Citi announced today its new Pay With Points feature, in partnership with Mastercard. The new feature allows select Citi cardholders to redeem points in real-time, starting in early July. The option is available for customers who have a Citi Prestige, Citi Premier, Citi Rewards+ or Citi ThankYou Preferred card. You can choose to redeem ThankYou Points immediately after making eligible purchases, from dining to groceries, entertainment to clothing/department stores.
“We recently did a survey of 1,000 consumers, and 86% said that they would be more likely to redeem their points if they could do it in real-time — and that number rose to 94% with millennials,” Mary Hines, head of customer engagement and innovation for Citi Branded Cards, said during the announcement event at Mastercard’s Tech Hub.
Citi cardholders who earn ThankYou rewards can set up email or push notifications directly from the Citi Mobile App or Citi.com to find out when an eligible purchases can be covered by Pay With Points. When transactions qualify, you’ll receive a notification asking if you want to cover your purchase completely or partially with ThankYou points. All you have to do is click the notification, log into your Citi account and select confirm. The statement credit should appear in two to three business days.
The announcement comes just a day after Citi made some huge changes to its credit card benefits, removing almost everything.
Redeeming Points
Transactions in the following categories are eligible for Pay With Points.
- Entertainment
- Grocery
- Gas
- Dining
- Drug Stores
- Clothing and Department Stores
- Utility
There is no minimum redemption amount. As for the value you get when redeeming points this way, it’s not that great. Each ThankYou points will get you a value of 0.8 cents. So 1,000 points will be redeemed for $8. Not the best value as you can usually redeem for 1.25 or even better through travel partners.
