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A better version of Citi MTVU!

The card pays in ThankYou points

100 points per billing period if you pay on time and stay under the credit limit
5 points per dollar on restaurants, books, movies, music
1 point for everything else
0.25% APR reduction when "using credit wisely"

5000 points for signing up for paperless statements w/in first 3 months
6000 points after $50 in purchases within first 3 months

The website is at http://www.citiforward.com

Message edited by: slc39 on 2009-03-04 10:14:32 CST

No annual fee.

0% APR on purchases and BT
3% BT fee

You can earn up to 75,000 ThankYou Points during any calendar year.

Thanks to DutchDutch for putting together this list:
5 points per $1 spent means: (per thankyou.com reward system):
$50 cash reward = 8000pts = 160pts per $1 of cash reward = Spend $32, get $1 cash reward = 3.125%
$10 gift card (many locations) = 1500pts = 150pts per $1 of gift card = Spend $30, get $1 cash reward = 3.333%
$100 citi gift card = 14,000pts = 140pts per $1 of gift card = Spend $28, get $1 cash reward = 3.571%
$250 statement credit = 35,000pts = 140pts per $1 of credit = Spend $28, get $1 of cash reward = 3.571%
$1000 mortgage credit = 125,200pts = $125.2pts per $1 of credit = Spend $25.04, get $1 credit = 3.994%
$100 gift card (many locations) = 10,000pts = 100pts per $1 of gift card = Spend $20, get $1 cash reward = 5.000%
$25 student loan credit = 2500pts = 100pts per $1 of credit = Spend $20, get $1 credit = 5.000%

$100 gift card locations = Cabelas, Bloomingdales, Dillards, LL Bean, JC Pennys, Sears, Macy's, and a few others that didn't seem very interesting

Good thread about best way to use Thank You pts

Get 1,200 free ThankYou points here, details here.

List of 5% merchants from the mtvU thread

The Fine Print:

1
Reduce your purchase APR by .25% when you 1) make a purchase, 2) stay under your credit line and 3) pay at least your minimum amount due on time 3 billing periods in a row. Your Card Account must be open and not in default at the time of the quarterly reduction or such quarterly reduction will not apply. The purchase APR on your account can be reduced a maximum of 8 times up to a total reduction of 2% throughout the time your account is open. The APR reduction does not apply to Balance Transfers or Cash Advances.

2
ThankYou® Network
Citi Forward Card Terms and Conditions
ThankYou Network is offered to certain cardmembers ("you") at the sole discretion of Citibank (South Dakota), N.A. ("we"), the issuer of your card account ("Card Account"). ThankYou Network or any portion thereof may be revised or terminated with 30 days prior written notice. Any revisions may affect your ability to use the ThankYou Points you have already accumulated. If ThankYou Network is terminated, you will only have 90 days from ThankYou Network termination date to redeem all your accumulated ThankYou Network points ("ThankYou Points"). ThankYou Network rewards and ThankYou Point levels required for specific rewards are subject to change without notice.

Unless you are participating in a limited-time offer, you will earn five ThankYou Points for every dollar you spend on purchases at (1) book stores, (2) record stores, (3) restaurants, including fast food restaurants, (4) motion picture theaters, and (5) video entertainment rental stores ("qualifying merchants"). You will earn one ThankYou Point for every dollar you spend on all other purchases. Book stores are defined as stand-alone merchants that primarily sell, for consumer use, books (including textbooks), magazines, maps, and calendars. Record stores are defined as stand-alone merchants that primarily sell, for consumer use, records, compact discs (CDs), music and video laser discs, and blank audio and videotapes. Restaurants, including fast food restaurants, are defined as stand-alone merchants that primarily prepare food and drinks for immediate consumption by consumers, either on the merchant's premises or packaged for carryout. Motion picture theaters are defined as stand-alone merchants that operate movie theaters, and sell tickets as well as refreshments. Video entertainment rental stores are defined as stand-alone merchants that primarily rent videotapes, laser discs, DVDs, and video games for consumer use at home.

Purchases not eligible to receive the five points include, but are not limited to, purchases made at warehouse clubs, discount stores, department stores and convenience stores. Online and catalog purchases are not eligible to receive five ThankYou Points unless the merchants appropriately identify the transactions.

We do not determine whether merchants appropriately identify all transactions you make on your Card Account, but we do reserve the right to determine which purchases qualify for ThankYou Points. You can earn up to 75,000 ThankYou Points during any calendar year (eligible purchases appearing on your January - December billing statements). You may only earn ThankYou Points on your Card Account as long as it is open and current. ThankYou Points expire five years from the end of the month in which they are earned unless ThankYou Network is terminated.

You will earn 100 bonus ThankYou Points at the end of every billing cycle during which you make your Minimum Payment or more on time, and at the end of which you are not over your credit limit. Your account must be open and not in default under any Card Agreement in order to be eligible for this award. Accounts with a zero Minimum Payment due at the end of a billing cycle will not be eligible for an award for that cycle. These bonus points are not included in the annual calendar year limit.

