More on the Citi mtvU Credit Card
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Hands down, the Citi mtvU card is one of my favorite credit cards as a student. With the start of the school year, I thought it might be a good idea to mention this card again and throw in some new information.
I have covered the Citi mtvU Visa card in the past, but in a nutshell, the card is a student credit card from Citibank that offers extra rewards for spending in certain categories. All rewards are in the form of Citi ThankYou points, which, when used judiciously, can be valued at about 1 cent each. The part that makes the card special is that it offers 5 ThankYou points per dollar bookstores, movie theaters, and restaurants, meaning you can get about 5% back on purchases in those categories. It also provides bonus points for a strong GPA and for paying on time.
Limited Time Offer
Over at FatWallet.com, someone recently posted a link to a great limited-time offer from Citibank that coincides with the start of the traditional school year:
Earn 10 ThankYou Points on every dollar spent at restaurants (including fast food), bookstores, record stores, movie theaters and video rental stores for the first 3 months, 5 ThankYou Points per every dollar spent thereafter on same purchases.
So, in other words, for the first three months you have the card, you can earn up to 10% back in rewards in the top categories, double the normal amount. This is a great offer — especially if you’re about to drop a couple hundred dollars on college textbooks ($400 dollars in textbooks –> $40 in rewards!).
Citibank is also offering a special offer on its Citibank Dividend Platinum card — 10% cash-back at supermarkets, drugstores, gas stations, and utilities; while it is a nice sign-up offer, the normal cash back rate is 2%, which makes the Chase Freedom card seem like a better long-term card.
You may be wondering if the offer is legitimate — I had trouble finding it on Citibank’s web page, but when I searched “Citi mtvu” on google, the sponsored result from Citibank led to this offer.
How do you get the GPA bonus?
The Citi mtvU card also offers ThankYou Points for earning good grades (2,000 points for 4.00, 750 points for 3.50 - 3.99, 500 for 3.00 - 3.49), but they do not make it very easy to figure out how to go about getting those points. When I first got the card, I had to ask them to mail me a form, but I have since found that someone posted a copy online (see the Quick Summary area of that FatWallet discussion).
A quick note: My school provides us a copy of our grades online, but does not include a GPA on that particular page. For the past few semesters, I have just been sending them that unofficial page, and they have accepted it without problem (there is a spot on the form to write the GPA). However, this last time around they sent me back a letter that said they needed the GPA printed on the page — so keep that in mind when trying to get these points. That being said, they seem to be fine with a self-printed unofficial transcript.
Citi Thank You Points
The rewards you get are in the form of Citi Thank You Points, which is both a blessing and a curse. It is nice in the sense that you can pool your thank you points from multiple Citibank sources - nice if you have a Citibank checking account or plan on using a different Citi card in the future. It is a bit of a curse in the sense that you have to redeem the points for various rewards with different values, and it can be difficult to find out what is the best value.
If you have student loans, the choice is pretty easy. ThankYou Network points can redeemed 1-1 for rebate checks you can send to your student loan company (10,000 points — $100 reward)
Otherwise, your best bets are either going to be high-value gift cards (10,000 point level) or travel rewards — but more on how to make the best use of the travel cards later.
Great Card for Students
The Citi mtvU card remains one of my primary cards — especially given that it offers 5% back on most Amazon purchases as well.
What card do you recommend for students?
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This always seemed like a good card to me - if you can get it! I applied for this card in September, and they seem to pick out random people for a VERY stringent verification process, and I was one of them. Because my school doesn’t put current enrollment stickers on the school IDs, nor do they plaster my social security number on anything, I couldn’t prove to Citi that I was a student! So I was denied the card, which was fairly annoying.
But I’ve heard of many other people having no problem at all - before and since I applied for mine. I’ve also had other people come on my site and tell me the exact same happened to them, so it seems random.
Stephanie — That is terrible! I had heard that sometimes they asked for verification, but I had never heard of anything like that. My own experience was extremely painless; I think I supplied my .edu email address during the application, but beyond that I didn’t do anything to confirm my status as a student. Your story is definitely a good FYI. I’m sorry it never worked out for you!