I have been wanting the Citi Rewards+ card for quite some time now because of the 10% redeemed ThankYou points rebate when the card is combined with the Premier or Prestige. However, the current Rewards+ welcome offer is only 15,000 points. The next Citi credit card that I want also is the Citi Double Cash and that card currently does not have a welcome offer at all. Citi Double Cash card earns 2% on all purchases and those points earned are going to be valuable when they can be combined with Citi Premier or Prestige in the Fall this year. At the time of this writing, we do not have any more information other than that.

Awesome Strategy to Get Citi Rewards+ or Citi Double Cash Credit Cards With High Sign-Up Bonuses
Citi Premier Credit Card is currently offering 60,000 Bonus Points

How to Get Citi Rewards+ or Citi Double Cash Credit Cards with High Sign-Up Bonuses

I have had my Citi Premier credit credit for over 4 years. I enjoy transferring those points to airline miles. That's why Citi Rewards+ will be a great combination to my Premier as it offers a 10% points back for the first 100,000 ThankYou Points redeemed per year. The current sign-up bonus of Citi Rewards+ card is just too small for me to add a precious hard inquiry on my credit report. 

Let's take a look!

According to Citi's terms on the welcome bonus offer:

Bonus ThankYou® Points are not available if you received a new cardmember bonus for Citi Rewards+℠, Citi ThankYou® Preferred, Citi ThankYou® Premier/Citi Premier℠ or Citi Prestige®, or if you have closed any of these accounts, in the past 24 months.

Bingo! Since I have had my only ThankYou points earning Citi Premier card for 4+ years, then I am definitely qualified for a second Citi Premier card and its current 60,000 bonus points offer after $4,000 spend in 3 months. Unfortunately the annual fee $95 is not waived for the first year. Regardless, I pulled the trigger and applied for the card and got instant approved. So now I'll have two Citi Premier credit cards.


My GOALS here are:
  1. Get a second Citi Premier card with a big sign-up bonus. 
  2. Once the 60,0000 bonus points are deposited, I'll call Citi to product change my old Citi Premier card to Citi Rewards+ card. 
  3. Then I can combine Citi Rewards+ with Citi Premier to take full advantage of the 10% points back for the first 100,000 ThankYou Points redeemed per year benefit.
Obviously, I could go for the Citi Prestige too, but the sign-up bonus now is only 50,000 points and the annual fee is high $495, not waived for the first year.

Conclusion

As you can see, due to the low sign-up bonus of the Citi Rewards+ and no sign-up bonus at all of the Citi Double Cash, I have been hesitant to apply for either card. However, because I have been holding my current Citi Premier card for over 4 years, that makes me eligible for a second Citi Premier card's sign-up bonus again. Once the bonus is hit in my account, I then can call up Citi to convert my current Premier card to Citi Rewards+. By combining the Rewards+ with my new Premier, I'll be able to receive the 10% points back whenever I transfer points to a loyalty program.

Clearly, your credit card's situation may not be the same as mine and thus this strategy may not work for you. But if by any chance you are in the same boat as me, one thing you need to know before applying is that Citi is very sensitive to inquiries in the past 6 months. Good luck!