CitiBank Rewards Credit Card vs IndianOil Citi Credit Card

Citi Bank is one of the most popular credit card issuers in the country. Even though the bank offers just a few credit cards, it is very famous amongst the credit card users in the country. In this article, we are going to discuss the two CitiBank Credit Cards namely – The Citi Rewards Credit Card and The IndianOil Citi Credit Card.

As the name suggests, Citi Rewards Credit Card is a reward-points based card whose aim is to provide reward points to their cardholders. This credit card helps you earn reward points on your regular purchases and accelerated rewards upon spending on specified categories. Apart from this, you can also earn bonus reward points as welcome benefits and on the basis of your spends in the previous month. The rewards can be redeemed against various options available on the bank’s portal.

The second credit card, i.e., The IndianOil Citi Credit Card is a co-branded credit card for which The Citi Bank and Indian Oil Corporation have partnered with each other. You can get Turbo Points as a welcome benefit on your first transaction using this credit card. With this card as well, you get accelerated turbo points when spending on fuel and regular rewards when spending on groceries, supermarkets, and other spends. This card also offers you various deals and discounts on dining, lifestyle, travel, and much more.

Both the credit cards by The Citi Bank provide great benefits to its customers on all their spends using their Citi Credit Cards. Hence, this is the reason why Citi Credit cards are quite popular among users. Continue reading this article to get a better knowledge about the features and benefits of this card.

Citi Rewards Credit Card

The Citi Rewards Credit Card is a rewards card that provides you with amazing rewards while you spend using your Citi Credit Card. Also, you are rewarded with bonus reward points as welcome benefits upon issuance of this credit card and accelerated reward points while spending on departmental stores and apparel. With an annual fee of Rs. 1,000, following are the details of benefits and features that come along with this credit card –

• The cardholder will get a welcome benefit in the form of a maximum of 2,500 reward points –

– The cardholder will get 1,500 reward points on making the first transaction within the initial 30 days of card issuance.
– Additional 1,000 bonus reward points will be credited to your account if you are able to make a transaction worth Rs. 1,000 within 60 days of the credit card issuance.

• On all the transactions, the cardholder is entitled to 1 RP for every Rs. 125 spent.
• On all apparel and departmental store, you can earn accelerated reward points of 10x for every Rs. 125 spent. The accelerated reward points under this category are capped at 504 points in a month.
• Apart from this, the cardholders also get a milestone benefit of 300 bonus reward points on successfully upon spending over Rs. 30,000 with your credit card in the previous month.
• The renewal fee of Rs. 1,000 of the Citi Rewards Credit Card will be waived if you are able to spend Rs. 30,000 using your credit card in the previous year.
• The cardholders can enjoy a discount of 20% on their dining bills while dining at the partnered restaurants.
• The reward points earned with The Citi Rewards Credit Card are redeemable against various options and the redemption value of points in each category is different.

– For redemption against Fuel at IndianOil Outlets, 1 RP = Rs. 0.25
– For redemption against in-store shopping at partner brands/ online shopping = Rs. 0.30
– For redemption on online travel site, 1 RP = Rs. 0.25
– For cashback = Rs. 0.35
– For redemption against AirMile/InterMile = 0.75 InterMile

• Minimum points required for redemption against fuel, online shopping, and online travel site are 250 points, minimum of 10,000 points for redemption against cashback, and a minimum of 100 points for redemption against AirMile/InterMile.

IndianOil Citi Credit Card

The IndianOil Citi Credit Card resulted from a collaboration between Citi Bank and Indian Oil Corporation Limited. This collaboration is quite beneficial for those people who are  loyal customers of Indian Oil Corporation Limited.

With this credit card, the cardholders get reward points in the form of Turbo Points and get accelerated Turbo Points when they purchase fuel at the IndianOil Outlets using the IndianOil Citi Credit Card. There are various other features which comes with this credit card. Know more about the card in detail :-

