The Citi Forward® Card is running a limited-time promotion with Netflix for new cardmembers where they will pay for your Netflix streaming for an entire year if you use the card for payment. At currently prices, that’s $7.99 x 12 = $95.88 + taxes. However, the wording of the fine print suggests that if you have a higher Netflix bill due to DVD rentals, it will rebate up to $10 a month = $120 for the year.
You must register your new Citi Forward Card with Netflix.com as the preferred payment method to pay for your month-to-month Netflix membership. You will receive a statement credit for the total Netflix monthly membership fee (up to $10 per month) on the same statement as the transaction at Netflix.
This actually would work perfectly for us since we are testing out a Netflix + Roku box combo to replace cable TV right now (review upcoming)… but I already have the Citi Forward card.
Basically, if you use Netflix, this is an up to $120 sign-up bonus with no additional spending requirement for what is actually not a bad keeper card with no annual fee. It offers 5x ThankYou points on restaurants (including fast food) and also “entertainment” = bookstores, record stores, movie theaters, and movie rental stores. For many years, the best part of the bookstore classification is that Amazon.com counted for 5x points. Recently there are rumors that Citi is thinking of no longer counting Amazon as a bookstore, although as of the last billing statement Amazon purchases did still work. Perhaps there is some “grandfathering” going on, but FYI. In any case, you still get 100 ThankYou points a month just for paying your bill on time.
- Citi Forward® Card limited-release offer application link
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Doh- is Citi running this deal on any of their other cards?
Is this for new card holders only? I’m an existing card holder for about 2 years – will this work for me?
I already have the Citi Forward card (thanks to a past recommendation from Jonathon – thanks!). If I start paying my existing Netflix fees (DVD delivery only) with the Forward card, will that earn the 5 point level?
Do we know when you have to sign up by?
New cardmembers only? Thumbs down Citi.
Thinking about calling to cancel to see if they would give me the new cardmembers Netflix deal if I keep my account open…
I made 5 phone calls to find out if this deal would also cover the old fashioned DVDs in the mail plan or if for some reason it’s limited to streaming only.
I have a smaller monitor and prefer to watch DVDs on my tv.
Called 3 citi reps, both at customer service and credit card applications, and no one knew anything about it.
Also called 2 people at Netflix and they referred me back to Citi.
any thoughts on this? It does sound like a good deal.
So… the “normal” sign-up bonus currently is 10,000 ThankYou Points if you spend $650 and sign up for Paperless Statements. This is a $100 value in gift cards or towards a student loan. Assuming that you only use the Netflix streaming plan for $7.99/month, the normal sign-up bonus would be a better deal, right? ($100.00 vs. $95.88)
Or is the Netflix sign-up deal *on top of* the normal sign-up bonus?
I wouldn’t want to increase my Netflix service (by adding unlimited 1-out-at-a-time DVDs) just to take advantage of the $10/month from Citi, since Netflix charges an extra $7.99/month ($15.98/month total) for DVDs, and the extra service isn’t worth $5.98/month to me. (If it were, the difference is such that I’d already be paying $7.99/month for it.)
In the end, I’m not sure if this is actually a better deal than the normal sign-up offer. Thoughts, Jonathan? Or anyone?
I called Citi. They have no clue.
@Jason – New cardholders only.
@Paul – I believe Netflix should count as a video rental store, yes. I should charge it to my Forward card myself, good idea.
@fern – Honestly, I don’t see how Citi can tell by your credit card charge whether it is live streaming or DVD you’re paying for. I’d be willing to bet it’s just a rebate of any Netflix billing that shows up on your statement, up to $10 per month.
@Andrew – As long as you value a $100 gift card to say Home Depot as greater than $95.88 over a year, then I think the other offer would be better for you. Here’s what I wrote about the other offer in the past:
https://www.mymoneyblog.com/citi-forward-card-review-bonus-amazon.html
I think Citi is just testing this offer out to see if it gets more traction than the other one. But I’d pick $120 in rebates over $100 in gift cards.
Well, duh. I guess I answered my own question simply by going to the Netflix website.
They do not appear to be offering the old-fashioned DVDs in the mail plan; the only way you can get DVDs in the mail is if you add it on to your streaming plan.
I mentioned this to another blogger who has Netflix now and she said that DVDs alone are an option in her account. Perhaps they are phasing it out for new customers.
Don’t know why the Netflix people coulnd’t have mentioned this.
@fern – Netflix is trying to move to streaming only eventually, but I’m pretty sure they still offer dvd-only plans to both new and old customers. Try typing in dvd.netflix.com directly for a page only about dvds.
Thanks, Jonathan. I applied, was approved and have already signed up for Netflix again! the cold weather is coming and I’m glad I’ll have something to watch again! I’ve seen practically every movie that the library has and being underemployed, i can’t justify the expense of cable.
so thanks!!
Random tip – If you’re looking for something to watch on Netflix, both Season 1 and Season 2 of Sherlock on BBC are now streaming. Just 5 episodes, but they are well done. Also available on DVD.
You read my mind.
If anyone else has movies, preferably, that they would recommend, I’m all ears!
Posts of this nature are always welcomed, sharing news about offers, but really this is quite a stingy deal in comparison to other offers. Noawadays we are accustomed to credit card bonuses valued at around half a grand. This offer, at 1/5 that value, is puzzling.
I disagree with Paul. This offer is typical of cards with no annual fee. The ~$500 offers are almost always, if not always for cards that have an annual fee (usually waived for the first year).
