Citibank Prestige Credit Card Review (India)

By | September 21, 2018

Issued under Visa Infinite variant, Citibank’s Prestige credit card stands on top and provides double the benefit compared to PremierMiles Credit Card with unique travel perks that’s not with any other credit card issued in India. Similar to Citi Premier Miles card, Prestige has vast set of redemption partners and it is the card for those who want to play with air miles and International Hotel Loyalty programs.

  • Joining/Annual membership fee: Rs 20,000
Citi Prestige Credit Card india

Citibank Prestige Visa Infinite Credit Card in india

Welcome Bonus

While the Joining fee of Citi Prestige card is quite high, it also comes with equivalent benefits through vouchers and reward points. below are the joining bonus benefits.

  • 10,000 bonus air miles
  • Rs 10,000 Vouchers from Taj Group or ITC hotels

That’s equivalent to Rs.20,000 in value, provided you’re smart enough to redeem the airmiles at Rs.1 or more. That’s usually possible with long haul International First/Business Class award ticket or domestic award ticket redemption during the offer/peak period.

Reward Points

  • Value of 1 Reward Point = 4 Air Miles (with most Airlines)
  • 1 Reward point on every Rs.100 Domestic spend (~4%)
  • 2 Reward points for every Rs.100 International spend (~8%)
  • Earn up to 30% bonus points up and above your regular earn, if you are an existing Citigold or Citigold Private Client

The last point is what makes the card a super special. For example, lets say you spend 10 Lakhs on international expenses which will get you 20,000 Points normally. With 30% extra bonus, you get total of 26,000 Points which is equal to 1,04,000 AirMiles. That’s a whooping 10% value back. You may loose a bit with markup fees but still Incredible!

Well, from bank and Air-miles perspective, most of them utilize the points for domestic flight tickets or international economy tickets, which reduces the value of the point by half.

Airport Lounge Access

  • Access Via: Visa Infinite & Priority Pass
  • Complimentary Limits: Unlimited with Priority Pass (for both Primary & 4 Add-on cards)

Like with any other super premium credit cards, you may continue to use your Priority Pass even in domestic lounges.

Ongoing Benefits

  1. Two annual complimentary luxury airport services and meet & assist services at over 30 international airports within Asia Pacific region.
  2. One night complimentary stay, on minimum booking of 4 nights
  3. Elevated status on the loyalty programs – British Airways & Taj Group
  4. Foreign Exchange Markup fee: 3.5% + Service Tax

Bottomline

Though the reward rate may look eye catching, this card is only for those who can play smart with Points & Miles with Airline and hotel loyalty programs. That being said, its on my wish-list for quite a time and i hope i’ll get them someday, when the need arises!

  • Card Expert Rating: 4.5/5 [yasr_overall_rating]

Do you hold this card or wish to apply for one? Share your views in comments below.

298 thoughts on “Citibank Prestige Credit Card Review (India)

      1. Arun Kumar

        what are you views on Citi Prestige Card, there is no review on the same since 2018 and coverage post that has been non existent /patchy at best.

        Where do we place it in the super premium cards, worth it, or move to Infinia / Magnus

        Reply
    1. 747always

      Amex Plat Reserve credit card is the one youre looking for

      Reply
  1. Nipun

    Hi,

    I got the offer to upgrade but I could not dare for a Annual Membership fee of Rs.20,000 plus ST.

    Guess this is the costliest membership card they have.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Yes, but its worth it just for the Priority Pass & Taj vouchers. They’ve welcome bonus points too to justify the fee. Its for the affluent few 🙂

      Reply
  2. Hrishig

    I have this and one extra service will be airport pickup /drop in apac region which typically costs above 5k +. So if you are travelling once in a year internationally this is good card to have.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Thanks for sharing the info. Could you please more in detail as to how it works from your experience?
      This is one of the unique service which i wish to try someday 🙂

      Reply
      1. hrishig

        You need to call them in advance and book a limo for either pickup or drop at airport once in six months for free. In india they send bmw/audi/merc at metro cities. This service is not avalible in other cities. The same deal is applicable in APAC region.

        The other advantage is you can get 2 nights free stay by using some tricks.
        Citi prestige offer 4th day free when hotel booking is done by them.
        Now you select some hotel chain which is offering 5th Day free by doing 4 days booking. ( Works best for international stays)
        So in Apac region you call citi desk book such hotel for 5 days and pay only for 3 days . ( 40% saving)

        Prestiage card Customer service is the best across all the cards I have seen so far.

        In short if you are plannning / doing trips in APAC, this card you can save a lot ( Hotel+ longe+ Limo + cashback) inspite of spending 20k fee.

        Reply
    1. Dhruv

      Today, I did a detailed analysis… and Infinia wins.
      Both give you the priority pass bit.

      Infinia points however are easier earned and worth Re. 1 each when you redeem them for tickets / hotels on the infinia travel rewards portal, which gives competitive rates and does NOT even charge the convenience fee!

      Infinia has Golf and other privileges too.. like Vistara / etc. You can choose to trade points for air miles as well, but have the option.

      Also, renewals…. Infinia charges 10k (which can be waived off if you spend 8 lakhs a year … normally happens for people who are entitled this card and use it). If you do land up paying the 10k, you get 10k points which as I said is exact equivalent of 10k. rupees when booking on their portal. Prestige on the other hand takes 10k. and gives you 10k Airmiles = 2500 points of Re.1 each.

      TAJ… Infinia broke its tie up , but hardly matters because one can always buy the Epicure membership with the $$$ saved and when you buy the membership, you get a free night coupon and few extra perks like 50% cash back on first 3 swipes. I did just that.

      Foreign currency mark-up: Infinia + Regalia are the only 2 cards I have seen with a ONLY 2.5% mark–up, vs all others @3.5%

      THERE IS ONE advantage of Citi…. In some countries where the currency is not normal, like Vietnam and Cambodia… most bank cards do not work. I had a friend stuck without cash. In such places, as was the case with him, he found a Citibank and they gave him cash.

      Reply
      1. Rajeev

        Yes Bank’s Yes First Exclusive and Yes First Preferred cards have foreign currency markup fee of 1.75% the lowest I think.

        Reply
        1. Praveen Katiyar

          @Rajeev
          YFP gives you 2/3rd of reward as compared to YFE in respective category. Lets take the best case scenario with YFE.

          Its correct that on YFE Foreign Currency markup charge is just (1.75%+GST = 2.065%) but post devaluation on YFE you get 3% rewards, only if u spend on Travel/Tour/Dining/Domestic Airline category (OR 1.5% on other categories). If assuming you can spend on these categories that too in Foreign Currency, Net Gains: 3-2.065 = 0.935%. For other categories Net Loss: 2.065-1.5= 0.565%.

          But, where Infinia wins in the reward rate of 3.3% (even after FC markup of 2%+GST= 2.36% ). Hence Net Gains: 3.3-2.36 = 0.94%

          So we can see YFE is ok and comparable to HDFC Infinia on select categories only, else its a loser. YFP does not stand a chance.

          Only silver lining here is that YFP/YFE were (and possibly now also) issued LTF to many. I also had YFP and now upgraded to YFE. Infinia I think remains out of reach of many of us. Till then YFP/YFE surely is the best option.

          Reply
  3. Ojas

    I’ve been using a CitiBank PremierMiles card for a few years now and have been regular with my payments. Full repayment every month. How can i get an upgrade to the Prestige Card? I also have a CitiGold level relation with them.

    Reply
    1. Rajeev

      Just call the customer care there are high chances you will get upgraded to Citi Prestige. I got it done with decent card uses and regular payments.

      You have CitiGold relationship the chances to succeed is even higher for you. Good luck 🙂

      Reply
  4. NITIN

    Finally received the card yesterday. They have 5L credit limit. Concierge is quite helpful with hotels but encourage to book flights online. Will post my views one I use it for few months. For flight booking, I will continue to use Premier mile card as it gives better returns. Priority pass didn’t allow free guest to lounge clearly mentioned in T&C.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Congrats Nitin. Feel free to share your experience with the card soon.

      Reply
    2. ND

      To be honest I’m surprised with 5L limit for an eligible card member with 40L gross income is way too low.

      Is this the usual credit limit Citi offers on Prestige?

      Reply
      1. Sharad

        During signup, they offered 10L limit as standard. If I want to increase, they’ll need some documentation or even enhancing your relation will help!

        Reply
  5. Muhammad Abrar

    How can i redeem the CitiBank Prestige airmiles at Rs.1 or more i am looking to book a flight to San francisco from New Delhi
    Can you give any example

    Reply
  6. Guru

    I have Citibank PremierMiles card with 5L limit. I wrote to Citibank customer care asking them if my card can be upgraded to Prestige. They agreed to do so with the usual 20K annual fees. I have also written to HDFC to upgrade my Jet World card to Infinia. Awaiting their response. Accordingly will take a decision.

    Reply
  7. Akbar

    I need to apply fr hdfc infinia or citi prestige how can i.
    I hold hdfc regalia business first card and citi rewards

    Reply
    1. Prashant Gupta

      Akbar just go through respective threads and u will get ur answer.

      Reply
      1. Amol

        How can i redeem the CitiBank Prestige airmiles at Rs.1 or more i am looking to book a flight to new York from Bombay business class.
        Can you give any example

        Reply ↓

        Reply
  8. hrishig

    the advantage with citi prestiage is the help line. I am with hdfc for more than 10 years but every time I call them I feel like talking to robots/chimps. citi prestiage helpline is far far better.

    Reply
  9. Ashutosh

    Infinia and Regalia and Diners are all 2% forex mark up and not 2.5%. The lowest in the industry except DBS debit card which is 1.8%. DBS debit is an infinite visa card. (but a debit card 🙁 )

    Reply
    1. Srikrishna Raajan

      DBS debit as you have mentioned here is DBS Treasures Visa Infinite debit card which has 1.75% FCY markup but can be obtained only on opening DBS Treasures account with a minimum TRB (Total Relationship Balance) of INR20 Lakhs and above. And more over DBS is very stringent with the forex transactions and allows a transaction only it passes through VBV.

      Instead of this, YES First Preferred card would work the same with 1.75% FCY markup and I think it is not that very hard to get approved.

      Reply
      1. Abhishek Roy

        If you love to use debit card you can get a full waiver on mark up fees with IndusInd Signature Exclusive Debit Card

        Reply
        1. Swapneil

          yes using indusind signature exclusive debit card, and 0% Forex charges and 0% GST also.

