Citi Forward Card Review: Credit Card Rewards
Special Bonus Offer: Citi Forward Credit Card’s Free $100 Sign Up Bonus
As part of my ongoing hobby of applying for free credit card rewards and pocketing introductory bonuses that make themselves available, I recently applied for Citibank’s new Citi Forward Card. Simply for signing up, I earned sufficient credit card bonus points to swap for a free $100 gift reward card to the retailer of my choice (I picked Best Buy). Although I have not yet tried, I would imagine that if one were a college or graduate student, one could also simultaneously apply for the nearly identical Citi Forward Student card as well, and receive another free $100 gift card upon sign up – for a total windfall jackpot of $200.
The Citi Forward – Marketed As A Reward Credit Card That Promotes Responsible Credit Use
This new Citi Forward Visa credit card that Citibank is introducing is marketed as an enlightened approach to the promotion of responsible credit card use. Along with its offerings of a 0% balance transfer rate and credit card reward earning potential, the card also touts a litany of lower interest rate opportunities for card members who can demonstrate mature credit use with timely payments.
However, as always when it comes to new credit card offers, I urge interested individuals to tread carefully. Credit card companies aren’t being naturally generous or altruistic when they offer lucrative cash back credit card reward opportunities such as this. Just because they offer a card that features great cash back reward opportunities and no annual fees that highly favors savvy card users doesn’t mean the card issuers aren’t still motivated by ulterior motives. Remember, their driven purpose in the market is to profit from the credit card interest charges and late payment fees that they hope you will rack up. If you’re a shopaholic, compulsive addict, or an irresponsible credit abuser, my advice is to stay away from credit cards altogether. However, if you’re a responsible credit user with a high FICO credit score, you can most definitely beat them at their game and profit greatly from the generous sign up bonuses, introductory 0% APR periods, and free money opportunities that they dangle in front of you. If you can handle the card usage responsibilities and not succumb to late payments or maxed out balances, good credit score consumers will benefit greatly from the Citi Forward’s extra bonus features that reward smart credit use.
Citi Forward Credit Card’s $100 Sign Up Bonus
For credit card sign up reward seekers, the new Citi Forward card offers the equivalent of a free $100 store gift card just for signing up, with extra points to spare.
Upon card registration, new cardmembers receive 6,000 Citi ThankYou bonus points after making at least $50 in card purchases within three months of receiving the account. Agreeing to forgo paper monthly statements in favor of electronic credit card billing statements within 3 months of account opening will net you another cool 5,000 ThankYou bonus points. The 11,000 instant Citi ThankYou points you reap simply by signing up for the Citi Forward card can be exchanged promptly for a $100 gift card or swapped for a much more versatile $75 prepaid Visa Card (as good as cash).
Get 5% Rewards On Credit Card Purchases Via ThankYou Points
The Citi Forward card is a very high earning reward card with a 5x reward earning rate at special category vendors. With the Citi Forward, you earn 5% back (5 points per $1 spent) on restaurant purchases, books, movies, music, and 1% back (1 point per $1 spent) on everything else. Big cashback reward card fans will notice that the reward structure is remarkably similar to the highly touted Citi mtvU, one of the best student credit cards out there. However, unlike the Citi mtvU card, the Citi Forward is available to all applicants, and not just college students. However, like the popular Citi mtvU student card, the Citi Forward, with its high 5% reward rate for restaurant visits, dining out, and coffee shop purchases – the card is one of the best card offers out there at the present time for those who eat out often (as I frequently do).
Another very important aspect of the Citi Forward’s reward program is that the 5% reward rate on books also includes popular online retailer Amazon.com (interestingly treated as a bookstore for Citi credit card reward purposes). Want to buy a simple personal finance book or even purchase something more expensive like a desktop computer via Amazon.com? You can earn 5% cash back by utilizing your Citi Forward Card. Frequent Amazon.com users like myself will benefit greatly from this high reward earning loophole.
