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Citi appears to have been making a concerted effort of late to get some of its cardholders to engage with their cards and to use them for everyday spending a little more.
At the beginning of the month, Citi emailed ThankYou Preferred (not open to new applicants) and Citi Rewards+ cardholders an offer in which they can earn between 5 and 10 ThankYou points per dollar spent in select categories (OFFER EXPIRED), and now more emails are going out offering a similar selection of cardholders the chance to get a statement credit after adding their cards to Apple Pay.
The offer I’ve received is on my Citi ThankYou Preferred credit card and reads as follows (OFFER EXPIRED):
[A]dd your Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card to Apple Pay® and earn a one‑time $15 statement credit after you make three purchases between 7/22/2019 and 9/30/2019. The combined amount of all three purchases must total $50 or more.
If you hold a Citi ThankYou card and haven’t received such an email you should search your inboxes/spam folders for an email with the following words in the subject line “earn $15 back after you make three eligible purchases, totaling $50 or more, with Apple Pay”
You don’t have to be a math major to work out that the best you can do here is a 30% return on your spending but even if your return isn’t that high this should still be an easy $15 saving for everyone….as long as you pay close attention to the terms and conditions.
Unlike in the previous promotion, there doesn’t appear to be any requirement for the spending to be made in select categories, but there may be one condition that cardholders should be very careful with.
These are the terms that come appended to the email that Citi has been sending out…
You will receive a one-time $15 statement credit after you make three eligible purchases using Apple Pay with your Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card between 7/22/2019 and 9/30/2019. The combined amount of all three purchases must total $50 or more. An eligible purchase is a purchase made when Apple Pay is the payment method. All eligible purchases must be made and posted to your account during the promotional period. The statement credit will be applied automatically to your account within two billing cycles after the third eligible purchase is posted. To qualify for this offer, your account must be open, current and in good standing when the statement credit is applied. If you convert to another Citi product, you may no longer be eligible for this offer. Offer is non-transferable and only available for the account noted in this email. We reserve the right to determine which purchases qualify for this offer.
…and, unless I’m reading too much into the wording, it would appear as if the $50 threshold has to be met by using no more than 3 transactions made during the promotion period.
Essentially, it looks like you can make as many transactions as you want to in the promotional period but at least three, when put together, have to add up to $50 or more.
I’m going to look at three different scenarios to (hopefully) explain what I mean.
Scenario 1
- Transaction 1 – $15
- Transaction 2 – $12
- Transaction 3 – $23
Total spending = $50
This should see the statement credit triggered because at least 3 transactions have been made and, together, they add up to at least $50.
Scenario 2
- Transaction 1 – $10
- Transaction 2 – $5
- Transaction 3 – $5
- Transaction 4 – $5
- Transaction 5 – $20
- Transaction 6 – $20
Total spending = $65
This should see the statement credit triggered because at least 3 transactions have been made and, by only using 3 transactions (1, 5 & 6) the required threshold of $50 has been met.
Scenario 3
- Transaction 1 – $10
- Transaction 2 – $6
- Transaction 3 – $5
- Transaction 4 – $5
- Transaction 5 – $8
- Transaction 6 – $20
- Transaction 7 – $7
Total spending = $61
In this scenario, I don’t think the spending credit will be triggered.
The requirement to make a minimum of 3 transactions has been met but, despite the fact that the total spending made is in excess of $50, no 3 transactions can be put together to breach the $50 threshold.
For those who use their targeted cards frequently, this rule (assuming I’m interpreting it correctly), won’t be an issue as those people will probably easily make three transactions large enough to trigger the statement credit.
If, however, you’re someone who’s taking a card out of the sock drawer and is looking to spend the bare minimum to trigger the statement credit, it’s an important rule to note.
Did anyone get a different offer in the email and does anyone else interpret the rules as I do?
