Citi ThankYou Premier: No forex fee, otherwise uninspiring

The Citi ThankYou Premier card is a somewhat enhanced rewards credit card. You earn a base of 1 point for each $1 you spend, and can use the points for airfare, gift cards, and other options — usually with a value of $0.01 for every point — so 100 points = $1. There is also a bonus for gas, grocery, and drugstore purchases — you earn 1.2 points for every $1, which modestly boosts your earning power.

No forex fees, points for flights, but high annual fee

The ThankYou Premier does offer the benefit of no foreign exchange transaction fees, helpful when you travel. It also lets you earn points for every mile you fly when you purchase airline tickets with the card. So, if you buy a ticket from Los Angeles to New York (5000 miles roundtrip) you’ll earn 5000 bonus ThankYou points.

But the card carries a $125 annual fee beginning in your second year and unless you are a very heavy flyer who plans to purchase all your tickets with the card it’s hard to match the earning power of other cards. The  Capital One Venture Rewards which carries no forex fees while the Chase Sapphire Preferred which offers airline mile transfer options. Citi also offers a no annual fee Citi ThankYou Preferred, but we find the earning power to be unremarkable as well and it doesn’t earn bonus points for flights.

Citi ThankYou^SM Premier Card – enough for $300 in Gift Cards

• Earn 30,000 bonus ThankYou(r) Points after $2,000 in purchases within 3 months of account opening – enough for $300 in gift cards
• 1 ThankYou point for every dollar you spend on purchases
• Earn points for the miles you fly when you purchase a ticket with your Citi ThankYou Premier Card.
• No foreign transaction fees on purchases
• Annual complimentary domestic companion ticket within the continental USA, when booked through our travel benefits provider, Spirit Incentives
• No points cap and no expiration of points

Calculate the value for you

Use the basic calculator below to find out how much the card can be worth to you. Input the number of miles you think you’ll fly each year to see if it’s a big enough benefit for you. Use our full featured Mile Credit Card Calculator to compare it against a full suite of reward credit cards.