merchants:

• you’ll earn 3.6 mpd with the UOB Visa Signature
• you’ll earn no miles with the UOB PPV

For why this is the case, refer to this post . There are some workarounds , but it might be better to avoid the issue altogether by using other cards here.

Also, I shouldn’t have to say this (though based on some angry emails I receive, perhaps I do), but UOB’s standard exclusion list still applies . You won’t earn 4 mpd if you use contactless payments at an educational institution or government office, for instance.

Online Transactions: Citi Rewards, DBS Woman’s World Card

Like contactless payments, online transactions are another big catch-all category.

Both the Citi Rewards and DBS Woman’s World Card (WWMC) will earn 4 mpd , so long as it doesn’t fall into:

• the bank’s general list of exclusions, or
• travel-related transactions such as airlines, cruises, hotels, rental cars and travel agencies
• in-app mobile wallet payments (e.g. Deliveroo + Citi Rewards = 4 mpd, Deliveroo + Google Pay (using Citi Rewards) = 0.4 mpd)

This is capped at S$1,000 for the Citi Rewards, and a now-reduced S$1,500 for the DBS WWMC .

In other words, both the Citi Rewards and DBS WWMC would be well-suited to cover everyday transactions like:

• Deliveroo, GrabFood or Foodpanda
• Grab or gojek rides
• Google Play or Apple App Store purchases
• Netflix, Spotify and other streaming subscriptions
• E-commerce sites like Amazon, Lazada,Qoo10, Shopee etc.
• (WWMC only) Buying airline tickets, cruises, prepaid hotels or activities & attraction bookings with Klook or Pelago

Dining: HSBC Revolution, UOB Lady’s Cards and KrisFlyer UOB

Dining is no doubt a major expense category for many people, and there’s several cards you can use here.

It’s a choice between the UOB Lady’s Cards (where Dining must be selected as one of your bonus categories) or the HSBC Revolution for a capped 4 mpd, or the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card for an uncapped 3 mpd, provided you spend at least S$800 on SIA Group transactions (Singapore Airlines, Scoot, KrisShop) in a membership year.

But there’s another factor to consider: MCC coverage. As it turns out, all these cards define dining differently.

Each of these involve trade-offs:

• HSBC Revolution offers the widest dining MCC coverage (though crucially, it’s missing fast food after its 1 May nerf ), but has a monthly 4 mpd cap of S$1,000
• UOB Lady’s Cards have a slightly more restrictive dining MCC coverage, but have monthly 4 mpd caps of up to S$2,000, and you can add an extra 2 mpd by depositing S$10,000 into a UOB Lady’s Savings Account
• KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card has the narrowest dining MCC coverage, but offers 3 mpd with no cap, provided you meet the min. S$800 spend on the SIA Group per membership year- which shouldn’t be that hard to do

Groceries: DBS yuu and UOB Lady’s Cards

Groceries is the only category where I’d seriously consider a non-miles card.

That’s because the DBS yuu Card offers 26 yuu Points per S$1 (the equivalent of an 18% cash rebate) at Cold Storage and Giant (plus other yuu merchants ). You’d have to value a mile at more than 4.5 cents each to prefer 4 mpd over that. This upsized earn rate was originally supposed to lapse on 29 February 2024, but is now evergreen. I know where I’m buying my diapers and milk powder from!

But if you’re shopping at Sheng Siong, NTUC, or other supermarket chains, you can consider the  UOB Lady’s Cards (with Family selected as the bonus category) for 4 mpd.

Sadly, the HSBC Revolution is no longer an option for supermarkets, following its 1 May nerf.

Foreign Currency (FCY): Amaze, UOB Visa Signature or Maybank Horizon

Amaze rates may be creeping upwards, but at the end of the day it’s still a superior option to using bank credit cards and their 3.25% FCY fees (don’t forget that Amaze offers a cash rebate of up to 0.5% through InstaPoints as well).

The question then becomes which credit card you pair it with, and my default option is the Citi Rewards Card   for 4 mpd. There’s other cards you can consider too, depending on MCC. 

If you don’t want to use Amaze, consider the UOB Visa Signature . This earns 4 mpd on overseas spending, subject to a minimum FCY spend of S$1,000 per statement month, and capped at S$2,000 FCY spend per statement month. Do note that this cap is shared with the 4 mpd cap for contactless payments/petrol. For a more detailed explanation of how the caps work, refer to this article.

But what if you’re spending big and need something without a cap? The Maybank Horizon Visa Signature is your best bet in that case. Provided you spend at least S$800 per calendar month (in either local or FCY transactions), you’ll earn an uncapped 3.2 mpd on FCY spending. 

