physixfan      2017-10-31     2018-06-21 34 Comments

Citi Forward Card Review

2017.10 Update: According to this reddit thread, Citi Forward will be automatically converted to Citi ThankYou Preferred, and before that date, Citi Forward can not be converted to any card. I called and was told the same info by representative. So, this will reset the 1/24 clock. We will be a few months further way from Citi Prestige or Citi ThankYou Premier because of this Citi Forward conversion to Citi ThankYou Preferred…

Application Link

• This card no longer accepts new applications.

Benefits

1. Earn 2x ThankYou Points (TYP) per $1 spent on dining, bookstore and entertainment, 1 TYP per $1 spent on other purchases. (Before 2016.6.4, we can earn 5x on dining, bookstore and entertainment, but now all Citi Forward cards become weakened.)
2. We estimate that ThankYou Points (TYP) are worth about 1.3 cents/point, see below for a brief introduction.
3. Amazon purchases qualify for the 2x TYP on bookstore (previously 5x!). Note: only items marked as “Sold by Amazon” will qualify for 5% cash back on bookstore.
4. For international student version has no foreign transaction fee! If you are not sure whether your card has this benefit, you can ask the customer service representatives.
5. No annual fee!

Disadvantages

1. No sign-up bonus.

Introduction to TYP

• You can earn TYP with Citi Premier, Citi Rewards+, Citi Custom Cash, Citi Double Cash, etc.
• You can add all these cards into the same thankyou.com account, and points that are about to expire will be redeemed first in the order in which they expire automatically.
• In most cases, TYP never expire. But closing account, product change, or receiving points from other people may cause TYP on that account to expire.
• If you have Citi Prestige or Citi Premier, TYP can be transferred to some airline miles. The best way to use TYP is to 1:1 transfer them to Asia Miles (Oneworld) or Avianca (AV) miles (Star Alliance). Other good options are: Singapore Airlines (SQ) (Star Alliance), Flying Blue (SkyTeam), Virgin Atlantic (VS) (Non-alliance), etc. If you use TYP in this way, the value is about 1.6 cents/point.
• If you have Citi Prestige, you can redeem your TYP at a fixed rate 1.25 cents/point towards air tickets on thankyou.com. This is a common way to use TYP. Points+cash is available when redeeming for air tickets, so no need to worry if you do not have enough TYP.
• If you have Citi Prestige or Citi Premier or Citi Custom Cash or Citi Double Cash, you can redeem your TYP at a fixed rate 1 cents/point towards cash.
• If you have Citi Rewards+, you can get 10% back when redeeming TYP, up to 100k TYP per year. This feature further boosts the value of TYP.
• In summary, we estimate that TYP are worth about 1.6 cents/point.
• For more information about TYP, see Maximize the Credit Card Points Values (overview), and Introduction to TYP: How to Earn & Introduction to TYP: How to Use (very detailed).

Summary

This is a great legacy card. If you are lucky to have it before it stops new applications, it’s easy to use it correctly: use it on restaurants and Amazon! By its 5x TYP earning ability and the 1:1.6 redeeming ability from Citi Prestige, it’s so easy to earn a lot of rewards!

Note that Citi issued a credit card that has the same name and same design in late 2013, but only has everything 1x TYP benefit. If you are not sure whether your card can earn 5x TYP on restaurants etc., you can ask the customer service representatives.

Historical Offers Chart

This card is discontinued in 2013.12.

Application Link

• This card no longer accepts new applications.

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