21 Benefits of Adding Authorized Users to the Citi Premier Card

The Citi Premier^® Card is a fan-favorite credit card in the frequent flyer landscape. In fact, it’s probably fair to say that this card is the flagship product in Citi’s credit card portfolio.

It has a generous variety of bonus categories where you can earn more rewards on a wider variety of purchases. Plus, it has an amazing welcome bonus that could translate to a couple of free flights!

And although the Citi Premier card is generally pretty light on benefits compared to products from other competitors, you can rest assured that you’re getting some exceptional value from this card’s rewards structure.

You can even multiply your rewards by adding authorized users to this credit card. Let’s take a look at what you stand to gain from adding authorized users to the Citi Premier card.

Citi Premier Card Snapshot

The Citi Premier card is, simply put, one of the best credit cards for rewards. In the below table, you’ll find an overview of the card’s current welcome bonus, relevant perks, and information about its fees and recommended credit criteria.

Citi Premier^® Card

U.P. Rating

The rating for this card has been determined by our own industry experts who know the in's and out's of credit card products. Bonuses, rewards as well as rates and fees are all taken into account. Compensation from the issuer does not affect our rating. We only recommend products we either use ourselves or endorse.

Frequent flyers will enjoy 3x ThankYou Points at restaurants, gas stations, supermarkets, air travel, and hotels.

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Citi Premier^® Card

Frequent flyers will enjoy 3x ThankYou Points at restaurants, gas stations, supermarkets, air travel, and hotels.

Welcome Offer

Earn 60,000 bonus ThankYou^® Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. Plus, for a limited time, earn a total of 10 ThankYou^® Points per $1 spent on hotel, car rentals, and attractions (excluding air travel) booked on the Citi Travel℠ portal through June 30, 2024.

60,000 points

UP's Bonus Valuation*:

$960

Annual Fee

$95

APR

21.24% - 29.24% Variable

Credit Recommended

Upgraded Points credit ranges are a variation of FICO^®Score 8, one of many types of credit scores lenders may use when considering your credit cardapplication.

Good to Excellent (670-850)

Why We Like This Card

The Citi Premier^® Card is an excellent option for anyone looking for an all-around travel rewards credit card. The card helps you earn points fast with great 3x bonus categories such as restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, airfare, and hotels. Plus, it offers access to airline and hotel transfer partners, doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees, and has a reasonable annual fee!

Pros & Cons

Pros

• 3x points at restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, airfare, and hotel purchases
• Access to Citi transfer partners
• Annual hotel credit
• No foreign transaction fees

Cons

• $95 annual fee

Card Highlights

• Earn 60,000 bonus ThankYou^® Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. Plus, for a limited time, earn a total of 10 ThankYou^® Points per $1 spent on hotel, car rentals, and attractions (excluding air travel) booked on the Citi Travel℠ portal through June 30, 2024.
• Earn 3 Points per $1 spent at Gas Stations, Air Travel and Other Hotels
• Earn 3 Points per $1 spent at Restaurants and Supermarkets
• Earn 1 Point per $1 spent on all other purchases
• Annual Hotel Savings Benefit
• 60,000 ThankYou^® Points are redeemable for $600 in gift cards redeemable for $600 in gift cards or travel rewards at thankyou.com
• No expiration and no limit to the amount of points you can earn with this card
• No Foreign Transaction Fees on purchases

Financial Snapshot

• APR: 21.24% - 29.24% Variable
• Foreign Transaction Fees: None

Card Categories

• Credit Card Reviews
• Travel Rewards Credit Cards
• Best Sign Up Bonuses

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Citi ThankYou Rewards

More Reads

• Benefits of the Citi Premier
• Authorized User Benefits of the Citi Premier
• Chase Sapphire Preferred Card vs. Citi Premier Card [Detailed Comparison]
• Best Citi Credit Cards
• Best Credit Card Sign Up Bonuses
• Best Travel Credit Cards
• Best Credit Cards for Groceries and Supermarkets
• Best Virtual Credit Cards

What Is an Authorized User?

An authorized user is simply someone else who is added onto your credit card by you (the primary cardholder).

Typical authorized users include children, spouses, and other direct household members.

For example, the head of a household may apply for a Citi Premier card and add his or her children as authorized users so they can make purchases under the same credit card.

As a reminder, while authorized users have their own card, the primary cardholder will still be wholly responsible for any charges or transactions made on the account.

Core Benefits of Adding an Authorized User to the Citi Premier Card

In general, there are a few reasons why you’d want to add authorized users to a credit card, whether or not it’s a Citi Premier card.

1. Adding Authorized Users Is Complimentary

In this case, the Citi Premier card allows you to add authorized users for no additional fee. While this isn’t always true (especially for ultra-premium cards where the annual fees are $450 or higher), the Citi Premier card allows authorized user cards at no additional cost.

This is a great way to avoid lots of annual fees and unnecessary credit card applications.

2. Build Your Credit

If you’re a responsible parent planning ahead for your children (or if you want to boost your spouse’s credit health), a low-effort way to get started on that is to add these individuals as authorized users on your credit card.