          Reply
  10. Ashutosh

    And from what I know, Citibank has reduced their markup to 2.5% from 3.5%. I have the premier miles card and waiting to clock up many miles so I can take the prestige and finally convert it x 4. 🙂

    Reply
    1. Rajeev

      the point transfer will be adjusted accordingly you wont get 1 point on Prestige for 1 point on existing card.

      Reply
  11. Ankur Mittal

    The main issue with Citibank is that they don’t allow spending on credit cards for business purposes and high spendings are mostly for business purposes only.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Don’t allow in the sense, are they kind of giving warning or not honouring the txn itself?

      Reply
      1. Ankur Mittal

        Citibank called me and told that you can’t use the card for business purposes. The same is written in terms. Others have also faced similar issue.

        Reply
        1. Siddharth Post author

          This is quite sad to know. Never knew banks started limiting the spend types.

          Reply
          1. Amex Guy

            No, it’s not a transaction type. You cannot use *any* personal loan given to you as business loan. What they mean is you cannot use it in lieu of a business loan, not monthly spends you do for business. Any bank if finds out you used a personal loan to buy stuff you can sell in future (that is, a business loan) will sue you when you default.

            This does not include expenses that you will bill to your company or business.

  12. Majumdar

    Ankur,

    What is meant by “business expenses”? Does it mean that even salaried employees cannot use the card for booking expenses like tickets, hotels on official duties as well?

    Regards

    Reply
  13. J Rao

    I am thinking of buying the Citi Prestige card and had following questions:
    a) Does anyone know whether it has a similar travel portal to purchase airline tickets like premiermiles.co.in? I wonder otherwise how we can use the award points to buy airline tickets without converting them to air miles of the Airlines they only support?
    b) What is the conversion of award points to Rs. when we purchase air tickets directly? I heard this card also works at goibibo or yatra travel portals, so what would be the rupee value for 1 award point if we were to use one of these portals to buy air tickets?
    c) They talk about a rewards catalog where we can redeem their award points. Anyone has a link to this catalog?

    Reply
  14. Sonar Menda

    Hi sid, what should be the annual income to get citi prestige card?

    Reply
  15. Vikram

    Annual gross must be at least 40L to even initiate the application procedure. You cannot even apply for this card otherwise.

    Reply
  16. Amex Guy

    You can convert the 10K bonus points to 40K Premiermiles. That is 0.45*40K = 18000 rupees value. And you can use them to book whatever you want. 🙂

    Reply
      1. Amex Guy

        Actually I was wrong, you get 10000 miles, not points. You get 2500 points every year, which will convert to only 10K premier miles.

        I didn’t mean downgrading, if you have both PremierMiles and Prestige, Citi allows you to convert Prestige points to PM.

        The first revelation makes me not-so-inclined to upgrade to this. It would be worth it if it came with more higher tiered hotel/airline memberships. Amex Platinum is still where it’s at. Especially when points to hotel points conversion is still exactly same as PM. And you don’t get 4.5% return on travel sites with this.

        Reply
  17. Ajesh

    Did Citi remove the Elevated British Airways Status offer for the card ? . In their website , only Taj Silver membership status only mentioned.

    Reply
    1. Abhishek Roy

      Yes. It seems the elevated British Airways status is now gone with Prestige.

      Reply
  18. Nithish

    Do they provide 10000 taj vouchers every year on renewal , that’s what is mentioned on their website ? Any experiences ?

    Reply
  19. nithish

    Ive asked CITI bank to upgrade the card to CITI prestige and they said they cant as they dont see any offer. I have their premier miles card with 4 lakhs limit. any help on the upgradE?

    Reply
  20. nithish

    Ive called CITI bank and they said they cant upgrade my card to prestige. I then called prestige call centre and they said theyll approve the card. customer care of prestige is very good. even when i had 3.8 lakhs limit they took my request and issued the new card. I’m mainly taking this card for Ethihad miles to use it on jet airways. Ethihad miles are 40 percent less than jet airways to travel in India. so we can use 4 X conversion to ethihad and inturn use those miles in jet airways. my friends says , jet miles is 8000 for vizag to mumbai but ethihad is only 5200 . 🙂
    Not only that I’m inspired to have a premium card where im getting back the benifits of 20000

    Reply
    1. Nitin Khanna

      Hi Nithish, Can you provide the customer care number for Prestige card?

      Reply
      1. Nithish

        To apply for (or to know if you are eligible) Citi Prestige Credit card, you can contact the Citi Prestige Service line at +91-22-49181050, 1-800-419-1050 (toll free).

        Reply
        1. Rakesh

          Thanks . This info was very helpful. I called to prestige customer care no. Based on credit limit and with 10 years of relationship, my existing card is eligible for upgrade.

          Reply
    2. Ashwin

      Mumbai – Vizag is 8550 EY miles as per the latest redemption. Still I think it is good Domestic business class and even international domestic.

      Domestic business is just 2000 miles more than for economy. Chennai – Colombo is only 5000 miles which is good value.

      Another point to note is Etihad Guest status is valid for one year only.

      Reply
      1. Nithish

        Thanks Ashwini . What do you suggest the best mile to play with in prestige card ?

        Reply
        1. Ashwin

          EY is good for domestic business class and international economy. There are times (like right now) where you get 20% extra miles on transferring. You could accumulate prestige points and just when you want to travel, you could transfer and book.

          Reply
    3. Abhishek Roy

      Hi, does the income criteria of 40Lakh/annum stringently followed? Is Credit Limit also a criteria?

      Reply
      1. Nithish

        No they didn’t even ask my ITR , my credit limit is around 3.8 lakhs

        Reply
        1. Ashwin

          Can you please share what card you had with Citi? How long you had used it before getting to Prestige.

          Reply
          1. nithish

            i was having premier miles card since 1 years but citi card holder since 4 years

          2. Hari

            Eligibility for prestige card
            5 Lakhs limit on existing Citi credit card or ITR of 24 lakhs or Gold relationship with Citi bank.

      2. HP

        I am getting a prestige issued for me. The income criteria for the same is an ITR of 25L. It may be noted however that they waive the annual fee of 20000 INT if you have a Citi Gold level relationship which apparently is not published on the website but is mentioned by the sales team of Citi. Time to move my Imperia relationship from Hdfc to Citi as the fools are unwilling to issue an infinia to me!

        Reply
        1. Amex Guy

          The waiver is for Citigold Private Client, not Citigold. That requires 5 cross NRV with Citi, vs 75 lakhs for Citigold.

          Reply
  21. Nithish

    Guys I just got a prestige card , can someone share which would be the right miles to play and accumulate with citi prestige . Thanks

    Reply
    1. Pawan

      Try BA avios they don’t as long as your account got activity. Cathay Pacific is good for availability but miles expire in 3yrs.
      It also depends on where you want to travel?

      Reply
  22. Saugata Halder

    For Citi Prestige does one know the hotel chains that fall under the one night free offer on booking for nights?

    Reply
  23. Amex Guy

    I had a long chat with my Citigold RM today to upgrade, and here is the criteria:

    1. 25 lakhs in account (Cash, not NRV).
    2. 40L ITR.
    3. Internal limit (not sanctioned limit) of 6 lakhs and above for Citi cards 2 years old and/or, 10 lakhs and above for cards less than 2 years old.

    The internal limit is something that Citi would allow you if you ask, or up to which they will offer you to upgrade on regular basis. Typically for 6 lakhs internal limit, the sought after income criteria is 15-20 LPA. For 10 lakhs, it is 30L and above.

    If any of the above criteria is met, their system will take the upgrade request, otherwise it won’t.

    This card is not free for Citigold, only for Citigold Private Clients which require an NRV of 5 crores and above. Knowing citi, even if it is 4.99 crores on renewal month they will slap a fee. PremierMiles remain the only free card for Citigold, only if the NRV is over 75 lakhs in renewal month. I’ve gotten PM renewal fee slapped for a few lacs missing from my NRV, so Citi is pretty strict on that.

    I upgraded to this card today. I had a PM card with 12 lakhs limit. They are converting PM to Prestige points at 45%, effectively 4X-ing my miles. 40K PMs = 18K Prestige points = 72K air miles. Otherwise, 40K PMs would have given 20K air miles. They charge annual fee for first year on pro-rated basis. So getting this card after six months of your renewal month will only have 10K fee for first 6 months, but you still get all 20K benefits. Which is a pretty neat hack.

    Good luck everyone.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Thanks for your valuable inputs. Might help the Prestige Chasers!

      Reply
    2. Amex Guy

      More updates — They refunded the PM card annual fee they charged earlier this year on prorated basis as well. They have not taken back renewal bonus though, which has been converted as described to Prestige points. I love this bank!

      Essentially making this card 8000 for the first 6-ish months for me, while giving me full sign up/renewal benefits of both cards.

      Reply
      1. HP

        if you have citigold level relationship with mrv of 75L you shouldn’t have paid anything for premiermiles in the first place. Also they are offering prestige free of annual charges if you have citigold level relationship. As I mentioned earlier it is not advertised in the website but it is offered through the Bank sales team. In any case it is clearly mentioned that premiermiles comes free with citigold relationship on the website, hence I am surprised that you are paying charges for the same!!!

        Reply
        1. Amex Guy

          I am Citigold since 2013 so I know their rules very well. The way it works is, PM is only free if your are Citigold and NRV is fully maintained in renewal month. I’ve had a year where is was 2-ish lacs short (still Citigold, you don’t suddenly lose the status with a few months of shortfall) and they did slap a fee. Read the fine print.

          The card is not free for Citigold. Trust me at the point I am with them (almost tending to private client), they would give me if possible. Don’t just listen to sales agents, most of whom can’t distinguish between Citigold and Private Client. Confirm it with Prestige Line before applying. They are the ones levying the charges. Even some Citigold RMs are not quiet sure about how Prestige works, given how few people opt for it. Always confirm. 🙂

          Reply
          1. HP

            This is based on the info I was given by the executives manning the prestige desk. It is plausible that the same is in the works but they have confirmed in written that prestige is being rolled out LTF for Citi gold level relationship and this is coming from the prestige desk and not Citi gold RM. You may want to recheck with them once on this.

          2. Majumdar

            Amex Guy,

            Trust me at the point I am with them (almost tending to private client)

            Wow! Rich man!

            Jokes apart, earlier they used to convert PM to Prestige at 2PM = 1 RP or 50% conversion ratio. Are you saying now they have reduced it (marginally) to 45%?

            One obvious advantage of Citi Prestige is the 1+3 unlimited PP. But with Infinia and Yes Excl, which come much cheaper than Prestige, does it make sense to subscribe to it. Or would it better to have Yes Ex + Citi PM?

            Regards

          3. Amex Guy

            @Majumdar.

