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With an impressive list of transfer partners, a generous 30,000 miles sign-up bonus and complimentary lounge access, does the Citi PremierMiles card deserve a place in your wallet?
Here’s our review of the Citi PremierMiles credit card issued in Singapore. It forms part of our series of credit card reviews, which are all summarised on our dedicated Credit Cards page.
Dollar amounts refer to SGD, and ‘miles’ refer to KrisFlyer miles, except where stated. This review was updated on 2nd September 2023.
| Citi PremierMiles Card | |||
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1.2 mpd local |
2 mpd FCY |
10 transfer partners |
| APPLY HERE | |||
| Citi PremierMiles Card | ||
|
||
1.2 mpd local |
2 mpd FCY |
10 transfer partners |
| APPLY HERE | ||
With an impressive list of 10 frequent flyer transfer partners, a low income requirement, generous sign-up bonuses and complimentary lounge access, we think the Citi PremierMiles card is an essential addition to your wallet, even though slightly better earn rates are available elsewhere.
Let’s take a look at the details.
| Pros | Cons |
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The Citi PremierMiles card was originally part of the Visa network, but newly issued card accounts from April 2020 switched across to the Mastercard network.
If you apply for a new PremierMiles card now, you’ll receive a Mastercard version.
If you are holding a Citi PM Visa card, it will be replaced by a Visa version at your next renewal (or if lost or stolen in the meantime), unless you expressly consent to switch to the Mastercard version, which Citi may or may not ask you to do.
Benefits and almost all terms and conditions remain the same between the two cards, and if you switch from Visa to Mastercard, any Citi Miles accrued will be transferred automatically to the new card.
Historically, Citi also offered an American Express version of the PremierMiles card, but this was discontinued in 2019.
- Minimum Age: 21
- Minimum Income (Singaporean / PR): $30,000/yr
- Minimum Income (Non-Singaporean / PR): $42,000/yr
The Citi PremierMiles card has an annual income requirement of $30,000 for most applicants, an accessible entry-level threshold for Singaporeans and Permanent Residents, making it widely accessible.
Annual Fees & Interest Rates
- Annual Fee (principal): $194.40 (first year free option)
- Annual Fee (supplementary): Free
The annual fee for the Citi PremierMiles card is $194.40. An unlimited number of supplementary cards on your account are free of charge.
This will increase marginally to $196.20 from 1st January 2024, due to an increase in GST by the Singapore Government.
There is currently an option to waive the annual fee and hold this card free for the first year, but this means you won’t be eligible for the main sign-up bonus, and will get a smaller one instead.
Often it’s therefore actually worth paying this fee upfront in year one, depending on the sign-up deal offered at the time.
You’ll also receive a 10,000 miles bonus on renewal (i.e. paying 1.94 cents per mile), on payment of the annual fee each year.
Other fees and interest rates for the Citi PremierMiles include:
- EIR: 26.9%
- Interest-free period: 21 days
- Minimum payment: 1% (or current balance if < $50)
- Late payment fee: $100
- Cash advance fee: 6% (minimum $15)
- Overlimit fee: $40
You can always request an annual fee waiver on renewal with this card, which then is at Citi’s discretion.
If your request is successful and the fee is waived, you will not receive the 10,000 Citi Miles bonus, but all other card perks are retained.
The Citi PremierMiles card earns:
- 1.2 miles for every $1 spent locally (i.e. transacted in SGD)
- 2 miles for every $1 spent overseas (i.e. transacted in foreign currency)
Here’s how that compares to some other general spend cards with similar income requirements on the market in Singapore.
Earn rates (general spend cards)
(Best to worst, September 2023)
* During June and December only, otherwise the local spend rate applies
Bonus miles promotions
Citi occasionally offers its PremierMiles cardholders the opportunity to earn bonus rates for specific spend categories. Recent examples include:
- March – August 2021: Uncapped 4 mpd on Food Delivery and Home Entertainment spend
- November – December 2020: Up to 4 mpd on all online spend, dining, clothing and electronics transactions, capped at $10,000 (40,000 miles)
- May – June 2020: Up to 4 mpd on selected spend, capped at $1,000 (4,000 miles)
- September – December 2019: Uncapped 1.5 mpd on local spend
While it’s certainly not guaranteed, and offers have dried up recently, you should certainly be able to expect one or two bonus miles earning opportunities each year with this card.
