Thank You Network - 6/5/09 Increased Points for Student Loan Rebate

I know some of you use thank you points to redeem for student loan rebates. I just called today and found out that as of 6/5/2009 the required points for student loan rebates are increasing. I could only find out that the $50 rebate is increasing from 5,000 pts to 7,300 pts. The friendly CSR who offered this information on her own accord also informed me that they aren't required to send advance notice. I'd suggest anyone who wants to use their points for student loan rebates do so ASAP.

Any remaining reason to stick with Citi is now gone. Here I come Schwab!

is this only for $50 or there are changes for $100 and above as well?

Glad I cashed in a week ago

It's all TripleB's fault.

Thank you for the heads up.

5x points on various categories still kicks the crap out of an overall 2% CashBack if redeemed for flights or gift cards. But that may not be true, say, next year.

Thanks for the heads up. I called to redeem my points and the lady said the change would take effect July 5th. I repeated this and she confirmed July 5th. The new point requirements are.....

$100 - 14,500
$75 - 10,900
$50 - 7,300
$25 - 3,800

She said they haven't disclosed the higher amount point requirements yet.

EDIT: Looks like everyone else that talks to a CSR gets the June 5th date. Maybe my CSR doesn't know that the 6th month is June not July.

lame... Just cashed out 25000 points...

This takes the Citi Plat AMEX from a 3% to a 2.1% card. The Citi Forward goes from a 4% to a 2.8% card.

I totally discount the value of gift cards considering the inflated price factor, and the low resale value.

edit, I guess the mortgage rebate rates are better (as of now). Do they work the same way?

Agreed on Staples - easy to turn $100 of Staples into some cheap crap and $100 rebate checks to go with it, or with the right coupon, $125 of rebate checks/vista debit cards =)

this still ticks me off - I just checked my purchase history and i've gotten $3,350 of student loan rebate checks made out to Sallie Mae since 8/06 - and this is just my account, we've put about $1800 of them through my fiance's also made out directly to Aunt Sallie, so we were using it for the real purpose of them

Good thing my 3 points/$1 is almost up on the citi AMEX anyways, just wish this change didn't happen until after my final payments were due for the wedding

bbr said: Thanks for the heads up. I called to redeem my points and the lady said the change would take effect July 5th. I repeated this and she confirmed July 5th. The new point requirements are.....

$100 - 14,500
$75 - 10,900
$50 - 7,300
$25 - 3,800

She said they haven't disclosed the higher amount point requirements yet.

I hope it's JULY not JUNE. My wife needs 4 stinkin' points to get another $25 back (she redeemed 15,000 already this morning after seeing this post), but the her statement won't post until the 7th. So, if it's JULY, that's good. If not

Thank you very much OP for the heads-up.

Thanks OP! Will be cashing in my points for a $500 check soon...!

Wow TY points died a very quick death. I am going to cash out my $32K and move over to AMEX.

Are there any 2% cash or cash-equivalent cards out there these days?

ShaneM said: How does this work? I know you need to call in but how do they check on your student loan status and how is payment rendered?

You tell them the bank, they send you a check. They don't ask for account numbers, you have to write that on the check.

VerbalK said: ShaneM said: How does this work? I know you need to call in but how do they check on your student loan status and how is payment rendered?

You tell them the bank, they send you a check. They don't ask for account numbers, you have to write that on the check.

Does it have to sound legit at all? Can I just give them the name of a small local bank that I use? I have a sallie mae loan, but the interest is at 4.25% so it's not really in my best interest to pay it off so quickly. I'd rather just pocket the cash for something else. I know that people have gotten checks for major banks like Citi, BoA, and Chase, but will they mind making the check out to a bank they've never heard of?

krk77 said: you may not be able to deposit this check into your checking/savings account. You can credit this againt your CC or Loan. you can ask them to put what ever bank or financial institution name you want.

Wouldn't the check just be made out in your name to the institution? Why would this be treated any different than a deposit check?

Just got my check after like 3 months of waiting, it was made out to Bank Name Student Loan. Not sure if this is going to pose a problem with depositing...

Edit to update

I was able to deposit the BankName Student Loan check into my account.

I received the new check today from cashing out upon hearing of the points increase, it says just BankName on it. So I think mine said Student Loan on it before as I had to have them reorder it... Anyway, glad there was much quicker turn around this time.

Just ordered mine. I didn't ask about them devaluing this. I cashed out 27500 TYP for a 250 check and a 25 check. It's all going back to Citi anyways, as I'll actually use this to pay my student loans.

dk240t said: kamalktk said: VerbalK said: ShaneM said: How does this work? I know you need to call in but how do they check on your student loan status and how is payment rendered?

You tell them the bank, they send you a check. They don't ask for account numbers, you have to write that on the check.
Except you can't use them for a student loan that's from Citibank. I kid you not.

Why not? I told them Citibank for my student loan and they just put the order through on the checks.
When I did the same thing, Citibank the loan section sent them back and said I couldn't. I called the TYP section and they recredited me the points.

kamalktk said: dk240t said: kamalktk said: VerbalK said: ShaneM said: How does this work? I know you need to call in but how do they check on your student loan status and how is payment rendered?

You tell them the bank, they send you a check. They don't ask for account numbers, you have to write that on the check.
Except you can't use them for a student loan that's from Citibank. I kid you not.

Why not? I told them Citibank for my student loan and they just put the order through on the checks.
When I did the same thing, Citibank the loan section sent them back and said I couldn't. I called the TYP section and they recredited me the points.

I have Citibank student loans but the official name of the lending institution is The Student Loan Corporation. I've always gotten TY rebates with that name and they have never been rejected.

If you do not have any credit card debt, I suggest you create one my ordering coins from UsMint. Get the rebate check and take it to the bank whose credit card you have used earlier to purchase coins.

DAMNIT!!!!! I have 130k points, and I was just about to pull the trigger on the SLR... UGH!!!!