Even better, this bonus also applies to commonly-excluded categories like donations, education, hospitals and utilities- so long as they’re in foreign currency.

Shopping: Citi Rewards, HSBC Revolution, Amaze + KrisFlyer UOB

For online or offline shopping at department stores, or fashion, jewelry and clothes outlets, you can choose from the Citi Rewards (4 mpd), HSBC Revolution (4 mpd) or Amaze + KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card (3 mpd).

Earn rates aside, the main difference here is caps. Both the Citi Rewards and HSBC Revolution are capped at S$1,000 per month, while the Amaze + KrisFlyer UOB combination is uncapped, provided you spend at least S$800 on SIA Group transactions in a membership year.

Why do you need to add the Amaze? Because the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card’s 3 mpd rate is only for online shopping, and Amaze turns offline transactions into online ones.

Do note that each bank has a different definition of shopping. We don’t have the space here to list what each MCC refers to, but this guide will come in handy.

Petrol: UOB Lady’s Cards, UOB Visa Signature

Although I feel the best card for petrol is the one that gives the biggest discount, if you’re just looking at miles then it’s a toss up among the UOB Lady’s Cards or UOB Visa Signature. 

UOB Lady’s Cardholders will earn 4 mpd on petrol, provided they select Transport as their quarterly bonus category.

UOB Visa Signature Cardholders will earn 4 mpd , provided they spend at least S$1,000 on local contactless payments and/or petrol in a given statement month.

Public Transport: UOB Lady’s Cards, KrisFlyer UOB Card

Public transport won’t be a huge component of your monthly expenditure, but it’s still a category worth optimising.

The UOB Lady’s Card and UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card will earn 4 mpd, provided Transport is chosen as the quarterly bonus category. Alternatively, use the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card for 3 mpd, subject to a minimum S$800 spend on SIA Group transactions in a membership year.

General Spending: Amaze + Citi Rewards, AMEX HighFlyer Card, UOB PRVI Miles Card

If you haven’t yet exhausted the 4 mpd cap on the Citi Rewards, then it can be a useful general spending card when paired with Amaze. Remember, Amaze converts all offline transactions into online ones, so you can spend in-store and still earn 4 mpd.

Otherwise, the AMEX HighFlyer Card (only available to SME owners) is the highest-earning general spending card with 1.8 mpd on all local and overseas spend. 

The main drawback is that it limits you to converting a maximum of 150,000 KrisFlyer miles per calendar year (30,000 miles to five accounts), but you probably won’t be putting that much on a general spending card in the first place. 

For everyone else, there’s the UOB PRVI Miles Card which earns 1.4 mpd on local spend and 2.4 mpd overseas. There’s no real harm in using the DBS Altitude/ Citi PremierMiles / OCBC 90°N Card either, even though they earn slightly less. Ideally, you’d be putting as little spending as possible on your general spending card anyway, so the difference shouldn’t be too material.

Of course, if you earn enough to qualify for one of the 1.6 mpd general spending cards such as the Citi ULTIMA, UOB Reserve , DBS Insignia or the OCBC VOYAGE (Premier/PPC/BOS) , by all means go ahead and use it.

As I said at the start, you should be using your general spending card as sparingly as possible. This should be reserved for situations where you’ve exhausted your bonus caps on specialised spending cards, or when the category is not “bonus-able” (which is exceedingly rare these days).

Don’t forget Kris+

Whenever you’re at a restaurant, store, spa or hotel, always be sure to check whether they’re a Kris+ merchant, because that’s an easy opportunity to stack a further 1-9 mpd on top of your credit card miles. 

I’ve written a separate guide on the best cards to use with Kris+, which can be found below.

What’s the best card to use for Kris+?

Some ongoing Kris+ deals you should know about include (all the figures below are  before  adding miles from credit cards):

• 3 mpd at Esso and 12% upfront discount , valid till 31 May 2024
• 10 mpd at selected restaurants with Feast to Fly, valid till 30 June 2024

Bill Payments

The trouble with bill payments such as insurance premiums, rent, tuition fees, taxes and utilities is that credit cards either aren’t accepted, or if they are, usually won’t earn rewards. 

But these aren’t lost causes. If you’re willing to pay a small admin fee, then platforms like CardUp and Citi PayAll  let you earn miles.

Should you pay the admin fee? It all boils down to  how much you value a mile. I personally would consider options that let me buy miles at less than 1.5 cents apiece, but your situation may differ.

As an aside, if you’re looking to earn miles while paying 2024’s income taxes, do refer to the detailed guide below for all the options. 

