Get more bang for the buck with your Citibank rewards points

If you have a Citibank credit card and, you enjoy shopping on credit to earn rewards points that you can use to redeem an item or, to pay for your recent and future purchases then, this is for you.

Have you ever received an SMS from Citiph that looks like the picture below? Well, I always get one after almost every transaction that I make using my Citibank card. 

My husband had been encouraging me to use my points because he was worried that I might forget about them. He was so thrilled at the thought that Citibank made it so much easier for their cardholders to pay for their purchases like food, gasoline, groceries, utilities, clothes etc, using your points. All it takes is just one click at the link provided in their text message; no more waiting, no more phone calls to their customer hotline. Great, right? Well, that’s what we thought.

I have been using their card since 1995 and, was able to redeem gift checks and shop using my points quite a few times in the past. And for as long as I can remember, the conversion has always been 1 peso for every 10 points. In their website, it gives you exactly the same information. 

Over a month ago, I bought an item from Charles & Keith and, decided to use my points to pay for it. I waited for the SMS from Citibank and clicked the link, which by the way expires after 24 hours from receipt, that will take me to their website. It was my first time so, I was both excited and anxious that something might go wrong during the processing and, I would end up losing my points. Thankfully, nothing of that sort happened. I was just happy to be able to buy something for "FREE". Well, almost.

Fast forward to November. With Christmas just around the corner, it’s shopping season once again so, I can certainly use whatever is left of my hard earned  points that I have been collecting over the years. I checked the balance of my rewards points on my current statement and, was surprised and confused that it was lower than what I expected. So, I retrieved my previous statement from my file and, discovered that the number of points deducted from my account was indeed higher than my own computation. I thought at first that I might have used my points again for another transaction but, just couldn’t remember or account for it. I decided to give Citibank a call for clarification.

After almost a week of making follow-up calls and talking to four different Citiphone officers, who couldn’t really give me a definitive explanation, I was finally told that redeeming points through the SMS link is actually a promotional offer so the computation is different. Basically, you’re paying a premium for the added convenience. So instead of the usual 1 is to 10, the conversion becomes 1 peso is to 15 points. Whoa! Of course, I raised hell over this but, that’s a different story. 😄 Mind you that this information was never communicated to their cardholders through email, snail mail or SMS. Seems they just conveniently forgot to include that fine print in all of their correspondences with their clients. So anyway, it wasn’t possible for them to credit back the extra 14000 points that I was contesting and, the best solution they could offer was to charge back the cost of the item to my card and, credit back all the points deducted to my account. I agreed to it right away but, with all the stress that this brouhaha gave me I wasn’t going to settle for a not-so-happy ending. I asked the Citiphone officer if there was a way for me to still redeem my points using the original conversion and, she said that I can do it directly through the website.

So how does it work? First, go to the Citibank online website on your mobile phone or laptop. If you don’t have an online account yet, this is the time to create one. 

Log in with your username and password, and you will be directed to a page that shows you your available rewards points as well as your outstanding balance. 

Next, click on Rewards & Offers (Picture A) and, a window will pop up asking you to authenticate your identity by providing one-time PIN that will be sent to your mobile number (Picture B).

 

Picture A

Picture B

Key in the OTP and once you're done, you should be able to see the Home page of the Rewards program. 

Click REDEEM NOW then choose Vouchers and Cash option. 

 

 

 

Cash credits are available in different denominations and, the best part is the conversion is lower compared to points redemption via the SMS link. So you see, doing it through their website is not really that hard if you think about it. As far as convenience is concerned, as long as you have internet connection you can do it anytime and anywhere because you don’t have to worry about the 24-hour deadline.

I don’t know about you, but for me every point counts so, I don’t mind spending a few more minutes on my cellphone or laptop if that means getting more value for my money. In other words, if you’re like me just ignore those text messages from Citiph and, do it the hard way. The first time might be a bit tricky for the technologically-challenged but, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it. Eventually. Haha. Remember, anything worth having is worth the extra sweat. 😉