Citi Forward Credit Card: Signup Bonus, Rewards, and More
Editor’s Note: This limited-time offer has expired.
Citi has rolled out an interesting new Visa-branded card called the Citi Forward® card. If you’re in the market for a new credit card, this one appears to offers a nice combination features, including a generous bonus, and up to five ThankYou points per dollar spent at restaurants and on books, movies and music, and there’s no annual fee.
Signup bonus
Citi Forward® cardholders earn 10,000 bonus points after $650 in purchases and when you sign up for Paperless Statements in the first three months.
Promotional rates
Another nice feature of the Citi Forward® card is that it offers a 7 month introductory period with 0% on purchases and a 12 month introductory period with 0% on balance transfers from date of first transfer when transfers are completed within 4 months from date of account opening. Interest Rate 12.99-22.99% variable rate.* The only real downside here is that there’s a 3% balance transfer fee.
Credit card rewards
In addition to the bonus, the Citi Forward® card offers five ThankYou points for every dollar spent on books, movies, music, and at restaurants. For all other purchases you get the standard one point per dollar.
All in all, this card looks to be a nice complement as compared to other offers reward credit cards that offer up to 5% rewards on gas and groceries, some restrictions and limitations may apply.
Bonuses for good behavior
In addition to the above, Citi will give you 100 bonus points every month that you: (1) stay under your credit limit, and (2) pay on time up to a maximum of $1,200. They’ll also reduce your APR by 0.25% whenever you make a purchase, stay under your credit limit and pay your bill on time for three consecutive months. You can do this up to eight times, for a total reduction of 2%.
The APR reduction is a non-issue for us, as we never carry a balance. The extra 100 points every month is, on the other hand, a nice touch. Not a huge deal, but I certainly wouldn’t turn them down.
Closing thoughts
I have yet to apply for this card, but will almost certainly be doing so. After all, it’s hard to turn down a 5 ThankYou points on restaurants and books, movies and music. Given our spending patterns, this card would be a great fit alongside our primary reward credit card AmEx Blue Cash.
Disclaimer: Discover is a paid advertiser of this site.
Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate information. See the Discover online credit card application for full terms and conditions on offers and rewards.
Modified on April 11th, 2013 - 4 Comments
Filed under: Credit Cards
About the author: Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!
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May 2nd, 2009 at 5:10 am
I think the card below is the “Richest” rewards card the Citibank offers. I realize it comes with a $125 fee after the first year – however – I plan on calling and asking for the fee to be waived or I will cancel the card. I got this card last June and have been loving all the points I’m earinging.
Citi® Platinum American Express® Card
Earn 15,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after $300 in purchases
5 ThankYou Points for every $1 spent on purchases made at supermarkets, drug stores and gas stations and 3 ThankYou Points per $1 spent on all other purchases for the first 24 months; 1 point thereafter
No Annual Fee for 12 months, $125 thereafter
May 6th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
I also have an AmEx card that started out paying 5% cash back for fuel purchases, but then stopped doing so about a year ago. Do you have any advice on how to negotiate just to get the initial rewards back? Thanks.
May 8th, 2009 at 10:23 am
This credit card seems to be the only card I’ve seen that is rewarding good credit behavior. I have seen people in the last six months who pay their bills on time get their credit lines reduced and have their interest rate increased. To me it seems that the Forward Card is the best card out there for people who pay their bills on time.
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:45 pm
Long shot here, but wondering if you have any experience with how Amazon AWS charges show up ( http://aws.amazon.com/ ). I rack up quite a hefty bill through them each month- would be significant if those got counted as a “book” purchases!