For example, if you’ve already had this credit card for 5 years and have a perfect payment history, your authorized users can also inherit this positive credit history, which should boost their credit scores.

It’s always a good idea to add your children as authorized users as early as possible so that when they become of age to get their own credit cards, they already have excellent credit.

3. Integrate Finances

If you’re the type of person who wants to streamline your finances, having a bunch of credit cards can introduce more headaches.

This is especially true if you’re someone who takes budgeting seriously — if you want to paint a clear picture of where you’re spending your money every month, downloading billing statements and transaction histories from many different cards will be time-consuming and tedious.

By adding your household members as authorized users, you can bring all of the household’s transaction activity under 1 online account, dashboard, and credit card.

You can also control household activity, including setting spending limits, locking cards, and more.

4. Get Benefits

The other general reason why you’d add an authorized user to your account is to share the benefits with the other individual, whether it’s enhanced rewards, benefits, or protections.

And that’s exactly what we’ll focus on in the rest of this article, starting with what earning benefits authorized users get from the Citi Premier card!

The Earning Benefits of Adding an Authorized User

5. Earn Your Welcome Bonus Faster

The Citi Premier card typically comes with a substantial welcome bonus. On paper, these bonuses could be worth upwards of $1,000, which presents a huge upside for new cardmembers.

And while the welcome bonus typically comes with an easy spending requirement, any additional spending that an authorized user makes will also count towards the welcome bonus.

So your authorized users could lend a helping hand in qualifying for the welcome bonus. For example, if the spending requirement is $4,000 in the first 3 months, combined spending of $3,000 from the primary cardholder and $2,000 from the authorized users in the first 3 months could be more than enough to earn that lovely welcome bonus.

Even better, authorized users are not precluded from earning their own welcome bonus on the Citi Premier card in the future should they become primary cardholders on their own accounts.

6. Bonus Categories on Purchases

The Citi Premier card has a series of bonus categories. The good news is that the bonus categories extend to all authorized users, too.

Expect to earn up to 3x ThankYou Points on everyday purchases at restaurants, supermarkets, air travel, hotels, and gas stations.

According to our valuations, Citi ThankYou Points are worth 1.6 cents each, which translates to a return on spending of 4.8% when earning 3x points.

7. Every Purchase Earns Rewards

All of your purchases earn ThankYou Points, even if they don’t fall under a special bonus category.

You’ll earn 1x ThankYou Point per dollar spent on other purchases, and best of all, purchases from authorized users count towards this!

Redeeming Rewards

8. Redeem Points for Authorized Users

One of the biggest reasons why you would want the Citi Premier card is that it’s one of the only ways to access the ecosystem of Citi ThankYou Rewards, which is a flexible rewards currency similar to Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, and Capital One Miles.

Your authorized users can access this same ecosystem of Citi ThankYou Rewards without needing to have their own Citi Premier card.

To book award travel for your authorized user, simply find a transfer partner that allows you to book flights for others, transfer your ThankYou Points to this transfer partner, and book the travel in your authorized user’s name.

Bottom Line: Citi ThankYou Rewards does not allow transfers to frequent flyer programs directly in the name of an authorized user, so this workaround only works if the frequent flyer program allows award flights to be booked in someone else’s name.

9. Transferring Citi ThankYou Points to Another Citi ThankYou Card

If you, as the primary cardholder, decide that you want to transfer points to someone else, you can easily do so. This includes authorized users who might also have their own Citi ThankYou credit card.

Just remember that as soon as you transfer points to someone else’s Citi ThankYou card, there’s a clock that starts ticking — any transferred points will expire 90 days later with no way to extend it.

So in theory, if John Doe had an authorized user named Jane Smith who also had her own Citi ThankYou Rewards credit card, John Doe could transfer points to Jane Smith’s Citi ThankYou Rewards card. Then, Jane Smith could transfer those points to an airline or hotel partner within 90 days and book her own award travel directly.

Travel Benefits and Protections

Although the Citi Premier card’s suite of travel protections was gutted almost entirely, the card still retains a few benefits by virtue of its status as a World Elite Mastercard.

10. Access to Mastercard Luxury Hotels and Resorts

Thanks to the Citi Premier card’s status as a World Elite Mastercard, you also have access to Mastercard Luxury Hotels and Resorts, which affords you benefits at over 4,000 properties around the world (4-star and 5-star):

• Complimentary daily breakfast for 2
• Special amenities valued up to $100 per stay
• Room upgrade at the time of arrival, subject to availability
• Early check-in upon arrival, subject to availability
• Late checkout, subject to availability

Authorized users can make these bookings, as well.

11. Access to the Citi Concierge

One of the benefits of the Citi Premier card is the 24/7 access to the Citi Concierge.

This benefit allows you to get help arranging dinner reservations, planning a vacation, or snagging hard-to-get event tickets to concerts, sporting events, and more.