            Yes, they have reduced it marginally. They basically convert based on cash redemption. 1 PM = 0.45 rupee and 1 Prestige point = 1 rupee.

            Sorry for late reply. Just saw this. 🙂

          4. Ajesh

            Got the Citi Prestige free for first year , with Citi Gold . 🙂

          5. Karan

            I’m planning to open a CITI Priority account. I’m moving my funds from YES BANK which is useless in comparison to the privileges that come along with CITI Priority. I just wanted to ask you (AMEXGUY) if banking with CITI is safe? I know it’s a renowned international bank but given how the banks in India are performing these days, how bank insolvencies/bankruptcies are rising, is it a safe option in the present scenario of banking in India to move funds to CITIBANK (which is a foreign bank outright). Is the bank credible enough? I don’t want a bank to run away with my money. How long have you been with them, can I trust CITI?

        2. Amex Guy

          Please make sure you have a signed acknowledgement of LTF offer from agent if you’re being given a targeted offer. Also, Citi’s LTF offers (at least for PM and Prestige) still give you annual benefits without fee, unlike other banks, which is why they are strict. So check if that’s the case or not. Because 10K airmiles with occasional 50% bonus offers from Citi get you 15K airmiles. Add to that 10K hotel vouchers, you get 25K benefit for 20K fee. So with an LTF offer with no benefits, you’re essentially losing 5K every year.

          Make sure your LTF offer is hook free.

          Reply
    3. nithish

      Hi Amex guy,

      I have a limit of 3.8 lakhs PM and they upgraded the card to prestige. I’m wit them since 5 yrs. i think they consider overall relationship than credit limit

      Reply
      1. Amex Guy

        Nitish, your internal limit might be over 6 lacs, especially since you have their cards for long. Ask for a limit increase or wait for offer. With Prestige and PM cards, expect 1.5X limit increase every 6 months until you hit your internal max limit. Your next limit increase will take you to 5.7 lacs.

        Reply
        1. Venkat

          They recently upgraded my PM to Prestige. Limit <3.5L. Have held it for 12+ yrs (first IOC card, then PM…). Have never asked them for a credit limit increase – they've slowly increased it once every two years or so roughly… Also, got a refund for unused months of PM – wasn't expecting that!

          Reply
          1. Amex Guy

            I’d ask for increased limit if I were you. Also, don’t miss the ongoing Avios offer. 🙂

    4. SH

      Hi Amex Guy,

      Do you know what hotel chains in india form part of their 4th night complimentary offer? I get a corporate discount on most of the chains. Can I club those offers?

      Reply
      1. Amex Guy

        I’m yet to use the hotel benefit, given that I’ve had this card only for a few days. 🙂

        The way I understand it is that it used to be a benefit only for Visa Luxury hotels, but now you can use it to book any hotel that you can typically book on other third party travel booking sites. I can confirm it with Concierge.

        I doubt you can use the discount. How is that availed to you? You need to book hotel through concierge. If it is a chain discount, they can apply it. If it is a loyalty program based, they can apply it, since you still earn hotel rewards when booked through Citi’s concierge. If you give more details, I’ll ask them specifically. 🙂

        Reply
        1. SH

          Thanks for the clarification. If the 4th night complimentary is available for all inventory (or at least most of it) that is available on third party sites, then it makes sense for me. Will wait for your clarification on that in this forum.

          To come to your second part of the question, most of the hotel chains (Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG etc.) allow one to use a corporate code when booking direct (you will have to show an id card at the time of check-in). That has several benefits: reduced rate, free cancellation (up to 24 hours prior), free breakfast and wi-fi. If one is an elite member then one can club those benefits as well (so late checkout, lounge access, complimentary upgrades etc.). So my question is if one can club the Citi Prestige 4th night complimentary on reduced corporate rates then that is a winning combo, and makes a lot of sense who can avail the corporate discounts. Otherwise one has to do a cost-benefit analysis on a case-by-case.

          As always thanks for all the information that you pass on to us. Most informative.

          Reply
    5. Anshul

      The criteria has changed now. I recently swapped my premier miles to prestige.
      You need to have atleast INR 3 lakhs credit limit in your existing card. This is the limit assigned to you and printed in your statement. In case you hold 2 Citi credit cards with a total limit of more than INR 3 lakhs, then you can get your limit aligned/transferred so that one card has atleast INR 3 lakhs. Post that it can be swapped to Prestige.

      Reply
    6. Akshat

      That’s interesting.

      Can you keep both the premier miles and prestige cards?

      If you do a rough calculation you can earn 1.8 times the amount you would on prestige if you keep on transferring PM to prestige points.

      Reply
  24. Venkat

    @ Amex Guy – (replying here as I guess the commenting system doesn’t allow nested comments) In two minds about converting to Avios. Have accumulated a whole bunch of Prestige points thanks to Citi’s generous PM conversion, and wondering how best I can use that… Avios redemption rates for some Asian destinations (planning a holiday for next year) I checked are terrible… Do you reckon it still makes sense?

    On credit limit – yea, never felt the need, sometimes utilization ratio might have taken a hit, but credit scores are good. Let’s see if their frequency/quantum of credit limit upgrades changes since this is a premium card…They’ve never asked for a payslip in a decade (closed my salary account then), so they probably think I still earn what I do then… Hence the low limit… 🙂

    Reply
  25. hrishig

    I guess the 50% avois offer is now over, there was 30% offer on jet also which is now Over.

    I do not work with citi 🙂 but will tell you what just happened to me using prestige
    1) Convert your points to AVOIS using promotions ( like 50%) . ( 2500 points*4= 10k*1.5= 15000k AVOIS )
    2) Now don’t convert /use AVOIS using BA as there rates are pathetic, use partner airlines. I was able to get a deal on Qatar airways business class germany to bombay by paying 16k taxes , same time BA was happily asking 35+k in taxes for economy class ticket
    keep searching and you may get good deal
    3) You can use 4th night free offer for many hotels, I used mine on Ibis as well as on Marriott. ( min saving of 5k-15k INR depending on hotel). (Marriott recently ran offer book for 2 nights and get 3rd night free )
    4) Cherry on the top is the free unlimited airport lounge access to me + 4 more family members.
    What more you want.?

    Make sure not to use this card when abroad due to high forex charges. Till dec 17 you can use dinners black which will give you 10X reward points

    Yes it feels bad when you pay 20k+ taxes on yearly basis , but if you use it properly prestige is good card.

    Reply
  26. gkcards

    Any update on if this card if offered LTF to citigold (not private client) customers?

    Reply
    1. S&S

      Hi
      It is currently being offered first year free for citi gold (not private client) said citi prestige sales guy in hyderabad.
      He said they will find ways to make it free succeeding years too…
      Just first year free bait may not be good enough to con citi golds to stay on and validly so too 🙂

      Btw: Got prestige with add on and pp for my wife…
      Pathetic experience to get it though.
      Inept and indifferent sales guy for starters…after I had indulged him.
      He had promised I’d get it in 5 days… Got it in just under 3 weeks!
      Calls to prestige line escalated matters.
      The delay put paid to my hopes of using it on an intl trip…
      Hope to make amends in december though 🙂

      S&S

      Reply
      1. MG

        Hi S&S,

        What is the process for add on application? Can you give it to non-relations? Is it strictly necessary to have the add on member reside at the same address?

        Reply
  27. nithish

    Right now Thai airways is giving an offer to get ACCOR membership for 25000 points ::) just converted exactly 25000 points to thai membership and redeemed for ACCOR membership which is totally worth it with a complimentary room anywhere in Asia Pacific . I love Prestige

    Reply
    1. Amex Guy

      You made a mistake. Accor only allows one membership, either ibis business or accor plus. With ibis business, which only costs like 80 euros, you get bumped to Accor Gold tier. You get a room as a welcome benefit. You also get room upgrades, depending on where you stay.

      Now that you’ve bought Accor Plus, you cannot buy ibis business and won’t get any other benefits like Accor Gold tier and ibis discounts.

      I sincerely hope you did not burn 25000 Prestige points (around 1 lac value) for a membership that costs $150.

      Reply
  28. Jay

    regarding the 4th night free- are bookings made directly with the hotel or through an ota such as makemytrip. I ask this because I don’t want to miss out on my hotel loyalty points. Thanks

    Reply
    1. Amex Guy

      You have to book through concierge. At least on Marriott and SPG properties, you get loyalty points just fine. Can’t say about others as haven’t used them. You can call the hotel ahead and ask them before booking.

      Reply
  29. Rishm

    Hi, I have gone through most of the comments as I am inclined to dump my AMEX Plat Reserve for Prestige. My request for Prestige has been accepted (I am not Gold or Pvt client). My spend is at least 10L pa and since my corporate Diners card moved to basic AMEX corp card, I miss the unlimited domestic & international louge access, although my current role doesnt require extensive travel.

    I am willing to pay for Prestige type of card and consolidate ‘all’ my spends on one card (both Diners & AMEX arent well accepted still and I land up using Citi reward card or Manhattan as secondary cards) but I still do not fully understand the ‘direct’ benefit (read: returns) of the 20k+tax fees for the 10k hotel voucher (this part is understood) but the 2500 reward point isnt really covering the direct benefit, right? Some of you do find it worthwhile but I am still not sure. I do understand that 2500 points is equal to 10k air miles, but isnt 10k miles is far from the Rs 10k as returns?

    So do I conclude that there isnt a direct benefit (return) of the first 20k +tax fees but it is compensated by 4th night hotel offer, the airport transfer and lounge access OR am I missing something?

    Reply
    1. Amex Guy

      10k airmails can easily be 10k rupees if you know how to use them. If you book for J or F, it can be far more valuable than 10k rupees. Look at redemption options via Etihad, BA, Cathay, Alaska. Also, I am yet to see a card globally that can accumulate miles as fast as the Indian Prestige.

      It’s only less than 10k if you redeem it for domestic carriers. You have to fly at least J to get to 1 rupee valuation.

      You also get 5 unlimited PP and 2 meet and greet services, which is easily a 35,000 benefit if you buy it at discounted market price.

      Reply
  30. Gkcards

    If u just consider 10k hotel voucher and 2500 points, which are immediate benefits, which comes to 12.5k. Fees is 20000+gst, which is 23600. So we are paying around 11100 as annual fees. But then it offers Taj epicure membersip, 4th night free, limo twice, priority pass for addon. So I think worth the fees, strongly more if you take vacations of 4 nights at least once a year.

    Reply
  31. nithish

    YOU WOULD GET TAJ EPICURE MEMBERSHIP. THE BEST PART IS 1:4 CONVERTION OF REWARD POINTS. SOMETIMES THEY RUN PROMO TO CONVERT REWARD POINTS WITH DOUBLE OFFER. SO YOU CAN ALSO GET 1:8 WHICH IS GREAT.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Can i have more info on this Double offer? Looks like i’m hearing it for the first time.

