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Citi ThankYou Points Sharing Ending May 2026 — What to Do Now
July 1, 2025
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Effective May 17, 2026, Citi will permanently remove the ability to share ThankYou Points between cardholders. Here's what's changing, who it affects, and how to make the most of your points before the deadline.
What's Happening With Citi ThankYou Points Sharing?
Citi has announced it will discontinue its ThankYou Points sharing feature on May 17, 2026. Cardholders who spotted the notice on their recent statements saw the following message:
"Effective 5/17/2026, Point Sharing will no longer be offered as a ThankYou® Rewards redemption option. Additionally, you will no longer be able to receive shared points. You can share and receive shared points until 5/16/2026."
This means May 16, 2026 is your last day to share or receive ThankYou Points between accounts. After that date, the feature is gone for good, and it affects all Citi cards that earn ThankYou Points, not just select products.
How Did Citi's Points Sharing Work?
Until now, Citi offered something neither Chase nor American Express could match: the ability to freely transfer ThankYou Points to any other ThankYou member. No shared address required, no fees, and no complicated hoops to jump through.
Here's how it compared to competitors:
- Citi: Share with anyone, instantly, for free (up to 100,000 points per year)
- Chase: Points sharing allowed only between members at the same address
- American Express: No point transfer to other member accounts at all
The one existing caveat: shared points expire 90 days after the transfer date. To avoid losing them, recipients would typically move points immediately to a transfer partner like American Airlines.
Who Is Most Affected by This Change?
Couples and Families Using a Two-Player Strategy
The biggest impact falls on households where one partner holds the premium card with 1:1 transfer partner access (like the Citi Strata Premier® Card or Citi Strata Elite℠ Card) and the other earns points on no-annual-fee cards like the Citi Custom Cash® Card or Citi Double Cash® Card. Sending points from the earning account to the premium account and then transferring to airline or hotel partners will no longer be an option after May 16.
[[ COMPARE_CARD * {"ids": ["7783", "19322"], "bestCategoryIds":["17", "18", "19"], "bestForTexts":["Robust Rewards Program", "High-End Travel Rewards"]} ]]
[[ COMPARE_CARD * {"ids": ["2885", "580"], "bestCategoryIds":["17", "18", "19"], "bestForTexts":["Flexible Cash Back Card", "Simplicity Meets Rewards"]} ]]
Award Travelers Pooling Points for Big Redemptions
If you've been pooling points across two accounts to hit a high-value redemption threshold (say, three business class seats that require a combined points balance), this change limits your flexibility considerably.
Points Optimizers Who Leverage Signup Bonuses
Earning a large signup bonus on a secondary card and moving those points to a primary account with better transfer rates has been a common strategy, and one Citi is effectively shutting down.
What Is NOT Changing
It's important to distinguish sharing (between two different cardholders) from combining (merging your own ThankYou accounts across multiple Citi cards).
Combining your own ThankYou Point accounts is not affected. If you hold multiple Citi cards, for example a Strata Elite and a Custom Cash, you can still consolidate all your points into a single ThankYou account. This is a separate feature and remains available.
If you're having trouble combining accounts online, calling Citi directly tends to resolve most technical errors quickly.
How to Maximize Your Points Before May 16
If you have points sharing on your to-do list, don't wait. Here's a quick action checklist:
- Identify any points you want to share — look at balances across your household accounts now
- Transfer before May 16 — the deadline is firm
- Use received points within 90 days — transferred points still carry the 90-day expiration window, so move them to a transfer partner promptly
- Book travel directly for others — American Airlines, for example, allows you to book award flights for someone else using your own miles with no transfer needed. This can partially offset the loss for some use cases.
The Bigger Picture: What This Means for Citi Cardholders
This change is a meaningful step back in cardholder-friendly features. Points sharing had been one of the clearest differentiators between Citi and its major competitors, and losing it makes the two-player credit card strategy significantly harder to execute with ThankYou Points.
That said, Citi's transfer partner lineup remains strong, particularly for American Airlines flyers. And the ability to combine points across your own cards is still intact, which preserves value for solo points earners.
If your points strategy relies heavily on pooling with a partner or family member, now is the time to take action. You have until May 16 — use it.
Bottom Line
Citi's ThankYou Points sharing feature ends permanently on May 17, 2026. Whether you're an occasional traveler or a seasoned points optimizer, if sharing or receiving points has been part of your strategy, act before the deadline. Log in to your Citi account, review your balances, and make any transfers you've been putting off.
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Editorial Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are those of Kudos alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
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