Citi ThankYou Cardholders: Check Your Mail for These New Spending Bonuses

If you’re holding a Citi ThankYou card that used to be the Sears SYWR card, you might want to check your mailbox and your online account. Citi has started sending out targeted spending bonuses for the August through October period. These aren’t available to everyone, and there’s no public link to enroll—you’ll need to be one of the chosen ones. But if you’ve got one of these offers waiting, it could be a nice way to boost your rewards over the next few months.

What’s in the mail?

Citi has been sending out these targeted offers through regular mail, so keep an eye on your physical mailbox. If you’ve tossed the letter, don’t worry—you can also check your online account’s offers tab. Sometimes these deals show up there even if you didn’t get the mail or you’ve already recycled it.

The offers are pretty straightforward, but they’re not universal. One example floating around is earning 12X bonus ThankYou Points each month when you spend $1,500 or more on eligible travel and entertainment purchases. You can earn up to 19,500 bonus points per month with that one. Another offer gives you 8% back in statement credits each month, up to $90, when you spend $900 or more on eligible purchases.

These are monthly, so you could potentially hit the threshold multiple times over the three-month period. Just remember that the bonus is capped each month, so you won’t earn unlimited rewards no matter how much you spend.

How to make the most of it

If you’ve got one of these offers, the key is to plan your spending. For the travel and entertainment offer, think about upcoming trips, hotel stays, flights, or even concert tickets. If you can naturally shift some of that spending to this card, you’ll hit the threshold without going out of your way.

For the statement credit offer, it’s a bit more flexible—$900 in eligible purchases is easier to reach with everyday spending like groceries, gas, or utilities, depending on what Citi counts as eligible. Just make sure you read the fine print to know which categories qualify.

One thing to keep in mind: these offers stack with any other deals you already have on the card. So if you’ve got a previous spending bonus or a category bonus, you can combine them. That’s a nice little boost if you’re already using the card regularly.

What to watch out for

First, this is targeted, so not everyone will see the same offer—or any offer at all. Don’t be disappointed if you don’t get one. Second, the eligible purchase categories matter. Travel and entertainment might not include everything you think it does, so double-check the terms.

Also, the monthly cap means you shouldn’t overspend just to chase the bonus. If you’re already planning to spend that amount, great. If not, it’s not worth going into debt or buying things you don’t need just to earn a few extra points.

Finally, keep in mind that this is for the Citi ThankYou card that used to be the Sears SYWR card. If you’ve got a different Citi card, these offers might not apply. And if you’re thinking about the new First Bank card that’s taking over the SYWR program, we haven’t seen similar deals on that yet, so this might be a last hurrah for the old card.

Bottom Line

• Check your mail and your Citi offers tab to see if you’re targeted.
• You can earn up to 12X points or 8% back each month, but only up to a cap.
• These offers stack with other deals you already have on the card.
• Don’t overspend just to hit the threshold—stick to your normal budget.
• The new First Bank card doesn’t have similar offers yet, so this could be a limited-time opportunity.

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