Citi credit cards run their card rewards off of the Citi ThankYou network. Those of you who want to know more about the steps that I take to maximize my ThankYou network points to get the best point to cash, and point to gift card redemption rate should read my Citi ThankYou point article. While it’s not easy to get a perfect 1:1 conversion rate for reward redemption when it comes to gift cards and pre-paid debit offers, it is possible to get incredibly close to the mark via higher denominational value retail store gift certificates.
Get Extra Low Interest Rates For Paying Your Credit Card Bills On Time
One of the novel features of the Citi Forward card is its promotion of special bonuses for those who adopt good card usage behaviors. Designed to encourage good credit usage among consumers, the card offers a unique reduction of your purchase interest rate whenever you pay out your bills on time and responsibly stay within your maximum account spending limit. According to the specifics of the Citi Forward program for good credit behavior, you get an extra 100 bonus ThankYou points every billing period and a 0.25% interest rate reduction every time you manage to stay under your credit line and pay on time for 3 months in a row (for a maximum limit of 8 times, for a total 2% APR reduction). While it’s something that you ought be doing anyway regardless of reward incentives, it’s always nice to get a little something extra for your efforts.
Along with the responsible credit usage incentives, there is also an intro 0% APR offer on purchases and a 0% balance transfer deal for 6 months – features that may interest the zero percent fee card seekers out there. As some have noted, while there is no annual fee for the card, there is a 3% charge for balance transfers however.
May 11th, 2009 at 12:55 am
Well I thank you VERY much for the post about the Citi-Forward card, you might want to also indicate that while all these benefits are well and good, there is STILL a balance transfer fee to consider with this particular card — which was a dealbreaker for me, personally. While I would get $100 for signing up, I would also have paid $175 in balance transfer fees.
Thanks for a great site!
May 11th, 2009 at 2:09 am
Hi Gary,
Thanks for reminding me about the balance transfer fee. You are correct – the Citi Forward does feature a 3% fee for balance transfers, so while the $100 bonus money for signing up would be nice, it may be negated by the transfer charge if you were to decide to participate in the 0% balance transfer offer for 6 months.
Of course, one way to get around it somehow would be to utilize the 0% purchase offer instead. There are no associated fees or penalties required to take advantage of 0% APR charges for the introductory period. But then, the problem with interest free offers has always been finding a way to use them on pre-existing credit card charges…
May 18th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
I’m a big Citi Card credit card fan. Pretty much all of the cards I have in my wallet are Citi branded cards. I like the fact that I can pool my Thank You reward points into one basket for future reward redemption purposes. I’ve been eying the 5% cash back benefits of the Citi mtvu card for some time now but because it was a student credit card (and I’m not a student), I have not been able to qualify despite my futile attempts at posing as a grad student. They actually do require verification of college or graduate student status, which is why I was prevented from qualifying for the citi mtvu. (Don’t judge me!)
Which is why I’m so excited about this Citi Forward card…it has the 5% reward rate for restaurant purchases (which is my biggest expense as well…just like you). Plus, the best part is that it’s available to all applicants and not just students.
My only concern is….is this card offer one that will legitimately stay around for years or is another one of those Citi card offers that will appear for a while and than get pulled after a few months. I have bad memories of my old Citi Dividend card. The Citi Dividend used to offer an astounding 5% cashback rate for groceries, drug stores, and gas purchases…but eventually had to cut back to 2% after it no longer became profitable for Citibank.
May 19th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Can’t tell what’s the difference between the Citi Forward Card For Students and the Citibank mtvu card. Both offer pretty much the same card rewards for spending and both are limited to college students. If they are the same, I’d rather go with the Citi Foward…. there is just something odd and sorta childish about carrying around a credit card that says mtv on it. Besides the Forward card at least offers the $100 sign up gift card promotion.
May 31st, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Thomas,
I don’t think there is any difference between the two cards except the free $100 gift card offer with the Citi Forward Card. I’d suggest going with the Citi Forward Card instead – the MTVU card simply screams “I’m a kiddy”. I think it would be embarrassing to carry something like that around, although it really shouldn’t matter what you carried around in your wallet. It’s not like credit cards are really supposed to be status symbols or something. I think the Black Card folks would disagree obviously