Citi Rewards Card
Earn 4 miles per dollar on online spend and selected retail
Citi Rewards Card Overview:
Local Earn Rate | 0.4 miles per dollar (1 TY point) |
Foreign Currency Earn Rate | 0.4 miles per dollar (1 TY point) |
Bonus Earn Rate | 4 miles per dollar (10 TY points) |
Foreign Currency Fees | 3.25% |
Min. Miles Transfer | 25,000 TY points (10,000 miles) |
Miles earned in blocks of | S$1 |
Transfer Fee | S$27.25 (including 9% GST) |
Points Pooling | No |
Lounge Access | No |
Airport Limo | No |
Points Expiry | 5 Years |
For a quick and easy overview of Citi Rewards, check out my TikTok video where I break down its key features and benefits!
Eligibility & Fees:
- Minimum Age: 21 years old
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Minimum Annual Income: S$30,000 (locals/PRs); S$42,000 (foreigners)
- Don’t worry if you income is below this threshold, there is a more secured version of this card where you can do a S$10,000 fixed deposit
- Annual Fee: S$194.40 (inclusive of gst), waived for the first year
- Since minimum income requirement by MAS is S$30,000 per annum, this card is an entry-level card that should be pretty easy to get an annual fee waiver (I have a annual spending of around $5-8K on this card and have not had a problem getting a waiver on subsequent years). You can check out my TikTok video on getting annual fee waiver.
Key Benefits:
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Earn 4 miles per dollar (10 TY Points per S$1) for online transactions (including ride-hailing, groceries, restaurant delivery, and more). This excludes travel-related transactions.
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Earn 4 miles per dollar (10 TY Points per S$1) for retail offline purchases
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Earn 0.4 miles per dollar (1 TY Point per S$1) for any other purchases
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No minimum monthly spending required
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Spending cap of S$1,000 on eligible transactions per statement month applies to 4 miles per dollar earn rate
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Points are earned for every S$1 spent
How to Best Optimise it:
Best Used For Online Non-Travel Related Transactions and Retail Stores (Bags, Shoes, and Clothes)
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To earn the most out of this card, you should use this at any online transactions at shops like Lazada, Shopee, Qoo10, and even on ride-hailing and food delivery apps. You’ll also get 4 miles per dollar when you shop online or offline retail stores such as in department stores, fashion, and apparel stores;
Merchant Category Code (MCC) | Description |
5311 | Department Stores |
5611 | Men’s and Boy’s Clothing and Accessories Stores |
5621 | Women’s Ready to Wear Stores |
5631 | Women’s Accessory and Specialty Stores |
5641 | Children’s and Infant’s Wear Stores |
5651 | Family Clothing Stores |
5655 | Sports and Riding Apparel Stores |
5661 | Shoe Stores |
5691 | Men’s and Women’s Clothing Stores |
5699 | Miscellaneous Apparel and Accessory Shops |
5948 | Luggage and Leather Goods Stores |
Best Used With Amaze Card for Overseas Offline Spending
- For when you have to spend overseas, this combo is great to lessen the FCY fee while still earning 4 miles per dollar. See “Any Hacks/Promos” below.
Work Around the Spending Cap of S$1,000 per statement month
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Unlike most cards that have spending caps per calendar month, the Citi Rewards works by statement month. Therefore, I have explained in the below section how to use the spending cap to your advantage under “Any Hacks/Promos” below.
Any Hacks/Promos:
Instarem Amaze Card
- Pay in Singapore Dollars abroad (as transactions in FCY is converted by Amaze, you do not incur the credit card usual FCY fees of 3.25%, but you do suffer a 2% FX spread loss)
- Connect up to 5 Mastercard cards
How to use it:
- Load the Amaze card into Google Pay and Apple Pay and use contactless payment via Amaze.
