Citi PremierMiles Card Review—Citi Miles That Never Expire

The Citi PremierMiles Card used to be in the spotlight for the longest time: It was considered one of the most popular Citibank credit cards, and once upon a time, some even regarded it as the best miles credit card in Singapore. It was an accessible, entry-level card, has decent earn rates, and most importantly, came with one of the best sign-up bonuses in town of 45,000 miles.

Earning miles on an air miles credit card takes a painfully long time, and one way to work around that is to get a credit card with a big sign-up bonus so you can get a sizeable bump in your miles. But with the days of a 45,000 miles present behind us, is the Citi PremierMiles Card still worth getting? Let’s find out.

Citi PremierMiles Card Review—Is it MoneySmart?
Overall: ★★★★☆ Best for: Entry-level miles chasers who want miles that never expire.
Category	Our rating	The deets
Earn rates: 360 Rewards Points	✈️✈️✈️✈️	– Citi Miles never expire! – 1.2 Citi Miles per S$1 local spend – 2 Citi Miles per S$1 foreign currency spend – Up to 10 Citi Miles per S$1 on online travel bookings via Kaligo and Agoda – Renewal bonus of 10,000 Citi Miles on card anniversary with annual fee payment
Earn categories	✈️✈️✈️✈️
Annual fees and charges	★★★★☆	S$194.40 principal fee / No fee for supplementary cards
Accessibility	★★★★☆	Minimum income requirement: $30,000 (Singaporeans) / $42,000 (non-Singaporeans)
Extras/periphery rewards	★★☆☆☆	– 2 complimentary visits every year to Priority Pass airport lounges worldwide – Esso: 5% Esso site discount + 5% Esso Smiles discount + 4% Citi card discount = Total of 14% savings effectively – Shell: 5% Shell site discount + 5% Shell Escape discount + 4% Citi card discount = Total of 14% savings effectively
Sign-up bonus	★★★★☆	Spend $500 within 30 days of card approval to receive one of the following: – Apple iPad 10.2′ 64GB, 9th Gen (worth S$503.65) – ErgoTune Supreme V3 Ergonomic Chair (worth S$599) – Apple HomePod 2nd Gen (worth S$429) – S$300 Cash via PayNow

See our credit card ranking rubric to find out how we rank credit cards.

 

Contents:

1. Citi PremierMiles Card: Essential information
2. Citi PremierMiles Card: Eligibility
3. Citi PremierMiles Card: Earn rates
4. Citi PremierMiles Card: Sign-up promotion
5. Who should use the Citi PremierMiles Card?
6. Alternatives to the Citi PremierMiles Card

 

1. Citi PremierMiles Card: Essential information

The Citi PremierMiles Card is a good entry level miles card for the casual miles chaser. The earn rates are competitive, and we love that Citi Miles never expire. That means that you can take your time to accumulate them, and the card works for you even if you aren’t a very frequent flyer.

Here’s a quick overview of the fees and rates of the Citi PremierMiles Card:

Citi PremierMiles Card
Annual fee	$194.40
Supplementary annual fee	Complimentary
Interest free period	25 days
Annual interest rate	26.90%
Late payment fee	$100
Minimum monthly repayment	Whichever is higher: – 1% + 1% of any outstanding unbilled instalment amounts, plus interest charges, plus late payment charge; OR – S$50
Foreign currency transaction fee	3.25%
Cash advance transaction fee	6% or $15, whichever is higher
Overlimit fee	$40
Minimum income	$30,000 (Singaporean/PR) / $42,000 (non-Singaporean)
Card association	Mastercard
Wireless payment	MasterCard PayPass, Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, Citi Pay

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2. Citi PremierMiles Card: Eligibility

The Citi PremierMiles card is about as accessible as miles card gets. Here are its eligibility conditions and income requirements:

• Minimum income for Singaporeans: S$30,000
• Minimum income for non-Singaporeans: S$42,000
• Minimum age: 21 years

So if you’re a Singaporean adult (even if just barely one), you can apply for this card as long as you earn $2,500 a month.

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3. Citi PremierMiles Card: Earn rates

The Citi PremierMiles card earns you 1.2 Citi Miles per S$1 local spend and 2 Citi Miles per S$1 foreign currency spend. That’s pretty much the base rate for entry level miles cards—the Standard Chartered Journey Credit Card and DBS Altitude Visa Signature Card have the exact same earn rates for these spend types.

Some entry level cards edge past the Citi PremierMiles Card. The UOB PRVI MASTERCARD Miles Card, for example, earns you 1.4 miles per S$1 local spend (UNI$3.5 per S$5 spend) and 2.4 miles per S$1 overseas spend (UNI$6 per S$5 spend).

On top of the regular earn rates for general local and foreign spend, you’ll also earn extra for certain travel bookings:

• 7 Citi Miles per S$1 overseas spend with Agoda
• 10 Citi Miles per S$1 overseas spend with Kaligo

But the biggest draw of the Citi PremierMiles Card? You don’t get with many miles cards is the fact that Citi Miles have eternal life. Yup, that’s right—these miles never expire!

