One of my favourite things to do is to travel. What makes travel even better is when you can use airline points to pay for your airfare and/or hotels for free! I use my Citi Prestige card to accumulate and save for airline points which I use for more extravagant trips in business or first class. Its an awesome way to see the world and feels that much better knowing you’re getting a free ride! I recently upgraded from a Citi Premier Miles to the Citi Prestige credit card and thought I would write a short credit card review to compare them both as at June 2022.

Update May 2023: I’ve now switched to the new DBS Vantage Card. Click here to find out why!

Overview

The Citi Premier Miles and Citi Prestige cards are my two go to cards for travel point accumulation in Singapore.

For a lot of expats the Citi Premier Miles card is the first port of call for a Singapore travel rewards card. It has great benefits and the annual fee is pretty reasonable (you can even ask for it to be waived, but forgo bonus points if you do).

For those who travel a lot and actually use the features of the Citi Prestige card, it’s worth the big jump in the annual fee (which cannot be waived). I’m really happy with my Citi Prestige card and pleased I made the jump – I’ve already earned more in rebates than the card fee over 4 months.

Eligibility Criteria

Citi Premier Miles

Eligibility21 Years Old
$30,000 Income (Singaporean / PR)
$42,000 Income (Foreigner)
Fees$192.60 (inc. GST)
3.25% Foreign Currency Transaction Fee
Interest Rate26.9%

Citi Prestige

Eligibility21 Years Old
$120,000 Income
Fees$535 (inc. GST)
3.25% Foreign Currency Transaction Fee
Interest Rate26.9%

As you can see, the eligibility requirements for the Citi Prestige card are more stringent than Citi Premier Miles. The Citi Prestige card has a much higher income requirement – this alone may be your deciding/limiting factor. Don’t worry if it is though, as the Citi Premier Miles card is still a really great option.

The other major difference is the $192.60 fee for Citi Premier Miles and a whopping $535 fee for Citi Prestige. It’s important that you know the benefits which each card provides for those fees so you decide if you will get the added value.

A word of warning on the interest rate. It’s VERY HIGH and these cards are not to be used to carry a balance, purely for point accumulation and travel perks. If you don’t trust yourself to keep to a budget and use these cards with a FIRE mindset, then don’t apply for either of them. Period.

Additional Features

Citi Premier Miles

A detailed list of features is available here.

PointsS$1 = 2 Citi Miles on foreign currency spend
S$1 = 1.2 Citi Miles on local spend 
Renewal bonus of 10,000 Citi Miles on your card anniversary.
Airline Lounges2 complimentary visits to Priority Pass lounges.
Citi PayAllYou can earn points when you pay your rent, insurance premiums, education expenses, taxes, utilities and more with your Citi Credit Card.
Travel InsuranceUp to S$1 million in insurance coverage when you charge your travel tickets to Citi PremierMiles

Citi Prestige

A detailed list of features is available here.

PointsS$1 = 5 ThankYou Points (2 Citi Miles) for on foreign currency spend
S$1 = 3.25 ThankYou Points (1.3 Citi Miles) for local spend
Airline LoungesUnlimited access to Priority Pass lounges for you and a guest.
Citi PayAllYou can earn points when you pay your rent, insurance premiums, education expenses, taxes, utilities and more with your Citi Credit Card
Complementary StayComplimentary night stay when you book a minimum consecutive four-night stay at any hotel or resort. This doesn’t apply to suites. The price you pay is matched to the hotel’s website or Expedia

*UPDATE 2023* Citi now has its own internal booking platform, which has been more expensive than Expedia the last three times I’ve tried to use this benefit negating the 1 night free!
GolfSix complimentary golf games at highly celebrated golf courses in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and China
Relationship BonusGet up to 30% additional ThankYou Points for your relationship with Citibank
Citi Prestige ConciergeFrom travel and entertainment to day-to-day tasks such as organising a delivery, the global Citi Prestige Concierge can help
Haut Dining1 for 1 on high end dining – this is a really nice feature but the top restaurants sell out quickly!

For both cards, your points can be transferred (for a small fee) to many airline and hotel points programs. One really nice perk is that they never expire (though will do once you transfer to your points programme).

Clearly the features of the Citi Prestige card are more generous than Citi Premier Miles, but remember, you are paying a large yearly fee for these benefits. If you don’t use them, then you are better off with the Citi Premier Miles card.

How to Maximise Points Hacking

The first rule with either of these cards is to NEVER carry a balance. The interest rates are extortionate. The way I use my Citi Prestige card to maximise points accumulation, is to put all of my discretionary spending through the card and then pay off the balance in full every month. This way, every couple of years or so I will have enough points to fly return business class long haul which is pretty awesome!

I’ve made use of the airline lounge access when I’ve been travelling this year which is a really good perk. I have also used the complementary night perk twice already this year the value of which exceeds the annual fee. I also tried the 1:1 haute dining and loved it, though its not something I’ll be doing every month! I’ve not used Citi PayAll before as there are fees involved which I didn’t think was worth it.

Conclusion

You can’t really go wrong with either card. I personally use a lot of the Citi Prestige benefits and feel I get value for money from the high annual fee. Take a deeper dive and work out which card is best for you!

If you’ve found this review useful, and want to support this blog, feel free to apply for your Citi card using my referral link here and claim some welcome goodies from Citibank.