Citi - Diamond Preferred Rewards Card Review

My Citibank account can be accessed online, where I can pay my bill, check my activity, access a virtual account number, and see my monthly rewards activity.  From the Citibank website, I can click straight through to the ThankYou Rewards Network website. 

The ThankYou Rewards Network is the place where I begin my online shopping.   There is a directory of online merchants where you can earn bonus points.  For example, if I click on the link to Overstock.com, I will earn 4 points per dollar instead of just 1 point per dollar.  It makes it quicker for me to reach my goal of 6000 points.  Of course, there are rewards for as low as 1500 points for a Newsweek subscription (if you're really impatient), or as much as 280,000 points for a Sony HDTV (if you have the patience of a saint).  As for me, I stop at 6000 because that's enough for me to get a $50 gift card.  It usually takes me about 6 to 8 months to earn enough for a gift card.  I typically select a Target card, but I've also gotten cards from Home Depot, Barnes and Noble, Marshalls, and T.J. Maxx.  I've always received my gift cards in the mail promptly with no problems.

I don't go out of my way to spend money just to get a few rewards points, but if I'm going to buy something anyway, I always use my Citibank Diamond Preferred MasterCard.  It may not be a million dollar reward, but it's always nice to get a free $50 gift card a couple of times per year.