      Reply
      1. Amex Guy

        There are on and off offers, Sid. Like in October, you got 50% bonus Avios. So effectively it is 1:6.

        Reply
  32. Sahil

    Can anyone elaborate on how 10k miles = 10k Rs. by booking flight tickets. Also, as per my understanding and discussions with Customer Care the Priority Pass access is for unlimited use for both primary and add on cards.

    Reply
    1. Amex Guy

      You should look into Avios, Cathay, Etihad. Also, if you can hack your way around getting points to Alaskan, getting a transatlantic flight. All these are economy. Pick one alliance, with *A or one world, and stick to it like your life depends on it. Using Avios intra-europe. Using Avios on Cathay, Japan Airlines, and Malaysian. Using Etihad to book 9W. Using Avios to book intra-USA flight. There are literally hundreds of ways to get more than Re. 1 for a mile while redeeming economy.

      Almost any program will give you over Re. 1/ mile in J and F. If you’re looking for domestic carriers only, I’ll strictly stick to a Jet card instead.

      Reply
      1. Sahil

        What is the meaning of J and F and 9W???…are these class of tickets while booking flights. also, should i for for a dedicated Jet card…I am already having prestige and hdfc diners cards…i think citibank is the best card for booking flights and hotels…and by your explanation it seems it is better to redeem the Prestige points while travelling abroad.

        Reply
      2. Rishim

        Amex Guy,
        Can you please suggest any links or portals that help better understand how to use / hack the air miles?
        I have almost 200k Amex points & 66k Avios that I would like to use for a trip to the Nordics later this year.
        Thanks!

        Reply
  33. RAHUL BANSAL

    Does the free epicure membership also comes with the complimentary night stay as is available with paid epicure membership?

    Reply
  34. nithish

    Also Singapore airlines krisflyer always have 1 reward points =1 rs. these days i’m converting only to Krisflyer and using on airindia

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Is that giving a good value?

      I’m planning to redeem the opposite way – AI Miles on SA. Any good routes in that case?

      Reply
  35. Ram

    Guys, is there any cc in India that has partnership with any 1word airlines.. For me *A makes sense since we have both AI and Lufthansa partnered cards in India

    Reply
    1. Amex Guy

      No. ICICI had BA card, Amex Plat gave Marco Polo Gold, but both those are now gone. Citi and Amex transfer to oneworld airlines. Recently, Diners added BA as a partner. With their 10X promo, it is safely the easiest way to accrue miles on oneworld.

      *A does make sense a lot in India, especially if you also travel locally a lot, because most airline lounges are on *A, including GVK. Since it becomes unlikely for Jet to join any alliance each passing day, it will probably remain the same way for a few years.

      Apart from status, I find *A to generally be lower on ROI than oneworld. YMMV.

      Reply
      1. Ram

        Thanks bro. Agreed on transferring from other cards. The only reason I am inclined towards One world is bcoz of Qatar. Except Emirates (who’s not on any alliance) none can come closer to the service in Qatar. J or F service is exceptional is Qatar. Are would aware of any *a airlines who can come close to Qatar in J or F

        Reply
  36. Rishm

    Amex Guy, Gk Cards, Nithish & Sid: thank you for your revert!

    I will go ahead signing up for Prestige and will land up using it as the ‘primary’ card after years with AMEX.
    Btw, I have about 162k points on AMEX gold charge card and about 30k point on the newly acquired AMEX Plat Reserve.
    So far, I have found the gift cash card option of Amex Gold as the best (easiest) way to redeem points although have used points for domestic economy travel as well. Also found the Amex Plat Travel very rewarding and easy to consume the reward points. Clearly, I need to educate myself on how to better make use of the reward points.

    Reply
  37. CitiPrestigeUser

    Hi, I have been using the citi prestige card for a few months now. Had a premier miles with 12L limit, almost 4,00,000 miles on PM, converted to around 1,80,000 points on Prestige. Got an additional 5.2 lakh airline miles (PM coverts at 0.5 ratio) just by changing my card.

    Prestige is by far the best card according to me.

    I have booked 1 round trip business class ticket to China and 2 to Bali (using SQ miles). Have used the fourth night 4 times (almost USD 1,000 benefitsas each free night was around USD 200-250). Used the limo service in Perth and Shanghai (E class car). Used the meet and assist at Shanghai and Perth (which saved over 30-45 mins in immigration and customs lines).

    For someone still evaluating based on annual fee, if you even travel 3-4 times a year, you will definitely earn back more than your fee.

    I’m happy to share any additional information to help someone out.

    PS: I’m getting the annual fee also waived as I’m a Citigold private client

    Reply
    1. Arnab

      Hi, I have a query. I have both the DCB & YFE cards. Recently have been thinking to convert my Citi PM to Citi Prestige. My lounge access and regular points benefits are more than covered by DCB & YFE. Looking to Prestige just for the 4th night free and Meet & Assist services (perhaps for Epicure too). Regarding the 4th night free I know that the Prestige Concierge use hotels.com for rates. But do they also book the rooms at hotels.com? I have loads of points and elite status with a few international chains and I wouldn’t want to loose out on the room points by letting the Concierge book at hotels.com. I know for a reason the US Prestige Concierge books the rooms at the hotel website itself and so the room points are credited as usual. What’s the deal with the Indian version? Any response will be highly appreciated.

      Reply
      1. CitiPrestigeUser

        They book using the hotel website, don’t think you would get points for the stay in my opinion

        Reply
    2. SHARAD BANSAL

      @CitiPrestgeUser, when you reedemmed using SQ for Bali, what were fuel surcharges you paid? Is there any good airlines with low fuel surcharges?

      Reply
  38. AQ

    Happy New Year everyone!

    How does the Citi Prestige reward rate compare with HDFC Infinia? Are there other credit cards with a higher reward rate on MC/Visa network?

    Reply
  39. RAHUL BANSAL

    Anybody having experience on 4th night free, can they tell how are the rates offered by prestige team compared to Makemytrip or goibibo.

    Also can anyone please shed light on the fact that how the 4th night is treated if we use the offer like “stay for 2 nights 3rd night free from hotels side itself”. I mean if we use this offer than we get 3 nights at the rate of 2 and since it is 3 nights, will the citi prestige provide 4th night free??

    Reply
    1. CitiPrestigeUser

      The booking is done on hotels.com, so you should be able to see the rates for yourself. Quite Transparent. Only issue they might not have access to all rates (Eg breakfast included, all inclusive, etc)

      Reply
  40. Saurabh

    I applied for CITI Prestige (applied just to check my eligibility) and got approved. My annual income is 10L and I have CITI Premier Miles card with 3.2L credit limit. I have other cards also like Amex Platinum Travel, SBI Elite, Yes Preferred & IndusInd Legend. My transactions are mostly in Indian currency and my travelling is in domestic only. Should I go for CITI Prestige card?
    Thanks.

    Reply
    1. Sharathkumar Anbu

      If you not gonna use your Priority Pass, I would say avoid Prestige card. If you are paying 20K fees, You should be able to reap value out of it. If not Don’t go for it.

      Reply
  41. Ajesh

    Got the Prestige free today with a 10L limit . Tried to book a Europe flight with Citi Prestige Concierge. Totally waste!!. They don’t have any direct quotes from Airlines. Instead they quote from Thirdparty vendor , non refundable fares which are higher than direct airline. Also they don’t have any fare options which are refundable. They advised me to book directly from airline site, if refundable fares are required. Also the quotes were atleast 10K costlier than airline website.

    Have applied for Amex Platinum . Will see if their Concierge is better in terms of airline bookings.

    Reply
    1. Rishm

      I have been with AMEX since 2002, although haven’t used their concierge extensively but with 2 recent interactions with Prestige concierge, I can tell you that AMEX is way ahead.
      I had called Prestige concierge to understand the 4th night free offer & I already find it cumbersome > first select hotel at hotels.com > then call citi concierge > they will check 4th night eligibility (offline) > then revert the availability. What if the hotel is not participating? Whole process repeats!

      I was surprised why isn’t there a better / faster way or a self service option.

      Btw, the hotel charge of such booking will be in USD.

      Reply
          1. Sharad Bansal

            This link is not working anymore with VISAFREE1 code. Do we know if we can still book this online

    2. MR

      Do update us when you get the card on how the concierge is. Test out some tasks for instance.

      I’ve been told citi conierge is as good as Amex platinum charge. But I feel I’ve been sorely misled, as they were not able to even deliver flowers on valentines day citing full bookings. Dunzo rescued me with the flowers and was much cheaper too.

      Reply
  42. Sharathkumar Anbu

    Does anyone know how many kilometres of travel in Luxury vehicle is covered under Meet and greet services (Complimentary)?

    Reply
    1. S&S

      Hi Sharath
      This benefit, you must already know, is available only in Asia Pacific.
      It ranges from 15kms (Phnom Penh) to 80 kms (Tokyo Narita).
      In India (Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai only) 40 kms is the freely allowed traveling distance.
      Type in ‘visa promotions apac airport transfer’ in Google and you’ll get to a page with all the details.
      Hope this helps 🙂

      S&S

      Reply
      1. Sharathkumar Anbu

        Thank you so much. It was quite helpful.

        Your help is appreciated 🙂

        Reply
  43. Venkat

    Anyone who’s booked the fourth night offer, of late? I checked with the concierge and they are clear that points won’t accrue for booking thro’ them. And I seem to be getting a better offer thro’ the hotels.com link than what the concierge is offering…

    Reply
    1. Raghav

      What do you mean by point wont accrue,, which points? hotel loyalty or citi points?

      Reply
  44. Ravi

    Dear Rishm & others:

    I have been using Amex Platinum Reserve for the last 10 years and not impressed with it, possibly not utilised it well. My average spend is around 12L per annum and evaluating a better card. Possibly citi privilege or HDFC card. Spend around 20% abroad and most of expenses are around travel and shopping. Not a golfer hence that’s not a prerequisite and I’m a jet platinum member as well. Considering the above can you recommend a good card.

