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Targeted: Earn 50k Citi Thank You points with Citi Priority Checking

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I’ve been sent this targeted offer a couple of times in the past month and thought many of you may be eligible. I currently have a Citi Thank You preferred card, as a result of downgrading a Citi Thank You Premier 3 years ago, and lo and behold…it paid off. Not only did it keep my Citi clock running, and points alive, but it may earn me even more points. I received a similar offer roughly 4 years ago for a Citi Gold account to earn 50k AA miles, took advantage of it, but this time around…Thank You points are the bonus.

Here’s the deal

  • Earn 50k Citi Thank You points when
    • Open a new Citi Priority Checking account by 9/30/19
    • Spend $750 using the Citibank Debit Card associated with the account within 60 days of account opening
    • Make 1 qualifying bill payment in 2 consecutive months within a 60 day window.

One major thing to note is that the account comes with a $30 per month service fee if you don’t maintain a $50k account balance. You can read about the features of Citi Priority Banking here

Earn 50k Citi Thank You points with Citi Priority Checking
Earn 50k Citi Thank You points with Citi Priority Checking

How I would go about achieving this.

I’d more than likely be looking to take advantage of the points because I like the bank I currently work with, but free points are fantastic.

  • Deposit $1k into the account on September 15th
    • This gives 2 weeks to get the ball rolling, receive my debit card, etc
  • Two bill payments in consecutive months
    • On September 30th I would pay half a utility bill due in Mid October
    • On October 1st I would pay the other half of the same utility bill
  • Early October I’d spend $750 on the debit card
    • I have a couple larger expenses I’m planning to make so I’d just spend $750 on this card

The last time I did this it took 90 days to receive the bonus points. Worst case scenario, this means I’d end up paying 4 months at $30, or $120, to receive 50k Thank You points.

This goes along with the terms and conditions:

  • ThankYou Points will be credited by Citibank to your existing ThankYou Member account within ninety (90) calendar days from the date you complete Required Activities. At the time the ThankYou® Points are to be credited to your existing ThankYou® Member account, your Citi/ThankYou® credit card account and the new Eligible Checking Account must both be open and in good standing. Fiduciary, estate, business and/or trust accounts are not eligible for this offer; however, trust accounts that are a Living Trust and Custodial accounts are eligible.Citibank may change or discontinue this offer at any time before this date without notice. Enrollment and participation in this promotion does not guarantee eligibility. All accounts subject to approval. APYs are variable and subject to change without notice after the account is opened.

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Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

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Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card


4.8
4.8/5
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott.

Welcome Offer

60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months

Annual Fee

$95

Points Earned

Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards

  • 3x on dining
    •  including eligible delivery services for takeout
  • 3x on select streaming services
  • 3x on online grocery purchases
    • (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
  • 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel Portal
  • 2x on all other travel
  • $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via Chase Travel
    • The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
  • 10% Anniversary Bonus
    • Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
  • Chase Sapphire Preferred® continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel Portal and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including primary rental car insurance, purchase protections, etc.
  • Points are transferrable to 13 Ultimate Rewards partners
  • Redeem in the Chase Travel center for 1.25 cents per point
  • No foreign transaction fees
  • Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
    • Primary rental car coverage is my favorite

We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.

Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.

Main Cast: 

Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.

Supporting Cast:

Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on. 

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.

If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners

Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.

The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

12 Comments

  • LKS September 5, 2019

    My understanding is that if your offer was for American miles those are no longer sent a 1099 by Citi ever since they settled a class action suit related to that practice a few years back – you can google it for more detail. If your offer was for Thank You points, those are sent a 1099 only if you receive $600 or more in value per calendar year. They can’t assign a value to the points until you use them. You can time your usage to avoid triggering a 1099. For example, use the points to book a flight with a value of no more than $599.99 one year, and use the rest of the points the next calendar year.

    Also, a good reminder as Miles noted above, is that these miles cannot be transferred to airline partners even if you combine them with your credit card earned bonus points, and unlike the credit card bonus points which will not expire as long as you keep the card open, bank bonus TY points do have an expiration date (I think its approx 3 yrs).

  • Raj September 2, 2019

    Are miles transferable? Miles earned with regular banking are not.

    • Miles September 3, 2019

      Unless things have changed these wouldn’t be transferable even if you have a premium Citi thank you card – also the bonus will be taxable

  • FlyerDad September 2, 2019

    @Paul: Citi used to allow you to fund a bank account with a credit card up to $100,000! Unfortunately, they stopped allowing credit cards for any amount as of February, 2016. It was great while it lasted.
    https://www.doctorofcredit.com/citibank-credit-card-funding-appears-to-be-dead/

  • Paul Yes Ahn September 1, 2019

    Are you able to fund the initial deposit with a credit card? Presumably, without being coded as a cash advance.

    • Miles September 1, 2019

      Hey Paul – I don’t see why not, it would just be down to the card issuer you’re looking to utilize. If you’re thinking of taking advantage of that strategy I’d advise calling the issuer and lowering your cash advance to 0 just as a precaution, plus doing a bit of research as to whether the issuer codes cash advances as points, etc DoctorofCredit is an excellent resource

  • Paul September 1, 2019

    Are you able to fund the initial deposit with a credit card? Presumably, without being coded as a cash advance.

  • John August 31, 2019

    The last time I did this it took 900 days to receive the bonus points. Worst case scenario, this means I’d end up paying 4 months at $30, or $120, to receive 50k Thank You points.

    Sorry, did you mean 90 days and not 900 days? I’m interested but wanted to make sure I’m not on the hook for fees greater than the value of points.

    • Miles August 31, 2019

      my bad 90 days…typo!

  • FlyerDad August 31, 2019

    I just got the same offer, but for 50,000 AA miles. Also, I think (hope!) you meant you received them in 90 days, rather than 900. I’m going to do iti as well. Thanks for the guidance on how to best take advantage of the promotion.

    • Miles August 31, 2019

      ah yes sorry about that…90 days

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