Note: This card was previously called Citi Signature Rewards up until 20 January 2020. Only the name has been changed, features and benefits have remained the same for the time being.
Citi Premier credit card – the basics
When you sign up for the Citi Premier credit card, you’re going to receive the bonus in Citi Rewards points (but you could swap to Qantas Rewards later as a cardholder). We explain this a little later in the guide.
Using the card for overseas spend incurs a 3.4% fee, with earn rate similar to the highest bonus category at 1 Qantas point or 2 Citi Rewards points per $1 uncapped.
Card Details
| Card | Citi Premier Credit Card |
| Loyalty program | Citi Rewards Program |
| Citi Rewards earn rate | 2 Rewards Points per $1 for selected purchases made and booked directly from a range of major restaurants and restaurant chains, major hotel chains and flights directly booked with major airlines and international spend 1.5 Rewards points per $1 for selected purchases made at major petrol outlets, major supermarkets and major national retailers 1 Reward Point per $1 spent everywhere else on Eligible Transactions |
| Points cap | Citi Rewards points are uncapped |
| Minimum credit limit | $15,000 |
| Earns points at ATO | No |
| Travel benefits | Priority Pass lounge access and two included lounge visits |
| First Year Annual Fee | $199 |
| Regular Annual fee | $395 p.a. |
| Overseas transaction fee | 3.40% of the converted amount |
| Minimum income requirement | $75,000 p.a. |
Effective Frequent Flyer Program Point Earn Rates
| Frequent Flyer Program | Major restaurants, hotels and major airlines | Major petrol stations, supermarkets and national retailers | All other eligible spend | International Spend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qantas Points* | 1 point / $ | 0.75 point / $ | 0.5 point / $ | 1 point / $ |
| Velocity Points | 1 point / $ | 0.75 point / $ | 0.5 point / $ | 1 point / $ |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Miles | 0.8 mile / $ | 0.6 point / $ | 0.4 point / $ | 0.8 point / $ |
| Emirates Skyward | 0.8 mile / $ | 0.6 point / $ | 0.4 point / $ | 0.8 point / $ |
| * Qantas Points are only earned through the Citi Premier Qantas Visa card | ||||
Digging into the benefits of the Citi Premier Credit Card
You’ll earn 2 Citi Rewards points per $1 on eligible spend at major restaurants, restaurant chains, hotel chains, flights directly booked with major airlines and international spend. 1.5 Citi Rewards points per $1 at major petrol outlets, supermarkets and national retailers and 1 point everywhere else uncapped.
There’s a minimum income requirement of $75,000.
The Citi Premier Credit Card can also be linked to Qantas Frequent Flyer, with points earned from spend earned into one program or the other. If you decide to use the card to earn Citi Rewards points, have a read of our full guide to the Citi Rewards program here.
Citi Rewards transfer partners for the Premier Credit Card are low in number but high in quality:
- Virgin Australia Velocity
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Emirates Skywards
For Citi Premier cardholders, points transfer out to Virgin Australia‘s Velocity at 2 Citi Rewards point to 1 Velocity point and to Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer program at 2.5 Citi Rewards points to 1 KrisFlyer miles.
The minimum number of Citi Rewards Points required to make a transfer varies depending on the partner program, and are as follows:
- Velocity Frequent Flyer – Minimum 2,000 points in 1 point increments
- Singapore KrisFlyer – Minimum 20,000 points in 1 point increments
- Emirates Skywards – Minimum 15,000 points in 1 point increments
Any balance less than the minimum is ineligible to be transferred to frequent flyer programs until the minimum threshold is reached.
You can swap the card between Citi Rewards points and Qantas Points earn once per year, so do this only when you need to.
Priority Pass benefit
The card also comes with Priority Pass lounge membership, valued at US$99 per year, and two included lounge visits valued at US$32 each.
The way this works in practice is that you’ll receive a promotional pack from Citi with a Priority Pass access code soon after receiving your card in the mail. The code then lets you sign up for the relevant membership from Priority Pass.