    Reply
    1. Gkcards

      How about HDFC diners black (points+lounge access for primary card) and yes exclusive (priority pass for add-on)? If you have other card which will take care of add-on lounge access, just get only diners black and do all spends on that

      Reply
  45. Ninad

    Hi. I’m a citibank premiermiles credit card holder for the last 6 years. I want to upgrade to prestige. My annual itr is 15lakhs. My credit limit with PM is 3.1 lakh. What are chances of me succeeding in getting an upgrade. I do few domestic and 2 to 3 international visits a year, so i feel Prestige card may be good for me. Can you people give your valuable advice
    Thanks

    Reply
    1. Ram

      I upgraded from PM to prestige when I had 3 lakh limit on a 6 year old relationship with Citi. I had used IO card for 5 years with 36K as limit. One fine day after 5 years, I applied for a limit enhancement when my salary was 90K PM and citi jumped me to 3L limit on my IO card. Within 6 months of jumping my limit I upgraded from IO to PM to Prestige

      Reply
  46. S&S

    Hi guys
    Citi Prestige seems to have dropped all but Taj from their list of hotel conversion partners.
    Carlson went out on June 7 as per CP rewards page.
    Not sure if IHG exit was ever notified officially.
    (Strangely tnc pdf continues to have ihg… Possibly an older version).
    CP going chop chop so often with massive rewards cuts, and still being at 20k + GST pa, is quite ridiculous in my view.
    Here’s hoping sanity returns, soon.

    Cheers
    S&S

    Reply
  47. Captain Bishuddha Bharatiya

    Citibank do not issue credit cards in my city. Recenty I went to Kolkata and applied for First Citizen Citi Credit Card. They quickly took my KYC and processed my application ( without any income documents ). My CIBIL is only 771 and even than they gave me the card. The credit limit is 75k. I am very surprised to get the card approved as everyone here has mentioned that its difficult to get citibank card in the first attempt. Now my question is that can you guys please suggest me what should be my perfect strategy to get limit enhancement in future. Citibank card holder’s comment will be highly appreciated.

    Reply
  48. Gkcards

    Read on twitter, rumours that Citi Prestige maybe discontinued or come back in new avatar? This is not India specific Prestige news (or rumour)

    Reply
  49. A Singh

    Long time reader, but commenting for the first time. I’ve been a Citi credit card holder since 2007 (had a salary account with Citi at my first job) and for years I’ve had the Prestige card on the top of my wish list. Slowly and steadily I upgraded my credit card to the Premier Miles card, which was great, but again, the Prestige was always the one I wanted. I thought it would be a while before I had a high enough NRV with Citibank before I would be eligible for the Prestige, but after reading the comments here, I just called up the Prestige helpline and they approved my application within a day! It was a quick call and they never asked for any documents. I think Citibank gives a lot of importance to someone if they’ve been a card holder with them for a while.
    I had a credit limit on my PM card of under 3.5L, which stayed the same after converting to Prestige (gonna work on bringing that up next). All my existing miles on my PM card were converted to Prestige points at: 1PM mile = .45 Prestige point. However, the 4 times miles more than makes up for it, which is why I always wanted it.
    Received the card today and made a few calls to their customer service, so far seems at par with that at Amex, but maybe it’s too soon to say. So far so good.
    Other than the Prestige, I have two Amex (Jet Airways and Membership Rewards) and SBI Elite. Not sure which one to go for next.
    Thank you CardExpert and all those who suggested this method 🙂

    Reply
    1. PT

      That seems like to be the reason, I had CITI rewards card since 2013 and have used it sparsely. The limit of the rewards card was paltry 1 lac, lowest among all the cards I have, the second lowest being 2.8lac. 5 months back I upgraded it to PM but the limit remained unchanged .Last week I sent out a mail to increase the limit and after submitting documents it was increased to 3 lac, On that very day I asked an upgrade to Prestige and on the next day it was approved. I believe citi bank value long term relationship more than the credit limit on the existing card.

      Reply
      1. Tarun

        Do you still have to pay the 20k annual fee? If so, does it make sense to upgrade to Prestige?

        Reply
        1. A Singh

          Yes, the annual fee is applicable. It all depends on how you see it. I’m getting unlimited priority pass (including for the supplementary card) which is pretty useful as I travel a fair bit. You also get 10k air miles and 10k worth of Taj or ITC vouchers I try to put as much of my spendings on my credit card as possible and the 4 times miles conversation is very appealing to me. Plus there are other perks like 3+1 night free, discounts on movie tickets, etc.

          Reply
          1. Tarun

            If you travel often, then yes it makes sense. You should also try for YFE which gives unlimited PP for supplementary as well.

            Can you elaborate on the 4 times miles conversion? I have had a PM card for 4 years now, and am hardly using it. Not finding PM very useful now.

        2. PT

          Tarun,

          Yes annual fees is applicable on the pro-rata basis , however I received back the PM card’s annual fee (again on pro-rata basis).
          For me it makes sense to have Prestige card due to its unlimited lounge access feature for supplementary cards and the value back that I am getting in the form of yearly rewards(Taj vouchers and 10000 air miles), that very much take care of the annual fee.

          BTW I got a newsletter from CITI advertising that I will get 5x rewards on the purchase of latest iPhone, can anyone tell me if those kinds of promotions are applicable to Prestige card too?
          The newsletter doesn’t say that it is not applicable for Prestige but just wanted to confirm.

          Thanks
          PT

          Reply
          1. S&S

            Hi
            It applies to Prestige also.
            I got a mail with the 5x offer mentioning my CP number.

            Cheers
            S&S

  50. Captain Bishuddha Bharatiya

    PT Congrats.
    What documents you exactly submitted and what was the mode ( physical or scanned ) ?
    How much was your annual income ?
    I have ITR of Rs. 3.30 lakhs and citi card with Rs. 75,000 limit. Do you think they will increase my credit limit ?

    Reply
    1. Sreehari

      Captain,
      For Citi there is an automatic limit enhancement of 50% every 6 months provides your card is in good standing. You’ll get a link stating your new limit and whether you accept or decline this enhancement.

      Reply
    2. PT

      The document submission was done to increase credit limit for upgrading to PM card no documents were required, they asked me to submit 2 months salary slip and 2 months bank statement, all were scanned copies. With your current ITR I am doubtful if it will increase by more than 50% of the current limit.
      I had 1.03 lac limit back in 2013 (which was again way lower than my expectation, which also became the main reason I didn’t use CITI card heavily) , my salary has increased more than 3X since then so you might get an idea.

      Thanks
      PT

      Reply
  51. Mouli

    I am holding 2 citi cards for more than 5 years with 60k(rewards card) and 80k (Indian Oil card) respectively (least limit among all my cards
    )
    Last month I applied for LE with payslip and bank statement and to my surprise they increased the card with 80k limit to 4L yesterday

    Reply
  52. Mickey

    Mouli u sent all these docs to Chennai?

    When I called up CC they said you can’t apply. I could even find any LE form on the website

    Reply
    1. Sharathkumar Anbu

      You can send your income documents to [email protected]. They will review and increase credit limit.

      Don’t forget to write email from your registered email address, as well as mention last 4 digits of your credit card in the email.

      Reply
    1. venkat

      How long did it take for them to respond? I sent it in a week or so ago, and haven’t heard back anything…

      Reply
  53. Kaloo bhaloo

    I have the card for over 20 years and stuck with 1 Lac limit since. Yesterday I called them for limit enhancementand surprisingly they told me they don’t have my pan card on file nor my Aadhar.

    Reply
    1. Shivi

      LoL! So you can just play the full limit of your credit card and disappear afterwards! 😉

      Reply
  54. Raghav Inani

    Hi, Im a citigold member. But it says that I have to be a citigold private client to be holding the Citi prestige card. What is the income eligibility for applying for this card? I already have a premiermiles card since 2 years now.

    Reply
    1. Amex Guy

      It’s free for private client, anyone can have it. If you are citigold and have PM, just call the number on the prestige site, they will approve you in a day. I was in the same situation when I applied.

      Reply
        1. Amex Guy

          If you don’t have a Citi card — Of course. Although Citi is notorious in rejecting applicants. You probably have a better shot by applying for PM and keeping it for a year or two before applying. The multiplier and the fact the PM is basically free for 2 years make a lot of sense when you convert PM to Prestige.

          If you do decide to apply Prestige directly, they need a 40L minimum ITR, and the probability of Citi onboarding directly to Prestige is slim.

          If you already have a Citi card — by all means apply. You should get it if you have been along term customer. The strings attached for getting it are much less on this card this year.

          Reply
          1. Rampy

            Hi all,

            I recently enquired with Citi Prestige Customer Care for this card & they quoted the eligibility as 25 Lakh. Have they reduced it from 40L due to a “lovely card coming from a lovely bank”? 😁

  55. Gkcards

    Are any changes coming to Citi prestige in India as its happening for US cards

    Reply
    1. Amex Guy

      In US, they are restricting 3+1 hotel to twice a year starting Nov 2019. They have not communicated that in India but I full expect that to happen.

      Other than that, in India they have introduced a restriction that two 3+1 booking must be at least 7 days apart.

      Reply
  56. Gkcards

    I recently used complimentary Airport transfer. The business class sedan which came was E class. The airport allowance in India is 40kms, beyond that its 2.5$/km.

    Reply
    1. TG

      Thanks for the info!
      Bummer as it won’t be suitable for BLR Airport. Perhaps we should give feedback on this. To extend to 50km for Bangalore.

      Reply
  57. TG

    Is the priority pass on prestige still applicable for free domestic access too?

    Reply
    1. Amex Guy

      Yes. In fact, PP is the only way to access any lounge with Prestige. It does not allow complimentary access on Visa network.

      Reply
      1. Venkat

        Has it changed recently? Have used it twice in recent months (once this month as well) to swipe in my kid, worked normally in lounges on the Visa network.

        Reply
  58. Bharath

    Citibank is now insisting on 25L ITR for upgrading Premiermiles to Prestige card. I have a credit limit of Rs. 6,36,000 on my Premiermiles card, but Citibank declined my upgrade application due to not meeting 25L ITR criteria. They had upgraded my card to Prestige last year (but downgraded later). So seems like the rules have changed.

    Reply
    1. Anshul

      You mean to say you upgraded your PM to Prestige, then you downgraded it to PM and now again want to upgrade it to Prestige?

      Reply
      1. Bharath

        I downgraded voluntarily since I was travelling abroad for work and did not want to pay the high annual fee.

        Reply
    2. Gkcards

      Did Citi downgraded card or you did? I would be surprised to know banks do so

      Reply
  59. Gkcards

    MMT is giving Double Black free for Prestige card holders (1499 is the price which will be given as cashback). Use code CITIPUDB

    Reply
  60. Gautam

    I have Diners Black and Yes Exclusive card.
    Is it still wise to upgrade the PM card to Prestige.

    Prestige card is on my wishlist for a long time.
    I travel once a year internationally and can shift non 10x transactions (read 7-10L pa) from DCB to this card.

    OR

    Downgrade my PM card to make it LTF and go for new SC Ultimate card?