Instarem Amaze
Use Code: Ac6aso
Instarem Amaze card is a payment processor in the form of a physical card that helps you consolidate multiple cards
Use the Spending Cap to Your Advantage (when using Citi Rewards Card by itself)
- If the statement date on your statement, is 11th of the month (see picture below), it means your spending cap of S$1,000 will run from 12th of the month to 11th of the following month. This means your 4 miles per dollar spending cap resets on the 12th of each month. It matters because, let’s say you have a large spending of S$2,000 in a month, you could spend S$1,000 on the 9th and another S$1,000 on the 12th to earn 4 miles per dollar for the full S$2,000 spending.
Past Buffs/Nerfs:
Nerfs:
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Amaze now charges a 1% fee on all SGD offline spending—right from the first dollar
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Before, this fee was waived for the first S$1,000 in SGD spending each month, which made the Amaze + Citi Rewards combo a great hack to earn 4 miles per dollar on local offline purchases—by converting them into online spend. Now, that fee-free buffer is gone. You’ll be charged a 1% fee (minimum S$0.50) on SGD offline transactions made with Amaze from the very first dollar spent.
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This mainly affects those using Amaze + Citi Rewards for everyday offline spending like dining, clinics, etc. This hack can still work, but only on transactions above S$50.
- But good news is, online SGD transactions aren’t affected. You can still earn 4 miles per dollar by using your Citi Rewards card directly.
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What to Avoid:
Exclusion List:
MCC | Description |
6529 | Quasi Cash – Remote Stored Value Load – Financial Institute |
6530 | Quasi Cash – Remote Stored Value Load – Merchant |
6534 | Quasi Cash – Money Transfer – Member Financial Institution |
6540 | Non-Financial Institutions – Stored Value Card Purchase/Load |
7349 | Cleaning and Maintenance, Janitorial Services |
7511 | Quasi Cash – Truck Stop Transactions |
7523 | Parking Lots, Parking Meters and Garages |
7800 | Government-Owned Lotteries (US Region only) |
7995 | Betting, including Lottery Tickets, Casino Gaming Chips, OffTrack Betting, and Wagers at Race Tracks |
4829 | Wire Transfer Money Orders (WTMOs) |
4900 | Utilities – Electric, Gas, Water, and Sanitary |
5199 | Nondurable Goods(Not Elsewhere Classified) |
5960 | Direct Marketing – Insurance Services |
6012 | Financial Institutions – Merchandise, Services, and Debt Repayment |
6050 | Quasi Cash – Financial institutions, Merchandise, Services |
6051 | Non-Financial Institutions – Foreign Currency, Money Orders (Not Wire Transfer), Stored Value Card/Load, Travelers Cheques, and Debt Repayment |
6211 | Securities – Brokers and Dealers |
6300 | Insurance Sales, Underwriting and Premiums |
6513 | Real Estate Agents and Managers – Rentals |
8211 | Elementary and Secondary Schools |
8220 | Colleges, Junior Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools |
8241 | Correspondence Schools |
8244 | Business and Secretarial Schools |
8249 | Vocational and Trade Schools |
8299 | Schools and Educational Services(Not Elsewhere Classified) |
8398 | Charitable and Social Service Organizations |
8062 | Hospitals |
8651 | Political Organizations |
8661 | Religious Organizations |
9211 | Court Costs Including Alimony and Child Support |
9222 | Fines |
9223 | Bail and Bond Payments |
9311 | Tax Payments |
9399 | Government Services(Not Elsewhere Classified) |
9402 | Postal Services – Government Only |
9405 | U.S. Federal Government Agencies or Departments |
9754 | Quasi Cash – Gambling – Horse Racing, Dog Racing, State Lotteries |
5993 | Cigar Stores and Stands |
Other than the standard exclusions, Travel-related and in-app mobile payments do not earn 4 miles per dollar for Citi Rewards Cardholders.