2024 Edition: Earning credit card miles on IRAS income tax

Is it possible to over-optimise?

As much as we want to maximise 4 mpd everywhere, is it possible to overdo it?

Definitely. The way I see it, there are two additional considerations:

(1) Conversion Fees

By spreading your cards across multiple banks, you’re collecting different points currencies and will have to pay multiple conversion fees.

However, I’m not too worried about this. Conversion fees are annoying and we try to minimise them where we can, but paying them isn’t the end of the world. In the grand scheme of things, an extra S$25 here and there isn’t going to destroy the overall value proposition of the miles game.

Moreover, it doesn’t necessarily mean more cards = more fees. If you own multiple cards from the same bank, you may still pay only a single conversion fee, provided the points are pooled.

For example, a UOB customer could hold a UOB PRVI Miles, UOB PPV, UOB Visa Signature and UOB Lady’s Card, all while paying only a single conversion fee. 

(2) Orphan Points

Orphan points are a bigger concern than conversion fees. If you spread yourself too thin, you may end up in a situation where you’re optimising on individual transactions, but not in an overall sense. 

What are orphan miles, and how do you avoid them?

To illustrate, suppose I drive infrequently but get a Maybank World Mastercard just so I can earn 4 mpd on petrol. I may be optimising on that particular transaction, but it counts for very little if I end up with a small chunk of TREATS points that I can’t cash out. 

All things equal, the larger a card’s minimum conversion block, the more likely you are to end up with orphan miles. 

tl;dr: Optimisation is good, but you need to look at both the micro and macro picture. If you don’t spend a significant amount on a particular category, then consider using your general spending card instead.

If you told me I could have five cards and no more, my top picks would be:

• UOB Preferred Platinum Visa (for all mobile payments in-store)
• Citi Rewards (for all online transactions, as well as in-store transaction paired with Amaze)
• DBS Woman’s World Card (for all online transactions)
• UOB Lady’s Solitaire (with Travel and Dining as my two bonus categories)
• KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card  (to mop up anything beyond my 4 mpd caps)

And of course there’s Amaze too, the glue which holds much of this together. Keep in mind, that’s the combination that best suits  my  spending patterns. You may land somewhere else, so it’s important to take stock of your spending, break it down into categories, and pick the cards that match it the best.

Once again, I want to emphasise that this article is not meant to be an exhaustive list of cards you can use for each category. There are other cards not mentioned which could justifiably fit into a sound miles strategy, depending on which bank you’re already earning points with, and your overall spending patterns. 

Any other cards that are featuring in your 2024 game plan?

• credit cards

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Citi premiermiles card: more miles for fcy spend, enhanced welcome offer, and 5 million citi miles giveaway, roundup: credit card sign-up bonuses (september 2024), 72 comments.

Hi Aaron, for those with big regular insurance bills – use of SCB prudential card might be a better option compared to paying fees to cardup. My insurance bills racks up to more than $40k per annum.

Qn: is scb Prudential only for Prudential bills, or does it earn points for all insurers?

Earns for all insurers, but the earn rate is very low for a no-fee option. Used to be using it until we couldn’t pool the SC Rewards points together.

Would you use Amaze paired with UOB Lady Solitaire for dining, or just the card directly?

if you are overseas, of course use amaze. if local doesnt matter

Should HSBC Revolution still figure prominently as a travel card after their recent nerfs?

Would certainly avoid using it for hotels because of mcc 7011 uncertainty. Keep it as dining and groceries card

After Feb will there be categories for the uob ladies card? Or default everything 4mpd like the ppv?

Thanks @Aaron as always for sharing this very comprehensive article. For myself I opted for a simple “brain dead” strategy because I dont want to be one of those people that are constantly stressing about which card to use for which transaction, not to mention orphan points and worrying about expiry currently adopting a 2 card strategy: 1. Main: Citi rewards + AMAZE This is used for all day-day transaction e.g dining, shopping , petrol. usually about ~$1000 which is the cap for rewards (although some months may exceed the cap slightly) 2. Sub: Citi PM. for sub mainly used …  Read more »

I do a similar strategy, HSBC Revo instead of the above just to get 1k @ 4mpd then OCBC Premier Voyage for 1.6 elsewhere. Sure I leave some miles on the table but I avoid a lot of headaches.

I would replace HSBC revo with UOB VS in the top 5 list as it is more encompassing.

Yup, Uob vs is a good shout if hitting the 1k min spend each month isn’t a big deal for you.