    Reply
    1. Amex Guy

      For once a year international trip, Prestige is pointless. Depends on your travel situation though. Do you want 30-40K Amazon vouchers or a business class upgrade on your trip? Your call.

      But the major factors that make Prestige essentially free — the international year round insurance (itself worth more than fee, and something you can’t avoid), priority pass, 4th night free, airport assistance and ride — are all things you can’t fully enjoy unless you travel internationally often.

      Reply
      1. Akshat

        Hi AmexGuy

        Can you comment on the insurance that is 50k USD at the moment and how its different than emergency hospital cover that is accompanied with other cards.

        Aside can you guide towards fraud protections. It seems Amex Platinum covers it unconditionally whereas there seems to a condition of a limit to the point of your reporting the card lost/fraudulent transaction. Or am i reading that wrong.

        Thanks

        Reply
  61. TG

    This card is actually the provides best value for foreign/international spends, provided you value air miles at Re 1.
    Let me elaborate:
    The markup is 3.5% +tax. And you normally get 1 reward point per Rs 100 spent. (conversion of 1 point = 4 air miles)
    By default, any Foreign transaction earns you 2 points per Rs 100 spent. That means 8 miles per Rs 100 spent or 8% earn rate, assuming 1 mile is equal to 1 rupee. And after deducting 8%- 3.5%= 4.5%.
    You get around 4% returns on all foreign currency spends.

    Reply
    1. Gkcards

      Is it possible to redeem the miles at 1 mile = 1 rupee for domestic travel? Any pointers to that

      Reply
    1. Shivi

      Since a long time @ Shrey. Usually, you redeem it for 25p, sometimes 50p BUT Air Miles can be redeemed for 1 Rupee/Mile on business/first class upgrades. You just need to identify the flights, sectors and seasons for it. Spend some time researching the points/miles redemption in S-E Asia area.

      Reply
  62. Hardik Parikh

    I had a Citibank Rewards Card since the last 13 years. I upgraded it to Citibank Premier Miles Card in December 2018. I have a credit limit of Rs. 436,000 since in August 2018. Can I ask for an upgrade on the basis of my credit limit or should I wait for my credit limit to automatically increase and then ask for an upgrade?

    Reply
    1. Ankur Mittal

      Assuming you are going to upgrade to prestige, you need to have a credit limit of min 5 lacs on Citibank card to get considered for upgradation to prestige.

      Reply
      1. Amit

        The upgrade from Premier Miles to Prestige is free or you still pay 20,000 + GST ?

        I have another Citi card with more than 5 lacs limit & with Citi for more than 10 years now.

        Reply
    2. Venkat

      Go ahead and call up the Prestige line. I had a much lesser credit line from Citi when I upgraded to Prestige. Been an old-time user of their CC though.

      Reply
  63. Bharath

    Anyone here who recently upgraded Premiermiles card to Prestige with an ITR of around 15 lacs? I have PremierMiles card with 6.36L credit limit and they refused to upgrade to Prestige since my ITR is less than 25L.

    Reply
  64. Amit

    I called up Citi Prestige helpline. I meet all the requirements as mentioned in the comments. ( More than 15 yrs of Citi relationship, Highest credit limits above5L ) except one.

    I should be Citi Gold/ Citigold Private Client to be considered for an upgrade.

    Time to move away from Citi for sure and keep basic as the last backup.

    Reply
    1. Amex Guy

      This is probably their polite way to decline. I know enough people who never had any kind of account with Citi getting denied. You’re probably denied because Citi has become very strict in issuing Prestige lately. They are asking just about everyone for 25 lac+ ITR, even existing customers. New customers are still being pushed for 40 lac ITR.

      When I got upgraded they didn’t care about my Citigold status. I was told, “It’s nice you have an account, but that’s a totally different department.” I believe them as my Citigold RM was pretty clueless about Prestige upgrade.

      I think Citi lost a lot of money giving out Prestige to everyone, and a lot of people got the benefits and points bonus and churned the card.

      Reply
      1. Amit

        Thanks for your comments. I discussed this with my Citi Priority RM & they will be calling back.
        If they still remain “very polite”, I would move all my relationships with them except 1 credit card.

        The thing I am still clueless is upgrade from “premier miles to prestige”. Even another user “Neo” commented that his Premier miles card is < 6 months old.

        Are they still upgrading "Premier miles to Presitge", without any fees & charges?

        I don't mind getting a Premier Miles card as its complimentary for 1st year and then upgrading if that what system allows but this may get stopped in future as 6 months+ is a too long time in banking industry.

        Any recommendations on this?

        Reply
    2. Neo

      Amit,
      This is surprising. I called up the Citi Prestige helpline & the only issue they had was that my premiermiles is < 6 months. ( And i dont have any banking relationship with them apart from credit card.)

      Reply
      1. Amit

        Hello Neo,

        Quick query. What was their final response?

        Are they willing to upgrade for free if its 6+ months or still a paid upgrade irrespective of how long you have been holding the card?

        Reply
        1. Neo

          Hi Amit,
          Sorry for the delayed response. No LTF on the Prestige. It will be a paid upgrade regardless. But have been getting a lot of calls for their Banking/wealth management solutions ( which I politely declined.)

          Reply
  65. Bharath

    The worst part is I downgraded Prestige to Premiermiles and now they are unwilling to upgrade it back to Prestige without 25L ITR.

    Reply
  66. Captain Bishuddha Bharatiya

    Today I got an e-mail from Citibank that I am eligible for limit enhancement to Rs. 1,12,000. I applied immediately and got reply that they will review my request and if approved will increase limit in 10 working days. So should I be100% sure that limit will be increased or they might decline it. I have impeccable payment record.

    Reply
    1. Satish Kumar Agarwal

      Dear Captain
      Your LE can be denied also, bcoz Citibank LE offers are not auto le kind of.
      I had a similar query that it took 1 week or so after I applied for LE like you and Amex Guy told the same thing which I mentioned above.

      Reply
    2. Hari

      Captain, I have got the LE offers (50% of the existing limit) thrice till date and each time it was approved.

      Reply
      1. Captain Bishuddha Bharatiya

        Thanks everyone for your reply.
        Hari how old is your card and how often you get limit enhancement offer. If I may ask how much you spend ? You get exactly 50% LE offer every time ?

        Reply
        1. Hari

          Captain, my relationship with Citi is 3 yrs old. Since last year I am getting LE offer every six months. Yes, I got exactly 50% LE every time. I don’t spend much on this card.

          Reply
    3. Captain Bishuddha Bharatiya

      Today my limit got enhanced. Feeling great.

      Reply
  67. Guru

    I too got a mail yesterday for LE from 5L to 8L. I applied it immediately and got the same message of 10 days wait.

    Reply
    1. Captain Bishuddha Bharatiya

      Guru you got great LE offer. Can you explain in details about your Citi credit card journeys. We will love it.

      Reply
      1. Guru

        Hello Captain.. My journey with Citi started way back in 2001. It was my first CC with 20K limit. I have upgraded/downgraded several Citi cards till date. Currently holding PM CC. The LE has been slow and steady over the years. The current LE enhancement has come after 4-5 years. Unlike nowadays wherein I got new CC like SBI Elite, SC Ultimate, ICICI Jet Sapphiro with 5L+ limit at the initial stage. I am also a CC freak like Sid and everyone else with 10 CC in my wallet.

        Reply
  68. CitiPrestige User

    What is the Limit that you have on the prestige card?

    Reply
  69. Anonymous

    Folks, anyone have a view if Citi ever does any transfer bonus to Cathay Pacific (Prestige holder here)? Eyeing some J tickets BOM-HKG-BOM for June/July, and the availability/miles requirement appears to be good (50K miles +~15K INR cash for return ticket). Also, I’ve never really flown CX before, but I guess it shouldn’t be an issue to create an Asia Miles account and transfer miles and redeem? Thanks.

    Reply
    1. Amex Guy

      Citi transfers to CX just fine. Always book return when you redeem on CX, one way mileage is mental. You might also want to look into transferring from Prestige to BA Avios and booking on CX. Check your BA account for mileage before transferring to CX.

      Reply
      1. Anonymous

        Thanks. Guess I will stick with Asia Miles. I checked with Avios, and the cost they quote is quite high (miles +$$). Also, CX appears to have better availability than when booked thro’ Avios.
        Also, any idea on the status of the fourth night offer with Booking.com? Yet to call CC, but the link they earlier had with the booking code is now down.

        Reply
    2. S&S

      Check out multi city option on the asia miles website for more bang for each mile, especially if you can figure out the asia miles one world chart.
      You’ll be able to travel quite a bit of South East Asia in J.
      If you fly Cathay (using Asia Miles) in atleast one sector, you can pile on as many one world partners as you want within the confines of 7 stopovers, 2 open jaws, 2 layovers, within a 50K mile radius!
      There are some restrictions about usage for only Iberia and a few others if I’m recollect right.
      Since Cathay flies east of India this is eminently
      do-able 🙂
      Just be careful about the taxes.

      Cheers
      S&S

      Reply
    3. S&S

      If you haven’t already done this or for future travels you may want to note, Asia Miles allows a stop over on one ways and two stop overs on return tickets 🙂
      Fourth night offer is on Hotels. com

      S&S

      Reply
  70. SH

    Got the Citi Prestige yesterday. After holding back for years, I finally pulled the trigger and applied for one. A couple of years back I had checked with the bank for a Prestige. They advised me to open a Citi Gold account. I was reluctant because my relationship was with StanC, ICICI and Axis. Also Citi for years have been axing the branches across Kolkata, and they are now left with just one branch.

    Anyway I called the Prestige line. I was holding the Citi PM. They instantly took the request, asking for a copy of ITR. They called me the next working day to inform me that they will revert with a decision within the next two days. And then two days later I received the call saying that the card was approved and a few days later I received the card. All this while, I was dealing with the same person. from Citi’s side.

    I was half way into the membership year for PM. So they reversed 50% of the PM fee, and charged me 50% of the Prestige fee. But they will provide all the Prestige benefits – 10K Taj / ITC vouchers, plus the 2.5K Citi Prestige points. So for the first year I get am getting a lot of benefits for 50% of the fee. Long live Citi.

    Reply
    1. Neo

      Congrats SH,
      Now with both Prestige & Plat which one is going to be your goto card ? 😀

      Reply
      1. SH

        Thank Neo and Sid.

        This is my strategy: for any 10X category it goes to DCB, otherwise Citi Prestige, Plat comes out of the wallet only for any targetted offers (like 5X on insurance), or merchant offer, or when I am availing the dinning privileges. I am torn apart for FX. Will have to take the decision on the spot..:-)

        I am keen to know the strategies for you and others, and have requested Sid to do an article on credit card portfolio – it will be interesting to know which combo works for each one of us.

