Tag Archives: Citi Bank

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Around the World in 24 Days: Day One

Buenos días everyone, I started my journey to become a SAS EuroBonus Millionaire on Sunday night. Here’s a rundown of the first 24 hours.

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Flight 1: American Eagle 4781 DCA-JFK (Embraer 175)

I started my trip Sunday night with a short hop up to New York on American Eagle, booked with 4,500 Alaska Airlines miles + $19. I took Metro to the airport, and the Clear line saved me a good amount of time at security (one of the only times that’s been the case).  Before the flight, I used my Citi AAdvantage Executive Credit Card one last time to visit the Admirals Club at DCA.  My account finally got hit with the annual fee increase instituted by Citi last year, and I decided it wasn’t worth $550 a year to me, so I called to cancel while I was still in the lounge.

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YTD How I Earned & Redeemed My Citi ThankYou Points

Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  I thought it would be interesting to share how I earn and redeem my Citi ThankYou Points (TYPs), in case any readers were interested in my strategy.  From January 2024 through October 2024, I earned 44,150 TYPs from my Citi credit cards – here is the breakdown:

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What Should I do with 85K Expiring Citi ThankYou Points? [TYP Transfers Completed 8/15]

Updated 8/15/24 at 2pm PT: With 2 Citi ThankYou Points (TYPs) transfer bonuses set to expire in 2 days on August 17, I decided to take advantage of them before the deadline.  As a reminder, here are the transfer bonuses:

    • 25% transfer bonus to Air France / KLM Flying Blue (expires August 17, 2024)
    • 20% transfer bonus to Wyndham Rewards (expires August 17, 2024)

I was lucky enough to snag one of the Super 8 promo packages (15,000 Wyndham Rewards Points for $8.88), so I currently had 45,000 Wyndham Rewards Points.  I wanted 90,000 points for 6 nights at the 15,000 point pricing or 3 nights at the 30,000 point pricing (which I will probably use to book a 3 night Vacasa vacation rental up to $500 / night).  Since I also have a Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Credit Card, I get a 10% discount on award bookings, so instead of 90,000 points, I only need 81,000 points.  Here is the math: 81,000 points – 45,000 points = 36,000 points / 1.2 (for the 20% transfer bonus) = 30,000 points.  I transferred 30,000 TYPs into 36,000 Wyndham Rewards Points and combined with my existing 45,000 points, so my new balance is 81,000 points.

I needed to book a hotel for 1 night and found a Radisson hotel for 25,000 Choice Hotels Points.  I currently had 1,000 points, so I transferred 12,000 TYPs into 24,000 Choice Hotels Points (thanks to the 1,000 : 2,000 transfer ratio).  24,000 points + 1,000 points = 25,000 points.

Lastly, I wanted to use up the remaining expiring TYPs for a transfer to Air France / KLM to take advantage of the 25% transfer bonus.  I had 43,370 expiring TYPs, so I transferred 44,000 TYPs into 55,000 Air France / KLM Flying Blue Miles which I hope to use for a business class award to / from Europe next Summer.

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Good afternoon everyone.  A few weeks ago, Laura transferred all 85K Citi ThankYou Points (TYPs) to my account in preparation of converting her Citi Strata Premier Credit Card into a no annual fee Citi credit card.  Now I have 85K TYPs that I need to use / redeem within 90 days before they expire.  In this post, I will walk you through the transfer process, show you how to find your points expiration date, and share my thoughts on how I plan to use the TYPs before they expire.

To get started, here is how you transfer your TYPs to another user.  Sign into your TYP account, click on More Ways to Redeem, and click on Points Sharing.  As mentioned above, once you transfer the TYPs, the recipient has 90 days to use the points before they expire.  Each calendar year, you can transfer out up to 100K TYPs and you can receive up to 100K TYPs.  You can transfer any amount of points from 1 point up to your entire balance.  Lastly, you will not earn a 10% rebate by transferring points to another user if you have the Citi Rewards+ Credit Card.

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My 2 Retention Offers on Citi Strata Premier Credit Card

Good morning everyone.  A few days ago, the $95 annual fee posted to my Citi Strata Premier Credit Card.  I never use this credit card for purchases (I have other Citi and non Citi credit cards that have better bonus categories and bonus multiples), but I keep this credit card for the ability to transfer my Citi ThankYou Points (TYPs) out to transfer partners.  As part of my routine, whenever a credit card annual fee posts to any of my accounts, I call the credit card company and ask for a retention offer (read my recent post Midyear Review: My Credit Card Retention Offer Thought Process & Results).

Since I haven’t put any purchases on this credit card in several months, I was doubtful that I would receive any retention offers, but I wouldn’t know for sure until I called.  During the call, I told the rep that I was considering closing the account due to the $95 annual fee.  The rep transferred me to the retention offer department.  Surprisingly, the retention offer rep had 2 decent offers available:

1: Receive a $95 statement credit + 1,000 TYPs after spending $1,000 on the credit card each month for 3 consecutive months

2: Receive 10,000 TYPs after spending $3,000 on the credit card in the next 6 months

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Midyear Review: My Credit Card Retention Offer Thought Process & Results

Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is going well. A few days ago, I wrote about my Midyear Review: My 2024 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions (as predicted, my success rate was terrible). Thankfully, my success rate when it comes to credit card retention offers is much better. Let me ask you a question, if you could make $50, $100, or $150+ from making a phone call, would you do it? If you said yes, then you should make credit card retention offer calls.

In this post, I will share my thought process when it comes to making retention offer calls and then share my midyear results. Here are my thoughts:

1. I call every time a credit card annual fee posts to my account. I have also found that no annual fee business credit cards sometimes have retention offers, but I haven’t had much luck with no annual fee personal credit cards. Lastly, I try to call a few days after the annual fee posts to my account, but several weeks before the credit card payment is due. Continue reading