Citi Rewards
Got a Citi Rewards credit card? Here's how you can earn points – and some of the best ways to use them.
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Citi Rewards is a loyalty program that gives you a way to earn points for your eligible spending with a Citi Rewards credit card. You can redeem these points for rewards including travel and frequent flyer points, gift cards and cashback.
So if you're interested in a Citi Rewards credit card, here's a look at how the program works – and how much value you can get for your Citi Rewards Points.
How to earn Citi Rewards Points
With a Citi Rewards credit card, you'll earn points for every $1 spent on eligible purchases made in Australia and overseas (including online). This covers most everyday spending, such as 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 - Purchase and Balance Transfer 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 sometimes offer introductory bonus points when you sign up for a new card and meet the spending 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.
Depending on the offer, you could get thousands of bonus Citi Rewards points when you start using your card. Just remember to 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 earn points, call Citi on 13 24 84 to double-check if you'll be eligible for points on your Citi Rewards card.
What rewards can you get with Citi Points?
The Citi Rewards program offers you a range of different ways to use points, including:
- Frequent flyer point transfers. You can transfer your Citi Rewards points to frequent flyer points with Emirates Skywards, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer or Velocity Frequent Flyer. The amount of Citi Rewards points you'll need per frequent flyer point and the minimum transfer requirements can vary from card to card, so you'll need to log in to your account and go to citirewards.com to get the most accurate details.
- Flybuys points. You can exchange your Citi Rewards points for Flybuys points, with a transfer rate of 1.33 Citi Points to 1 Flybuys point shown on the Citi Rewards website. Note that the transfer rate for your account could be different, so log in to get the most accurate details.
- 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 August 2021.
- Cashback. You can redeem Citi Points for cashback on your account or to pay for your annual fee. You need to log in to your account to see how much value you can get when you redeem your points for cashback.
- 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. You can redeem Citi Rewards points for items from Apple or Kogan.com. If you don't have enough points to cover the cost of what you want, you can use Points Plus Pay.
- Charity donations. Citi Rewards gives you the option of supporting the Australian Red Cross, Fred Hollows Foundation or Starlight Children's Foundation by using points for a donation. With this option, 16,700 points was worth a $100 donation when Finder checked the Citi Rewards website in August 2021.
Important: The rewards you can get change over time, and sometimes the amount of points needed for a redemption will also change. To get the latest details, head to the Citi Rewards website. If you have a Citi Rewards card, log in so you can see all the rewards available to you right now.
How much are Citi Points worth?
The dollar value of your Citi Points depends on what rewards you redeem. 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 Citi Rewards Points, here are some examples of the value offered by different rewards publicly listed on the Citi Rewards website in September 2021.
| Points needed | Reward | Reward value in dollars | Value per 1,000 points | Good for: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16,700 | $100 donation to Australian Red Cross, Fred Hollows Foundation or Starlight Children's Foundation | $100 | $5.98 | Supporting a charitable cause |
| 41,700 | $200 Woolworths Grocery digital gift card | $200 | $4.79 | Saving money on your shopping by redeeming points instead |
| 104,200 | $500 Flight Centre gift voucher | $500 | $4.79 | Using points to help pay for future 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 its 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 many frequent flyer points you can get with Citi Rewards Points
Point transfers are a valuable way to use points when you want travel rewards through your credit card. To give you an idea of the potential value, 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 sourced in September 2021.
| Frequent flyer program | Conversion rate | Frequent flyer points from 150,000 Citi Rewards Points | Example frequent flyer reward |
|---|---|---|---|
| Velocity Frequent Flyer |
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| Emirates Skywards | 3 Citi Rewards Points = 1 Skywards Mile | 50,000 Skywards Miles | One-way economy flight from Sydney to Dubai (41,900 Skywards Miles) |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 3 Citi Rewards Points = 1 KrisFlyer Mile | 50,000 KrisFlyer Miles | Return economy flight from Darwin to Singapore (40,000 KrisFlyer Miles) |
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.
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 on 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 into your Citi account or the Citi app. If you'd prefer to redeem your points over the phone, call Citi on 13 24 84.
How to decide if the Citi Rewards program is worth it for you
- The cost of the card. The card's annual fee and interest rate for purchases are key costs to weigh against the value of rewards and other perks.
- 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.
Frequently asked questions about Citi Rewards
Compare Citi Rewards credit cards
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