        Reply
        1. Neo

          Hi SH,
          I have the following – DCB, Axis Vistara Infinite, Citi PM & Amex Plat Travel. Exhausted my 4 lac on Plat travel & availed the taj vouchers. Planning for a vacation and hence DCB & PM look like best bets to reduce expenditure on flights.
          DCB is my goto card, PM i have because i also want to upgrade to Prestige.
          Amex Plat is tempting, since it transfers to Bonvoy 1:1 (with a 110K points of joining bonus).
          To be honest, have found PM to be disappointing compared to DCB.

          Cheers
          Neo

          Reply
          1. SH

            Hi Neo,

            Yeah I do have the Plat Travel where I direct 4 lac expenditure, to get the Taj Voucher and the bonus MR. It is free for me because of Plat Charge.

            Also go for Prestige after you have got a significant deposit of PM points – the one time conversion to Prestige is very sweet. So save your PM points for the conversion day.

            How is Axis Vistara? How are the benefits?

    2. MR

      Congrats SH!
      Do keep the citi prestige concierge busy and let us know if it lives up to its name.
      It would be interesting to know how it stacks against Amex plat concierge.

      Reply
  71. Neo

    Hi SH,
    The PM conversion is noted.
    On the Axis Vistara, i think the best time to get the card is if you are already CV Gold. When you get the card, you are enrolled to CV gold again (which translates to 2X class upgrade vouchers). The milestone benefits & joining benefits (all biz class tickets ) are good.
    I had taken the card to actually augment my CV points to plan last minute trips, etc. But with vistara, it is very difficult to find last minute redemption (even more so, in the current scenario) for popular sectors ( DEL-GOI for eg)
    But the joining fee is more than compensated by the business class ticket, and you get to keep the Gold Status as long as you hold the card.

    Cheers
    neo

    Reply
  72. Siva

    I got Prestige card recently – had a PM card for over 3 years. However when I wanted to transfer PM miles to Prestige, Citi are saying that these are not linked and could not be done. I requested a link up through the mobile Citi app and called them after few days and again was given the same answer that they are not linked and so couldn’t transfer. I have a Citibank priority account as well. What can I do to link the accounts so that the points can be transferred from PM card to Prestige?
    Thank you.

    Reply
  73. Gkcards

    Zomato is giving Gold free on Citibank Corporate card, Ultima Credit card, Prestige Credit card and World Debit cards. 50% instant discount and 50% cashback using code ZGOLDCITI100

    Reply
  74. Amex Guy

    One can apply Prestige directly on Citi website like any other card now. No getting a callback or calling a number. Minimum income looks like 25 lacs now. A much more attainable option now.

    Reply
    1. Nikhil

      Are they still doing upgrades though? I’m coming up on 4 yrs with my PremierMiles card with a 6.1L limit

      Reply
      1. Anshul

        Any Citi card with a credit limit > 3 lakhs can be upgraded to Citi Prestige by calling the Prestige helpline (don’t call the usual Citi helpline). They will take some time for internal approvals before upgrading. No documents are required!

        Reply
        1. Nikhil

          Not really, that was the case till last year I guess. I was told by the Prestige helpline, they’re looking for a 5 lakh limit, when I had checked towards the beginning of this year.

          Reply
          1. Anshul

            Call again, talk to other representative. I got mine upgraded to prestige at 3L limit on my Premiermiles last year. This is true now as well. Also, I am an ex-Citi employee, so I’m aware of this process.

          2. Sharathkumar Anbu

            Hi Nikhil,

            The process seems to be changed again. They were asking for 25 Lakhs ITR earlier this year. Now I was told that 3 Lakhs+ limit should be sufficient for upgrade, no other documents required.

          3. Nikhil

            @Anshul sounds good, will give it a try once I’m back in India next month
            @Sharath was this from the Prestige helpline?

  75. Sharathkumar Anbu

    @Nikhil I checked with Prestige helpline Yesterday only.

    Reply
  76. Bharath

    I was able to swap my PM to Prestige last week. They never asked for 25L ITR this time. They rejected in Oct 2018 and Jan 2019 saying they need minimum 25L ITR. My PM CL is 6,36,000.

    Reply
      1. Bharath

        Yes, they charged pro-rated fees of Rs. 5000 and refunded Rs. 750 for PM fees.

        Reply
        1. Neo

          Swapped my PM for Prestige as well. The new card design looks WOW,IMO.
          Now to start maximizing the card.
          Any ideas on how long the Taj membership activation takes ?

          ~Neo

          Reply
          1. Sameer

            Hey Neo is it plastic or metal? I have seen the US metal version of this new card which is awesome!
            I called Prestige helpline yesterday but they were not having much info on new designs and said it maybe still plastic which is a shame.

          2. Tejpartap Dhami

            Card is the metal version like the one in the US. Although, it doesn’t FEEL metal. It’s heavier than normal cards and feels more premium than the likes of DCB. I just received mine today so I can say mine is the latest version we have.

  77. S&S

    Chanced upon this… (Not sure if someone has shared the same)

    Annual Bonus for Citi Gold and Citi Private Client for using CP has been changed.
    A new monthly bonus offer in place, lieu on annual offer, for Citi Priority, CG and CPC.
    From the Citi site
    “The Offer shall be applicable from the first date of all billing cycles starting after 00:00 hours on 1st July 2019 and shall be applicable for all billing cycles that start before 23:59 hours on 31st December, 2019. The Offer shall be available on transactions undertaken after 00:00 hours 31st December, 2019 if the billing cycle started before the said date and shall expire on the last date of the said billing cycle (“Offer Period”).”

    Segment Additional rewards points
    Citi Priority 15% of the net reward points earned in statement month.
    Citigold 30% of the net reward points earned in statement month.
    Citi Private Client 50% of the net reward points earned in statement month.

    There is no cap on the additional reward points credited for a month.
    These additional reward points are exclusively brought to you basis your relationship value and is independent of all the other existing Offers promoted by the Bank.
    Additional reward points will be calculated and credited within 60 days from the credit card statement generation date of all open and active Customers’ account(s). The timeline provided for effecting credit is only indicative of expected period and may vary from the actual date of credit.

    S&S

    Reply
    1. Praveen Perumalla

      This benefit is now more reachable than in the past. Good move by Citi.

      Reply
  78. Kunal Shah

    hey ,
    great forum and congratulation Sid for the same.
    I have a Amex Platinum charge and Platinum travel, a HDFC diners Jet Privilege and going to get one HDFC infinia in the family. Should I go for the Citi Prestige card ?
    any idea how to get it in cities like Vadodara which don’t come up in the application form online?

    thanks

    Reply
  79. Praveen Perumalla

    I got my PM card swapped with Prestige last week. Other folks have already confirmed about 3L+ limit being the only criteria, which is true. They’ve also sent new prestige cards for the existing PM add-on members. I was given the same limit that was on my PM card.

    The only new information I want to tell is about the card itself. The card is slightly heavier than the usual plastic cards. I compared with other bank cards and also with my PM card (new design). I don’t know about the material but it does look premium and stunning with the new design.

    Reply
  80. Prem

    Does this card charge any fee in transferring points to ailines miles (1:4)?

    Reply
  81. Sahil

    Hi SID
    A year back I changed my PM to Prestige I accumulated over 50000 points the best about prestige is you get more than Re1 value from the card when you transfer to airlines just an eg 1 transferred 37500 points= 150000 miles to Cathay Pacific and booked a one way for 2 on economy from BOM TO OSLO,BORWAY ON QUATAR for 50000 points and oslo to DEL ON BA 100000+34000RS MILES to fly business class for 2 which was costing me RS396000 PER PERSON which gave me a value of RS5.9per mile that’s 23% return this is one of the best cards I have

    Reply
  82. Deep

    Hi SId and all,

    I have applied for the prestige card based upon the review and the discussion . Hope this will bring value to me Thanks a lot.

    Reply
    1. Deep

      Got the card. Existing card holders please advise as how can I maximise this card.

      Reply
  83. S&S

    Qatar Airways has shut all its India offices effective July 1, 2019 as per QA agent.
    Any interaction now can only be with their ‘difficult to get through’ India call centre or ‘costly after getting through, Qatar call centre.

    S&S

    Reply
  84. R Sankar

    Thanks to all here for the info about 3L + limit on existing PM for eligibility to Prestige. Been waiting for a year to jump. Finally did two days ago and got my card approved – all I did was call up citi prestige helpdesk, shared my exiting citi relationship details and within 30 sec was told that I meet all the eligibility criteria for prestige. The representative took time to tell about all the features and today I got a message that the card is on its way. For reference – I am a citi customer for 8+ yearsm and hold the PM ( Limit > 3L). So thanks to cardexpert as I would not have applied for it easily without this comments thread!

    Reply
  85. Mohammad Abrar

    Thank you everybody for sharing such useful information about Prestige Card
    I have recently swapped my premiere miles card with Prestige Card
    I wonder if i can apply for a new Premiere Miles card and use both Premiere Miles as well as Prestige Card

    will CitiBank allow me to hold both cards?

    Reply
    1. Rahul

      citi allows two credit cards. I used to have citi rewards and citi premier miles. I later stopped rewards, they were unhappy that i let rewards go 🙂

      Reply
  86. Tauseef Ahmed

    Yes Abrar, I’ve been holding two different cards from Citi, unlike HDFC, you can hold two different cards of Citi

    Reply
  87. Tauseef Ahmed

    After reading the thread completely, I gave a call to Citibank 3 days back to upgrade my Citi Rewards card which I was rarely using in last 8-9 years which has a limit of a little over 9 Lac to Prestige which I received in Metal Card today. Very happy to see the metal card. Apart from this, I’m possessing Diner’s Black, ICICI Emerald, SBI Elite, ICICI Jet Privilege, HSBC Visa Platinum and AMEX Rewards Membership card, out of which, my 80% usage is on Diners. I’ve now decided to use 30% on Diner’s Black, 60% on Prestige and rest on AMEX. Hope I get some good benefits from Prestige, which looks absolutely premium.

    Reply
    1. Sameer

      Hey Tauseef,

      Are you sure it’s a metal card? I also got my old Prestige card replaced recently with the new designed card but its not metal for sure.

      It’s quite sturdy and bit heavy compared to old plastic card but not metal, some composite material.

      Only Amex provided a pure metal card in India as of now.

      Reply
  88. Tauseef Ahmed

    Hey Sameer, feels like metal, though your point make me a little unsure.

