(First Year Free)
Transfer
(10,000 miles)
Annual Fee
Partners
10 mpd on Kaligo
Here’s The MileLion’s review of the Citi PremierMiles Card, launched all the way back in July 2007 and still going strong.
Initially positioned as a premium product with a minimum income requirement of S$80,000 (cardholders were even invited to join Citigold for a year, with a reduced AUM requirement!), this eventually gravitated towards the mass market, and today is available to anyone who meets the MAS-mandated minimum of S$30,000 per annum.
But unless you’re a snob, more accessible doesn’t mean less desirable. With a solid welcome offer, a wide variety of transfer partner and lounge access, the Citi PremierMiles Card can be a very compelling tool in your miles kit regardless of SES.
However, with the nerfing of Citi PayAll, I wouldn’t consider this card to be anywhere as essential as this time last year.
Let’s start this review by looking at the key features of the Citi PremierMiles Card.
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| Apply Here | |||
| Income Req. | S$30,000 p.a. | Points Validity | No Expiry |
| Annual Fee | S$196.20 (First Year Free) | Min. Transfer | 10,000 Citi Miles (10,000 miles) |
| Miles with Annual Fee | 10,000 | Transfer Partners | 11 |
| FCY Fee | 3.25% | Transfer Fee | S$27.25 |
| Local Earn | 1.2 mpd | Points Pool? | No |
| FCY Earn | 2 mpd | Lounge Access? | Yes: 2x Priority Pass |
| Special Earn | 7 mpd on Agoda 10 mpd on Kaligo | Airport Limo? | No |
| Cardholder Terms and Conditions | |||
The Citi PremierMiles Card was originally issued on the AMEX, Mastercard and Visa networks. However, the AMEX version was discontinued in 2019, and since April 2020 all new cards have been issued on the Mastercard network only.
Existing Citi PremierMiles Visa Cards remain valid, and will continue to be replaced/renewed unless you expressly consent to switch to the Mastercard version.
| ❓ What happens to my Citi Miles if I switch? |
| If you switch from the Visa to the Mastercard, any Citi Miles accrued on the Visa will be automatically transferred to the new Mastercard account. |
In any case, there’s very little difference between the Mastercard and Visa. We’ll be referring to the Mastercard version in this review, but everything said here applies to the Visa as well unless explicitly stated.
The Citi PremierMiles Card has a minimum income requirement of S$30,000, the MAS-mandated minimum.
If you don’t meet the income requirement, it may be possible to place a S$10,000 fixed deposit with Citibank and get a secured version of the card, with a credit limit of roughly 80-90% of the fixed deposit amount. Visit a Citibank branch if you’d like to explore this option.
| Principal Card | Supp. Card | |
| First Year | S$196.20 (or waived, with smaller welcome bonus) | Free |
| Subsequent | S$196.20 | Free |
The Citi PremierMiles Card has an annual fee of S$196.20 for the principal cardholder, and no fee for supplementary cards.
Cardholders can request a waiver of the first year’s annual fee, although this means they will only be eligible for a smaller sign-up bonus (see next section). Assuming you meet the definition of a new-to-bank customer, I’d strongly recommend paying the first year’s annual fee to enjoy the bigger sign-up bonus.
Annual fee waivers are at the discretion of Citi, and in my personal experience are fairly easy to obtain.
Should a waiver not be granted, paying the annual fee gets you 10,000 miles in return, which means buying miles at ~1.96 cents each. That’s certainly not the lowest price you can buy miles for, though it could still be worth it for some depending on how much you value a mile.
From now till 31 July 2024, new-to-bank Citi PremierMiles Cardholders can choose between two sign-up offers:
| ❓ New-to-bank Definition |
| New-to-bank customers are defined as those who do not currently hold a principal Citi card, and have not in the 12 month period before application. Debit cards, supplementary cards and corporate cards do not count. |
The S$800 must be spent within the first 2 months after approval, otherwise known as the qualifying period. The qualifying period runs from the approval date and two full calendar months following that. For example, those approved on 15 August 2023 will have until 31 October 2023 to meet the minimum spend.
