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Citi is sending out emails to holders of its ThankYou points-earning credit cards (Citi Prestige, Citi ThankYou etc…) to let them know that they will soon be able to use ThankYou points to make purchases at Amazon.com.
Per Citi:
We know that our customers are looking for easy and meaningful ways to use their points. To make your shopping experience at Amazon even better, you will soon be able to use your ThankYou Points toward eligible Amazon.com
purchases simply by adding your card to your Amazon account and using it to make a purchase. This will automatically activate the ability to use your points moving forward if your Citi credit card and ThankYou accounts are in good standing. Alternatively, you can also link your accounts at amazon.com/citi
Be aware that, even if you don’t actively link your Citi credit card to Amazon, Citi may enroll you anyway.
As of March 6, 2016, your account may automatically be enrolled in Shop with Points at Amazon.com
There is a way to de-link your Citi ThankYou credit card from the Shop With Points program without having to remove your credit card from your Amazon account:
In order to de-link your ThankYou Member Account from your Amazon.com account, you will need to go to the My Account section on thankyou.com. From there you will be presented with the Shop with Points linkage that is active against your ThankYou Account, including the date the accounts were linked. Follow the online instructions for de-linking your ThankYou Member Account from your Amazon.com account.
Which Cards Are Eligible?
All Citi credit cards that earn ThankYou points are eligible including those held by authorised users.
- All Citi ThankYou Cards
- Citi Prestige Card
- Citi Chairman American Express Card
- Citi Forward Card
- CitiBusiness ThankYou Card
- Citi PremierPass/Expedia Card
- AT&T Cards
Also eligible are Sunoco cardmembers with available ThankYou Points.
What Value Do I Get?
Not much apparently!
I registered my Citi Prestige credit card for Amazon’s Shop With Points program just to see how much I could get for my points and, after putting some items into my basket I went to check out:
$19.60 worth of shopping for 2,450 points equates to 0.8 cents per point….which is exactly half of what I value my Citi ThankYou points at.
You can use Citi ThankYou points to book flights on American Airlines and, in doing so, will get 1.6c/points out of your balance.
If you’re not an American Airlines flyer you can still redeem your ThankYou points for flights on other airlines at a rate of 1.3c/point.
Here’s an example for a flight between LAX and JFK (an example which doesn’t put American Airline’s pricing in a good light!):
0.8 cents/point is simply not good value.
Having said that, it’s slightly better than what you’d get if you were to use your Amex Membership Rewards balance when you Shop With Points – they only qualify for 0.7 cents/point value…and that’s truly terrible value.
Bottom Line
I can’t see this being useful for any serious miles & points collector as you can easily get better value out of your points elsewhere – if you’re struggling then drop me an email and I’ll try to help out.
The only time I can see this being of any use is for someone who has a small number of ThankYou points and has little scope to earn any more. This is a neat way of cashing out a small, insignificant, points balance that would otherwise sit in an account not doing anyone much good.
Lastly, be careful when checking out of Amazon if you have an Amex Membership Rewards card or Citi ThankYou card linked to your account. I’ve heard reports that Amazon can set your default payment method to “shop with points” without you knowing so it’s possible you could accidentally pay for a purchases with points if you’re not careful.
As I showed with the Citi Card above, you don’t need to remove your card from your account entirely to prevent this from happening, you just have to go through the process of de-linking it from Shop With Points.
