How to earn Thank You Points: Credit Cards

Thank You Points are another form of reward that can be used for travel related benefits. Citi cards, such as the Citi ThankYou^SM Preferred Card – 25,000 points – $250 in gift cards ,Citi ThankYou℠ Premier Card – enough for $300 in Gift Cards and the Citi Forward® Card, all allow you to earn Thank You bonus points.

UPDATE: There is a 50,000 point Premier card offer online as well.

Banking

Qualifying Citi bank checking accounts — Citigold, Citi Private Bank Account, The Citibank Account, Basic Checking, and Student Checking — earn points as well. Also, when you link bill payment, direct deposit, auto save, savings, money market, mortgage, home equity line / loan, personal installment loan, and/or Custom Credit lines, you can earn more points.

Here is a chart detailing points earning potential for Citi Banking services.

Shopping Online

Like many other programs, if you use your Citi Card to shop on ThankYou.com you have the opportunity to earn additional bonus points. For example, right now Restaurant.com offers 12 points per dollar spent, Target.com is offering three points per dollar spent, and drugstore.com is offering five points per dollar spent.

Using Thank You Points for Travel

You can redeem points for travel related certificates at Avis, Carnival and Royal Caribbean Cruises, Hyatt, Marriott, and Ritz-Carlton. The points in this case are worth one cent per point. For example, you redeem 2500 Thank You points for a $25 certificate, 5000 for a $50 certificate, and 10,000 for a $100 certificate.

Maximizing Thank You Points

The Citi Thank You Premier Card seems to have the best travel value in the Thank You points department. So you spend on the Premier Card, maximizing in places where they are offering point bonuses, and also use the banking option to maximize points — up to 2100 points per month, according to their chart above.

This Card Today:

- 30,000 point bonus after a $2000 spend in 3 months ( $399 towards airfare)
- 1.2 points per dollar spent at supermarkets, gas stations, drug stores, commuter transportation and parking merchants.
- Earn points for miles flown on tickets purchased with the card
- An annual complimentary domestic companion ticket (within the continental USA) and a 15% discount when booking air travel through their travel benefits provider.
-33% more value or 1.33 cents per point when you redeem points for airfare through the travel center.

If you hussel a little you may get the company to drop/waive the annual fee and when cancelation time comes around they will probably offer you some retention bonuses. Use the card to make any airline ticket purchases you have to, stay tuned into the program for chances to maximize points and do what shopping you can online at thankyou.com to get the extra points. Using these strategies you can easily see some Frugal Travel in your future.

The Rookie, Shannon