12. Access to Citi Entertainment

The Citi Entertainment portal allows you to find preferred pricing and access to exclusive events, whether it’s concert tickets, sporting events, or movie screenings.

This online marketplace is accessible to authorized users, too.

13. Car Rental Discounts

Through World Elite Mastercard, you can get discounts of up to 25% off and Avis Preferred Plus, National Emerald Club Executive, and SIXT Advantage Circle Platinum status.

This is a fantastic way to save a substantial amount of money if you book car rentals with any amount of regularity.

14. Travel Accident Insurance

With the Citi Premier card, you’ll be able to access travel accident insurance, which covers up to $1 million for accidental loss of life, 2 or more members, sight of both eyes, speech, and hearing, or any combination thereof.

There are many exclusions for this, and we hope that you’ll never have a need for this, but it’s available when you book travel using the Citi Premier card.

Hot Tip: Learn more about the valuable benefits of the Citi Premier card in our detailed guide!

Shopping Benefits and Protections

15. Complimentary ShopRunner Membership

Although most people associate a complimentary ShopRunner membership as a benefit offered on select Amex cards, the Citi Premier card actually offers the perk, too!

Thanks to its status as a World Elite Mastercard, the Citi Premier card gets you free 2-day shipping and free return shipping at many stores, including Bloomingdale’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, Cole Haan, and more.

16. Complimentary Trial of DoorDash DashPass

DoorDash has a partnership with Mastercard to offer its World Elite Mastercard members 3 complimentary months of DashPass.

Also, if you enroll, you’ll get $5 off your first order every month during your 3-month membership period through September 30, 2022.

17. Purchase Protection

The Citi Premier card offers purchase protection by virtue of its World Elite Mastercard standing. If an item you purchased with your card or points is damaged or stolen within 90 days of purchase or delivery (whichever is first), you may be reimbursed for the amount paid, up to $10,000 per incident and $50,000 per year.

18. Extended Warranty

The extended warranty benefit on the Citi Premier card could come in handy because it adds up to 24 months on top of your manufacturer’s warranty.

The warranty covers a reimbursement amount of up to $10,000, and the total coverage including the extended warranty is 7 years.

19. No Foreign Transaction Fees

The Citi Premier card comes with no foreign transaction fees, which carries over to authorized users, too.

So if you spend $1,000 on food while abroad on vacation, you can save around $30 in foreign transaction fees and also earn 3,000 ThankYou Points!

20. Zero Liability Protection

On all Mastercard products, you’ll enjoy zero liability protection against unauthorized purchases.

This applies to the primary cardholder, as well as authorized users.

21. Contactless Payments

Lastly, in today’s increasingly digital world, making payments without having to present your physical card could be a huge convenience.

With the Citi Premier card, you can add your card to mobile wallets like Apple Pay and utilize contactless payments seamlessly, whether you’re the primary cardholder or the authorized user.

What Benefits Do Authorized Users Not Receive?

Authorized users enjoy almost all of the same benefits as the primary cardholder would with the Citi Premier card, but there is 1 key benefit that authorized users don’t receive.

$100 Annual Hotel Savings Benefit

The Citi Premier card offers an annual hotel savings benefit of up to $100 off of a single hotel stay of $500 or more (excluding all taxes and fees) when booked via thankyou.com.

This benefit applies once per calendar year, and there is only 1 of these benefits offered to the primary cardholder.

Sure, authorized users can use the primary cardholder’s $100 benefit, but authorized users are not entitled to their own $100 benefit.

How To Add an Authorized User to the Citi Premier Card

Adding an authorized user to your Citi Premier card is super easy!

First, log into your Citi online account. Then, in the top banner, you’ll see a menu. Hover over Services and click Credit Card Services.

In the CARD MANAGEMENT box, click the button that says Authorized Users.

After that, you’ll be prompted to fill out a form. Be sure that your Citi Premier card account is selected, and fill out the form.

Toggle whether or not you’d like to allow authorized users to have online access to their Citi Premier card account, and click Add.

Your authorized user card should be delivered in 7 to 10 business days. Activate the new card, and you’re good to go!

Everything Else You Need To Know

Before you add an authorized user, you should keep in mind that an authorized user card can affect the authorized user’s approval odds for other credit cards.

For example, authorized user cards count towards Chase’s 5/24 rule, which could lead to an auto-decline when applying for a new Chase credit card.

Lastly, we wanted to reiterate that all charges made by the authorized user are the sole and complete responsibility of the primary cardholder, so you’ll only want to let trusted individuals become your authorized user.

Final Thoughts

All in all, it’s there are plenty of reasons why adding an authorized user to the Citi Premier card could be beneficial.

To start, adding authorized users, in general, can help them build credit history and help you manage your personal finances more effectively.

Authorized users get pretty much all of the same benefits as the primary cardholder, save for the $100 annual hotel savings benefit.

But beyond that, authorized users will still earn 3x points on all of the same bonus categories, as well as those key benefits and protections surrounding travel and shopping.

Best of all, this comes without paying another annual fee, so it’s a no-brainer in our books.