It is nice to see Citibank back in the card game with its new Premier Thank You Points card. Let’s compare it to the Chase Sapphire℠ Preferred Card to see if we can find any clear winners here.
- Sign up Bonus for each card is 50,000 points.
- Travel Bonus: each gives a 25% bonus when using for travel products.
- Anniversary Bonuses: Chase card is higher at 7%
- Annual Fee: Citicard $125 fee, Chase First Year Waived
- Phone Service is definitely better with the Chase Card. Humans. No phone tree.
- Flight points with the Citicard increases the value to two cents per dollar when your spending matches the flight points earned for miles you have actually flown.
- Point Value: In the scheme of things, each point is still worth one cent. You get a .2 bonus in certain categories with the Citi Premier Thank You Point Card
And the Winner is? Well, that depends on you and your spending habits.If you fly a lot and have actual spending to match the majority of the miles you fly, the Citi card is a 2 to 1 winner.
If not, the Chase card waives the fee first year and has better phone service when you need it.
- Big Spenders and High Flyers: The Citi Premier Thank You Points Card
- The Rest of Us: Chase Sapphire℠ Preferred Card
But: This is not an either or option. If your credit scores are too low or you have too many inquiries on your credit report, pass until your scores improve or some of your inquiries fall off your report.
And: If all is well with your score and number of inquiries, you may want to consider both of these on the same day. I would gladly have another 100K in points in my accounts.