While many of these deals are no better than you can get with other 4 mpd cards year-round, the benefit here is being able to divert spend away from those cards and onto the Citi PremierMiles card during the promotion itself, to free up the monthly caps on 4 mpd cards and maximise your miles earning for a month or two.
Bonus miles on Kaligo and Agoda hotel bookings
The Citi PremierMiles card has two bonus miles earning rates for hotel bookings via online travel agents.
- 10 miles per $1 spend on hotel bookings at Kaligo.com. This can be a very nice miles top-up with no upper cap if you can find a competitive rate. The bonus is credited immediately on making payment. See full T&Cs.
- Up to 7 miles per $1 spent on pre-paid hotel stays with Agoda. The bonus is credited within two months of departure from the hotel. See full T&Cs.
Kaligo and Agoda deals work by sharing some of the commission they receive for each hotel booking with you in the form of miles. Since a ‘middle man’ is involved, it often means paying more than the best available rate for the stay.
You can therefore be getting anything from a terrible deal (buying miles well in excess of 2 cents each), a good deal (buying miles at closer to 1 cent each), or an excellent deal (when Kaligo or Agoda practically matches the best available rate, but still awards miles).
The key thing to remember is to make sure you do the maths before committing.
While both of these deals technically have end dates, they always seem to be renewed each year and can therefore be considered long-term year-round offers.
Spend-and-get promotions (buy cheap miles)
Another great thing about the Citi PremierMiles card has been the introduction of occasional ‘spend and get’ miles offers – which allow you to buy miles at competitive rates, by meeting a spend threshold and on payment of a fee for the bonus miles.
These have included:
These can be great deals to participate in for a healthy miles boost for a competitive fee, if you can meet the spend threshold during the promotion period, which can range from $3,000 to $14,000 in 2-3 months.
The Citi PremierMiles card is one of the few general spend cards on the market in Singapore that throws in some complimentary lounge visits each year.
This takes the form of a Priority Pass membership, with two complimentary entries in each calendar year. Subsequent entries in the same calendar year are charged at US$32 (US$35 from 1st October 2023).
You get two lounge visits every year, regardless of whether you pay the card’s annual fee, or achieve a fee waiver.
Only principal cardholders are eligible, but you can guest someone into the lounge if you wish, by using your second complimentary entry, or by paying the entry fee.
For example if you took a solo trip in June and accessed a Priority Pass lounge using this membership, then travelled with your partner (non Priority Pass member) in November that year, you would be eligible for free entry on that second visit, but you would have to pay US$32 (from October 2023 US$35) for your partner to use the lounge.
On other hand if you skipped the lounge in June, both you and your partner would be eligible for complimentary access in November, though this would then use up both of your visits for that year until they reset with a fresh two in your account on 1st January the following year.
Once you’re a cardholder, you’ll have to register online for instant Priority Pass membership via the Citi Mobile app and Priority Pass phone app, by following the instructions provided at the following links:
Full terms and conditions are also available at those links.
There are a few other perks with the Citi PremierMiles card, the key benefits which will be of most interest to our readers are:
- Complimentary travel insurance when you pay for your round-trip air ticket, or pay the taxes and fees on an award redemption ticket, using your Citi PM card. The complimentary travel insurance will be underwritten by HL Assurance Pte Ltd (policy terms here).
- Citi World Privileges, available to all Citi cardholders. These include restaurant, shopping and lifestyle benefits plus up to 10% cashback at Booking.com (Visa cards only).
- Up to 14% fuel savings at Shell.
Citi is currently offering a competitive sign-up bonus miles offer for the PremierMiles card, allowing you to score 30,000 bonus miles with payment of the annual fee and a minimum spend of only $800 in the first two months, for applications through to…
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Read More: Citi PremierMiles Card Review (2023)
2023-09-03 04:56:21
