AT&T Access Card From Citi Review

The Citi AT&T Access card is a ThankYou point-earning card offered in partnership with AT&T. The card is targeted toward AT&T customers and offers bonus ThankYou points for purchases at eligible travel and online retail websites.

While the no-longer-available premium version of this card was once a shining star in Citibank’s constellation of cobranded credit cards because of its uncapped higher earning rate at online retail, AT&T scrapped that version. This version offers just 2 ThankYou points per dollar spent at AT&T, eligible online retail and travel websites. 1X Point on Other Purchases.

You’ll also get a welcome bonus: N/A. 

• Earn 2 ThankYou points per dollar spent at AT&T, eligible online retail and travel websites. 1X Point on Other Purchases
• N/A
• No annual fee

Earning Rewards

The AT&T Access card from Citi has a simple reward structure and earns ThankYou points with no published limits:

• Earn 2 ThankYou points per dollar spent at AT&T, eligible online retail and travel websites. 1X Point on Other Purchases

The card also comes with a welcome bonus: N/A. 

Redeeming Rewards

ThankYou points are a flexible, transferable point currency that can be redeemed for a variety of awards, from gift cards to merchandise to travel and more.

Most users of ThankYou points will redeem points toward cash-back statement credits, gift cards, or by combining ThankYou points earned from the AT&T Access Card with a premium Citi credit card, like the Citi Premier® Card, and transferring to airline partners.

Cash Rewards

Citi ThankYou points can be redeemed toward a cash reward . For checks, there is a minimum redemption requirement of at least $5.

Gift cards

The Citi ThankYou points program offers redemptions for gift cards at a variety of restaurants and retailers, with redemptions starting at 1,000 ThankYou points for a $10 gift card. Citi occasionally runs sales on gift cards for certain brands.

Travel Booked Through ThankYou.com

You can book travel, including flights, hotels, cars and cruises through Citi’s ThankYou.com site. For most simple itineraries, the Citi ThankYou travel portal will price travel similarly to large online travel agencies such as Expedia or Orbitz. If you do not have enough ThankYou points for your entire booking, you can use ThankYou points to offset a portion of the cost of your trip. With most of Citi’s no-annual-fee cards, ThankYou points are worth one cent each toward travel bookings.

Transfer to Travel Partners

By far the most valuable ThankYou point redemptions are transfers to Citi’s travel partners, such as Singapore Airlines and Air France/KLM Flying Blue. Transferring ThankYou points to some travel partners requires a premium ThankYou points-earning credit card, such as the Citi Premier credit card.

Rewards Potential

Like many point-earning cards with bonus categories, the most lucrative rewards come from spending in the card’s bonus categories. Using data from various government agencies, Forbes Advisor has developed estimates for how much a family in the 70th percentile of income spends annually in various categories. The 70th percentile of wage-earning households brings in $100,172 annually and has $52,820 in standard expenses. We use those figures for estimating the potential rewards from this credit card.

This card earns 2 ThankYou points per dollar spent at AT&T, eligible online retail and travel websites. 1X Point on Other Purchases. To determine spending in bonus categories, we’ll assume that you are an AT&T customer and you spend $1,737 annually on mobile phone services. Further, we’ll assume you spend $3,185 on travel (booked online) and $1,189 on online shopping each year. Annual spending in bonus categories alone would earn 12,222 ThankYou points

Since this card earns 1 ThankYou point per dollar on all other purchases, most people won’t put all of their remaining spending on this card, but for the basis of comparison: Our household in the 70th percentile of income, this comes to $20,300, which would earn an additional 20,300 ThankYou points for a total of 32,522 points, plus the first-year welcome bonus.

ThankYou points can be easily redeemed for a variety of cashback and gift card rewards at values close to one cent per point, so a total of 32,522 ThankYou points earned in the first year would be worth $325.52, but points can be worth well over that when paired with a premium Citi card like the Citi Premier and transferred to Citi’s travel partners.

In addition to earning ThankYou points, the AT&T Access Card from Citi offers a number of other benefits. Many of these are common among similar no-annual fee credit cards.

• Citi Entertainment: Citi Entertainment gives you special access to purchase tickets to thousands of events, including presale tickets and exclusive experiences for the year’s most anticipated concerts, sporting events, dining experiences and more.
• $0 Liability for Unauthorized charges: At Citi, you will not be responsible for a charge that you did not authorize, online or otherwise.
• Choose Your Payment Due Date: Citi allows card members to choose “any available due date” to pay their bill.
• Contactless Payment: The AT&T Access Card from Citi contains an RFID chip that allows you to tap to pay at capable payment terminals

Interest Rates

• APR: see terms

Fees

• Annual Fee: see terms
• Foreign Transaction Fee: see your cardholder agreement for current rates
• Balance Transfer Fees: see your cardholder agreement for current rates
• Cash Advance Fee: see terms

AT&T Access Card from Citi* vs. Chase Freedom Unlimited®

If you are seeking increased rewards from online travel spending and also want a card that offers reasonable cash back rewards or general purchases, take a look at the Chase Freedom Unlimited®. The Chase Freedom Unlimited® earns at the following rates: 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3% cash back on eligible dining and drugstores and 1.5% on all other purchases, plus an additional 1.5% cash back on the first $20,000 in purchases the first year.

Chase Freedom rewards can be transferred to Chase Travel℠ and transferred to partners when paired with a premium Chase card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Chase Sapphire Reserve®. This opens up additional and more valuable point redemption opportunities.

AT&T Access Card from Citi* vs. Citi Double Cash® Card

For those wanting value and simplicity in a no annual fee card, it is hard to beat the Citi Double Cash® Card. The Citi Double Cash earns 2% cash back on all purchases—1% when purchases are made and another 1% when they’re paid off. Choose from cash-back or ThankYou points, which can be redeemed for a variety of rewards, including travel booked through ThankYou.com.

Earning an effective two ThankYou points (or 2% cash back) on all purchases on a no-annual-fee credit card is more compelling than earning two ThankYou points only in a limited number of spending categories like you do with the AT&T Access card.

AT&T Access Card from Citi* vs. Ink Business Cash® Credit Card

If you are looking for spending bonuses for mobile phone service purchases and have a small business, consider the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card card. With this card you’ll earn 5% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone services each account anniversary year. The card also earns 2% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants each account anniversary year. All other purchases earn 1% cash back.

The Chase Ink Business Cash card currently offers a welcome bonus: $350 bonus cash back after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first three months and an additional $400 after spending $6,000 on purchases in the first six months after account opening. Like the AT&T Access Card, the Chase Ink Business Cash card has no annual fee.

We can’t recommend a card that only offers 2 points per dollar in some categories, especially when stacked against cards that offer an opportunity to earn 2% cash back on all purchases or other cards that offer the opportunity to earn more generous rewards in similar categories with fewer restrictions.

If you are seeking more value from your spending on telecommunications, consider the Chase Ink Business Cash card. If you like the bonuses for online travel purchases, take a look at the Chase Freedom Unlimited. Overall, the vast majority of readers should pass on the AT&T Access card from Citi.