Insurance
Finally, you’ll also get a range of insurances, including extended warranty, purchase cover and international travel insurance. As per usual, you’ll need to read the PDS and assess if these insurances meet your individual needs and offer you substantial value.
This guide references some of the benefits of insurance policies provided with this card. You should read the PDS and obtain independent professional advice before obtaining this product.
Citi Payall
You can now earn uncapped Citi reward Points on larger everyday expenses such as rent, taxes, education fees, property management fees, childcare and miscellaneous bills with Citi Payall. Offers are subject to eligibility and are only available if your account is in good standing.
Citi Apple Pay & Samsung Pay support
Citi cards supports Apple Pay & Samsung Pay, meaning you can use this card on your smartphone for easier payments. Unfortunately, Google Pay is currently not supported.
Summing up: the Citi Premier credit card
The Citi Premier credit card remains to be considered for high volumes of points earn outside of Qantas Frequent Flyer on a Visa or MasterCard, however, the annual fee is higher than many others on the market, so you’ll need to be using the card a lot to make the fee worthwhile.
The flexibility of points transfer to Velocity or KrisFlyer is really useful, as well as the possibility of swapping the card (infrequently) between Qantas or Citi Rewards points earn.
The bonus points categories plus the points earn on spend should be considered alongside the card’s benefits to ensure it is going to work well for you.
Editorial Note: Opinions expressed on this guide are the author’s alone and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by Citi.
Would someone be able to shed some light onto when I will be able to transfer Citibank rewards to velocity points again. The cost to benefit ratio of this card is at an all time low with most of its benefits at the moment unusable. Citibank wont even acknowledge a forward reduced annual fee.
This decision will differ from bank to bank. I suspect that many banks are waiting for the sale of Virgin Australia to be finalised after the second creditor’s meeting on 26 August, but I have no specific communication from Citibank on this.
annual fee is reduced to $195 p.a but you need to pay again after 12 months double that amount in order to keep earning points?
Is there anything that would stop you cancelling after 12 months?
if you did cancel early would that mean you would have only earned half of the 155,000 velocity points available (ie approx 78,000)
Priority pass membership entitling me to access to any of their lounges or is just two visits?
Thanks guys
No, the linked Diners Club Card does not include the Diners Club lounge network.
Thanks for letting us know. This has now been updated.
I’m wondering if there’s an additional card holder available. My wife and i and three sons are going around the world on the qantas 140,000 points deal. Would be great to both get into lounges on a diners club card each???
Also think the kids will have to find other things to do, most lounges only let kids under 3 in for free 🙁
Does the attached diners club offer lounge pass access?
I can confirm that if you hold a Citi Signature card, the transfer rate is still 2 Citibank Rewards points for 1 Velocity point. This is reflected in your online Rewards account when you go to transfer your points.
The transfer rate of 2.5 Citibank Rewards points for 1 Velocity point applies to the Citi Platinum card.
The T&Cs do not specifically exclude current Citibank credit card holders from being eligible for the bonus points, however, it is always best to check with Citibank prior to applying to be certain. Their terms regarding the bonus points are as follows:
To be eligible to receive up to 300,000 bonus Points you must apply for a Citi Rewards Signature Credit Card by 31 March 2019. You will receive 15,000 bonus Points when you spend a minimum of $1,000 during each monthly statement cycle. A maximum of 300,000 bonus Points can be earned over the first 20 monthly statement cycles. If you do not meet the minimum spend for one monthly statement cycle, you forfeit the bonus Points for that monthly statement cycle, however you are still eligible for subsequent months 15,000 bonus Points if you meet the minimum spend within each monthly statement cycle during the promotional period. Cash Advances, Balance Transfers, Refunds, Chargebacks and Special Promotions do not contribute to the spend threshold. The bonus Points will be credited within 6 – 8 weeks of meeting the spend criteria for any given month. All rewards are subject to the Terms and Conditions of the Citibank Rewards Program. Points do not expire while the card remains open and in good standing. Please note that if you have a balance transfer, you will be charged interest on any spend that you make. This offer is valid until 31 March 2019. Post this advertised date; Citi reserves the right to continue, withdraw or change the offer at any time without notice.