But Aaron, it actually doesn’t make sense to not have UOB VS in the Top 4, and you can debate depending on your personal context whether HSBC Revo, Citi Rewards or UOB Krisflyer should be #5. If you have problems hitting the 1k min spend each month, then you will need to worry about orphan miles and cannot spread your miles over too many banks. UOB VS is a no brainer here because UOB VS pools with Lady and PPF, and it’s fine if you do not use it some months because of the minimum. The Top 5 here is …  Read more »

Hi, just thinking that maybe there’s a 3rd reason for not over-optimising. The time and preference factor. Essentially if using 4mpd cards affects: 1. Choice of shop/dining/website to patronize 2. Having to monitor various cards for : (a) spending min/max limits (b) annual fee waivers (esp UOB /OCBC) (c) points expiry (d) transaction vs posting date or statement month cycles I think this applies especially if I sign on to more cards then I can usually use for my monthly/annual spending habits. For a busy person, maybe the time saved and the lack of soft constraints on spending could be …  Read more »

Agree. Plus it’s also how much does 1 spend per month. For me, I only use HSBC Revolution for all things offline. And DBS Women’s for all things online. These two cards are enuf for my expedition monthly, which is usually below $2k. Should I travel, I use SC Journey or HSBC Travel One. Sometimes with Amaze but also without at times. If it’s travelling for work, I don’t care about fcy since it’s gonna reimbursed, so it’s all about earning miles. If travelling for leisure, I might even use Revolut/Youtrip cause it’s more of saving money than earning miles. …  Read more »

@Aaron, can you clarify why you put UOB PPV   over HSBC Revolution as your #1 choice? I would have thought revo would be much better as a overall balanced card with lack of restriction(see: min spend) as well as no annual fee

Please don’t get hung up over the order. Next time I should just use bullet points instead of numbered bullets…

UOB PPV pooling with UOB Lady (and UOB VS) would be an easy reason.

Hi, If given the option, I would rather avoid ALL UOB cards completely due to lack of proper customer support in case of any transactional issue and the call center giving misleading information. Just to share you my recent experiences: (1) My purchase at the Microsoft store last year was taken as a fraudulent transaction. As a result, my attempts to pay for my purchase has been rejected consecutively for 5 times. Then when I called the UOB call center for assistance, the customer service confirmed that my 6th attempt was successful but it only lasted 30 mins as it …  Read more »

Yes UOB. I’ve had lousy call experiences too.That’s why I hesitate to take up the Infinite Metal or the Lady’s Solitaire and prefer to stay with other banks. I dropped all my OCBC cards too.

In with you 100% on this. I effectively boycott UOB products (credit card or banking) – can’t be bothered jumping through hoops with their small print to get any bonuses and I’ve found their customer care to be borderline malicious it is so ineffective.

If not UOB, what other best options for miles accumulation cards?

Hi Aaron, I noticed you don’t seem to recommend the WMMC as a general spending card (for contactless payments) anymore. Has this benefit been nerfed or do we still get 4mpd for tapping it on a contactless terminal?

Er, that was never recommended. You might want to refer to the past strategy guides

Argh you’re right. I don’t know why I got it mixed up. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I’ve been using it mostly for grab and Shopee purchases anyway.

Currently I’m using amaze card link with citi rewards card. In the past I was using card-up through this citi rewards card for insurance payment to earn the citi points, I stop using card-up due to the admin fee.

I would like to check If I don’t use card-up for the insurance and just make payment through amaze card, can I still earn citi points for my citi rewards card?

I need a Spreadsheet to keep track of these terms and conditions that are regularly changed . Good to have Aaron giving us regular updates. Thanks Aaron.

I would also suggest under the “Offline Shopping” category, to also include the UOB Lady’s Cards (Shopping category selected) and OCBC Titanium Rewards Blue/Pink (though yes it has been nerfed to SGD1K cap per month)

Hi Aaron is Grab in the transport category for the UOB lady’s solitaire?

Hi Aaron, for cards like uob ppv & uob vs, is making payments using mobile contactless sufficient for us to earn the bonus miles? Or do we need to be mindful of the mccs as well?

standard exclusions eg insurance, education apply

Was told at UOB today that the the PPV is discontinued. They aren’t accept any new applications. Some other cards got the axe as well. I took a photo of the current list. Happy to share.

Thanks for the comprehensive write-up! For someone living overseas, and coming back once a year – are there any cards with no currency conversion fees so that I can spend overseas and earn miles at the same time?

there are, but they’re not suitable for earning miles, e.g. trust card.

This is something US credit cardholders, not Singapore credit cardholders, enjoy.

Hello Aaron, love your articles. If you could only pick one between Citi rewards and UOB PPV, which would be your pick?