If you are approved for a Card Account, a ThankYou Network Member Account ("ThankYou Member Account") will be set up for you. ThankYou Points post to your Card Account at the close of each billing cycle, and at that time, we will transfer the ThankYou Points you earned to your ThankYou Member Account. ThankYou Points are not eligible for redemption until they are transferred to your ThankYou Member Account. ThankYou Points may not be redeemed and may be lost if your Card Account is not open or current.

3
After promotional period, standard APR for purchases applies to remaining promotional balances. As of January 30, 2009, standard variable APR for purchases is 12.24%; standard variable APR for cash advances is 21.99%. However, if you default under any Card Agreement because you pay us late, go over the credit line or make a payment to us that is not honored, we may automatically increase the rate on all balances (including promotional APR balances) to a variable default rate of 29.99%. Minimum finance charge is $.50. Foreign purchase transaction fee is 3.0% of US dollar amount of each purchase made outside the U.S. Balance transfer fee is 3.0% of each balance transfer amount, $5 minimum. Cash advance fee is 3.0% of each cash advance amount, $5 minimum.

4
6,000 bonus ThankYou Points can be earned by new Citi Forward cardmembers approved through this offer. To receive bonus points, make $50 in purchases within 3 months of account opening. All points become available for redemption when they are transferred from your Card Account to your ThankYou Member Account.

5
5,000 bonus ThankYou Points can be earned by new Citi Forward cardmembers approved through this offer. To receive bonus points, sign up for Paperless Statements on this account within 3 months of account opening. You may only receive this bonus one time. All points become available for redemption when they are transferred from your Card Account to your ThankYou Member Account.

-------------------------
Carried over from the mtvU thread.

5% Qualified Merchants:
Bookstores


o A1Books
o Amazon.com (certain purchases - works for Amazon purchases, marketplace purchases; doesn't work on Music store or giftcards)
o Apple iTunes
o Barnes & Noble (in store only, not online)
o TextbooksRUs

Fast Food (alphabetical)
o Arby's
o Burger King
o Carl's JR
o Charley's Grilled Subs
o Checkers
o Chick Fil A
o Dominoes
o DUNKIN DONUTS
o Good Times
o In-N-Out
o Little Caesars Pizza
o Jack In The Box
o Jersey Mikes Submarines
o Oregon Coast Aquarium Cafe
o McDonalds
o Popeyes
o Qdoba
o Quizno's
o Skyline Chili
o Sbarro
o Starbucks
o Subway
o Taco Bell
o Taco Del Mar
o Waffle House
o Wendys
o Whataburger

Restaurants
o Carrabba's Italian Grill
o China Grand Buffet
o Dante's Cafe (Portland, OR)
o Godfather's Pizza
o Hometown Buffet
o Olive Garden
o Papa Johns Pizza B&M / PapaJohns.com
o Pizza Hut
o Shari's
o TGI Fridays


Movie Theaters
o Rave Motion Pictures
o AMC
o Edwards/Regal
o Fandango

Video Rental Stores
o Blockbuster online
o Movielink
o Redbox

Music/Video Stores
o FYE
o Tower.com

Did NOT qualify for 5%
o AbeBooks
o Albris Books
o Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream(merchandise)
o Biblio
o ch.com
o DeepDiscountDVD.com
o half.com
o Krispy Kreme (Classed as Merchandise - BAKERIES)
o Netflix
o Red Robin
o restaurant.com
o TextbookX.com
o Tuna Town (Huntington Beach, CA)
o yourmusic.com

o Certain bars (pub in the name has nothing to do with it, it's how an establishment codes itself w/the CC comp.)


Why didn't my purchase qualify?

Go to Statements-> "Purchases" and click on the amounts that were charged

That will pop up a window with Transaction Details:

Merchant Category Restaurants - DRINKING PLACES-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES

Categories that appear to qualify (among others)
Entertainment - VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT RENTAL STORES
Entertainment - MOTION PICTURE THEATERS
Restaurants - EATING PLACE,RESTAURANT
Restaurants - FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS
Merchandise - BOOK STORES
Merchandise - RECORD STORES

Note that some book stores (e.g. B&N online, TextbookX) do not qualify because they categorize themselves as "BOOKS, PERIODICALS, AND NEWSPAPERS" rather than "BOOK STORES".

Message edited by: rasheedb on 2009-10-20 14:55:34 CDT
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Yes, it is very hot and you dont have to be (or pretend to be) a student. good catch!


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Restaurants including fast food...that is great. Probably a good card to free up one category from my Chase Freedom Plus.

Although TYP is not exactly my preferred Cash Back method. Need to do a little bit more research on that before applying...


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ColonelHeero said:Restaurants including fast food...that is great. Probably a good card to free up one category from my Chase Freedom Plus.

Although TYP is not exactly my preferred Cash Back method. Need to do a little bit more research on that before applying...

