Update 6/4/20: Although the 3x earnings weren’t due to go live until August 23, 2020, Citi apparently activated 3x earnings at grocery stores and restaurants on June 2. h/t Frequent Miler
Citi announced today that they’ll be changing the earning categories on the Citi Premier card from August 23, 2020. I’ve covered it in more detail over on Frequent Miler, so you can check that out here.
The most notable change from a gift card perspective is that grocery stores will be added as a 3x category. Even better, it looks like earnings are uncapped. The Amex Gold card earns 4x Membership Rewards at grocery stores, but it’s capped at $25,000 of spend per year. While I’d rather earn 4x Membership Rewards than 3x ThankYou points, the seemingly uncapped nature of Citi’s offering makes it a great addition.
One thing to note is that I don’t think it’s been confirmed that grocery store earnings are uncapped yet. Rather, there hasn’t been any notification that there will be a cap. If it turns out that there is a cap, I’ll update this post. Still, even if there did turn out to be a cap, it would be a nice bonus if you’d hold a Citi Premier card anyway.
Dining spend will also be increased from 2x to 3x. While that’s of less interest from a gift card perspective, it might still be useful if you ever take advantage of restaurant promo card deals in-restaurant (well, when it’s safe to do that again anyway). Those deals sometimes tie in perfectly with Amex Offers and Chase Offers, so cards that don’t earn more at restaurants can still end up being a better option than cards like the Citi Premier that earn more on dining spend.
[…] card, but other Citi cards are likely being targeted too. With Citi Premier cards now earning 3x at grocery stores, that effectively means you’d be earning 5.5x on $1,000 of […]