Citi Increases Value of ThankYou Points When Used for Student Loan Rebates, Mortgage Payments
In a refreshing change from the norm, Citi recently increased the value of its ThankYou points when they are redeemed for student loan rebates or mortgage payments. Citi credit card members can now redeem Thank You points for a check towards either their student loan or mortgage at an exchange rate of 100 points per $1. For instance, 2,500 Thank You points can be redeemed for a $25 check.
What makes this especially enticing is that in the past, people have not only used this redemption method to pay down their student loans or mortgages, but as a way to directly convert their points to cash. (It should be noted, however, that Citi does not officially support this practice.)
To redeem your points, call the ThankYou Service Center at 1-800-THANKYOU (1-800-842-6596). You’ll be asked for the name and spelling of the financial institution holding your loan. Alternatively, if you are looking to directly convert your points to cash, you can give them the name of the bank where you want to deposit the check. Citi will then send out a check made out to that bank or lender. At that point, you can deposit it as you would with any other check, or mail it in to your lender.
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Can these points be used to pay college tuition? I mean can the check be made payable to something like “University of ______________”?
@Manoj
I don’t think you’ll be able to directly pay your tuition, since it’s assumed that the checks are only made out to lenders. Asking for the check to made out to your university would likely raise eyebrows.
Indirectly, it’s of course possible. If, for instance you had a HELOC, you could have the the check made out to your HELOC lender, then write a check from the HELOC to your school. Or, as the post suggests, you can have the check made out to your bank and deposit it there, then write a check from your bank to your school.
Thanks ccwatcher, for the HELOC idea.
So I can just request a student loan check with my points and make it out to my bank and just deposit it into my account, that is it? I have no student loans, but want the full cash value…thanks
@sam32 Yes, that is what many people have done.
Ok I have two questions as I am trying to maximize my thank you points. I have student loans wit Sallie Mae, but no type of banking accounts. As a result,if I try to get a student loan check made out to let’s say Chase or Citibank where I have my banking accounts…will it not be able to be deposited there since a student loan is not with them. Same questions applies for the Mortgage payments since the check gets sent to you…if it is made out to the bank where you do your banking will it not be able to be deposited without a loan number on it
Hi Devon, I’m not sure I understand your question. When you request a student loan or mortgage payment redemption, all Citi requires is the name of the lender. They don’t actually verify that you have a loan with that company and will just issue a check made out to that lender. So if you give Citi the name of your bank as the lender, you can deposit the check they give you (which will made out to your bank) into your banking account as you would any other check.
Citi’s official statement is that it takes 1-3 weeks to get the check in the mail. How long does it actually take in your experience?