The Shop Your Way Mastercard issued by Citi has, historically, been a card that’s flown under the radar for many people, while also being a card that’s been near and dear to the hearts of a not-insignificant number of other people.
The reason for the latter collective is that Shop Your Way cardholders have frequently been targeted for what have – at times – been exceptional spending offers. However, it sadly looks like the gravy train might be coming to an end because cardholders are receiving notification of an upcoming forced product change.
Per the letter being sent out, Shop Your Way Mastercards will be converted on November 3, 2025 to some kind of generic Mastercard issued by Citi, with the ability to earn Shop Your Way points ending as of that date as a result. New credit cards will be issued by the end of the year, although card numbers, APRs and cardholders’ account histories won’t be affected.
The letter states that cardholders will still be eligible for exclusive offers on their cards, so there is still some kind of glimmer of hope that generous targeted offers will continue to be sent out once the forced conversion has occurred. It’ll likely be 2-3 months before we get a better sense as to how generous the new offers will be though, so I imagine there’ll be quite a few fingers and toes being crossed that Citi continues to send out very rewarding spending challenges post November 3.
Not all Shop Your Way cardholders have received a letter about this change yet. If that’s the position you’re in, I wouldn’t count on that meaning that you’re avoiding the change, but perhaps there’ll be some kind of lucky cardholders who won’t get product changed for some reason.
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I knew the party would end some day. I found it hard to believe they could make any money on this card with all the offers they provided. I have made literally thousands in rewards and statement credits over the past 5 to 6 years using this card. SYW has been the best credit card I have had my a large margin. RIP SYW.
My current bonuses:
Essentially 10% off groceries each month ($100 w $1000, $200 w $2000 spend)
Online spend $750, get $75
Spend $1500, get $50
Spend $800, get $100 (non grocery or travel)
5% on travel+entertainment
0% APR til August 2026
Plus the missions and spending rewards from SYWR.
Did a web search as soon as saw the message on my online account. Very sad.
My 89 year old MIL has this card – best ever returns.
There are already ongoing spend offers that extend through the end of the year. I wonder how those will be affected.
I just got a new offer today. not the biggest but still 4% that will stack.
Got the snail mail yesterday.
When I talked to CS a while back they mentioned changes coming. What sucks is it looks like they’ll be doing away with bonus categories, or at least the old ones. So no more 5x on gas.
How did the other forced change earlier this year from the other citi sears cards shake out?
I believe 1x TYP on all purchases, could be wrong. Hard to find info on it.
Didn’t have this one but always looked intriguing with the quietly lucrative returns from it – would have been a focus for sure if I wasn’t still newer to the game and churning through SUBs. I’m surprised DoC isn’t losing their minds over this one. 2025 going down as the year of the nerf for sure.
The reason people aren’t completely losing their minds is that there is a reasonable chance the statement credit offers will keep coming. The SYW points earnings were never the interesting aspect of the card. So, we have our fingers crossed. Tepid expectations tbh but still hopeful.
That makes more sense – the announced nerf is only to current category earnings. It’s a wait and see game as to if the offers keep coming in or die with it.
Just got the card on the last day of eligibility. Of all the angles in this game, not having this years ago is my biggest regret!
Best Rewards Credit Card ever, by far. Often got double digit percentage return with all of the offers, mostly in statement credits instead of points or miles. It will be a very sad day when this goes away, but I always wondered how they made money with such lucrative, long running promotions. What a run it was, made all of the expensive high annual fee miles and points cards seem like a cruel hoax. As Lazaro said in another comment, GOAT by a huge margin.
this is going to be great I’m sure
RIP GOAT