Citi innovates with flashy loyalty credit card

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By: Wise Marketer Staff |

Posted on March 29, 2012

Citi innovates with flashy loyalty credit card

In the US, Citi has recently launched its new 'ThankYou 2G' card, which features two buttons: a 'Regular Credit' button and a 'Request Rewards' button, allowing cardholders to make in-store purchases by pressing the appropriate button to make payment. The card's LED light then flashes, and they can then swipe the card as usual.

The card is certainly something of a novelty, allowing consumers the choice between spending money or ThankYou Points on purchases. If the cardholder presses the Regular Credit button, they pay for the purchase with credit normal.

For all payments made using the card - whether credit or rewards - the cardholder continues to earn 1 ThankYou Point for every US$1 spent on all eligible purchases (and ThankYou Premier cardholders earn 20% more ThankYou Points) at filling stations, supermarkets, drugstores, commuter transportation and parking merchants.

Once the cardholder has accumulated enough ThankYou Points, they can press the Request Rewards button instead to ask to redeem the appropriate number of points for a US$10 statement credit toward the purchase. If the necessary number of points are available in their ThankYou Rewards balance, they receive the statement credit within 1-2 billing cycles.

However, cardmembers using the Citi ThankYou 2G Card for online purchases are not able to ask to use their ThankYou Points for the purchases, because the card is not physically swiped.

While it is no thicker than a normal credit card, the card contains an internal processor, and a thin battery that is designed to last for the useful life of the card.

More Info: 

http://www.citigroup.com