The Citi Sears card is our number #1 ranked store credit card. Readers often have a lot of questions regarding this card so I decided it was time for a dedicated post (you can read our basic review of the card here). The main reason this card is so popular is because of the frequent spending bonuses Citi sends out on this card, for example the current promotion is 10-20% back at gas, grocery & restaurants.
Contents
Citi Sears Card Versions
There are three versions or flavors of this card and the only real difference is the points currency they earn. The three are:
- Shop Your Way Rewards (SYWR). This is the only version of the card you can sign up for directly currently. This is Sears points currency and can be used for items at Sears, although there is a new gift card option as well.
- Citi ThankYou Points (TYP). This is Citi’s flexible point currency.
- Statement Credit. This is cash back in the form of statement credit
Currently it’s only possible to sign up for the statement credit version of the card.
Can You Product Change Between Cards?
Update: It’s no longer possible to product change between cards.
It used to be possible to sign up for the SYWR version of this card and then product change to either the Citi TYP or statement credit version of this card. The rules then seemingly changed so that the original card needed to be open for a period of 12 months before the product change could be processed. In recent times people have reported being unable to product change, although there have been some reports of it still being possible.
Getting Targeted Spend Offers
When people first sign up for the card they often report not receiving any targeted spending offers. There are two theories:
- It takes a set amount of time before any offers will appear.
- You need spend on the card to be eligible for these offers.
I think it’s probably a combination of the two in that no matter how much spend you put on the card in the first few months you still might miss out on the first few offers. Once you start receiving an offers you’ll usually have a lot of spend on the card anyway as the offers are so good.
Final Thoughts
This article is a work in progress, I’ll add any other relevant information and answer any questions people have.
F.A.Q’s
Do the spend offers stack?
Yes, the offers do stack. For example if you have the following two offers:
- Get 10% back at gas/grocery/restaurants from 1/1/21 until 3/3/21
- Spend $2,000 or more with your Citi Sears Card from 2/1/21 until 4/1/21 and earn a $90 statement credit
Then you could spend $2,000 at a gas station and earn $200 from the first promotion and an additional $90 from the second promotion. The dates and offers are just an example.
What’s the best sign up bonus offer on this card?
Most people get this card for the spending bonuses rather than the sign up bonus. I believe the highest bonus we’ve seen is $200 as a sign up bonus, but again the real deal is in the spending offers.
The sign up bonus high water mark could be updated in this post to $225 for $1,500 spend ($75 for for each $500) though defiantly keep the second sentience under the sign up bonus on this card is for the ongoing benefits.
Seems like Apple purchases count for Home Improvement spend reqs.
I got and activated an offer to get 5% on Home Improvement purchases if spending $600 or more per month within a time range (but didn’t really pursue this offer). Just got an email update on my status for this spend offer saying that I’ve spent $190.51 on Home Improvement. Looking at my transactions, I paid $190.51 on a refurbished iPhone from Apple.com (rest was paid through Apple gift cards). So seems like for whatever reason, Apple counts towards Home Improvement (not sure about in person Apple purchases).
Since many have noted issues with reaching out to support for the shopyourway side of things, I’d suggest adding this email address to the post to contact if you have any issues with your points, including trouble logging into your points portal initially. They’re very fast and helpful customer service: mailto:[email protected]
“Currently it’s only possible to sign up for the statement credit version of the card.”.
I think you can only sign up for the SYW Sears card now.
For anyone curious about the different versions of the card, you can see them all here: https://citi.bridgetrack.com/crs/searscard/home.htm
The cards with the Mastercard logo are the ones to look at:
Shop Your Way Mastercard (SYWR)
Sears Mastercard with ThankYou Rewards (TYP)
Sears Mastercard (Statement credit)
How do they deliver the additional spend offers after you’ve had the card for a while ? email ? I haven’t had it that long, but want to be sure I know what to look out for and how. Thanks.
Yes via email – I frequently search “shop your way mastercard” (with the quote marks) in my email to make sure I didn’t miss any and also have those go straight to my primary inbox.
Any chance you could do an overhaul/update on this page so it doesn’t start with the outdated info that it comes in three flavors and the TYP options?… and you can mention the new sub etc? I love letting people know about this card but cringe at sending them to this page.
I’ll add it to my to do list
Hopefully it’s clearer now
Thanks! I would just update the last paragraph about the current $225 signup bonus.
What’s the latest on product changes on these? Still DPs that one can go from SYWR version to a statement credits or other version of Sears card? Offers keep coming? Still need 12 months before any conversions? TY in advance!
Following. Also- interested to know if there are any other Citi cards that can PC to this, or do they have to be in the SYW system?
I received a new offer this weekend via both mail and email:
10% back in statement credits
(up to a maximum total of $90 in statement credit(s) each month for this offer) when total eligible travel purchases of $750 or more are made each month using your Shop Your Way Mastercard from 8/1/2022 (or the date you activate this offer, whichever is later) through 10/31/2022.
Travel purchases are transactions made at hotels, rental cars, airfare, limousines, taxicabs and travel agencies.
Can you PC a Citi expedia card to this? guessing not, but asking
I want to know the same about other citi cards