• The cardholder gets 250 Turbo Points as a welcome benefit if he is able to make a successful transaction using his credit card in the first 30 days of card issuance.
• The cardholders will get 1 Turbo Point for every Rs. 150 spent on all transactions.
• The cardholders are entitled to 2 Turbo Points for every Rs. 150 spent on supermarkets and groceries. If the amount of purchase is greater than Rs. 5,000, the cardholder is entitled to 1 extra turbo point on every Rs. 150 spent. The incremental turbo points are capped at 34 turbo points per transaction.
• Since it is a fuel credit card, the cardholder is rewarded with incremental reward points of 4x on every Rs. 150 spent on fuel transactions at the authorized IndianOil Outlets. The incremental reward points in this category are capped at 267 points per transaction.
• With the IndianOil Citi Credit Card, you can enjoy eating your favourite cuisines at the partnered restaurants by getting a 20% discount on your dining bills.
• The cardholders can enjoy a 1% of fuel surcharge waiver at all the authorized IndianOil outlets
• The other benefits of this credit card include – up to 35% savings and a complimentary 1 night hotel stay on MakeMyTrip,  up to 15% cashback at duty-free stores, 15% savings on Yatra, 25% savings on Cleartrip, and much more.
• The renewal fee of Rs. 1,000 with this credit card can be waived off upon spending of Rs. 30,000 or more through your credit card in the anniversary year.
• The Turbo points earned with The IndianOil Citi Credit Card can be redeemed against various options and the redemption value of points in each category is different.

– For redemption against Fuel at IndianOil Outlets, 1 TP = Re. 1
– For redemption against online shopping on travel sites = Rs. 0.25
– For redemption against other online shopping = Rs. 0.30
– For in-store shopping reward redemption with the partnered brands = Rs. 0.30
– For cashback = Rs. 0.35
– For redemption against AirMile/InterMile = 0.75 InterMile

• Minimum points required for redemption against fuel, online/offline shopping are 250 points, minimum of 10,000 points for redemption against cashback, and a minimum of 100 points for redemption against AirMile/InterMile.

Quick Comparison

After the brief discussion of both the cards it is time to compared The Citi Rewards Credit Card and The IndianOil Citi Credit Card with each other-

Basis	The Citi Rewards Credit Card	The IndianOil Citi Credit Card
Reward Rate	1 RP for every Rs. 125 spent 10 RP on every Rs. 125 spent on departmental stores	1 TP for every Rs. 150 spent 2 TP for every Rs. 150 spent at supermarkets 4 TP for every 150 spent on fuel
Reward Redemption	Accumulated rewards can be redeemed against products, vouchers or for cash on the Citibank website For redemption against Fuel at IndianOil Outlets, 1 RP = Rs. 0.25 For in-store shopping at partner brands/ online shopping = Rs. 0.30 For redemption on online travel site, 1 RP = Rs. 0.25 For cashback = Rs. 0.35 For redemption against AirMile/InterMile = 0.75 InterMile	Accumulated rewards can be redeemed against products, vouchers or for cash on the Citibank website For Fuel at IndianOil Outlets, redemption rate 1 TP = Re. 1 For online shopping on travel sites = Rs. 0.25 For online shopping = Rs. 0.30 For in-store shopping at partner brands = Rs. 0.30 For cashback = Rs. 0.35 For AirMile/InterMile = 0.75 InterMile
Fuel Surcharge Waiver	NA	1% at all IndianOil fuel stations
Welcome Benefits	Maximum of 2,500 Reward Points	250 Turbo Points as a welcome gift
Dining Benefits	20% off on dining bills	20% off on dining bills
Milestone Benefit	300 bonus reward points on monthly spend of Rs. 30,000	NA
Joining Fee	Rs. 1,000 + Applicable Taxes	Rs. 1,000 + Applicable Taxes
Renewal Fees	Rs. 1,000 + GST (Can be waived upon spending over Rs. 30,000 in a year)	Rs. 1,000 + Applicable Taxes (Can we waived off on spending Rs. 30,000 in the previous year)
Eligibility	The card can be issued to salaried employees and even self-employed individuals between the age 18 years to 65 years of age A stable income source along with a good credit score is mandatory.	The card can be issued to salaried employees and even self-employed individuals between the age of 18 years – 65 years A stable income source with a good credit score is important.

Bottom Line

Both the Citi Rewards and the IndianOil Citi credit cards are pretty good credit cards. The Citi Rewards Credit Card lets you earn great reward points on all your spends using the card. This card is quite apt for those people who want to own a credit card specifically to earn reward points. They can earn generous reward points as welcome benefits and while spending on departmental stores as well. This card also offers you with a renewal fee waiver, milestone benefits, and much more.

On the other hand, the second credit card, The IndianOil Citi Credit Card is a specially designed credit card for the people who make fuel transactions quite often. By taking advantage of this credit card, the cardholder can enjoy up to 68 liters of free fuel every year. This card lets you earn reward points in the form of turbo points on all your spends and accelerated reward points while you make fuel transactions using the IndianOil Citi Credit Card.

Both the cards are placed at a joining fee of Rs. 1,000 and the customer must choose between the cards on the basis of his spends. If the customer frequently spends on departmental stores, then he should opt for the Citi Rewards Credit Card and if he is quite frequent in making fuel purchases, he should go for the IndianOil Citi Credit Card.