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4. Citi PremierMiles Card: Sign-up promotion

The Citi PremierMiles Card comes with a pretty generous sign-up promotion if you apply via MoneySmart:

• Apple iPad 10.2′ 64GB, 9th Gen (worth S$503.65) OR
• ErgoTune Supreme V3 Ergonomic Chair (worth S$599) OR
• Apple HomePod 2nd Gen (worth S$429) OR
• S$300 Cash via PayNow

And the spending requirement to redeem the welcome gifts also isn’t too difficult to meet: spend $500 within 30 days of card approval.

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5. Who should use the Citi PremierMiles Card?

The Citi PremierMiles Card is fantastic for making travel bookings and big purchases. Both the overseas and local earn rates lose to its biggest competitor the UOB PRVI Miles Card ($1 = 2.4 miles for foreign currency spend, and $1 = 1.4 miles for local spend, no minimum).

That said, you may get quite a bit of utility out of the Citi PremierMiles Card if you make most (if not all) your bookings via travel aggregators Agoda and Kaligo, thanks to the current travel promotions and bonus earn rates.

The Citi PremierMiles Card also comes with Priority Pass membership for the Principal cardmember only (on application basis, 2x airport lounge visits per year) and complimentary travel insurance coverage of up to $1,000,000.

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6. Alternatives to the Citi PremierMiles Card

I mentioned earlier that the Citi PremierMiles has poorer earn rates than its main competitor, the UOB PRVI Miles Card. Let’s compare it against similar credit cards on the market:

UOB PRVI Miles Card: Better earn rates than the Citi PremierMiles, at $1 = 1.4 miles (local) and 2.4 miles (overseas), hence a better credit card for day-to-day use. It also has a competitive travel booking promotion with $1 = up to 6 miles (Agoda, Expedia, UOB Travel).

American Express Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Ascend Credit Card: Poorer overall earn rates than the Citi PremierMiles Card, but has bonus accrual for Grab rides capped at $200 (3.2 KrisFlyer miles = S$1). Its welcome offer is also less attainable: You’ll only get your 21,500 worth of KrisFlyer Miles after you spend at least S$1,000 within the first month of card approval and pay the annual fee of S$340.20.

Maybank Horizon Visa Signature Card—With high bonus earn rates ($1 = 3.2 miles) on local dining, petrol and taxis, it’s hard to beat this one for getting miles on your daily expenses. There is a $300 minimum spend, which is reasonably low. Rewards are capped at 30,000 TREATS points per month.

All in all, the Citi PremierMiles Visa Card has a decent, no-strings-attached welcome bonus, and is a decent entry level miles card. Its main spend category for bonus miles is travel booking sites, but even for those, you’re better off with the UOB PRIVI Miles card’s more attractive earn rates.

If you want to earn miles while swiping for day-to-day stuff like meals and transport instead, then the Maybank Horizon Visa Signature is a much, much better choice.

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P.S. Here’s our MoneySmart credit card ranking rubric

In case you’re wondering, here’s how we decide on our credit card rankings.

Is that credit card MoneySmart? Our MoneySmart credit card ranking rubric
Category	Our rating
Overall	The average rating for the credit card on the whole, calculated from the ratings for the individual categories below. Plus, we’ll give you a one-liner on who we think the credit card is best suited for.
Earn rates: Air miles / Cashback / Rewards points	Air miles ✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️ / Cashback 💰💰💰💰💰/ Rewards points 🎁🎁🎁🎁🎁. This category looks at the depth rather than breadth of earn rates. 5 stars means this card’s got the highest earn rates within that credit card type. 3-4 stars mean it’s average 1-2 stars reflect earn rates that are below average.
Earn categories	This category looks at the breadth rather than depth of your earnings. 5 stars: Earn with ANY spend. 3-4 stars: Earn on a large number of categories (e.g. all dining, transport and retail, but not telco bills) OR earn on 1 very broad category (e.g. all contactless/mobile payments). 1-2 stars: Earn a decent rate only on selected categories, such as fast food only.
Annual fees and charges	5 stars: $0  4 stars: $1-200 3 stars: $201-500 2 stars: $501-$999 1 star: $1,000 and up We dock a star if fee waiver is NOT allowed.
Accessibility	Minimum income requirements: 5 stars: Less than $30,000 a year 4 stars: Around $30,000 a year for Singaporeans and $40,000-$45,o00 for non-Singaporeans 3 stars: $30,000-$60,000 a year for Singaporeans, $40,000-$70,000 for non-Singaporeans 2 stars: $60,000-$120,000 a year for Singaporeans, $70,000-$120,000 for non-Singaporeans 1 star: $120,000 and up for either, or both Exclusivity: We dock 1-2 stars if there is/are another category/categories that make the card exclusive and very specific to a certain clientele.
Extras/periphery rewards	These include: Travel benefits, such as airport lounge access Lifestyle benefits, such as spa privileges Dining benefits, such as complimentary AMEX Love Dining or Entertainer with HSBC subscriptions We count the number of benefits and award between 0.5 to 2 stars for each, depending on how good the perk is.
Sign-up bonus	5 stars: The gift(s), cash, or miles are the highest we see out there compared to other credit cards of the same type (miles, cashback, etc). Also easy to attain these welcome bonuses. 3-4 stars: Average but not disappointing sign-up bonus compared to other credit cards. You aren’t losing out. 1-2 stars: You are probably losing out in terms of the welcome bonus you’re getting; there are other similar credit cards with sign-up bonuses that are better or easier to attain.

Check out all our MoneySmart credit card reviews: The Ultimate List of Credit Card Reviews in Singapore.

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