The reason for this would be a monthly spend close to only $1k, then you’d have to pick one card that captures most of what you actually spend on. No fixed answer.

could you do an updated strat post following all the nerfs

My strategy for 2024, put everything on my Amex Plat Charge. If amex not accepted put it on the prestige.

Amex does have less acceptance than MC but wouldn’t doing it in the opposite order earn more miles except for maybe SQ and 10X merchants? Perhaps you’re trying to get an invite for the Centurion?

Plat Charge is the worst miles card of all lmao

Hi, personally think is worth mentioning all uob cards pool points together so wont have much orphan miles issue!

Moreover, it doesn’t necessarily mean more cards = more fees. If you own multiple cards from the same bank, you may still pay only a single conversion fee, provided the points are pooled.

For example, a UOB customer could hold a UOB PRVI Miles, UOB PPV, UOB Visa Signature and UOB Lady’s Card, all while paying only a single conversion fee.

Many cafes / restaurants nowadays provide QR code for ordering and payment using their in-app ordering system. What is the MCC codes for these and whats the best card to use ? is this consider online spending seeing that it is paid in-app and is online ?

Excellent question. I want to know too. Currently I circumvent this by asking to pay on their terminal instead of putting my card details in the app. Can someone enlighten us?

Hi Aaron, for transport, why wasn’t the SC smart credit card mentioned? Am i missing something haha

do read the article again, especially the start.

I also tried the SC Smart card as a MRT card but stopped using it after the first cashback. For the same reason Aaron wrote.

Aaron, would it be OK to update the article to disclose your estimated monthly spending range, and if you heavily use CardUp and Citi PayAll? This is crucial context to understand a strategy. Below a certain spend level, you have to worry about orphan miles a lot more and should not use more than 1-2 banks. Above a certain spend level, you are prone to maxing out many of the 4 mpd cards and need to pay more attention to UOB Krisflyer and other uncapped/general spend cards. Would also love to see which categories are most important for your family’s …  Read more »

Just curious. Why not use both citi rewards visa and Mastercard for online purchases rather than dbs women’s card cos dbs points expire after one year and technically citi card can accumulate for a much longer period?

Citi Rewards Mastercard is more useful because it can be used overseas with Amaze, and Citi does not pool (even between the two cards). If you have another DBS card like DBS Vantage, Women’s is more useful.

But in his article it does not mention dbs vantage or altitude.

And citi visa cannot be used with amaze card.

Unless you mean because it has a higher cap by 500 per month. But I thought it might be negated by the longer expiry date Unless you consistently use more than 1000 per month.

Citi does not pool (even between the two cards). Check if you could consistently max out both cards.

I wouldn’t place UOB PPV above Citi Rewards + Amaze. Other than travel contactless payments (how often does that happen?), you could argue that CRMC + Amaze works on all contactless payments as well. Add on the fact that you can pair it with Kris+ on all merchants, use it overseas without FCY fees, no rounding down to $5 blocks of spend, and the ability to convert points to a wide variety of transfer partners, I would have to say CRMC + Amaze beats out UOB PPV by a sizeable margin. The only thing going for UOB PPV is saving …  Read more »

What best for Telco bill?

Curious if large FCY shopping expenses using Amaze + Krisflyer UOB will be better than Maybank Horizon? Will this still trigger the 1% fee on Amaze card even if transactions are in FCY?

Also what card app is good to use for hawkers now that xnap is not usable? Any alternatives?

Not the best but at least you get some points

Hi Aaron, thank you for the comprehensive guide. What card do you use for public transport or petrol? Seeing that you chose Dining and Travel for your UOB Solitaire. I do not have DBS WWMC for hotels. For UOB Solitaire, I selected Dining and Transport to hit the $500 monthly spend for my UOB One account to get the interest. If I switched one of the category to Travel, I would no longer be able to hit $500 every month. Just wondering if there are better alternatives than getting DBS WWMC just for hotel bookings. I currently have CRMC+Amaze and …  Read more »

Isn’t your spend level too low for miles if you cannot hit $500/month on UOB Solitaire?

Yea my monthly expenditure is not very high. But my monthly expenditure for public transport + fuel + dining can easily hit $500 each month.

For Travel category, I do not spend every month

public transport: krisflyer uob. petrol: wife’s uob lady solitaire which has transport as bonus category

Hi Aaron, So i am curious on bluesg and getgo, what cards will be potentially useful for that? Also, for groceries are you using the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card?

The low cap on specialized cards is too much of a risk for me. I would end up with fewer miles.

