Citi PremierMiles Visa Card – MoneySmart Review 2019

The Citi PremierMiles Visa Card has been in the spotlight for the longest time: It’s 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.

Why? Because last year, the Citi PremierMiles Visa Card had one of the best sign-up bonuses in town. 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.

Sadly, the Citi PremierMiles’ 42,000 bonus miles offer is yesterday’s news. Without it, is the Citi PremierMiles still worth getting? Let’s find out.

 

Citi PremierMiles Visa Card essential information

Citi PremierMiles Visa Card
Annual fee & waiver	$192.60
Supplementary annual fee	Complimentary
Interest free period	25 days
Annual interest rate	26.90%
Late payment fee	$100
Minimum monthly repayment	1% or $50, whichever is higher
Foreign currency transaction fee	2.80%
Cash advance transaction fee	6% or $15, whichever is higher
Overlimit fee	$40
Minimum income	$30,000 (Singaporean) / $42,000 (non-Singaporean)
Card association	Visa
Wireless payment	Visa payWave, Samsung Pay, Citi Pay

 

How the Citi PremierMiles Visa Card works

Last year, the Citi PremierMiles was a top pick for air miles because of its huge welcome bonus of 42,000 miles with $10,000 spend. For those with big expenses like home renovations or family vacations coming up, it made total sense to get this credit card. Sadly, this offer expired as of 28 Feb 2018 and has been replaced by a slightly lousier – but still quite attractive – welcome promotion (until 31 Jan 2019).

If you spend at least $7,500 within your first 3 months of card approval, you will get a total of 30,000 miles (valid until 31 Jan 2019). That’s 21,000 bonus miles on top of the 9,000 miles you earn from the $7,500 spend ($1 = 1.2 Citi Miles).

The caveat? It’s for new Citibank customers only, and you need to pay for your first year’s annual fee ($192.60) to qualify.

Those who are already banking with Citibank, tough luck. You’ll only earn 10,000 Citi Miles for spending $3,000 within 3 months. That’s 6,400 bonus miles, on top of the 3,600 Citi Miles you’d have earned from the $3,000 (assuming local spend, valid until 31 March 2019).

Welcome promotions aside, the Citi PremierMiles Visa Card standard miles accrual rate is $1 = 1.2 Citi Miles (local spend) and $1 = 2 Citi Miles (foreign currency spend).

Citi Miles never expire, so you can slowly earn your air tickets. Citi Miles are 1:1 with 12 airlines & frequent flyer programmes (including KrisFlyer, Asia Miles and more), but do note that there is a $25 conversion fee each time you want to convert them to airline miles.

 

Who should use the Citi PremierMiles Visa Card?

If you look at the standard earn rates, we’ll be honest: The Citi PremierMiles Visa Card is not fantastic. The overseas and local earn rates are 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).

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 Expedia.

That’s thanks to the current travel promotions and bonus earn rates:

Travel aggregator	Bonus miles accrual	Validity
Agoda	$1 = 7 miles	31 Jan 2019
Expedia	$1 = 3 miles	31 May 2019

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

 

Alternatives to the Citi PremierMiles Visa 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 – Much 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 = 6 miles (Agoda, Expedia, UOB Travel).

American Express KrisFlyer Ascend – Poorer overall earn rates than the Citi PremierMiles Visa Card, but has bonus accrual for Grab rides ($1 = 3.2 miles). The welcome bonus is also less attractive: You only get 26,000 KrisFlyer miles for spending $10,000 within 3 months.

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. Bonus earnings are capped at 30,000 TREATS points ($3,750 expenditure cap).

All in all, the Citi PremierMiles Visa Card has a decent welcome bonus, but that’s about it. It’s 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 slightly 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.

 

Want to get the Citi PremierMiles Visa Card? Apply here:

 

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Tags: Credit Cards