Citi Thank You points expire 60 days after you close your credit card that earned them. My Citi Prestige is up for renewal and I need to decide whether to keep it and how to make sure my Thank You points don't expire. There really aren't many ways to prevent your points from expiring – the best option being downgrading to a no-fee Thank You card.
Keep, Downgrade or Cancel Your Card?
My Citi Prestige card has lost some of its shine and it is not worth the annual fee for me anymore. On July 23, 2017, the card is losing Admiral's Club access, 1.6 cent per point redemption, and golf rounds (none of which I've used yet) among other things. I have access to lounges galore via other cards like JPMorgan Reserve, Chase Sapphire Reserve and Amex Platinum Mercedes Benz cards. In the unlikely event that I can use the 4th night free benefit, I can always have my better half get the card.
In my situation, keeping the card is no longer worth it, so is it better to downgrade or cancel?
- Downgrade: My ThankYou Points stay put and no need to worry about them expiring
- Cancel: I will have to redeem my Thank You Points within 60 days (or lose them)
I called Citi and asked if I could convert my card to a no annual fee Thank You Preferred which will let me keep keep points without worrying about expiration…even though I already had a Preferred card. They did it without a problem! I considered transferring my points to Singapore miles or Etihad but am not sure when I can use them and don't want to worry about those expiring.
When Do Citi Thank You Points Expire?
Citi Thank You points expire within 60 days if you close your credit card that earned them (Citi Prestige, Premier, Thank You Preferred, Chairman Amex, Citi Forward, CitiBusines ThankYou, Citi PremierPass/Expedia, AT&T Cards, etc).
It is easy to find out exactly when your Thank You Points Expire:
- Login to your account here ThankYou.com or online.citi.com
- If you have any expiring miles you should see a warning pop up. If not, click (1) POINTS SUMMARY and you should see a similar notification to the screen shot below. Click (2) EXPAND/COLLAPSE to see what is expiring within 60 days then click (3) VIEW ALL EXPIRING POINTS.
- Now you can see expiration date for all your points grouped by the source, or “sponsor account”. The credit card accounts have “No Expiration” because they are still open (though not necessarily active).
Redeem Citi Thank You Points
Citi Thank You Points can be transferred to 13 airlines and 1 hotel (Jet Blue is a new one). I am reluctant to transfer points to these programs without having a plan to use them as I would then be worried about expiration dates for those miles. At the same time, I would not recommend redeeming miles to one of the travel partners unless you have some plan to use them otherwise they may become stranded and expire.
I usually don't redeem points for Gift Cards but in this case, I have redeemed some points set to expire (at least 5,100) for a TJ Maxx gift card because I know I can use it quickly and not worry about losing/forgetting about it.
| Type | Partner |
|---|---|
| Airline | Singapore Air |
| Airline | FlyingBlue |
| Airline | Virgin Atlantic |
| Airline | Asia Miles |
| Airline | Etihad |
| Airline | Virgin America |
| Airline | Jetblue |
| Airline | EVA Air |
| Airline | Garuda Indonesia |
| Airline | Malaysia |
| Airline | Qantas |
| Airline | Qatar |
| Airline | Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus |
| Hotel | Hilton |
What's the Best Use of Thank You Points?
My favorite uses of Thank You points so far are transferring either to Singapore Airlines or Etihad.
A sample of fantastic uses:
- Singapore Air: (one-way)
- US to Europe 20k/57.5k/67.5 (Coach/Biz/Suites & First) – JFK to Frankfurt has Suites
- San Francisco to Hong Kong 30k/60k/82.5k (Coach/Biz/Suites & First)
- Get 15% discount by redeeming your award online
- One Way Award Chart
- Read this MileCards article for more
- Etihad
- New York to Brussels 22k/37k (Coach/Business) – yes, 37k vs 115k on United!
- These are round trip fares as they do not allow one ways
- Etihad/Brussels Award Chart (round trip)
- Read how MileValue successfully booked this
Questions/Answers
Which Points Get Redeemed First?
Expiring points get redeemed first. In the example, above, the 5,100 expiring miles would get used first
Can I transfer Thank You points from one Thank You card to another account to keep them alive?
No. If you cancel the card, you've got 60 days to use them.
I already have another card that can hold Thank You Points, so are my points from the card I want to cancel safe since they are in the same account?
No. I also had a no-fee Thank You Preferred card but as you can see in the screen shot, the points are always kept separate by source. If you close a card, the points associated with that card expires in 60 days.
what if you downgrade the prestige to a no fee card, are the points ok then?
Yep – according to Citi. Thats what i did and mine still show “no expiration”.
Hi, helpful information, but maybe you can help me clarify something. I have a TY Premier that’s coming up for renewal next month. I also have a no AF Preferred. I had planned to cancel my TY Premier after I transferred my TY points to my Preferred account and thought they would be safe there and not expire. However, based on what I read above, they will only be safe there for 60 days after transfer. Is that correct? Is the only longer-term option I have is to transfer those points to one of the airline partners? Thank you.
you can’t transfer them to another Citi credit card. You are in the same boat I was and you can do the same thing I did, downgrade to a no fee card or transfer to an airline.
What if I have a scenario where I have a prestige but have some expiring points from other source (citi TY card). Can I transfer them to the airline partner (using citi prestige option to transfer to an airline) ?
Note, I am touching any of the TY points earned from prestige.
Thanks !
Did you mean you are ‘not’ touching any of the TY points earned from Prestige? If you are transferring out expiring miles then you no longer have to worry about the expiration date. If you are thinking of the 1.6 transfer rate for AA thats to use your points to pay for a flight, not to transfer miles.
When we cancelled our citi card, the points were ripped out of the account immediately. I argued that it said ‘could become’ does not mean ‘would’, but to no avail.
Where did you find reference to the 60 days notice?
I asked customer service before making any changes so that I could weigh my options. The information I received agreed with what other bloggers wrote online (example). Did you ask before you pulled the trigger to cancel?