In other words, you actually have 2-3 months to hit the minimum spend, and should apply as early in the month as possible to maximise your time.
For the full details, refer to the following post.
If you already hold any principal Citi credit card, or cancelled one in the past 12 months, there is no sign-up bonus available to you. You will automatically be granted a first year fee waiver.
| 🇸🇬 SGD Spending | 🌎 FCY Spending | ⭐ Bonus Spending |
| 1.2 mpd | 2 mpd | 7 mpd on Agoda 10 mpd on Kaligo |
Citi PremierMiles Card members earn:
1 Citi Mile is worth 1 airline mile, so that’s an equivalent earn rate of 1.2 mpd for local spending, and 2.0 mpd for FCY spending.
These were once respectable rates for its segment, but in recent times, the HSBC TravelOne Card, DBS Altitude Card and OCBC 90°N Card have leapfrogged the PremierMiles.
| 💳 Earn Rates for General Spending Cards (income req.: S$30K) | ||
| Cards | Local Spend | FCY Spend |
 UOB PRVI Miles | 1.4 mpd | 2.4 mpd |
 HSBC TravelOne Card | 1.2 mpd | 2.4 mpd |
 DBS Altitude | 1.3 mpd | 2.2 mpd |
 OCBC 90°N Card | 1.3 mpd | 2.1 mpd |
| Citi PremierMiles | 1.2 mpd | 2 mpd |
 StanChart Journey | 1.2 mpd | 2 mpd |
 AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend | 1.2 mpd | 2 mpd* |
 AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card | 1.1 mpd | 2 mpd* |
 BOC Elite Miles | 1 mpd | 2 mpd |
 KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card | 1.2 mpd | 1.2 mpd |
| *In June and Dec only, otherwise 1.1 mpd | ||
All FCY transactions are subject to a 3.25% fee, which is par the course for the market.
| 💳 FCY Fees by Issuer and Card Network | ||
| Issuer | ↓ MC & Visa | AMEX |
| Standard Chartered | 3.5% | N/A |
| American Express | N/A | 3.25% |
| Citibank | 3.25% | N/A |
| DBS | 3.25% | 3% |
| HSBC | 3.25% | N/A |
| Maybank | 3.25% | N/A |
| OCBC | 3.25% | N/A |
| UOB | 3.25% | 3.25% |
| BOC | 3% | N/A |
| CIMB | 3% | N/A |
With a 3.25% fee, using your Citi PremierMiles Card overseas represents buying miles at 1.63 cents each.
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| Citi x Kaligo |
| T&Cs |
Citi PremierMiles Cardholders who make hotel bookings through Kaligo by 31 December 2024 will earn an uncapped 10 mpd. The booking can be made for any future stay date.
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| Citi x Agoda |
| T&Cs |
Citi PremierMiles Cardholders who make hotel bookings through the special Citi x Agoda landing page by 31 December 2024 (with stay date up till 30 April 2025) will earn an uncapped 7 mpd.
Do note that hotel prices for bookings made through Kaligo or the Citi x Agoda website may be inflated, compared to other channels (what’s going on is that Kaligo/Agoda are simply rebating some of the commission they receive from the booking in the form of miles).
It might still be worth it, depending on the price difference and how much you value a mile. Think of it like buying additional miles when booking a hotel.
While both of these offers technically have end dates, they have been perpetually renewed for the past few years and can be considered evergreen until further notice.
Citi Miles are credited when your transaction posts, which generally takes 1-3 working days.