Hi Aaron. From the 2024 Best Credit Cards for Petrol post: “SPC transactions are explicitly excluded from earning rewards with UOB cards, but like Shell, it’s different in practice. The latest data points I have suggest that the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa and UOB Visa Signature will  not  earn miles for SPC, but the UOB Lady’s Cards will.”

Is there a mistake on the asterisks for the Lady cards at the petrol section in this post?

latest info from april suggests it may no longer be the case. need more data points.

Aaron, you say that the Yuu cashback is enough for you to just take the cash. But with this logic, should you not be using the UOB EVOL card for cashback? UOB EVOL gives maximum $40 cashback on $600 minimum spend (6.67% cashback), and the minimum spend requires online and contactless spend similar to UOB Preferred Platinum. $600 spend on a 4 mpd specialized card is 2,400 miles or $36 with a 1.5 cpm valuation. With this logic, isn’t UOB EVOL flexible enough and the cashback rate is high enough that it should replace the nerfed HSBC Revolution in your …  Read more »

I’m not Aaron but for myself I’d say that the main difference is 18% vs 6.7% cashback ($108 vs $40). A few minor points: Firstly, the DBS offer adds unlimited 5% cashback beyond $600 spend for the selected merchants (mainly Cold Storage and Guardian for me) should I exceed my caps on miles cards. Secondly, 2400 miles in J or F is usually worth more than 1.5cpm. Thirdly, I prefer not to have UOB credit cards (I know what I’m supposedly missing but I’ve had not so great experiences with OCBC and UOB – my credit cards are for convenience …  Read more »

Hi Aaron, thanks for putting all these information together. Overwhelming and need to read numerous times 😂. Quick question, what is best card for paying petrol using Shell Fleet Card? Thanks

HSBC Revolution MC’s need updating (now nerved to the ground) as well as other HSBC recent changes.

Hi Aaron, what would be a better choice for online transactions? Citi rewards + amaze combo, or just the DBS WWC?

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One Key™ Card review: Earn solid rewards on popular third-party travel portals

Written by: Re'Dreyona Walker

Edited by: Steve Dashiell

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In a Nutshell:

This card works well for casual travelers who want to use a dedicated Wells Fargo rewards program on bookings they make through Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo.

See Rates and Fees

Learn more about this card

Other notable benefits:

• Get automatic Silver tier status in the One Key rewards program
• Unlock Gold tier status when you spend $15,000 per calendar year with your One Key card
• Up to $1,000 in cell phone protection against damage or theft ($25 deductible)

The Wells Fargo One Key Card is a great no-annual-fee option for travelers who want to earn rewards on Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo bookings, as well as gas stations, grocery stores and dining purchases. And with no foreign transaction fees, cardholders can plan their global excursions without worrying about additional charges on purchases abroad.

The One Key rewards program is especially valuable if you travel frequently, as you receive automatic Silver tier membership in the One Key rewards program and can save 15% or more on over 10,000 hotels globally. You can also unlock Gold tier when you spend $15,000 each calendar year with your One Key card. However, if you don’t travel much, the rewards and features of this card may not be as enticing.

• You can earn an elevated rewards rate on select travel booking sites.
• The welcome offer is fairly attainable for the average spender, and the value is higher than most other no-annual-fee travel rewards cards.
• The card has no foreign transaction fee, which works well for avid international travelers.
• There aren’t any outstanding travel perks, such as travel insurance or credit toward TSA PreCheck® or Global Entry®.
• You can only redeem your earnings through the One Key Rewards program for any of the listed travel booking sites.
• You can only earn “OneKeyCash,” which you can’t use outside of the rewards program.

Why you might want the Wells Fargo One Key Card

The Wells Fargo One Key Card boasts a reasonable rewards rate for travel bookings and everyday spending categories such as dining and gas. It also provides a solid flat rewards rate on other purchases. In addition, the One Key rewards program offers generous savings on hotel stays.

Welcome bonus: Reasonable spending requirement

The Wells Fargo One Key Card rewards $400 in OneKeyCash after you spend $1,000 on purchases during the first three months. This welcome bonus is reasonable for the spending threshold, and you’re unlikely to feel pressured to overspend to satisfy the requirement.

Even though other travel rewards cards have a much higher welcome bonus value, such as The Platinum Card® from American Express – which has one of the highest welcome bonus values of most top-tier travel rewards cards – these types of welcome bonuses typically come with a hefty annual bonus and spending requirement. The Wells Fargo One Key Card has a bonus that is slightly higher than most top-tier travel cards with no annual fee, such as the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card  and the Chase Freedom Unlimited® .

