Last night, the news broke about Bonvoy credit cards getting a bonus on groceries. This morning, Amex announced a major overhaul bonusing US Supermarkets on many cards and making statement credits available for dining, streaming, wireless phone service, and more. Next up to bat is Citi, which just announced that between May 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020, in addition to eligible Travel purchases, purchases made with a Prestige card at Supermarkets and Restaurants (including takeout) will also count toward the Prestige card’s $250 Travel Credit benefit in 2020. That’s great news.
Citi furthermore announced that those who open or have opened new Citi credit card accounts eligible for a welcome bonus between December 1, 2019 and May 31, 2020 will have an additional three months to meet the spending requirements. Again, this only applies to new cardmember welcome bonuses, but it gives you additional time to meet the spend.
I don’t yet see a link to a press release on this, but we received this info from Citi’s PR arm, so I imagine we will see official communication coming soon on this.
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[…] and behold in May, I read this article by FrequentMiler which stated that he had heard the following from Citi’s PR […]
Does the 250.00 credit include online gift cards purchased at restaurants or grocery stores?
Probably not at Kroger since Kroger doesn’t actually process the charge. It would probably work at a grocery store that processes the charges directly though.
Same with restaurant gift cards. If the purchase actually goes through something like Cashstar or Gift Card Mall, it probably won’t trigger. But if the charge comes directly from the restaurant, it probably will work.
Do you have any idea how fast this $250 credit? My annual fee is due on 6/6 and I want to use up this credit before calling Citi to downgrade or cancel my Prestige card.
likely after ur acct next stmt date; citi may give full refund 60 days after acct is close
@ dan I thought it was 30 days after annul fee post date to get full refund? I still want to keep my TYPs. What would you suggest, to cancel or to downgrade? I already have Citi Premier.
Nick or his team could give clarity on citi fee refund policy; if were u, would downgrade to the $0 fee rewards+ with a hope that the acct # stays the same; citi may refund the fee in full after 30 days with a downgrade
Thank you would try and report back
[…] temporary perks that are accessible from home. Chase added grocery bonuses to a bunch of cards. Citi made it easier to earn the Prestige card’s $250 travel credit. And Amex surprised us with a slew of great, but temporary, […]
Does the additional 3 months also apply to aa biz?
I have spend $250 in the beginning of the year to qualify for travel credit. However, My tickets was cancel and they credited the money it back on CITI Prestige card. Do you think that I still have the credit to spend on the Supermarkets and Restaurants?
lena, doubt it as ur acct already had the stmt credit
lena
Call them I did $250 on an SW GC Simple.
#stayincave LOL
[…] See this post on Frequent Miler for more details. […]
Is the 250 credit not automatic? How do I redeem against it? Do you have to use all of it at once?
Thanks for the update!
wife still has the prestige but no email comm or conf yet; hopefully will get the details next week
When the PR team sent this today, I asked if there was an official press release or info on the Citi site. They said not yet but expected it to be up on the Citi site soon.
Yes, it’s automatic. It has historically been limited (at one time, it was limited to airfare but now it has worked broadly on travel for about the past year). Now they are expanding to include restaurants. You do not need to use it all at once.
Thanks nick!
[…] by other card issuers as well. This change hasn’t yet been communicated with cardholders, but Frequentmiler received this info from the Citi PR […]
[…] change hasn’t yet been communicated with cardholders, but Frequentmiler received this info from the Citi PR […]
Hey Nick,
While that’s pretty good. I just got an email about the Hilton Aspire card and some enhanced features including:
– 12 Hilton Honors points earned at US supermarkets
– Flexible Free Night Rewards issued through Dec 31, 2020 can be used on any night of the week and new free weekend night rewards issued from May 1 thru Dec 2020 will now be valid for 24 MONTHS!
– $250 Resort credit can now be applied to US restaurants including take out
THIS IS HUGE!
Great benefits for keeping the Hilton Aspire card!
We covered all of that except the ability to use the free night any night of the week in the earlier Amex post I linked to in the first paragraph. Tons of Amex cards got huge improvements today. Here’s a link again in case you missed it.
https://frequentmiler.com/amex-stay-at-home-perks/
Ohh. I dont’ know how I missed it. Thanks!!!
“Citi furthermore announced that those who open or have opened new accounts eligible for a welcome bonus between December 1, 2019 and May 31, 2020 will have an additional three months to meet the spending requirements.”
“New accounts” = for Prestige, or for all Citi cards?
(P2 is thinking about getting the Premier card but just signed up for a different card so would welcome extra time for minimum spend…)
All Citi cards. Added a couple words to try to clarify, thanks for asking.
Nick did you ever confirm this? Citi chat reps are telling me there was no such extension, and I cannot find any press release directly from Citi citing it.
[…] statement credits towards things people are spending on right now. Citi has also announced that the Prestige travel credit can be used at grocery stores and restaurants for the rest of 2020. The competition to become your grocery card is certainly heating […]
Drop the AF to $395 or drop it, the lounges are Great right now no one there.
Perks are useless now maybe pro rate the fees till u can fly.
#stayincave LOL