@Andrew: Nope. Just in the past couple of months, I’ve gotten Chase Ink with 50,000 points that go straight into $500 cash; United Explorer with 65,000 miles that translate into slightly less than $500 in gift cards; and Citibank Premier cards (both MasterCard and Visa) that each give 50,000 ThankYou points, easily transferable to slightly less than $500 in cash or gift cards.
NONE of these had annual fees for the first full year. So, Andrew, please don’t attempt to sway people away from better deals than this. They’re not hard to find.
Paul,
It’s offensive that you accuse me of attempting to “sway people away” from other deals. I have done no such thing, nor can I imagine any reason for wanting to. It is rude and presumptuous of you to say such a thing. I disagreed with you in a civil manner without personal remarks. I would appreciate it if you would show me the same courtesy.
Now, back to the issue. In my previous post, I distinguished between cards with no annual fee, on the one hand, and cards with an annual fee, on the other hand. I also noted that cards *with* an annual fee *usually* waive it for the first year. Your post suggests that you and I are not understanding this distinction in the same way. I say this because you wrote, “NONE of these had annual fees for the first full year.” But this statement is entirely consistent with those cards *having* annual fees which are *waived* for the first year.
I believe the cards below are the ones you mentioned. Correct me if I’m wrong.
1. Chase Ink (https://creditcards.chase.com/ink-business-credit-cards/rewards)
Chase Ink Bold: 50,000 Bonus Points (=$625 travel; $500 other). Annual fee: $ 0 first year; $95 thereafter.
(Note the alternatives. Chase Ink Cash: $250. Annual fee: none. Chase Ink Classic Business: 25,000 (=$250). Annual fee: none.)
2. United MilagePlus Explorer Card (https://www.theexplorercard.com/MPYoureIn40kAFW.aspx): 40,000 Bonus Miles. Annual fee: $0 first year; $95 thereafter.
3. Citi ThankYou Premier (https://creditcards.citi.com/credit-cards/citi-thankyou-premier-card/): previously 50,000 ThankYou Points (=$500). Annual fee: $0 first 12 months; $125 thereafter.
As you can see, what I said in my previous post is true of every single one of the cards you named. They all have annual fees which are waived for the first year. Hence, they all fall into the second category of cards which I distinguished. Cards which do *not* have an annual fee tend to have initial rewards around $100-$300, such as this Citi Forward offer.
So, once again, I disagree with you, Paul. I claim that the reward for the Citi Forward card is currently typical of cards of its kind. Currently, in order to receive a larger reward, one almost always (perhaps always) has to go with a card from the other category, i.e., cards with annual fees which are usually waived for the first year.
I have always posted about lower bonuses for long-term “keeper” cards, especially cards that I personally have applied for, held, and used for years. It is MY money blog after all. 🙂
You can always see the top $500+ offers here:
https://www.mymoneyblog.com/get-free-100-bonuses-from-credit-card-promotions/
As such, cards like the Citi Dividend, Chase Freedom, Discover More, Capital One Cash, and Citi Forward all have had no annual fees AND a ongoing rewards structure that I feel is valuable, AND a sign-up bonus of $100+ at times, which makes them worthy of mention in my opinion.
https://www.mymoneyblog.com/my-credit-card-rewards-maximization-strategy.html
Hope that provides clarity.
@Andrew: To be filed under comical overreaction. And those annual fees, waived for a full year after collecting some $1,500 in bonuses (a much larger amount of money than even a few years’ annual fees) always lead to the well-known options of getting them waived yet again — 50/50 chance in my experience — or migrating their credit lines to other products from the same card issuer without notation of formal card closure, resulting in no negative credit score impact. In fact, when you pass on offers like this (stubbornness, dogma or whatever — annual fee fetishism), you miss out on expanding your total available credit as a ratio against revolving debt: the biggest boost to anyone’s credit score. Final word there, I’m un-following subsequent comments.
I guess expecting for common courtesy amounts to a “comical overreaction” these days. Oh well.
Those aspects of the annual fee were never the issue. I never said annual fees are bad. As a matter of fact, I sign up for cards with annual fees all the time in order to take advantage of the rewards. The only claim I ever made was that the reward for this Citi Forward deal is typical of cards of its kind. That’s all. Paul likes to make assumptions, it seems. Honestly, I’m not sure why I even bother commenting on the internet in order to point out something factual that might help others. No good deed goes unpunished, right?
if i have an existing citi card, can i do a product change and still be eligible for this offer? i dont want to open a new account
@john – You may be able to make a product change, but no sign-up offer will be given. You’d need to sign up for a new account and then cancel the old card for the bonus.
First, thanks for your site! I received my card today and no where was there any verbiage in any of the fine print regarding the Netflix deal. So I called to double check. They did confirm that I would rebated up to $10 per month BUT they also said you have to charge at least $5 per month on the card to get the deal. No biggie but I did not see that mentioned anywhere…if I missed it sorry for the note 🙂
John can you please confirm if what Daniel is saying is true??
Doesn’t the $8 minimum Netflix charge count as at least $5 per month on the card already?
They tried to pull a fast one on me… Got the card and when I went to activate it asked them if I would get 5% back at Amazon.
They said they had no record of giving 5% back for ANYTHING… a rather lengthy hold later I finally got a manager to admit they made a mistake. They were going to fix it. (Which I think amounts to them canceling the card I applied for and re-issuing another.)
Suffice to say, I’ll be checking that first statement closely…