Since March Madness is finally upon us I figured it’s a great time to continue with another edition of Credit Card Madness. Today’s match-up features two very competitive credit cards. Both earn valuable rewards points, both come with a $95 annual fee, and both offer lucrative bonus spending categories. Clearly I’m talking about the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Citi ThankYou Premier credit cards.
For years card ‘experts’ have named the Chase Sapphire Preferred card as “The Best” travel rewards credit card on the market. The card offers some incredible benefits, but I find it strange how overlooked the Citi ThankYou premier card is. Today we’ll put the two cards head to head and see which one advances to the next round of Credit Card Madness!
Chase Sapphire Preferred
Do a quick google search for the “best travel rewards credit card” and it won’t take long to find the Chase Sapphire Preferred. The card has been around for ages and was one of the first ‘affordable’ travel rewards credit cards on the market. I remember when Chase launched the metal version of this card people (nerds) went nuts! No doubt years ago this was definitely the rewards card to have, but as credit card issuers improve benefits and the market becomes more competitive, I’m not sure this card carries its weight anymore. Gosh that was punny…
Key Benefits
- 50,000 Ultimate Rewards Points after spending $4,000 in the first 90 days following account opening.
- 2X Ultimate Rewards points on all travel and dining purchases.
- 1X Ultimate Rewards points on all other purchases.
- 25% reduction in travel redemption value. Ultimate Reward Points are worth $0.125 when booking through the Ultimate Rewards portal.
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- $89 Annual Fee (waived for the first year)
Benefits Overview
As you can see one of the best benefits from this card is the current sign-up bonus. 50,000 Ultimate Rewards points are worth a minimum of $625 when used towards travel booked through the Ultimate Rewards travel portal. 2X Ultimate Rewards points on travel is a very nice benefit as well. Especially because of how broadly Chase defines the ‘travel’ category. Of Chase considers airfare and hotel purchases as travel, but Chase also offers 2X points on purchases made for passenger trains, public transportation, tolls, and parking to name a few.
Similar to the broad ‘travel’ category, Chase also specifically chooses to say ‘dining’ over restaurants. ‘Dining’ of course includes eat-in restaurants, but also includes fast food and in most cases bars. Between the two bonus categories, card-holders have plenty of opportunities to earn bonus points on many purchases.
Ultimate Rewards
Similar to how most credit card sites name the Sapphire Preferred the ‘best’ credit card, many also name the Ultimate Rewards program as the program with the most valuable points. Ultimate Rewards points are worth $0.0125/point when booking through the Ultimate Rewards portal, but are worth much more when transferred to partner loyalty programs. For example, for 110,000 Ultimate Rewards points (transferred to United) you can fly from the US to Europe in Lufthansa’s $12,000+ first class cabin! That comes out to just under $0.10/point.
Ultimate Rewards points transfer to British Airways, Flying Blue, Korean Air, Singapore Airlines, Southwest Airlines, United, and Virgin Atlantic directly. Additionally, UR points transfer to IHG, Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, and World of Hyatt hotel programs. Upon reviewing the list of transfer partners any points aficionados will notice you can effectively use Ultimate Rewards points toward any airline in any of the major airline alliances. As you can see Ultimate Rewards points are extremely valuable if used properly. Please please, do not use Ultimate Rewards points to purchase merchandise or gift cards!
Citi ThankYou Premier
According to Citi, the ThankYou Premier credit card is one of the card issuers “most exciting” credit cards. See, even Citi is excited about this card! The Citi ThankYou premier is a direct competitor to the Chase Sapphire Preferred by having a $95 annual fee and being marketed toward travel. Even so, the benefits offered from the Citi ThankYou premier seem to blow away the competition.
Key Benefits
- $95 Annual Fee (waived for the first year)
- 30,000 ThankYou points after spending $3,000 in the first 90 days following account opening.
- 3X ThankYou points on ‘Travel’ which includes Gas Purchases
- 2X ThankYou points on Dining AND Entertainment
- 1X ThankYou points on all other purchases.
- ThankYou Points are worth $0.0125/Point when booking through the ThankYou Travel Center.
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
Benefits Overview
Right off the bat it is clear that the current sign-up bonus is fairly low. In the past the initial offer on this card was as high as 50,000 after spending $3,000. I have seen this bonus increase to 40,000 points in recent months. If you are after the sign-up bonus alone, be patient as I’m sure a better offer will come around. If a higher sign-up bonus offer turns up make sure to jump on it because this card is fantastic.
As you can see with the Citi ThankYou Premier card you’ll earn 3X ThankYou points on ‘travel’ which includes gas station purchases. Similar to the Sapphire Preferred, ‘travel’ is an extremely broad category which includes airfare, hotels, parking, taxis, public transportation, and gas station purchases among many others. It’s worth noting that the ‘travel’ category is a little more comprehensive than what is currently offered by Chase. Citi is also offering 2X ThankYou points on dining and entertainment. Entertainment includes concert tickets, movie tickets, gold, etc. If you are trying to pick a card with the most potential to earn bonus points on everyday spending the Citi ThankYou Premier comes out on top.
ThankYou Rewards
Sure, earning extra points on bonus category spending is great, but if those points are worthless then there really isn’t a… point. As I mentioned earlier, Ultimate Rewards points are often rated the most valuable points currency from other credit card websites. Anyone considering the Citi ThankYou Premier card will be happy to hear that Citi’s ThankYou points are equally valuable.
At face value ThankYou Points are worth $0.0125/Point when booking through ThankYou Travel. The exact same value as Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Similar to Ultimate Rewards points, ThankYou points transfer directly to several airline and hotel loyalty programs.
Direct transfer partners include Asia Miles, Etihad Guest, Eva Air, Flying Blue, Garuda Indonesia, Hilton Honors, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, and Virgin Atlantic. The list notably lacks Marriott and Hyatt for hotel transfers. Otherwise, similar to Chase, ThankYou points transfer into at least one airline from every major airline alliance in the world. Although many argue ThankYou points are not as valuable as Chase Ultimate Rewards points due to the ‘limited’ transfer partners, I bet anyone could get at least $0.10/point worth of value from the current list of partners.
And The Winner Is!
Hands down I have to give this round to the Citi ThankYou Premier. Although the sign-up bonus is worth a full $250 less than what is currently offered from the Chase Sapphire Preferred, I think most people will get significantly more long-term value from the Citi ThankYou Premier card. I don’t know of any other card out there today with such broad bonus point categories. I also don’t know of any card that offers 3X points on Gas AND Travel. Typically card issuers keep those two categories mutually exclusive from each other.
Full disclosure, I am particularly bias in this matchup. I love the Citi ThankYou Premier card and have every intention of converting my Citi Prestige card to the ThankYou Premier in July. That being said, after looking at both cards I think it’s hard not to come to the same conclusion.
