Citi Rewards Credit Card Review | What You Need to Know

Citi Rewards Sign Up Promotion:

Option 1: Bank Promotion

  • Receive 40,000 bonus Points Welcome Offer when you spend S$800 in the first 2 months of account opening.

Option 2: SingSaver

  • Get 2X Hinomi Q1 Ergonomic Office Chair (worth S$998) or Apple iPad 9th 10.2” WiFi 64GB (worth S$479) or S$420 Shopee Vouchers or S$370 Cash via PayNow when you spend a minimum of S$500 within 30 days of card approval
  • Valid From 03 March, 5PM – 31 March 2025
  • Promotion is valid for new to bank credit card holders
  • Read Terms and Conditions here
  • Must fulfill spending requirement to receive gift confirmation
  • Remember to check for SingSaver email and complete the registration to secure your reward!


Citi Rewards Card Overview:

Local Earn Rate
0.4 miles per dollar (1 TY point)
Foreign Currency Earn Rate
0.4 miles per dollar (1 TY point)
Bonus Earn Rate
4 miles per dollar (10 TY points)
Foreign Currency Fees
3.25%
Min. Miles Transfer
25,000 TY points (10,000 miles)
Miles earned in blocks of
S$1
Transfer Fee
S$27.25 (including 9% GST)
Points Pooling
No
Lounge Access
No
Airport Limo
No
Points Expiry
5 years



For a quick and easy overview of Citi Rewards, check out my TikTok video where I break down its key features and benefits!


Eligibility & Fees:

  • Minimum Age: 21 years old
  • Minimum Annual Income: S$30,000 (locals/PRs); S$42,000 (foreigners)
    • Don’t worry if you income is below this threshold, there is a more secured version of this card where you can do a S$10,000 fixed deposit
  • Annual Fee: S$194.40 (inclusive of gst), waived for the first year
    • Since minimum income requirement by MAS is S$30,000 per annum, this card is an entry-level card that should be pretty easy to get an annual fee waiver (I have a annual spending of around $5-8K on this card and have not had a problem getting a waiver on subsequent years). You can check out my TikTok video on getting annual fee waiver.

Key Benefits:

  • Earn 4 miles per dollar (10 TY Points per S$1) for online transactions (including ride-hailing, groceries, restaurant delivery, and more). This excludes travel-related transactions.
  • Earn 4 miles per dollar (10 TY Points per S$1) for retail offline purchases
  • Earn 0.4 miles per dollar (1 TY Point per S$1) for any other purchases
  • No minimum monthly spending required
  • Spending cap of S$1,000 on eligible transactions per statement month applies to 4 miles per dollar earn rate
  • Points are earned for every S$1 spent

Best Used For Online Non-Travel Related Transactions and Retail Stores (Bags, Shoes, and Clothes)
  • To earn the most out of this card, you should use this at any online transactions at shops like Lazada, Shopee, Qoo10, and even on ride-hailing and food delivery apps. You’ll also get 4 miles per dollar when you shop online or offline retail stores such as in department stores, fashion, and apparel stores;
Merchant Category Code (MCC) 
Description
5311
Department Stores
5611
Men’s and Boy’s Clothing and Accessories Stores
5621
Women’s Ready to Wear Stores
5631
Women’s Accessory and Specialty Stores
5641
Children’s and Infant’s Wear Stores
5651
Family Clothing Stores
5655
Sports and Riding Apparel Stores
5661
Shoe Stores
5691
Men’s and Women’s Clothing Stores
5699
Miscellaneous Apparel and Accessory Shops
5948
Luggage and Leather Goods Stores
Best Used With Amaze Card for Overseas Offline Spending
  • For when you have to spend overseas, this combo is great to lessen the FCY fee while still earning 4 miles per dollar. See “Any Hacks/Promos” below.

Instarem Amaze Card 

With the recent updates, Citi Rewards x Amaze is best used to convert offline overseas spending to online, this is because this combo reduces FX fees from 3.25% to 2% while still earning 4 miles per dollar.
  • Pay in Singapore Dollars abroad (as transactions in FCY is converted by Amaze, you do not incur the credit card usual FCY fees of 3.25%, but you do suffer a 2% FX spread loss)
  • Connect up to 5 Mastercard cards

How to use it:

  • Load the Amaze card into Google Pay and Apple Pay and use contactless payment via Amaze.

