up to $240 in Annual Credits (With a Catch)

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• Citi has announced a new credit card: The AT&T Points Plus℠ Card
  .
• This no-annual-fee card earns Citi ThankYou points which you can redeem at 1 cent apiece — or more if you have the Citi Premier® Card.
• You can earn between $10 and $20 per month in statement credits, but it’s not easy.
• Read Insider’s guide to the best no-annual-fee credit cards.

It’s always great when credit card issuers introduce new cards to the market. More options are never a bad thing for customers.

Citi has just unveiled its latest creation, the AT&T Points Plus℠ Card. For a $0-annual-fee card, it comes with some decent benefits:

• $100 statement credit after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening
• A healthy return rate for gas and grocery spending
• The ability to receive hundreds of dollars in statement credits each year

The card even earns Citi ThankYou points, which you can redeem for outsized value (though you must also hold an annual fee-incurring Citi ThankYou points card, such as the Citi Premier® Card).

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That all sounds pretty great — but there are a couple of key areas where this card underperforms. Let’s take a quick look at the AT&T Points Plus℠ Card to see if it fits your situation.

We’re focused here on the rewards and perks that come with each card. These cards won’t be worth it if you’re paying interest or late fees. When using a credit card, it’s important to pay your balance in full each month, make payments on time, and only spend what you can afford to pay.

Details of the new Citi AT&T Points Plus Card

Welcome bonus

The AT&T Points Plus℠ Card offers a $100 statement credit after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening. That’s a modest bonus attached to a modest spending requirement.

As a point of reference, here are some other no-annual-fee credit card welcome bonuses:

• Citi Custom Cash℠ Card — $200 cash back, fulfilled as 20,000 ThankYou® Points, after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first 6 months of account opening
• Ink Business Cash® Credit Card — $900 bonus cash back after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening
• Wells Fargo Autograph℠ Card — Limited time offer of 30,000 bonus points when you spend $1,500 in purchases in the first 3 months from account opening (offer expires 01/10/2023) (worth $300)

Some cards offer no bonus at all, so a $100 bonus from the AT&T Points Plus℠ Card isn’t the worst you can do.

Earning rates

The best no-annual-fee credit cards offer the ability to earn at least 2% on common purchases. The AT&T Points Plus℠ Card earns:

• 3 points per dollar (3% back) spent at gas stations
• 2 points per dollar (2% back) spent at grocery stores (including grocery delivery services)
• 1 point per dollar (1% back) on everything else

If you spend a lot at gas stations, this card could be worth considering. If not, you might consider a card like the Citi® Double Cash Card, which earns 1% back (1 point per dollar) when you make a purchase and another 1% back (1 point per dollar) when you pay it off (effectively 2% on all purchases). This card also earns Citi ThankYou points.

One glaring omission from the AT&T Points Plus℠ Card’s list of spending categories is any bonus for AT&T spending — or phone payments in general. It’s an AT&T branded card, after all.

Ongoing benefits

This card doesn’t have a slew of noteworthy ongoing benefits. And its biggest selling point — a potential $240 in annual statement credits — may also be its most unapproachable for many.

Here’s how it works:

• Set your AT&T Points Plus℠ Card as your autopayment method on your AT&T wireless bill.

THEN

• Earn a $20 statement credit after spending $1,000 or more on purchases in a billing cycle.

OR

• Earn a $10 statement credit after spending between $500 and $999.99 on purchases in a billing cycle.

To earn the maximum of $240 in statement credits per year, you’d have to spend at least $12,000 on the card annually. Unless most of that spending is in bonus categories, you’ll likely do better putting that high amount on a different card that has a higher rate of return.

This statement credit effectively rewards up to 2% back for your purchases (provided you were to spend exactly $500 or $1,000 per month). Combined with the card’s return rates, you could receive between 3% and 5% for your spending. That’s not bad for a no-annual-fee card.

Transfer Citi ThankYou points to airline and hotel partners

Again, this card earns Citi ThankYou points. You can redeem them for 1 cent each for cash in the form of a direct deposit, statement credit, or mailed check, or for gift cards or travel booked through Citi. The card also offers the ability to transfer points to a limited set of Citi’s travel partners (JetBlue, Wyndham, and Choice).

However, if you’ve also got the Citi Premier® Card or the Citi Prestige® Card
(not available to new applicants), you can transfer your points to Citi’s full range of airline and hotel partners. Insider’s valuations peg Citi ThankYou points value to be an average of 1.6 cents each when redeemed this way.

For example, you could transfer your points to JetBlue, where points are worth an average of 1.35 cents each (again, per Insider’s valuations). That’s a huge increase over the 1-cent redemption rate you’ll get when cashing your points out.

Or, you could transfer 7,500 points to Turkish Airlines for a one-way coach award flight on United Airlines from anywhere in the US to anywhere in the US — regardless of the cash value. If there’s an award seat available on the Turkish Airlines site, you can book it for 7,500 miles (even if it were to cost $1,000).

Bottom line

The AT&T Points Plus℠ Card has a meager welcome bonus and an underwhelming return rate on spending. Its real appeal is for those willing to spend near $500 or $1,000 each month, as you’ll earn statement credits after meeting those thresholds. The further you get away from those figures, the less valuable the card becomes.