Citi PremierMiles Card review: Is it really the best card for accumulating miles?
PHOTO: MoneySmart
Why? Citi PremierMiles Card has one of the best sign-up bonuses in town.
Earning miles on an air miles credit card takes a painfully long time, and one way to work around that is to get a credit card with a big sign-up bonus so you can get a sizeable bump in your miles.
Is the Citi PremierMiles still worth getting? Let’s find out.
Citi PremierMiles Card essential information
| Citi PremierMiles Card | |
| Annual fee | $192.60 |
| Supplementary annual fee | Complimentary |
| Interest-free period | 25 days |
| Annual interest rate | 26.90 per cent |
| Late payment fee | $100 |
| Minimum monthly repayment | one per cent or $50, whichever is higher |
| Foreign currency transaction fee | 3.25 per cent |
| Cash advance transaction fee | six per cent or $15, whichever is higher |
| Overlimit fee | $40 |
| Minimum income | $30,000 (Singaporean/PR) / $42,000 (non-Singaporean) |
| Card association | Mastercard |
| Wireless payment | MasterCard PayPass, Samsung Pay, Citi Pay |
How the Citi PremierMiles Card works
The Citi PremierMiles Card is a top pick for air miles because of its huge welcome bonus of 45,000 miles, no questions asked.
Welcome promotions aside, the Citi PremierMiles Card standard miles accrual rate is $1 = 1.2 Citi Miles (local spend) and $1 = 2 Citi Miles (foreign currency spend).
Also, Citi Miles never expire, so you can slowly earn your air tickets for when travel opens internationally. For now, you can just fly to Germany.
Who should use the Citi PremierMiles Card?
The Citi PremierMiles Card is fantastic for making travel bookings and big purchases.
Both the overseas and local earn rates lose to its biggest competitor the UOB PRVI Miles Card ($1 = 2.4 miles for foreign currency spend, and $1 = 1.4 miles for local spend, no minimum).
That said, you may get quite a bit of utility out of the Citi PremierMiles Card if you make most (if not all) your bookings via travel aggregators Agoda and Kaligo, thanks to the current travel promotions and bonus earn rates.
The Citi PremierMiles Card also comes with Priority Pass membership for the Principal cardmember only (on application basis, 2x airport lounge visits per year) and complimentary travel insurance coverage of up to $1,000,000.
Citi PremierMiles Card promotions
Kaligo
- Earn ten Citi Miles per $1 spent on Kaligo.com. Valid till Dec 31, 2021.
Agoda
- Earn up to seven Citi Miles per $1 spent on hotel bookings worldwide. Valid for bookings made now till Jan 31, 2022 and for stays till April 30, 2022.
Alternatives to the Citi PremierMiles Card
I mentioned earlier that the Citi PremierMiles has poorer earn rates than its main competitor, the UOB PRVI Miles Card.
Let’s compare it against similar credit cards on the market:
UOB PRVI Miles Card
Much better earn rates than the Citi PremierMiles, at $1 = 1.4 miles (local) and 2.4 miles (overseas), hence a better credit card for day-to-day use. It also has a competitive travel booking promotion with $1 = up to six miles (Agoda, Expedia, UOB Travel).
American Express Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Ascend Credit Card
– Poorer overall earn rates than the Citi PremierMiles Card, but has bonus accrual for Grab rides ($1 = 3.2 miles). Its welcome offers is also less attractive: You only get 5,000 KrisFlyer miles the first time you charge to your card — for first-time American Express Singapore Airlines Credit Card applicants only.
Maybank Horizon Visa Signature Card
With high bonus earn rates ($1 = 3.2 miles) on local dining, petrol and taxis, it’s hard to beat this one for getting miles on your daily expenses.
There is a $300 minimum spend, which is reasonably low. Rewards are capped at 30,000 TREATS points per month.
All in all, the Citi PremierMiles Visa Card has a decent, no-strings-attached welcome bonus, but that’s about it.
Its main spend category for bonus miles is travel booking sites, but even for those, you’re better off with the UOB PRIVI Miles card’s more attractive earn rates.
If you want to earn miles while swiping for day-to-day stuff like meals and transport instead, then the Maybank Horizon Visa Signature is a much, much better choice.
