Citi crafted the Citi Prestige card with one thing in mind; travel. Nearly all of the cards benefits are centered around traveling. Most notably, the Citi Prestige card offers 5X points on airfare and dining, a $250 annual travel credit, the 4th hotel night free benefit, and the obligatory Priority Pass select membership. All of those benefits are fantastic in the world we lived in just a few months ago. However, things changed rather quickly and not most of us are stuck at home.
As a result, myself and other Citi Prestige card holders aren’t getting a ton of value from the card right now. Instead of spending money on airfare and dining I’m buying groceries and paper towels (when available). I’m also trying to focus on building up liquidity during this time of uncertainty. All of this combined makes paying the Citi Prestige’s current $495 annual fee a much harder decision. After all, I only like paying an annual fee if I get at least that same value back from a credit card. Otherwise, there is no reason to pay the fee.
Citi is obviously aware of this truth. The card issuers knows that unless they expand benefits to their annual fee cards, card holders might opt to close their accounts. With that in mind, Citi recently expanded the Citi Prestige card’s $250 annual fee credit. Specifically, Citi added restaurants and grocery stores to the list of purchases that qualify for the $250 credit.
Citi Expands Citi Prestige $250 Travel Credit
From May 1 through December 31, 2020, Citi has expanded the Citi Prestige $250 annual travel credit to include restaurants and grocery stores. This change makes maximizing the annual credit much easier for anyone who hasn’t already been able to do so.
Unfortunately, Citi is not adding a standalone $250 credit for grocery store and restaurant purchases. Instead, Citi is just making it easier for card holders to use the $250 travel credit if they haven’t already.
Since the Citi Prestige card offers 5X points on dining, most card holders should easily maximize this benefit over the next 7 months. So, if you have any available credit left, this is one way to get value from that credit.
I wouldn’t recommend using the Citi Prestige card at grocery stores, even with this expanded benefit since the Citi Prestige card only offers 1X points on grocery store purchases. There are currently many other cards offering up to 6X points on groceries that present a much better value. So, if you still need to use some of your available credit, I’d recommend doing so by paying for takeout rather than groceries.
Final Thoughts
Obviously Citi expanding this benefit to include groceries and restaurants is better than nothing. That being said, this expanded benefit is basically just that; Nothing. I’d imagine most Citi Prestige card holders have already maximized the $250 travel credit thanks to the broad category definition. This means that very few Citi Prestige card holders are getting any value from this change.
Personally, I think if Citi really wanted to retain card holders they should consider adding 5X points for grocery store purchases. I personally carry the Citi Prestige card for the 5X points on airfare and the 4th night free benefit. However, at the moment I can’t use either of those benefits. Instead, I’m paying $245 (effective annual fee) for a card that I can’t really use. Given the current environment, I might actually consider downgrading this card when my annual fee comes due. In normal times I’d opt to carry this card in a heartbeat, but I just don’t see much value from carrying the card at the moment.
