Today we’ll take a hard look at the brand new “Citi ThankYou 2G Card,” which promises to change credit cards forever.
Okay, maybe Citi doesn’t promise that, but the company is certainly throwing out words like “revolutionary.”
Gone are the days of boring pieces of plastic folks. The Citi ThankYou 2G Card has a built in processor and fancy LED lights, yet it remains the no larger than an ordinary credit card.
Citi ThankYou 2G Comes With Two Options
We’ll spare you the suspense and tell you what this new credit card actually offers.
In short, it has two buttons on the front of the card, one referred to as “Regular Credit,” and another named “Request Rewards.”
Before you swipe the card, you can choose which way you would like to pay for your purchase, simply by pushing one of the aforementioned buttons.
Once you do so, a corresponding light will illuminate and Citi will know how you desire to pay for your purchase.
It’s really a new, and relatively simple way to redeem ThankYou Points, instead of having to redeem them online or elsewhere.
Assuming you select the “Request Rewards” option, and have a minimum of 10,000 Citi ThankYou Points in your account, the swipe will lead to a $10 statement credit toward your purchase.
Is It All Flash, No Substance?
But here’s where things get murky. Even if you select “Request Rewards,” every purchase made using the Citi ThankYou 2G Card will post as a normal credit transaction.
You won’t see $10 deducted off the sale at the store, but rather, you will see a credit statement post to your account within 1-2 billing cycles. Say what?
That’s right. Your credit card will operate just like any other credit card, but in a month or two, you’ll get a $10 credit. So it’s not really reducing the cost of your purchase right there and then.
It’s simply notifying Citi that you want to redeem $10 in ThankYou Points, which seems like a bit of a letdown.
If you press the “Redeem Rewards” button and haven’t earned an adequate number of ThankYou Points, the purchase will simply go through like a regular credit transaction.
And if the total cost of the purchase is more than $10, the remaining amount of the purchase will be processed like a regular credit transaction.
Finally, you can’t use the 2G technology online, as it only works when being swiped, so that’s yet another limitation.
The good news is the battery life of the credit card is expected to last for as long as you hold onto the card!
At the end of the day, while it sounds like a good idea, most cardholders will probably be better served redeeming their ThankYou Points online.
The only positive may be easier redemption, though you may stare at your Citi ThankYou 2G Card in confusion every time you pull it out of your wallet, wondering which option you should choose. And worry that it will malfunction along the way.
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