Rewards: Great if you prefer third-party sites for travel bookings

You can earn 3% OneKeyCash on Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo bookings, as well as on gas station, grocery store and dining purchases. You earn 1.5% OneKeyCash on other purchases. This is a unique niche that could prove valuable if you primarily book reservations through third-party sites.

Additionally, you’re automatically qualified for Silver tier status in the One Key Rewards program, which grants an assortment of perks, including up to a 15% discount on over 10,000 hotels worldwide. To unlock Gold tier status, you’ll need to spend $15,000 or more per calendar year on your card.

You can also earn up to 6% OneKeyCash for every dollar you spend on top of the rewards you earn from the Wells Fargo One Key Card or from any airline loyalty program once you sign up for the One Key travel rewards program.

There are other cards where you can earn a higher rate on hotel and car rental bookings, such as the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card , but these cards often charge annual fees. If you are genuinely committed to using third-party sites and believe you can optimize your reward earnings through the One Key Rewards program’s status tiers, this card’s rewards rates can offer a lot of value for future bookings.

Rates and fees: No annual fee or foreign transaction fees

There is no annual fee attached to this card, which means you won’t lose any value for taking a break from travel for a year. It also has no foreign transaction fees, which can help you save on purchases made abroad.

Why you might want a different card

Even though the Wells Fargo One Key Card has a decent rewards program, welcome offer and elevated rate on travel purchases, there are still some drawbacks to consider, such as the lack of rewards flexibility and travel perks.

Redemption: Rewards can only be used through the One Key program

When it comes to the rewards you earn from the welcome bonus and purchases, you earn “OneKeyCash,” which you can’t redeem for cash or any other traditional form of redemption, such as statement credit, gift cards or merchandise. You can only redeem OneKeyCash through Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo, which dramatically limits the number of ways you can utilize your rewards. Additionally, $1 in OneKeyCash equates $1 in cash.

Compared to other cards, the Wells Fargo One Key Card is not as flexible with earnings. For example, the Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card not only allows you to redeem your cash back earnings for cash, statement credit, or gift cards, but it also lets you make bookings through external travel sites at a discount and redeem rewards toward a large variety of travel and dining-related categories, such as airlines, hotels, cruise lines, transit and tourist attractions, as well as restaurants, bars and taverns.

If you’re not very familiar with or interested in the Wells Fargo One Key Rewards program, you might prefer a different travel rewards card with a less rigid rewards structure and more redemption possibilities.

Benefits: There aren’t many travel perks compared to other similar cards

Though the card offers free Silver tier status in the One Key program and up to $1,000 of cell phone protection in case your phone is damaged or stolen ($25 deductible), these are the only notable benefits of the Wells Fargo One Key Card. Other cards by comparison, such as the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card , offer up to $120 credit toward TSA PreCheck® or Global Entry, lost or damaged luggage coverage* as well as trip cancellation and interruption coverage* and more.

If you don’t mind paying an annual fee, a more premium travel rewards card would be more advantageous if you’re a luxury traveler – but if you don’t mind not having an annual fee and have no concerns about those sort of features, this card may be suitable for you.

How does the Wells Fargo One Key Card compare to other cards?

While the Wells Fargo One Key Card offers a respectable welcome bonus and rewards for no annual fee, there are still other travel rewards cards that may have more elevated rewards in the same categories, offer more flexibility in terms of redemption or have better perks overall.

Wells Fargo One Key Card vs. Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Card

The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Card has a competitive rewards rate on travel and dining, making it an attractive choice for individuals who regularly indulge in these activities. The low annual fee further adds to its appeal, allowing cardholders to earn rewards without having that cost dip into their yearly earning potential. Additionally, the inclusion of travel protection enhances the overall value of the card, providing a sense of security and reassurance for travelers.

On the other hand, some potential drawbacks of the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Card include a less flexible rewards program compared to competitors, which may limit redemption options. Additionally, while there are no foreign transaction fees, the card lacks certain premium travel-related perks offered by other travel credit cards, potentially making it less appealing to those seeking an extensive suite of travel benefits.

The welcome bonus of the Autograph Journey Card is also less enticing compared to similar travel rewards cards due to its high spending requirement. If you prefer a low-barrier welcome offer and no annual fee, the One Key Card could be your best bet, but if you want a more elevated rewards rate for hotel and airline purchases, the Autograph Journey could work better.

Wells Fargo One Key Card vs. Chase Freedom Unlimited®

The Chase Freedom Unlimited® offers several advantages compared to the One Key Card. Its range of rewards categories as well as its welcome bonus are both valuable assets with greater everyday reward potential than the One Key Card. The card’s structure makes it an attractive option for individuals who prefer a tiered rewards scheme and the chance to strategize and maximize rewards. Additionally, the Chase Freedom Unlimited® allows cardholders to transfer their cash back earnings to Chase transfer partners at a 1:1 ratio, as well as pool earnings with other Chase cards that offer travel rewards, such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, maximizing the value of their rewards.

