The Citi ThankYou program will be making a negative change in the coming weeks (as was first flagged by Doctor Of Credit), so it could be worth moving around some points before then.
Citi ThankYou points sharing with others will end
The major transferable points currencies all have different rules when it comes to sharing points between accounts. Rules can differ based on whether you’re moving points between your own accounts, or are trying to move them to someone else’s account.
Historically, Citi ThankYou has had one of the more flexible policies when it comes to being able to move points to anyone’s account. Specifically, the program has allowed members to transfer 100,000 ThankYou points per year to others, and to receive 100,000 ThankYou points.
There has been no sort of household requirement, or anything, so you could transfer your points to virtually anyone with a Citi ThankYou point. The major catch was that transferred points expire after 90 days, though the person you transfer points to can of course then move those points to a partner loyalty program.
Well, there’s a major change coming to this policy — as of May 17, 2026, Citi ThankYou will no longer let members transfer points to others. To be clear, you can still pool points between multiple cards all in your name, but you can’t move points to others, and can’t receive points from others.
So if you could still benefit from this feature, you’ll want to be sure that you make your transfer before May 17.
This is a disappointing change, but not surprising
Obviously I’m not happy to see Citi ThankYou points become less flexible, as this is undeniably a negative change.
I will say, I was a bit surprised that Citi ThankYou allowed points transfers without any sort of limits on who you could transfer to, given the concerns most programs have about points being bartered. I suspect with the fairly low cap on how many points you can transfer and receive, it wasn’t viewed as being that big of an issue… at least until now?
Credit card issuers all try to find the right balance between offering rich rewards and managing costs, and I suspect this is also motivated by partly by trying to increase breakage on points.
Bottom line
As of May 17, 2026, the Citi ThankYou program will be ending points transfers between members, so it’ll no longer be possible to move your Citi ThankYou points to someone else’s account (though you can still combine points between your own cards).
Citi had one of the more generous policies in terms of letting members transfer points to anyone, so I can’t say I’m surprised to see this change. If you could still benefit from the ability to transfer or receive 100,000 points in a calendar year, now would be the time to do so.
What do you make of this Citi ThankYou policy change?
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