    Reply
    1. Anshul

      It’s not metal for sure.. though it’s hard and feels like metal, but it’s not. Also, if it was, there’s no way they would have not marketed it that way!

      Reply
  89. Rampy

    I have Citi First Citizen Credit Card for 6+ years now, the days of yore when I had no knowledge or understanding of credit cards like the way it is now, thanks to Sid.
    I took PM in March. The CL on PM is mere 60K whereas it is more than 4lakh on Citi FC. I was behind them asking to swap the credit limits but no avail.
    I called them yesterday just to check if I can get an upgrade to Prestige (though I wasn’t intending to upgrade rightaway) but it isn’t possible now since PM has only 60K. Whereas, one needs 3lakh+ limit for upgrade. Also, I am not willing to upgrade Citi FC since I receive 5% cashback on my spends (+ other benefits) in ShoppersStop, where I make my usual purchases.
    I have been advised to apply directly for Prestige (to which I should be eligible) but AFTER using my existing miles on PM. I wonder why they can’t transfer the miles. Will check with them when I really intend to take it.

    Reply
    1. Rahul

      Thats correct. Citi started my PM with just 60k although in 12 months they enhanced it twice and made it 2lakhs.

      My rewards card had 3.5 lakhs when I got PM with just 60k.

      Reply
      1. Rampy

        Still it won’t breach the 3L requirement.

        I wonder what is the real intent of customer having 3L limit. If it is to assess customer’s eligibility, then having the limit on any of their cards must be enough to prove it.

        It’s such an irony that I need max 60K on FC (I won’t shop more than 60K at any one point in time) & 4L+ on Premier Miles since we make big ticket purchases thru it. I could not purchase two flight tickets costing 1.7lakh with premier miles due to limits in its limit! Such a shame. While they say they ‘understand’, they can’t do anything about it.

        Reply
    2. Anshul

      I wonder why can’t they swap/change limits between the two cards. I have got this done previously between two Citi cards. The only reason I could see is that one is a co-band card, hence not possible.. Check with them again.. Also, call the prestige helpline for upgrade to Prestige, not the usual Citi helpline.. They are more updated and helpful with upgrades, even with limit swap too.

      Reply
      1. Rampy

        I began my conversations with Prestige customer service desk only & not their regular customer care.

        Swapping isn’t possible, they confirmed, reiterated, stamped & what not 😁

        With recent devaluations, it adds another layer of filtering while consideration this card.

        Reply
  90. S&S

    Citi doing an Amex.
    Stopping reward points across a clutch of categories from October 12.
    Just received an update email.
    20K annual fees + GSat still can be retrieved easily.
    Benefits over and above that losing sheen with this chop.

    S&S

    Reply
    1. Neo

      Yes, disappointed to see Citi restricting points on certain categories. This certainly raises the value of a DCB/infinia in my eyes, since they do give points for Insurance payments ( capped at 2k a month).
      What cards to use now for Insurance payments , any ideas

      ~Neo

      Reply
      1. Rampy

        I have been using StanC wherever other cards restricted wallet-loading, insurance or utility bills payment. This Diwali offer is the first instance when I saw StanC excluding wallet loadings & insurance payments from spends count/reward points.

        Reply
  91. ASLAM ABDUL AZIZ

    In India, this time only HDFC Bank Credit Cards is best Card 1. HDFC Regalia 2. HDFC REGALIA FIRST THIS CARDs are very very useful, free Airport , in India,, also use free Lounge Priority Pass Membership out of India, card are free if you spend 2 lakh per year. this is super premium cared cards who is travelling lot

    Reply
  92. Murali

    Can any of the citi gold users give a brief review or feedback on citigold wealth management services for salaried persons. We just about make the minimum relationship value through our portfolio but want to know how their advisory services are.

    Thanks

    Reply
  93. Suraj Mahajan

    Just to check, I chose a hotel at random (Sheraton downtown Dubai) and checked the prices for it using Hotels.com website for 4 nights. The cost for it comes to about 33000 (excluding breakfast).

    Then I opened MMT and Goibibo, checked the prices for the same hotel for 5 nights for the same dates, the price for it was approx. 33000 (inclusive of breakfast)

    I am not going to book this, I took this for reference only.

    Given that the prestige card gives the 5th night free, what is the point of booking through them if it costs the same. It seems they’re basically fooling around with the customers who don’t have time to search for the best prices on the internet by making a fancy concierge.
    In this reference, 5th night free would actually make sense only if I end up paying lesser than what is already the market price, according to which, the price for 4 nights should have been approx. 26000 and then the 5th night using the CITI Prestige should have been made free.

    So, in actual you’re paying the same you’d have on some other website but by booking it through CITI prestige or concierge, one believes that they got the 5th night for free.

    The same I have seen on the premiermiles website, HDFC smartbuy flight booking portal, AMEX travel portal. Say, if a flight ticket costs 75000 on a website (which is offering it for the lowest price), the same ticket will always be 7-8000 or sometimes even 10-15k more expensive. In return, what they fool the customers around with is 10X points. How do people call it savings when you are paying more upfront, getting back points which would still not match up the lowest priced ticket if redeemed.

    It is like handing over one a shovel by luring them into the offer of rewards and then pulling out that person’s money/wallet from the back pocket.

    Reply
    1. Shivi

      You have not taken into account the value of those reward points.
      It is not a general 10x Reward points in HDFC but the value of the same differs from card to card. Infinia and DCB for most part give you around 15 to 20%~ more value through SmartBuy than a same discounted deal on other online portals (assuming you are getting 10%~ off online). For Regalia on HDFC platform, the differential is less ~ around 3 to 5%. This varies on the number of people booking a hotel/airplane and number of nights etc.
      Likewise, Prestige here is not for the masses. It’s more like a mid level lifestyle card (strictly speaking for Indian CC market); at the helm of which you have AmEx Platinum (not counting CiTi Ultima Inf and AmeX Black) and it’s more rewarding for those under CiTi’s Gold or Private clientele programme. The newly updated DCB programme can be called as an entry-level lifestyle card but mainline HDFC cards are NOT lifestyle cards. Infinia is a highly rewarding card but it’s not a lifestyle card.
      Ofcourse, one’s lifestyle has to match what the these cards are offering; they are not for show-offs.

      Reply
  94. Deep

    Hi

    I have 10000 citi prestige reward points. How can get maximum value from them?

    Reply
  95. Neo

    No complimentary Meet & Greet & airport transfers for Prestige cardholders from 01 Jan 2020.
    A real bummer & Citi keeps on devaluing its marquee card in the country

    Reply
  96. Captain Bishuddha Bharatiya

    I received limit enhancement offer from Rs. 1,12,000 to 1,68,000 in my Citibank Firstcitizen card. My last LE was 10 months ago.

    Reply
    1. Neo

      Good to know Captain, but help me understand the relevance of this in the Prestige thread ?

      Reply
      1. Captain Bishuddha Bharatiya

        There is no separate article for Citibank Firstcitizen credit card and hence I am typing here. Who knows in future I might get upgraded to Prestige and people might need details of my journey. Anyways today I received SMS that my limit got increased.

        Reply
  97. PT

    I recently got an email from citibank offering a 3 month experience program (trial) of Citigold Private client. Did any Citi Credit card holder received that invitation too?
    Could very well be a goof up from citibank’s end.

    Reply
    1. Praveen Krishnakumar

      I think Citi gold private client eligibility will depend on Nrv yu maintain with them? Do you maintain a large nrv with them?

      Reply
      1. PT

        Nope, not even close to what is required. Though 2 days before this invitation I had to do a shift in my MF holdings which when liquidated were transferred by CITIbank from the AMC’s holding account, that may have given them some idea but that’s a distant may be.
        That’s why I think it was a goof up, also no one contacted me yet after I applied. Guess will have to just nag CITI customer care, for academic purpose of course.

        Reply
  98. Aayush Bahety

    Can anybody confirm if Citibank is still doing the credit limit enhancement on the basis of ITR sent to the email mentioned in this thread?

    I have a CIBIL of over 800, holding DCB, Axis Vistara Infinite, SCB VIsa Infinite (LTF), Amex Plat Travel each with at least 4 lakhs limit, but Citi issued me a Premiermiles with just 80k Limit.

    Reply
  99. Mohan

    How good is Citi Priority? A feedback from.peopke using the service would be if immense help. I am looking for some guidance on investments.

    Reply
    1. Gautam

      I think its better to hire a certified financial advisor rather than asking the Citibank officials for investments.
      For bank personnel’s, they will only sell you insurance by calling it as an investment.
      This is just my advice. Rest make your decision after some little research.

      Reply
  100. Anand

    I went through the comments section. I’m being offered Citibank Prestige as an upgrade from Citibank Premier Miles. Fees is not a problem unless it gets me the returns. I don’t feel Prestige being very useful for me but I’m interested to know about the business class hack. Below are the points that makes me skip this card but if I’m wrong somewhere, please correct me.

    – 4th night complimentary could be a waste for me since I book via Marriott/Hilton website as I’m a gold member and would not want to lose any elite member benefits.

    – Rs.10,000 Taj voucher is alright. I don’t prefer Taj but still a staycation is not bad. I stay in Marriott & Hilton hotels only as gold elite benefits are really good and vast selection of properties at every price budget.

    – Unlimited access to lounge is only good for those who travel more than 6-8 times per calendar quarter. So if you are travelling more than 3-4 times within 3 months then only unlimited access to lounge makes sense. Which honestly doesn’t really happen too often for me.

    – I can easily pay 4 lakhs a month if I earned points on electricity & rent (cold storage). If there is any hack, please do let me know.

    – We stay in suites/villas complimentary upgrades by Marriott/Hilton from base category. It’s the best thing and very rewarding. But business class hack is something I have never done. Can anybody guide me with any article on business class hacks or give tips, I would still go for Prestige to earn points just for business class.

    Thanks

    Reply
  101. Rahul

    Time to update the article, I guess. So much has changed in prestige since it was first publish. It’s a request Siddharth, you are already doing a great job anyways.

    Reply
  102. Aakash Coimbatore

    I have been reading these comments,

    Got to know one of the old Local sales person who was from HDFC is at CITI at my city and Met him accidentally few weeks back, gave my documents and Got to know that that I am eligible for Citi prestige card.

    Given the Recent news of CITI winding up India business and other news, is it worth applying now?

    P.S: I have few INTL trips “Planned” till 2023 end and the Airlmiles redemption looks worthy with few sweet spots on my trips, that’s why thinking of getting it

    What do you all think is it worth applying now?

    Siddharth brother: Ungal karuthu?

    Amex guy: (if you are reading this what are your thoughts)

    Reply

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