Here’s how you can work out the Citi Miles earned on your Citi PremierMiles Card.
| Local Spend | Round down transaction to nearest S$1, then multiply by 1.2 Round to the nearest whole number |
| FCY Spend | Round down transaction to nearest S$1, then multiply by 2.0 Round to the nearest whole number |
This means the minimum spend required to earn miles is S$1. Because of this rounding policy, the Citi PremierMiles Card can potentially outperform a “higher-earning” card like the UOB PRVI Miles Card, depending on transaction size.
| Citi PremierMiles Earn rate: 1.2 mpd | UOB PRVI Miles Earn rate: 1.4 mpd | |
| S$5 | 6 miles | 6 miles |
| S$9.99 | 11 miles | 6 miles |
| S$15 | 18 miles | 20 miles |
| S$19.99 | 23 miles | 20 miles |
| S$25 | 30 mil es | 34 miles |
| S$29.99 | 35 miles | 34 miles |
| S$35 | 42 miles | 48 miles |
| S$39.99 | 47 miles | 4 8 m iles |
If you’re an Excel geek, here’s the formulas you need to calculate:
| Local Spend | =ROUND (ROUNDDOWN (X,0) *1.2,0) |
| FCY Spend | =ROUND (ROUNDDOWN (X,0) *2,0) |
| Where X= Amount Spent | |
For the full list of formulas that banks use to calculate credit card points, do refer to these articles:
The full list of ineligible transactions for Citi Miles can be found in the general Citi rewards T&Cs.
I’ve highlighted a few noteworthy categories below:
For the avoidance of doubt, Citi PremierMiles Cardholders will earn rewards for CardUp transactions, though they may prefer to use Citi PayAll instead.
Citi PremierMiles Cardholders will also earn miles when they pair their card with Amaze, but since Amaze converts all transactions to SGD, they’ll be earning at the 1.2 mpd local rate.
| ❌ Expiry | ↔️ Pooling | 💰 Transfer Fee |
| No expiry | No | S$27.25 per conversion |
| ⬆️ Min. Transfer | ✈️ No. of Partners | ⏱️ Transfer Time |
| 10,000 Citi Miles (10,000 miles) | 11 | 24-48 hours (for KF) |
Citi Miles never expire, so long as your card account is kept open. This isn’t a license to hold on to them indefinitely (since all airline frequent flyer programmes will, over time, devalue), but does give you some breathing room.
Citibank has a policy of not pooling points across cards.
If you have 12,000 Citi Miles on the Citi PremierMiles Card and 25,000 ThankYou points on the Citi Rewards Card, you will have to pay two separate conversion fees. This also means that you’ll need to transfer all your points out before cancelling the card, or else forfeit them.
Citibank offers a wide variety of transfer partners, with 11 airline and hotel loyalty programmes to choose from. This includes some programmes with good value sweet spots like British Airways Executive Club, Qatar Privilege Club and Turkish Miles&Smiles.
Points transfer at a 1:1 ratio, with a minimum transfer block of 10,000 miles.
| Frequent Flyer Programme | Conversion Ratio (Citi Miles: Partner) |
| 10,000: 10,000 | |
 | 10,000: 10,000 |
 | 10,000: 10,000 |
| 10,000: 10,000 | |
| 10,000: 10,000 | |
 | 10,000: 10,000 |
| 10,000: 10,000 | |
 | 10,000: 10,000 |
 | 10,000: 10,000 |
 | 10,000: 10,000 |
 | 10,000: 10,000 |
Transfers cost S$27.25 per programme, regardless of how many points are transferred.
Citibank tells customers that points transfers will take 14 business days, but in reality it’s usually 24-48 hours for KrisFlyer, or 2-4 working days for other programmes.
If you need your points credited instantly, you can move them via Kris+ at a rate of 4,000 Citi Miles = 3,400 KrisPay miles. KrisPay miles can then be instantly converted to KrisFlyer miles at a 1:1 ratio.
| S$5 for new Kris+ Users |
| Get S$5 (in the form of 750 KrisPay miles) when you sign-up with code W644363 and make your first transaction |
There are pros and cons to this:
Pros
Cons
If you choose to do so nonetheless, do remember that it’s a two-step process:
Do not forget the second step! If you wait more than seven days, or spend any of the converted KrisPay miles via Kris+, the entire balance will be stuck in the Kris+ app. KrisPay miles expire after six months, and can only be spent at a poor ratio of 150 miles = S$1.
