Comments on: Citi ThankYou Network Rewards Review

By: Mila

Mila — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:45:03 +0000

These ‘rewards’ are NOT FREE. Rewards are paid for with swipe fee, foreign transaction fee, membership fee, and that’s assuming 0 balance and on time payments.

By: Scam

Scam — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 04:53:45 +0000

Thankyou network is a scam. If you view items as a guest, items are quoted at one price (for example, 75,000 points). Once you log in, the price magically jumps thousands of points. Thankyou network is a scam, do not use it, they lie.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 23:55:55 +0000

they just ripped me off…

By: Ep

Ep — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 14:25:01 +0000

Its not free they charge my card $25.00

By: ThankYou

ThankYou — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 14:28:03 +0000

For those of you that like to complain about the rewards. Just be grateful they are giving this to you for FREE!

By: mike

mike — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 10:30:14 +0000

But at chase you have to spend $5 for 4 points big Rip off

By: John

John — Thu, 19 May 2011 21:04:59 +0000

Chase Freedom Rewards you can get a 20 dollar cash reward for 2000 points compared to Citi’s 8000 points for 50 dollars cash rewards. No comparison, Citi Thankyou rewards program is a rip off.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 01:40:50 +0000

Citi is canceling the Driver’s Edge Charter card I have had with them for 15 years. Instead of the 2% back I have earned I am now having a thankyou reward card foisted upon me. Thanks to your review I can cancel my account with Citi and take my business elsewhere. $.01 per point is the minimum anyone should accept for a rewards card and it is obvious from your analysis above that the very best one can do with the Citi thankyou points is $.01 per point.

By: Christian

Christian — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 19:23:59 +0000

Your explanations and mathematics have been the best and most thorough out of all the reviews about Rewards Programs that I’ve read while bargain shopping cards and programs.
Thank You

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 15:40:54 +0000

Now the expedia / thank you network relationship is ending. Frankly, I’m not surprised. The rewards available from the Thank You network have been decreasing signficantly in value over the years. More offerings, but more points required to buy something than the old 100 points = $1.00. So a $30 item used to cost 3,000 points. Now, it would be closer to 4,000 points.

The end for me was when Citi dropped the only worthwhile travel reward. Any flight under $400 (40,000 points) only cost 20,000 points for elite members. The elite card had a $75 annual fee. They got rid of the program with no notice, and still had the nerve to charge the $75 annual fee. I found out three months after they charged the annual fee, and five months after they ended the program. It took me five calls to get the annual fee reversed. There were no other worthwhile benefits of the premier pass elite.

Don’t get me started on the new interest rate they tried to charge me (21.99%) earlier this year. I used to charge almost $20,000 a month on my card (I used it as a business card), and always paid my entire balance on time at the end of the month. It was either “take the new rate, or we won’t renew the card when it expires (Sept 2010)”. So AMEX has been getting my $20,000 a month, and I’ve been getting cash back. And I close my Citi card in a month.

By: Ike

Ike — Tue, 04 May 2010 19:20:15 +0000

I’ve been on the thankyou rewards program for a few years now and i’ve cashed in a few hundred dollars worth of gift cards every year.

Over the last year though they have removed most of the $100 gift cards and make you spend more points for lower valued gift cards.

I keep saving my points hoping that they bring back $100 gift cards for some more retailers, if not then I guess i’ll have to do Marshalls, or Macy’s or something.

Is there any alternative rewards programs with better gift card to point ratios?

By: sean

sean — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:52:54 +0000

I was incorrect in my previous post. They still have the gift cards they just don’t show up in the search anymore. They are now in a dropdownlist.

By: sean

sean — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:03:22 +0000

They have recently gotten rid of all their $100 gift cards! I am starting to feel ripped off. I think I will cancel my card and find something better.

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:58:43 +0000

Hey Jim–
Finally got around to checking out the dining category and I’m not seeing the .01/point anymore! Have you checked them out recently?

By: Bongo

Bongo — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:18:22 +0000

The Citi Gift Cards are a pain. You can’t use the “debit” card at an ATM for cash. You can’t swipe them at a gas pump. (must go in to the store) You can’t add funds to them.

And Citi forces you to order and register each card separately online. Claiming “certain in-store point-of-sale purchases may require customer to register online” So if you have 10 cards, you’ll need 10 different login names & passwords – one for each gift card.