By Citi AT&T Access Credit Card Review (2020.12 Update: 15k+$100 Offer)
2020.12 Update: The new offer is 15k+$100. HT: FM. I’m quite surprised that Citi and AT&T can still remember there’s such a card and improved its sign up bonus… Note that this card is NOT the famous Citi AT&T Access More card that’s discontinued.
Application Link
Benefits
- 15k+$100 offer: earn 15,000 ThankYou Points (TYP) after spending $1,000 in the first 3 months; plus, earn $100 statement credit after spending $250 on AT&T in the first 3 months.
- We estimate that ThankYou Points (TYP) are worth about 1.6 cents/point, see below for a brief introduction. So the 15k+$100 highest sign-up bonus could be worth about $340.
- Earn 2 ThankYou Points per $1 spent at AT&T and “online purchases at retail and travel websites”, 1 ThankYou Point per $1 spent on other purchases.
- According to FlyerTalk and other forums, “Online purchases at retail and travel websites” includes, but not limited to the following stores: Amazon, Ebay, Mileage Plus X (MPX); Online at retail and travel websites” does NOT include Apple.
- No annual fee.
Disadvantages
- It has foreign transaction fee, so it’s not a good choice outside the US.
Introduction to TYP
- You can earn TYP with Citi Prestige, Citi Premier, Citi Rewards+, Citi ATT Access More, etc.
- You can add all these cards into the same thankyou.com account, and points that are about to expire will be redeemed first in the order in which they expire automatically.
- In most cases, TYP never expire. But closing account, product change, or receiving points from other people may cause TYP on that account to expire.
- If you have Citi Prestige or Citi Premier, TYP can be transferred to some airline miles. The best way to use TYP is to 1:1 transfer them to Asia Miles (Oneworld) or Avianca (AV) miles (Star Alliance). Other good options are: Singapore Airlines (SQ) (Star Alliance), Flying Blue (SkyTeam), Virgin Atlantic (VS) (Non-alliance), etc. If you use TYP in this way, the value is about 1.6 cents/point.
- If you have Citi Prestige, you can redeem your TYP at a fixed rate 1.25 cents/point towards air tickets on thankyou.com. This is a common way to use TYP. Points+cash is available when redeeming for air tickets, so no need to worry if you do not have enough TYP.
- If you have Citi Prestige, or you use the “Student Loan Rebate” trick, then you can redeem your TYP at a fixed rate 1 cents/point towards cash.
- In summary, we estimate that TYP are worth about 1.6 cents/point.
- For more information about TYP, see Maximize the Credit Card Points Values (overview), and Introduction to TYP: How to Earn & Introduction to TYP: How to Use (very detailed).
Recommended Application Time
- [1/24 Rule] Bonus ThankYou Points not available if you have had any AT&T Access card or AT&T Access More card opened or closed in the past 24 months. Note that this card does not affect other TYP series cards.
- [8/65 Rule] You can apply for at most 1 Citi cards every 8 days, and at most 2 Citi cards every 65 days, no matter approved or not.
- Citi values the number of recent hard pulls a lot, we recommend you apply when there’s less than 6 hard pulls in the past 6 months.
- We recommend you apply for this card after you have a credit history of at least one year.
Summary
Both the sign-up bonus and points earning ability are just so-so, so it’s not worth much applying. But it is a good card as a downgrade option. If you convert your cards that earns TYP (such as Citi Prestige, Citi Premier, etc.) to this card that also earns TYP, your TYP won’t expire; on the other hand, if you convert them to cashback card such as Double Cash (DC), the TYP you earned will expire in 60 days. Compared to Citi Rewards+ that can also earn TYP, the benefit of this card is the 2x bonus category is broader.
Related Credit Cards
Note that, when people talk about Citi AT&T credit card, they usually refer to the Citi AT&T Access More that basically gives you a free phone and has an annual fee. This no annual fee version is a different card, it does not give you a free phone. The different on the card design is on the orange “More” text.
After Applying
- Call 888-201-4523 to check Citi application status.
- Citi reconsideration backdoor number: 605-331-1698. This is a so called “Citi EO” (Executive Office) phone number. This phone number is not designed to make reconsiderations, but the representatives are really helpful.
