Citi Rewards
Citi Rewards offers points for your eligible credit card spending, with rewards including gift cards, cashback and frequent flyer points. Here's how to get value from this program.
How to earn Citi Rewards Points
With a Citi Rewards credit card, you'll earn points for each $1 spent on eligible purchases made in Australia and overseas (including online). This covers most everyday spending, including supermarket and retail shopping, petrol, dining and travel bookings.
As the number of points earned per $1 is different for each card, here's a breakdown of your options:
| Credit card | Earn rate | Points cap (per year) |
|---|---|---|
| Citi Rewards Card - Bonus Points Offer |
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| Citi Premier Card |
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| Citi Prestige Card |
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Introductory bonus point offers
Citi Rewards credit cards may also offer thousands of introductory bonus points when you sign up for a new card and meet the requirements.
Usually, you'll need to be a new customer and spend a set amount of money in the first few months you have the card. Some offers also award bonus points when you keep the card for at least 12 months. So make sure you check the offer requirements so you know exactly what you need to do to collect your bonus points.
What counts as "eligible spending"?
Most everyday transactions are eligible to earn points, including supermarket shopping, dining, petrol and clothes or other retail items. But the following transactions are not eligible to earn points on a Citi Rewards credit card:
- Cash advances
- Balance transfers
- BPAY payments
- Purchases of foreign currency
- Transactions made in operating a business
- Payments to other Citi accounts
- Fees and charges
- Transactions made using points
- Government-related transactions (including ATO payments)
If you're planning to pay for something with your card and want to check if it will earn points, call Citi on 13 24 84.
What rewards can you get with Citi Points?
The Citi Rewards program offers you a range of different ways to use points, including:
- Gift cards. You can redeem Citi Rewards Points for gift cards from a range of popular brands including Bunnings, Coles, David Jones, JB Hi-Fi, Uber Eats and Woolworths. To give you an idea of the value, a $100 JB Hi-Fi digital gift card could be redeemed from 20,900 points when Finder checked the Citi Rewards website in June 2023.
- Cashback. Citi Rewards offers cashback on your account or to pay for your annual fee. But you need to log in to see how much value you can get with this reward.
- Travel. You can use your points to pay for flights, hotel bookings, car hire or activities such as tours and theme park tickets. From time to time, Citi may also offer you exclusive deals or travel packages that you can redeem with points.
- Shop with partners. Citi Rewards gives you a way to use points to pay for purchases with Apple or Kogan.com. With these options, the number of points is shown at the checkout and you can choose to pay for part of the purchase in case.
- Charity donations. If you want to support charities, you can redeem your points for donations to the Australian Red Cross, Fred Hollows Foundation or Starlight Children's Foundation.
Point transfers
Citi Rewards offers transfers to Velocity Frequent Flyer, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer or Flybuys. The amount of points you'll get by transferring them may vary depending on your account but here are the transfer rates publicly available on the Citi Rewards website:
- Velocity Points transfers: 2.5 Citi Rewards Points = 1 Velocity Point
- KrisFlyer Miles transfers: 3 Citi Rewards Points = 1 KrisFlyer Mile
- Flybuys points: 1.33 Citi Points = 1 Flybuys point
⚠️ Important: Rewards can change over time. Sometimes the amount of points needed for a redemption will also vary depending on your card. You can check the current details on the Citi Rewards website. You can also log in to your account if you already have a Citi Rewards credit card.
How much are Citi Points worth?
You can use Finder's points-to-dollars calculator to get an estimate of how much Citi Rewards Points are worth.
But the dollar value of your points also depends on how you redeem them. This is the case for most rewards programs that give you more than one way to redeem points.
To give you an idea of how much value you can get from your points, here are some examples of the value offered by different rewards publicly listed on the Citi Rewards website in June 2023.
| Points needed | Reward | Reward value in dollars | Value per 1,000 points | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16,700 | $100 donation to Australian Red Cross | $100 | $5.98 | Supporting a charitable cause |
| 41,700 | $200 Coles Supermarkets digital gift card | $200 | $4.80 | Saving money on your shopping by redeeming points instead |
| 104,200 | $500 Flight Centre gift voucher | $500 | $4.80 | Using points to help pay for travel |
From these examples, the charity donation offers the best value, with every 1,000 points worth $5.98. The digital gift cards both offer the same amount of value in this example.
If there are other rewards you want to get, you just need to divide the dollar value by the number of points needed to work out the cost. You can also use Finder's guide for details on how to calculate the value of points for any reward.
Example: How much is 150,000 Citi Rewards Points worth with a frequent flyer program?
To give you an idea of the potential value of transferring points to a frequent flyer program, we've looked at some of the places you could fly if you transferred 150,000 Citi Rewards Points, based on transfer rates and reward details for June 2023.
| Frequent flyer program | Transfer rate | Frequent flyer points from 150,000 Citi Rewards Points | Example frequent flyer reward |
|---|---|---|---|
| Velocity Frequent Flyer |
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| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 3 Citi Rewards Points = 1 KrisFlyer Mile | 50,000 KrisFlyer Miles | One-way business class flight from Darwin to Singapore (from 40,500 KrisFlyer Miles) |
How to redeem Citi Rewards Points
You can redeem your points online by using the following steps:
- Go to citirewards.com and select "Australia" as your location.
- Sign in to your account. This will show you the most accurate details of how many points you need to redeem different rewards.
- Follow the prompts to log in and then redeem your rewards.
You can also access Citi Rewards by logging in to your Citi account or the Citi app. If you'd prefer to redeem your points over the phone, call Citi on 13 24 84.
Is the Citi Rewards program worth it?
Citi Rewards is competitive with other credit card rewards programs but it won't offer the same value to everyone. This is because factors such as how much you spend with the card, the rewards you choose and the account costs all impact its value.
So, when you're comparing Citi Rewards cards, make sure you consider the following:
- The card's costs. Weigh the annual fee and interest rate for purchases against the value of rewards and other perks. Ideally, you should get more value from a card than what you pay for it.
- How much you'll use the card. The main way you earn Citi Rewards Points is by using your credit card for eligible spending. Think about how much you'll spend with the card each month or year, and how many points per $1 that will get you, to see how much value you can expect to get from rewards.
- If there are rewards you actually want. Citi Rewards gives you a good mix of ways to redeem points, including frequent flyer point transfers, gift cards, cashback and charity donations. But the value of any reward ultimately comes down to how much you want or need it – so take a look at exactly what's on offer to help you decide if this rewards program is a good fit for you.
What about bonus points?
Bonus points can add a lot of value in the short term and you can use them to justify the card's costs for the first year or so. But after that, it's the factors above that will help you decide whether or not to keep a card for the long term.
How to get the most value from the Citi Rewards program
Always choose rewards that you want or need, so you can at least save some cash. If there's nothing you want, keep saving points until you have enough for a reward you do want.
If you're planning to travel in the future, keep point transfers in mind as frequent flyer programs typically offer the most value per point when they are redeemed for flights.
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