I have confirmed with Citibank that applying for a linked Diner’s Club card will not create an additional credit enquiry, however as at 11 September, I was advised that they have temporarily suspended issuing these cards due to their systems requiring upgrading. Citibank could not give a specific date when this will be up and running again.
Good article, but it looks like Citi may have devalued airlines transfer rates again; at Citi Rewards they show Velocity at 2.5:1 and Kris at 3:1 or am I missing something as at this transfer are the 120k bonus doesn’t really seem that great anymore.
Thanks.
The way the Citibank Rewards site is designed is that it shows the transfer rates that apply for the Citi Platinum card when you visit without logging in.
However, when you log into the Citi Rewards site as a Citi Signature card holder, the correct transfer rates apply. These are:
2.5 points = 1 Skywards mile
2.5 points – 1 KrisFlyer mile
2 points = 1 Velocity point
I hope that clears it up.
Thanks for a great article about citi rewards.
I just want to ask about the increased bonus of 120k. How much is it equal to Qantas points ? Also the same Q for citi infinite card ?
Cheers.
Hassan.
There has to be a catch… correct me if I’m wrong?
Is the minimum required income for this card $75k incl. super or plus super?
I think the cut in the FOREX earn rate will hurt more the cut in domestic spend.
Still, it’s hard to find a Visa card that has a better earn rate than 0.75/$1, especially when factoring in the card is free.
From the sounds of it bpay will also no longer earn points, so that’s something to be careful of. Best to set up direct debit or go to the service providers page and use their payment system.
I end up just take the fee waived.
Or maybe I just got cheated by their representatives?
TIA
AFAIK there’s no fee for additional cardholders on this account.
I am looking for a non Amex card (for when Amex isn’t accepted) that I can transfer points to Krisflyer account, from what I can tell the Citibank cards are the only ones you can do that with is this correct?
How long will it take to get the signup bonus?
I have the Virgin Money velocity flyer visa, which is issued by citibank, so would I be eligible for this introductory offer for the bonus points? As I noticed on the citibank website that it states that existing citibank credit card holders are not eligible to apply for this offer.
Also had an issue with the additional card holder having the wrong home address so wasn’t issued. Didn’t resolve that after a few calls. Just couldn’t be bothered to keep trying. Will try again if/when the rewards issue is resolved. The infamous Citibank customer service at work again…
I’d stay away from this card. I signed up online, and there was no option to credit the points to Qantas instead of Citibank rewards. I was a little suspect, so I rang them as my application was in process, and I was clearly told the 60k points would be credited to my qantas account (agreed to the extra fee and reiterated my qantas details). Two months later, over 8k spent on the card, repeat communication, and I receive an online message on the Citibank website saying I’m not eligible for the 60k qantas points, as they were credited to the Citibank rewards program. I’m still arguing with Citibank to get the points credited to my qantas FF, but it’s been a major hassle, and their representative has made no guarantee that they will credit the points to qantas.
Keith – This Citibank deal is not as advertised. As you said in another reply above, the deal clearly states that the points can be credited to Citibank rewards or qantas. I wouldn’t be recommending Citibank products if they’re not holding up their end of the deal.
You have the choice of earning 60,000 Citibank reward points or 60,000 Qantas Frequent Flyer points (if you enrol in the Citibank Qantas Rewards Program for an additional annual fee of $49 at the time of application)
Still reading your Citibank card guide 🙂 so thanks!
Just to let you know, I just received an email from Qantas, sign up to Commonwealth Bank Awards Card and get 40,000 QF points, and 50% off the annual fee for the first year.
First Citibank, then ANZ, then Bankwest and now CBA, seems like QF is selling their points like hot cakes!