At&t access cards
From Travel Strategies
Citibank Credit Cards
Citibank Webpage
ThankYou Rewards Guide
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Annual Fee
No annual fee
Typical Signup Offer
10,000 ThankYou Points
$1,000 initial spend
($130 net value, .13/$)
Signup Bonus ChartBonus Categories
2x Online Retail and Travel (≈3%)
2x AT&T Purchases (≈3%)
1x Everywhere Else (≈1.5%)
3% Foreign Transaction Fee
With the ability to earn 2x ThankYou points with the Citi Double Cash Card and the lack of an ability to upgrade to the ATT Access More version, there isn't really any reason to get this card.
Until the change to the Double Cash card, it was a good way to add 2x rewards on online purchases to your ThankYou account, but now there is an easy way to earn 2x rewards on all purchases.
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Introduction to ThankYou Points
The points you earn from this card can't be transferred to airline partners, unless you also have a Citi Prestige or Premier card.
ThankYou Rewards is the name of Citibank's own rewards program. ThankYou Rewards Guide.
- ThankYou points can be transferred to many different frequent flyer programs. his gives you the flexibility to take advantage of award space on over a hundred different airlines. In many cases, you can choose to book a flight through one of several different partner programs, allowing you to take advantage of whichever program requires the fewest miles and fees for your trip.
- ThankYou Rewards occasionally offers promotional transfer bonuses. When the promotion is active, you'll get extra airline miles when you transfer your ThankYou Reward points to a specific airline. For example, if Citibank is offering a 40% bonus for British Airways, you'll receive 14,000 British Airways points for every 10,000 ThankYou points you transfer. See Take Advantage of Transfer Bonuses to Get More Value from Your Reward Points for more information or visit Frequent Miler’s Current Transfer Bonuses page for a list of current (and past) promotions.
- You can also "cash out" your points at 1 cent each. Citi Premier and Prestige customers can very easily convert their points to cash.
- If you have the no-annual-fee Citi Rewards+ card, you get a 10% rebate on your points redemptions. This is capped at to your first 100,000 points of redemptions each year. For example, if you transfer 50,000 points to British Airways, you'll get 5,000 points back. This gives you an easy boost of 11% to point values, regardless if you convert your points to frequent flyer tickets or cash them out.
- We value ThankYou points at 1.5 cents each. Because you can take advantage of award space and "sweet spots" from many different frequent flyer programs and the occasional transfer bonus, ThankYou points are generally worth more than any single type of airline miles. If you highly valuable premium-cabin award tickets, ThankYou points are worth even more. But because Citibank has a weaker set of airline partners, ThankYou points are typically somewhat less valuable than Membership Rewards points. On the other hand, if you expect to be able to take advantage of Turkish Airlines awards for domestic and Hawaii travel on United Airlines, they may actually be more valuable the other types of bank points. How Much are Points Worth?
- If you aren't comfortable using your points for frequent flyer tickets, they are only worth 1 cent each. Unlike Chase's Ultimate Rewards, transfer rates for hotel programs aren't very attractive, there are no fixed-value airline partners (like Southwest), and there is no cash out option for greater than 1 cent per point.
Collecting the Signup Bonus
- This card is primarily interesting for its bonus rewards on online spending, not for its signup bonus. After subtracting the annual fee and the opportunity cost of using the card for $point of spending, the calculated net value for the initial year is $10000 (Expression error: Unrecognized word "point". cents per dollar spent). It isn't very much, but it is better than nothing..
- The good news is that, although this card earns ThankYou points, you are still eligible for the bonus, even if you recently opened or cancelled one of the regular ThankYou reward cards. Normally, Citibank restricts your ability to earn multiple bonuses from cards in the same "family". But, even though it earns ThankYou points, the AT&T card is not considered to be in the same family as the Citi Prestige, Premier, and Preferred cards.
After subtracting the opportunity cost of using the card for $1,000 of spending, the calculated net value of the sign-up is $130 (13 cents per dollar spent). Your value may be higher or lower, depending on how much you value the points. Introduction to 'Transferable' Reward Points
Other Notable Benefits
None.
Bonus Categories
- The AT&T Access Card earns the highest possible reward rate at many online merchants. The regular version of the card earns 2x ThankYou points, with a base value of 1 cent each. But, when used with the Citi Prestige or Premier cards, you can transfer your points to frequent flyer programs, as you need them, to get free airplane tickets. This raises the value to around 1.5 cents each, or 3 cents per dollar. You might be able to get more at certain stores with other cards, but this is the best you can do at many online merchants. Best Credit Cards for Retail Purchases.
- You can no longer upgrade to the discontinued Access More version. This card has an annual fee buy earn 3x points, rather than 2x points, on online purchases.
- Citibank no longer offers any purchase protections. If these are important to you, you are better off choosing another card, even if it earns a slightly lower reward rate. Automatic Protection for the Things You Buy with Your Credit Card.
- While the card earns bonus rewards on travel (bought online), you can usually do better with one of the better cards for travel spending. However, very few cards earn more valuable rewards that the Access More version of the card. Best Credit Cards for Travel Spending.
- You can also earn bonus rewards on purchases from AT&T. If you're a customer, this makes the card even more worthwhile.
- You don't want to use these cards for your everyday spending. You'll earn higher rewards from a good general-purpose reward card. Get a Great General Purpose Reward Card and Use It for All of Your Spending.
Getting Rid of the Card
If you want to get rid of this card, consider converting to a no-annual-fee Citi Dividend card, which earns 5% on the first $6,000 of spending each year in a rotating set of categories.