Citi Easy Deals: Are they worth it?

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Beyond the standard rewards rate, credit cards come with all sorts of ways to save you money – be it benefits like travel insurances and access to programs designed to boost your savings.

If you have a qualifying Citi credit card, the bank offers a great way to save money on common purchases: Citi Easy Deals. This program allows cardholders to unlock competitive savings on dining, merchandise, gift cards and more.

What is Citi Easy Deals?

Citi Easy Deals is a program offering a collection of discounts available to select Citi cardholders. Easy Deals allows qualifying Citi customers to enroll and access unique savings as they advance through the membership tiers.

From daily deals featuring select products to sales on gift cards, Citi Easy Deals is designed to help customers save money on all kinds of everyday purchases.

Who can use Citi Easy Deals?

Unfortunately, there are only two cards eligible for this program at the moment – the Citi Simplicity® Card and Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card:

If you do own one of these two cards, there are some great promotions to take advantage of.

How does Citi Easy Deals work?

Citi Easy Deals operates on a tiered system. There are three of these tiers – Base Tier, Enhanced Tier and Plus Tier – each of which boasts unique offers that eligible cardholders can advance through as they meet spend requirements throughout the year.

All qualifying cardholders who enroll in Citi Easy Deals are automatically placed in the Base Tier, which gives access to local offers from restaurants and retailers.

If you spend $100 on purchases in a calendar year, you can move into the Enhanced Tier, which adds savings on gift cards and magazine subscriptions to the standard local offers.

Finally, cardholders who spend at least $500 in a calendar year unlock the full potential of Citi Easy Deals – including savings on travel, merchandise and Daily Deals.

You may be wondering how to use Citi Easy Deals points. Citi Easy Deals is not a card-linked offer program. Rather than earn cash back as a statement credit after your purchase, you’ll unlock the savings from Citi Easy Deals immediately. You can receive discounts on dining, merchandise and travel purchases, among other categories.

How to register for Citi Easy Deals

To start taking advantage of the program, simply navigate to the registration page and input your first and last name, the last four digits of your eligible Citi credit card and your ZIP code. From there, you’ll be prompted to create a username and password.

Is the Citi Easy Deals program worth it?

You can find deals by browsing the Citi Easy Deals platform. However, most Citi Easy Deals that we found at the time of writing this article weren’t that enticing – and they seem to mimic promotions you can find on any coupon site. For example, one Easy Deal offered 20% off a regular priced-purchase from DressBarn, but it was only valid on regular priced merchandise and couldn’t be combined with any other offers.

If you regularly use shopping portals or coupon aggregating sites when you shop online, you can probably find a comparable discount to most Citi Easy Deals without the extra step of searching the platform.

However, there is one kind of promotion that serves as a true gold mine within Citi Easy Deals – gift cards. You can often find gift cards from major retailers at a 10% discount or higher. Citi customers have even reported getting a $5 gift card for free on past offers.

If you already spend money with a merchant, taking advantage of these deals can amount to incredible savings.

Tips for maximizing Citi Easy Deals

Despite limited membership opportunities and less eye-catching promotions than other savings tools, Citi Easy Deals still has the potential to save eligible cardholders money on their everyday purchases. Whether it be a discount at a local restaurant you frequent or a gift card for less than its cash value, you can still get some use out of the program if you follow these tips:

• Meet the spend threshold for the highest Citi Easy Deals tier as soon as possible each calendar year to extend your access to top promotions.
• Take advantage of deals on gift cards, especially from places where you already spend a significant amount.
• Check the Citi Easy Deals platform regularly for new promotions, including any Daily Deals on featured products.
• Always compare Citi Easy Deals to other savings programs, including any card-linked offers or shopping portals you use.

Bottom line

Citi Easy Deals is limited to a very small group of Citi cardholders, and for the most part, promotions aren’t spectacular.

However, cardholders who qualify for the program should keep a careful eye out for gift card sales, as these deals can be particularly valuable. Just keep in mind that you’ll need to reach the Enhanced Tier to have access to these kinds of deals.