Citi ThankYou — Rewards, Fees & 2026 Review

Citi's own terms put it this way: bonus points are not available if you received a new account bonus for that account in the past 48 months, or if you converted another Citi card on which you earned a bonus in the last 48 months into this one. The clock runs from the date you received the bonus, not from when you opened or closed the account, and closing the card does not reset it. Each card is judged on its own bonus history rather than as one big family, so a bonus on one Strata card does not block another. The exception is that carryover through a product change.

Usually written as the 8/65 rule. It is a community-tracked pattern rather than anything in Citi's published terms. The real internal cutoff on the second number is thought to be closer to 60 days, with 65 used as a safety margin because Citi's counting has been inconsistent. In practice people apply, wait until day nine for a second card, and day sixty-six for a third. Business cards reportedly follow a separate and longer gap, and sources disagree on whether business applications count against the personal windows.

This is the softest of the Citi patterns, and the one people most often overstate. Around six inquiries in six months is the figure usually quoted, and plenty of applicants are approved above it. A stricter three in six months was reported for the Premier card back in 2020, and we found nothing from recent years confirming that tighter number still applies, so treat it as stale rather than current.