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Citi Premier® Card Review
Best all-rounder cards that earns points on categories like gas, restaurants, and supermarkets.
By Mandy H.|Updated on 7/28/2023
Back
The Citi Premier® Card is one of the best well-rounded cards and includes categories many other cards skip (like gas stations). There is a $95 annual fee, but for many people, the rewards earned easily outweigh the cost.
Point Multipliers
The Citi Premier® Card earns ThankYou (TY) points and covers a lot of categories, including:
- 3x at Restaurants
- 3x at Supermarkets
- 3x at Gas Stations
- 3x on Air Travel and Hotels
- 1x on all other purchases
Strategy
The Citi Premier® Card is one of the best point earning cards available and is a common pick for “one card” setups.
With a $95 annual fee, you need to make sure that your spending helps offset this. For most people, you would need to spend = $95 / 0.03 = $3,167 per year on 3x categories to breakeven. If you spend more, you’re coming out ahead.
If you consider a 2% opportunity cost (i.e., Citi Double Cash), you would need to spend = $95 / (0.03 - 0.02) = $9,500 per year on 3x categories to breakeven.
Redeeming Points
The Citi Premier® Card earns ThankYou (TY) points which can be redeemed for cash back at 1 cent per point (1 CPP), meaning that 3x = 3%.
If you care about aspirational travel, the Citi Premier® Card allows you to transfer to airline and hotel partners to get more value potentially. This is generally how "normal" people can fly first or business class.
Having the Citi Premier® Card also means that the points you earn on other Citi cards, like the Citi Double Cash Card® or the Citi Custom Cash® Card, can also be transferred to partners.
The Citi Premier® Card is core to the Citi Trifecta, which is one of the best points earning setups available.
Alternatives
If you like the idea of the Citi Premier® Card but are more focused on food, the American Express Gold might be a better fit with higher multipliers for those categories.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (CSP) might be a good alternative with similar categories but more focused on travel and dining.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is ideal for those optimizing for cash back or travel. Redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards for cash back at 1.25x on select categories through Pay Yourself Back or travel via Chase Travel℠. The card is also a basic travel card with good spend multipliers and benefits like no foreign transaction fees and primary collision damage waiver (terms apply).
Main Takeaway
The Citi Premier® Card is great for people who want simplicity while still earning a great rate on everyday categories. ThankYou points offer a lot of flexibility whether you’re focused on cash back or aspirational travel.