Update: Reader JackRyan went for it and received the sign up bonus on the Citi Premier card despite having the Citi Forward converted to the Citi Preferred with a new account number. That’s great news. Fingers crossed we get more datapoints confirming this.
A lot of readers have been asking the same question, that’s generally a good guide that a dedicated post would be useful. Now onto the question. Citi Forward cardholders were automatically product changed to a Citi Preferred card on January 3rd. Readers want to know if this product change has reset the 24 month clock/rule Citi has. This rule basically states that:
- Bonus ThankYou points are not available if you have had ThankYou Preferred, ThankYou Premier or Citi Prestige cards opened or closed in the past 24 months.
So it’s really a matter of whether this product change counts as the Citi Preferred being opened or not. Generally speaking product changes have counted as the card being opened if the card number changes. In the case of the Citi Forward to Citi Preferred, card numbers have changed. Because of that I think that this will have reset your 24 month clock. It’s possible that Citi has specially coded this product change to not affect your 24 month status, but knowing Citi and their IT department I’d be shocked if this was the case (although it’s equally likely that they have messed something else up by mistake meaning it didn’t reset the clock).
At the end of the day, we won’t know until people actually try and report back. Readers are particularly interested in this as the Citi Premier card is currently offering a 50,000 point bonus. My favorite catch cry for this hobby is “be the data point you want to see”. If anybody does try, I’d love to hear your experiences.
Trying to apply for the rewards+ with a forward converted to preferred by citi last year. Contacted the citi credit card application team and got a three-way call with another department. They confirmed I will still be eligible for the rewards+ sign up bonus as well as other thankyou product bonuses. Will pull the trigger and report back.
We had a couple of people reporting back in April Forward conversion did not reset the 24-months clock. Is there more confirmation? I imagine lots of people applied for the recent Premier 60K offer.
I went ahead and applied despite not hearing recent DPs.
Received my 60K bonus!
My Forward was changed to a Preferred, but then I requested that my Preferred be changed to a Dividend, which took effect on May 18, 2018 and did change my account number. Did that reset the 24 month clock? Thanks.
Data Point: Got the bonus.
Had a Forward converted. Not sure what date, but it was fairly close to the application date.
Applied for TY Premier on 2017-12-31.
SM’d Citi this very question, got the 24 month language back, but it seemed more like they were were just stating the policy rather than checking whether it applied to converted Forwards.
Got my 50K bonus posted on 2018-03-31.
When you received your welcome letter from Citi did it have language on there saying that you were not eligible for the 50K sign-up bonus….or did it just confirm the terms of the welcome offer?
The reason I ask is that the letter I just received says I am ineligible…which clearly isn’t a very encouraging sign. I also just chatted with a Citi rep to try and match to the 60k offer and he said “I don’t even see a 50K offer on your account so I am unable to match”
What were your circumstances for the TY Premier application? Did you have a Forward that was force-converted to a TY Preferred, did you initiate a PC of a TY card yourself and if so, did the card number change, did you close a TY card, or did you do something else? In any case, please provide the dates, as your DP is not helpful otherwise. Thanks!
I am not providing a data point. I am asking a question. Hence why I did not provide that info.
But since you asked:
1. Yes, I had Forward that was force-converted to a TY Preferred and yes the card number changed.
2. No I did not initiate the product change nor did I open or close any other TYP cards in the past 24 months…otherwise this entire thing would be moot since I would obviously be running afoul of the standard Citi anti-churning rules.
3. My comment stated “The reason I ask is that the letter I just received says I am ineligible…” and the timestamp on my comment is 7/26 so you can safely assume that is the relevant date.
whos lately went and got the citibiz thank you 20k and had it matched to 40k in branch?
Forward was converted. Signed up for TY Premier card in March, (previous sign up was in February 2 years ago), statement just printed and I did get the 50,000 points.
Related question: in 2015 I applied for the Premier, in 2016 I downgraded it to Doublecash, in 2017 it was closed due to inactivity. Did that closure reset the 24 month clock for TY point-earning cards?
Interesting question that I don’t know the answer to.
What about unforced/requested conversions. I converted a presitge to a double cash back and the card number changed. did my clock reset or is it 2 years from citi prestige opening
Requested conversions depend on whether the account # was changed or not. If it was then it resets the clock.
Damn! 😂
Just waiting on Citi Prestige to offer a freaking sign up bonus now… Can I get Premier with bonus then convert to Prestige?
Should be possible yes
I’m game to be a data point. I have a summer project coming up and would love the extra points to use as gift cards at Home Depot (been there done that with their Premier cards before). According to my records, I applied for one of the Citi Forward cards when the bonus was 30k back on 12/18/2012. I kept netflix on it for the extra 100 TYP a month. Mine was converted in December along with the rest. I last opened a Citi TY Premier on 6/19/2015 and downgraded it to a Preferred on 7/26/16, so here goes!
So far, so good – instantly approved. Do you think I should call to confirm the bonus, or just do the min spend and see what happens?
So I ended up calling, not necessarily to confirm the bonus, but because after getting the “You’re approved!” page, I received an e-mail saying the application was pending. I checked through the automated system and it said “pending”. When I called, the CSR was helpful and confirmed I had been approved and to disregard the e-mail. When he asked if there was anything else I needed, I mentioned I thought the card came with a 50K bonus and inquired if it looked like I should receive that OK. He confirmed the bonus and didn’t see any reason I wouldn’t be eligible. I’ll be rockin’ plastiq to help meet the spend. Fingers crossed.
I can confirm this does not reset the 24 month clock. My statement closed at 3AM today and, after blitzing through the spend with help from Plastiq, I was pleased to see the 50K+ points waiting for me when I logged in this morning 🙂
Awesome DP, reposting.
@JackRyan, is this timeline look right?
06/19/2015: Opened TY Premiere
07/26/2016 (+12mo.): PC’d the TY Premiere to TY Preferred
03/08/2018 (+33mo. from opening, +20mo. from PC): Approved 2nd TY Premier
04/18/2018 (+34mo. from 1st opening, +21mo. from first PC): 50k+ points sign up bonus is attached.
Sorry for the belated reply, but yes – that looks correct. I don’t always keep my spreadsheet updated with notes on PC’s, but in this case I added a comment on the cell so I’m confident on the timeline / details.
Did you get a new account number? The latest thinking is that a downgrade where you keep the same number doesn’t reset the clock but if your account number changes when you downgrade then the clock resets.
JackRyan – when you received your welcome letter from Citi did it have language on there saying that you were not eligible for the 50K sign-up bonus….or did it just confirm the terms of the welcome offer?
The reason I ask is that the letter I just received says I am ineligible…which clearly isn’t a very encouraging sign. I also just chatted with a Citi rep to try and match to the 60k offer and he said “I don’t even see a 50K offer on your account so I am unable to match”