Citi Premium Cards Improve Benefits
In a bid to compensate for new regulations brought in by the CARD Act which restricted their ability to generate credit card income, credit card companies have been increasing fees and introducing new ones for consumers with poor credit ratings. However, at the other end of the credit card market, more affluent consumers are seeing premium credit cards improve the benefits offered to customers. Citi Bank is one of the major credit card issuers that has increased the benefits offered to their premium credit cardholders.
The Thank You Premier Card which is issued by Citi now offers a yearly companion ticket, a 15% discount on domestic air tickets (including coach, economy, and first-class tickets), and additional insurance policies for trip cancellation and lost baggage. Citi has also abolished foreign transaction fees. This is a move that is fast becoming an industry-wide trend among credit card issuers with Capital One already offering the feature and both Chase and American Express set to follow in the coming months. The card carries a $125 annual fee for primary cardholders and an additional $50 annual fee for each additional cardholder.
The card is only available to those with good credit ratings and the APR rate offered is based on credit scoring, with the lowest APR being offered to those with the best credit rating. Citi’s ThankYou Prestige Card goes even further to offer special improvement benefits to cardholders. The companion ticket offered can be used for international travel rather than the domestic travel offered by the Premier version of the card. Prestige cardholders are also now able to take advantage of Gold-level membership in the Hilton HHonors frequent stay program as well as access to a personal concierge service and membership to the Priority Pass airport lounge program.
The Prestige card is aimed at the most affluent consumers with an excellent credit rating as is reflected by the $500 annual fee for primary cardholders and $175 annual fee for each additional cardholder. These benefits are in addition to those offered by the Premier version of the card, such as the 15 percent air travel discount. The Citi bank and their rival credit card issuers are pulling out the stops to attract premier clients who will spend more and bring in much-needed profit to compensate for lost revenue as a result of the tighter regulations enforced.
How to Contact Citi ThankYou Customer Service
Customer Service Phone
1-800-842-6596
MON-FRI, 8:00am – 1:00am ET
SAT-SUN, 9:00am – 9pm ET
TDD/TTY (Hearing Impaired)
1-877-693-0218
Outside the U.S. (Call Collect)
1-859-283-8016
ThankYou Service Center
PO Box 6278
Sioux Falls, SD 57117
The Citi ThankYou Cards Comparison Recap
- Citi ThankYou Preferred – The Citi ThankYou Card (aka ThankYou Preferred) offers you a simple incentive program that makes it easy to redeem your points. You could also save some money with low introductory rates and the fact that this card has no annual fee.
- Citi Forward – The Citi Forward card is focused on the youth/ The card also comes as a Forward for College Students version. These cards are easy to manage and earn steady ThankYou reward points on the things you usually do every day. The best current alternative is the Deserve EDU card (Review).
- Citi Diamond Preferred – Are you looking for a card that showers you with reward points, a card that allows easy balance transfers, and one that gives you easy access to your account online or via the phone? Make the smart choice with the Citi Diamond Preferred credit card.