Use the Spending Cap to Your Advantage (when using Citi Rewards Card by itself)

  • If the statement date on your statement, is 11th of the month (see picture below), it means your spending cap of S$1,000 will run from 12th of the month to 11th of the following month. This means your 4 miles per dollar spending cap resets on the 12th of each month. It matters because, let’s say you have a large spending of S$2,000 in a month, you could spend S$1,000 on the 9th and another S$1,000 on the 12th to earn 4 miles per dollar for the full S$2,000 spending.

Other than the standard exclusions (below), Travel-related and in-app mobile payments do not earn 4 miles per dollar for Citi Rewards Cardholders. This applies whether or not you use it with the Amaze Card.

Travel-related transactions:

MCC
Description
Examples
3000 to 3350, 4511
Airlines, Air Carriers, Airlines, Air Carriers (Not Elsewhere Classified)
Singapore Airlines, Air France, Delta Air Lines, Emirates
3351 to 3500, 7512
Car Rental Agencies, Car Rental Agencies (Not Elsewhere Classified)
Hertz, Avis, Budget, Enterprise
3501 to 3999, 7011
Lodging – Hotels, Motels, Resorts, Lodging – Hotels, Motels, Resorts (Not Elsewhere Classified)
Marriott, Hilton, Holiday Inn, Four Seasons
4112
Passenger Railways
Amtrak, Eurostar, JR East, SMRT
4411
Cruise Lines
Royal Caribbean,Carnival, Norwegian, Princess
4722
Travel Agencies and Tour Operators
Expedia, Booking.com, Klook, Chan Brothers
5962
Direct Marketing– Travel-Related Arrangement Services
Airbnb, Agoda, Trip.com, Hotels.com

In-app mobile wallet payments:

Using the Citi Rewards Card directly with Apple Pay or Google Pay for online transactions will not earn you 4 miles per dollar, as these are considered in-app mobile wallet payments. For instance:
  • If you order food from Mcdonalds app using Google/Apple Pay in the app and pay with the Citi Rewards Card, you will not get 4 miles per dollar.
  • If you order food from Mcdonalds using the credit card option in the app and pay with the Citi Rewards Card, you will get 4 miles per dollar. The best way to avoid this is to choose to pay directly with your credit card for most online payments, instead of using Apple or Google Pay.
  • Using Citi Rewards directly with in-app mobile payments (Google/Apple Pay) will not earn you 4 miles per dollar, however, when you link the Amaze card with Google/Apple Pay, Amaze converts it into online transaction, allowing you to earn the 4 miles per dollar!
*Take note that SMRT falls under Passenger Railways. Therefore using Citi Rewards Card for SimplyGo does not earn you any rewards.
*Card Specific Exclusions can be found here

Standard Exclusion List:

MCC
Description
6529
Quasi Cash – Remote Stored Value Load – Financial Institute
6530
Quasi Cash – Remote Stored Value Load – Merchant
6534
Quasi Cash – Money Transfer – Member Financial Institution
6540
Non-Financial Institutions – Stored Value Card Purchase/Load
7349
Cleaning and Maintenance, Janitorial Services
7511
Quasi Cash – Truck Stop Transactions
7523
Parking Lots, Parking Meters and Garages
7800
Government-Owned Lotteries (US Region only)
7995
Betting, including Lottery Tickets, Casino Gaming Chips, OffTrack Betting, and Wagers at Race Tracks
4829
Wire Transfer Money Orders (WTMOs)
4900
Utilities – Electric, Gas, Water, and Sanitary
5199
Nondurable Goods(Not Elsewhere Classified)
5960
Direct Marketing – Insurance Services
6012
Financial Institutions – Merchandise, Services, and Debt Repayment
6050
Quasi Cash – Financial institutions, Merchandise, Services
6051
Non-Financial Institutions – Foreign Currency, Money Orders (Not Wire Transfer), Stored Value Card/Load, Travelers Cheques, and Debt Repayment
6211
Securities – Brokers and Dealers
6300
Insurance Sales, Underwriting and Premiums
6513
Real Estate Agents and Managers – Rentals
8211
Elementary and Secondary Schools
8220
Colleges, Junior Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools
8241
Correspondence Schools
8244
Business and Secretarial Schools
8249
Vocational and Trade Schools
8299
Schools and Educational Services(Not Elsewhere Classified)
8398
Charitable and Social Service Organizations
8062
Hospitals
8651
Political Organizations
8661
Religious Organizations
9211
Court Costs Including Alimony and Child Support
9222
Fines
9223
Bail and Bond Payments
9311
Tax Payments
9399
Government Services(Not Elsewhere Classified)
9402
Postal Services – Government Only
9405
U.S. Federal Government Agencies or Departments
9754
Quasi Cash – Gambling – Horse Racing, Dog Racing, State Lotteries
5993
Cigar Stores and Stands