Yea the past couple of TYN changes have kind of sucked, though there are still some good spots (like Student Loan Rebates)


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Wonder if we can convert MTVu to this? hard pull?


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kwest said:Wonder if we can convert MTVu to this? hard pull?what would be the advantage?


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I just applied for 2 new cards about 7 weeks ago. I don't know if I want to risk AA on another Citi pull, as it may jeopardize my BT's. I already have an MTVU, so I hope this sticks around...


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Thanks OP, loved the 5 points for restaurants.


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djspray said:I just applied for 2 new cards about 7 weeks ago. I don't know if I want to risk AA on another Citi pull, as it may jeopardize my BT's. I already have an MTVU, so I hope this sticks around...

2 new Citi Cards? What's the limit for Citi again? I have 2 Citi Cards (Dividend Plat Select and Professional) and just applied for the Driver's Edge yesterday. Go or no go for Forward app?


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I have 5 total. It's not the total # of cards I'm worried about, it would be 3 new applications for me.


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Let me get this straight:

5 points per $1 means: (per thankyou.com reward system):
$50 cash reward = 8000pts = 160pts per $1 of cash reward = Spend $32, get $1 cash reward = 3.125%
$10 gift card (many locations) = 1500pts = 150pts per $1 of gift card = Spend $30, get $1 cash reward = 3.333%
$100 citi gift card = 14,000pts = 140pts per $1 of gift card = Spend $28, get $1 cash reward = 3.571%
$250 statement credit = 35,000pts = 140pts per $1 of credit = Spend $28, get $1 of cash reward = 3.571%
$1000 mortgage credit = 125,200pts = $125.2pts per $1 of credit = Spend $25.04, get $1 credit = 3.994%
$100 gift card (many locations) = 10,000pts = 100pts per $1 of gift card = Spend $20, get $1 cash reward = 5.000%
$25 student loan credit = 2500pts = 100pts per $1 of credit = Spend $20, get $1 credit = 5.000%


anyone find any better comparisons? I think this would be great to hold on for use just in restaurants to pay back your student loans, or get gift cards for Sears, etc.


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BrianGa said:kwest said:Wonder if we can convert MTVu to this? hard pull?what would be the advantage?Yeah, you're better off applying for a new card so you can get the 11k initial pts (paperless statements, $50 purchases). Thats between $70 and $100 depending on how you redeem TYP pts.


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Can you still get the student loan rebate checks without actually having student loan debt?


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slc39 said:A better version of Citi MTVU!

The card pays in ThankYou points

100 points per billing period if you pay on time and stay under the credit limit
5 points per dollar on restaurants, books, movies, music
1 point for everything else
0.25% APR reduction when "using credit wisely"

5000 points for signing up for paperless statements w/in first 3 months
6000 points after $50 in purchases within first 3 months

The website is at http://www.citiforward.com


Doesn't the MTVU (and this card) not allow the 5% on purchases at restaurants that serve booze? I thought I remember seeing that somewhere.


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dmlavigne1 said:slc39 said:A better version of Citi MTVU!

The card pays in ThankYou points

100 points per billing period if you pay on time and stay under the credit limit
5 points per dollar on restaurants, books, movies, music
1 point for everything else
0.25% APR reduction when "using credit wisely"

5000 points for signing up for paperless statements w/in first 3 months
6000 points after $50 in purchases within first 3 months

The website is at http://www.citiforward.com



Doesn't the MTVU (and this card) not allow the 5% on purchases at restaurants that serve booze? I thought I remember seeing that somewhere.

Ha, Citi's covered 5% of my bar purchases at restaurants with the MTVU card for quite some time now.


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dmlavigne1 said:slc39 said:A better version of Citi MTVU!

The card pays in ThankYou points

100 points per billing period if you pay on time and stay under the credit limit
5 points per dollar on restaurants, books, movies, music
1 point for everything else
0.25% APR reduction when "using credit wisely"

5000 points for signing up for paperless statements w/in first 3 months
6000 points after $50 in purchases within first 3 months

The website is at http://www.citiforward.com



Doesn't the MTVU (and this card) not allow the 5% on purchases at restaurants that serve booze? I thought I remember seeing that somewhere.
False. There may be an issue if the location is categorized by the CC processor as a bar, but I've never had that problem with any restaurant.


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Gman476 said:Can you still get the student loan rebate checks without actually having student loan debt?TYN gives you a check made out to the financial institution of your choice. What you do with it after that is your business.


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100 points per billing period if you pay on time and stay under the credit limit

Just FYI: That is the benefit of this over MTVU. MTVU only gives 25 pts per month for paying on time.. That comes out to 900 extra pts a year or about $9 bucks/year.

Oh and of course the whole not pretending to be a student part is nice too.

Message edited by: Keyboard on 2009-03-04 12:08:09 CST
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a slightly better mtvU card, woohoo!

Plus I won't have to answer people's questions of "what's mtvU????"


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