You can now redeem your Citi points at Walmart, but you probably shouldn’t

Citi is a TPG advertising partner.

If you have a Citi card that earns ThankYou points, you may have received an email that you can now redeem ThankYou points for in-store Walmart purchases.

While we’re all gearing up for holiday purchases, redeeming ThankYou points at Walmart provides an underwhelming redemption rate of just 0.8 cents per ThankYou point — that’s not even half of TPG’s valuation.

Here’s why you should think twice before redeeming ThankYou points at a Walmart cash register.

Redeeming ThankYou points at Walmart

Redeeming your ThankYou points for in-store Walmart purchases isn’t difficult, and no prior enrollment is required.

When you check out at a participating Walmart location with a purchase of $10.01 or more, swipe your Citi card at the cash register. If your store and purchase are eligible, the terminal will then say, “Redeem your ThankYou points?” and “Use 1,250 points for $10.”

It’s easy to be misled and select “yes,” resulting in a redemption at a fraction of what you could be getting if you maximize your ThankYou points.

For example, the 12,500 ThankYou points needed to cover a $100 Walmart purchase could be used to book a one-way ticket from New York to Berlin. Simply transfer points to Air France-KLM Flying Blue and leverage its November Promo Rewards to book this flight. You’d even save 1,250 points if you went this route.

Air France award ticket from New York to Berlin — AIRFRANCE.US

Citi cards that let you redeem points at Walmart

You can redeem ThankYou points at Walmart by using any of the major Citi cards that earn ThankYou points, including those without an annual fee. This includes the following cards:

Citi Prestige® Card (no longer available to new applicants).
Citi Premier® Card.
Citi Custom℠ Cash.
Citi® Double Cash.
Citi Rewards+® Card.
Citi ThankYou Preferred Card (no longer available to new applicants).
CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard®(no longer available to new applicants).
Citi AT&T Access (no longer available to new applicants).
Citi AT&T Access More (no longer available to new applicants).
Citi AT&T Universal Cards (no longer available to new applicants).
Citi Sears Card.

The information for the Citi Prestige, Citi ThankYou Preferred, CitiBusiness, Citi AT&T Access, Citi AT&T Access More, Citi AT&T Universal and Citi Sears cards have been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Warn your authorized users

Just like primary cardholders, authorized users may be prompted to drop into ThankYou points at checkout.

If you have a friend or family member who is an authorized user on your Citi card that earns ThankYou points, consider giving them a heads-up about using ThankYou points at Walmart.

Bottom line

If you have a Citi card that earns ThankYou points, you may be able to now redeem them at a Walmart cash register. TPG values Citi ThankYou points at 1.8 cents apiece, so Walmart’s disappointing 0.8-cent redemption rate should be avoided if you’re trying to stretch your points.

While ThankYou points from a no-annual-fee card aren’t transferrable to Citi’s full list of transfer partners, they can still be redeemed in Citi’s (shaky at best) travel portal at 1 cent apiece — even that’s 20% more than what you’ll get at Walmart.