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| Registration |
The Citi PremierMiles Card offers cardholders two free visits per calendar year, via Priority Pass.
Note that the allowance is tracked by calendar year. This is notably different from most other travel cards, which award free lounge visits by membership year.
In other words, if you get a Citi PremierMiles Card towards the end of the year, you could enjoy four lounge visits in quick succession (e.g. in December then January, since your allowance resets on 1 January).
Only the principal cardholder is entitled to this benefit. Lounge entitlements can be shared with a guest, but once you exhaust your free visits you’ll be charged US$32 per additional visit.
Here’s how this compares to other cards in its segment.
| Card | Network | Free Lounge Visits (per year) |
 AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend | Plaza Premium | 4X |
| HSBC TravelOne Card | DragonPass | 4X |
| Citi PremierMiles | Priority Pass | 2X |
 DBS Altitude | Priority Pass | 2X (Visa Version Only) |
| StanChart Journey Card | Priority Pass | 2X |
| AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card | N/A | N/A |
| BOC Elite Miles | N/A | N/A |
| KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card | N/A | N/A |
| OCBC 90°N Card | N/A | N/A |
| UOB PRVI Miles | N/A | N/A |
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| Citi PayAll |
Citi PayAll is a platform that allows Citibank cardholders to pay various types of bills and earn rewards points. 23 different categories of payment are currently supported:
You’ll need to pay an admin fee, but historically speaking, Citi PayAll has run promotions that upsized the earn rate or threw in additional Grab vouchers, making it almost too good to be true- once up on a time we were buying miles at just 0.8 cents each!
Unfortunately, Citi has dialed back the generosity. Its recent promotion for income tax season reduced the cost per mile to “only” 1.31 to 1.62 cents apiece, while the PayAll service fee has been hiked to 2.6%.
Given the standard Citi PremierMiles earn rate of 1.2 mpd, this means you’ll now be paying 2.17 cents per mile outside of a promotion. That’s way too high in my opinion (at the previous 2.2% fee the cost was 1.83 cents per mile, which was already pushing it).
For what it’s worth, Citi PayAll transactions will count towards the minimum spend for welcome offers and other promotions, provided the service fee is paid.
I’ve written a comprehensive guide to Citi PayAll, so be sure to check out the article below.
Complimentary travel insurance is offered by numerous cards, but not all policies are made equal. Some offer bare bones coverage, others are much more comprehensive.
Fortunately, the Citi PremierMiles Card falls into the latter category. Its HL Assurance-underwritten policy offers up to S$1,000,000 for accidental death and permanent disablement, S$40,000 for medical expenses, S$100,000 for emergency medical evacuation, and coverage for travel inconveniences like lost or delayed luggage.
COVID-19 medical expenses and hospital allowance are also provided for.
Coverage is activated when you use your Citi PremierMiles Card to pay for your round-trip airfare, or to pay for the taxes and surcharges on an award ticket.
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| Apply Here | |||
| 🦁 MileLion Verdict | |||
| ☐ Take It ☑ Take It Or Leave It ☐ Leave It |
Last year, I argued that the Citi PremierMiles Card just about snuck into the “take it” category, but a large part of that was owing to the insane Citi PayAll promotions we were seeing.
With those looking like a thing of the past, and the service fee now at an all-time-high of 2.6%, this drops squarely into the “take it or leave it” bracket, like any other general spending card.
On the plus side, it offers non-expiring Citi Miles that transfer to 11 different airline and hotel partners, two lounge visits per year, and reasonably good travel insurance. However, this is tempered by the fact that the earn rates are middling and Citi doesn’t pool points.
All in all, I don’t think I’d consider it essential anymore. If you’re after transfer partners, you’re better off spending with the Citi Rewards Card and its 4 mpd for almost all online transactions, and if it’s lounge visits you’re after, the HSBC TravelOne Card offers double the allowance and a bigger welcome offer for the same annual fee.
So that’s my review of the Citi PremierMiles Card. What do you think?