Travel-related transactions:
MCC | Description | Examples |
3000 to 3350, 4511 | Airlines, Air Carriers, Airlines, Air Carriers (Not Elsewhere Classified) | Singapore Airlines, Air France, Delta Air Lines, Emirates |
3351 to 3500, 7512 | Car Rental Agencies, Car Rental Agencies (Not Elsewhere Classified) | Hertz, Avis, Budget, Enterprise |
3501 to 3999, 7011 | Lodging – Hotels, Motels, Resorts, Lodging – Hotels, Motels, Resorts (Not Elsewhere Classified) | Marriott, Hilton, Holiday Inn, Four Seasons |
4112, 4789 | Passenger Railways | Amtrak, Eurostar, JR East, SMRT |
4411 | Cruise Lines | Royal Caribbean,Carnival, Norwegian, Princess |
4722 | Travel Agencies and Tour Operators | Expedia, Booking.com, Klook, Chan Brothers |
5962 | Direct Marketing– Travel-Related Arrangement Services | Airbnb, Agoda, Trip.com, Hotels.com |
In-app mobile wallet payments:
- If you order food from Mcdonalds app using Google/Apple Pay in the app and pay with the Citi Rewards Card, you will not get 4 miles per dollar.
- If you order food from Mcdonalds using the credit card option in the app and pay with the Citi Rewards Card, you will get 4 miles per dollar. The best way to avoid this is to choose to pay directly with your credit card for most online payments, instead of using Apple or Google Pay.
- Using Citi Rewards directly with in-app mobile payments (Google/Apple Pay) will not earn you 4 miles per dollar, however, when you link the Amaze card with Google/Apple Pay, Amaze converts it into online transaction, allowing you to earn the 4 miles per dollar!
*Take note that SMRT falls under Passenger Railways. Therefore using Citi Rewards Card for SimplyGo does not earn you any rewards.
*Card Specific Exclusions can be found here
Transfer Partners:
Here is the list of their current transfer partners:
Transfer Partners | Conversion Ratio |
Krisflyer | 25,000:10,000 |
Flying Blue | 25,000:10,000 |
British Airways | 25,000:10,000 |
Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus | 25,000:10,000 |
Etihad | 25,000:10,000 |
Asia Miles | 25,000:10,000 |
EVA Air | 25,000:10,000 |
Qantas | 25,000:10,000 |
Qatar Airways | 25,000:10,000 |
Turkish Airlines | 25,000:10,000 |
IHG Rewards | 25,000:10,000 |
*All of these has transfer ratio of 5:2 so that’s 25,000:10,000 with a S$27.25 transfer fee inclusive of 9% GST
Is it Worth it:
Advantages:
- Most versatile card that you can use for everything except travel
Disadvantages:
- You cannot earn 4 miles per dollar on travel-related or mobile wallet in-app transactions (Apple or Google Pay)
- Points cannot be pooled together across Citi cards – therefore you need to pay a separate transfer fee for each card
Frequently Asked Questions:
- How to redeem the Citi ThankYou points to a frequent flyer program: Check out my Tiktok video for the step-by-step guide.
- When is the ThankYou points credited: This usually credits when the transaction is posted, usually takes 24 hrs, or in some, it could take 2-3 days.
- How long are my ThankYou points valid for: All Thank You points earned on the Citi Rewards Card expire every five years (+ three months grace) from card approval/renewal, not from when points are earned.
Eg. If your card was approved on 1 June 2020, your points earned from 1 June 2020 to 31st May 2025 will expire on 31 August 2025. From 1st June 2025 starts the new cycle of your Thank You points.
Final Thoughts:
- Citi Rewards alone is still a strong card to use for online transactions and offline retail shopping (except travel related) giving you 4 miles per dollar. Citi Rewards x Amaze is not the best combo as of the moment for converting offline SGD spends to online because of the updated 1% fee for all SGD transactions. However, you can still pair it with amaze but only for overseas spends to reduce the FCY fee while still earning the 4 miles per dollar.
- For Travel-related spending, I use the DBS Women’s World Mastercard now.
💳 Credit cards change their T&Cs every so often and it is difficult to stay updated. That’s why I created a Telegram Broadcast where you can receive timely bite-sized updates to get the most out of your spending.
💡 We believe in always paying our credit card bills on time and in full. It is only by doing that, can we fully maximise our credit card benefits.
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