 

Here is the list of their current transfer partners:

Transfer Partners
Conversion Ratio
Krisflyer
25,000:10,000
Flying Blue
25,000:10,000
British Airways
25,000:10,000
Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
25,000:10,000
Etihad
25,000:10,000
Asia Miles
25,000:10,000
EVA Air
25,000:10,000
Qantas
25,000:10,000
Qatar Airways
25,000:10,000
Turkish Airlines
25,000:10,000
IHG Rewards
25,000:10,000

*All of these has transfer ratio of 5:2 so that’s 25,000:10,000 with a S$27.25 transfer fee inclusive of 9% GST

 

Advantages:
  • Most versatile card that you can use for everything except travel
Disadvantages:
  • You cannot earn 4 miles per dollar on travel-related or mobile wallet in-app transactions (Apple or Google Pay)
  • Points cannot be pooled together across Citi cards – therefore you need to pay a separate transfer fee for each card

  • How to redeem the Citi ThankYou points to a frequent flyer program: Check out my Tiktok video for the step-by-step guide.
  • When is the ThankYou points credited: This usually credits when the transaction is posted, usually takes 24 hrs, or in some, it could take 2-3 days.
  • How long are my ThankYou points valid for: All Thank You points earned on the Citi Rewards Card expire every five years (+ three months grace)  from card approval/renewal, not from when points are earned.
Eg. If your card was approved on 1 June 2020, your points earned from 1 June 2020 to 31st May 2025 will expire on 31 August 2025. From 1st June 2025 starts the new cycle of your Thank You points.


Final Thoughts:

  • Citi Rewards alone is still a strong card to use for online transactions and offline retail shopping (except travel related) giving you 4 miles per dollar. Citi Rewards x Amaze is not the best combo as of the moment for converting offline SGD spends to online because of the updated 1% fee for all SGD transactions. However, you can still pair it with amaze but only for overseas spends to reduce the FCY fee while still earning the 4 miles per dollar.
  • For Travel-related spending, I use the DBS Women’s World Mastercard now.


Credit cards change their T&Cs every so often and it is difficult to stay updated. That’s why I created a Telegram Broadcast where you can receive timely bite-sized updates to get the most out of your spending.


Citi Rewards Sign Up Promotion:

Option 1: Bank Promotion

  • Receive 40,000 bonus Points Welcome Offer when you spend S$800 in the first 2 months of account opening.

Option 2: SingSaver

  • Get 2X Hinomi Q1 Ergonomic Office Chair (worth S$998) or Apple iPad 9th 10.2” WiFi 64GB (worth S$479) or S$420 Shopee Vouchers or S$370 Cash via PayNow when you spend a minimum of S$500 within 30 days of card approval
  • Valid From 03 March, 5PM – 31 March 2025
  • Promotion is valid for new to bank credit card holders
  • Read Terms and Conditions here
  • Must fulfill spending requirement to receive gift confirmation
  • Remember to check for SingSaver email and complete the registration to secure your reward!



? We believe in always paying our credit card bills on time and in full. It is only by doing that, can we fully maximise our credit card benefits.

Purchases made through links in this article may generate an affiliate commission that helps keep this site running. Found this post useful? Subscribe to our Telegram Channel for more updates!  

lobangsis
lobangsis
Aud, your lobang sis shares personal finance to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for us all.

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