Despite its many benefits, the Chase Freedom Unlimited® does have a few potential downsides to consider. It has a 3% foreign transaction fee, unlike the Wells Fargo One Key Card. This means that individuals who primarily travel overseas may find the One Key Card more useful. Additionally, while the ability to pool cash back with other Chase cards is advantageous, it requires cardholders to have multiple Chase credit cards, which may not be ideal for those who prefer simplicity and consolidation.

Wells Fargo One Key Card vs. Citi Strata Premier℠ Card

The Citi Strata Premier℠ Card offers a generous rewards rate eclipsing that of the One Key Card in categories such as hotels, car rentals and attractions booked through CitiTravel.com. Cardholders can also earn valuable points on their everyday purchases, such as restaurants, supermarkets and gas stations, making it a lucrative option for frequent travelers and food enthusiasts. Additionally, the card provides a couple of enticing travel perks, such as a $100 annual hotel benefit, enhancing the overall travel experience for cardholders.

Unlike the Wells Fargo One Key Card, however, the Citi Strata Premier features an annual fee, which could be a deterrent if you don’t travel often or you’re trying to minimize expenses. Additionally, the redemption options for the rewards earned through this card may not be as flexible as those offered by other travel credit cards, limiting the ways in which cardholders can utilize their points or miles. Despite these drawbacks, the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card’s strong rewards program and travel perks make it a compelling choice for those who prioritize earning rewards on their travel expenses. But if you would rather not have an annual fee, a card like the Wells Fargo One Key Card could suit you.

How to use the Wells Fargo One Key Card

• Spend $1,000 in purchases in the first three months to earn the welcome bonus.
• Stack your OneKeyCash earnings by using your card on Hotels.com, Expedia, and Vrbo.
• Spend at gas stations, grocery stores, and restaurants to earn 3% OneKeyCash.
• Spend $15,000 or more per calendar year to unlock OneKey Gold tier status.

Is the Wells Fargo One Key Card right for you?

If you travel frequently and book the majority of your accommodations through Expedia, Hotels.com, or Vrbo, the Wells Fargo One Key Card may be a good option for you. However, the limited number of perks and redemption options may be a deal-breaker if you want enhanced travel perks and rewards flexibility.

If you don’t mind that your rewards are mostly focused toward the Wells Fargo OneKey program, then the One Key Card would be fine – but, if you want more redemption options for your reward earnings, another travel rewards card could serve as a more suitable choice.

* For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the benefits may be provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply

All reviews are prepared by CreditCards.com staff. Opinions expressed therein are solely those of the reviewer and have not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. The information, including card rates and fees, presented in the review is accurate as of the date of the review. Check the data at the top of this page and the bank’s website for the most current information.

Responses to comments in the discussion section below are not provided, reviewed, approved, endorsed or commissioned by our financial partners. It is not our partner’s responsibility to ensure all posts or questions are answered.

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Know your odds before you apply

• Enter your information
• We’ll run a soft credit pull, which won’t impact your credit score
• You’ll see your estimated approval odds near cards to help you narrow down your options

Your personal information and data are protected with 256-bit encryption.

Tell us your name to get started

We’ll use this information to to verify your credit profile.

What’s your mailing address?

What's your employment status?

Your answer should account for all personal income, including salary, part-time pay, retirement, investments and rental properties. You do not need to include alimony, child support, or separate maintenance income unless you want to have it considered as a basis for repaying a loan. Increase non-taxable income or benefits included by 25%.

Put $0 if you currently don't have a rent or mortgage payment.

Last four digits of your Social Security number

We’ll use the last four digits of your Social Security number to get your approval odds. This won’t impact your credit score.

What’s your email address?

Your email address unlocks your approval odds. Don’t worry, we won’t spam your inbox.

By clicking "See my odds" you agree to our Terms of Use (including our Prequalification Terms ) and Privacy Policy . These terms allow CreditCards.com to use your consumer report information, including credit score, for internal business purposes, such as improving the website experience and to market other products and services to you. I understand that this is not an application for credit and that, if I wish to apply for a credit card with any participating credit card issuer, I will need to click through to complete and submit an application directly with that issuer.

Calculating your approval odds

Oops something went wrong..

We’re sorry, but something went wrong and we couldn’t find your approval odds. Instead, you'll see recommended credit ranges from the issuers listed next to cards on our site.