What happens to Citi ThankYou points when the owner dies
Citibank, N.A. has a formal process for transferring points after an account holder dies
Citi ThankYou Service Center
Citi Estate Servicing Center (deposit and credit card accounts); written ThankYou Points requests go to the ThankYou Service Center
Thank You Service Center, PO Box 6278, Sioux Falls, SD 57117 (the address Citi publishes on the Credit Cards panel of its Estate Servicing Center for ThankYou Points documents)
The hard deadline is set by the agreement and repeated on Citi's estate page: the executor's written request, with evidence of the death and of the appointment, must reach Citi within one (1) year of the date of death. This is the most clearly defined estate deadline among the major credit card points programs. Citi publishes no service standard for how quickly the Estate Servicing Center reviews the request, but it does publish the delivery timetable once a Cash Rewards redemption goes through: the confirmation letter and check are sent within one (1) to three (3) weeks, and the check is valid for one hundred eighty (180) days. Because the same agreement forfeits points immediately when Citi closes the account for any reason other than inactivity, the practical timeline is shorter than a year: the request belongs with the death notification, not after it.
The current Citi ThankYou Rewards Terms and Conditions (Last Updated September 2026) provide, under the heading "Loss upon Death": "You will lose your Points upon your death, and your estate, successors and assigns have no property rights or other legal interests in such Points, except under these circumstances: Cash Rewards Option. If we receive a written request within one (1) year of your death from the executor or administrator of your estate, along with evidence satisfactory to us of your death and the identity and appointment of the executor or administrator, we can allow Points remaining in your ThankYou account to be redeemed for Cash Rewards. Only a lawfully designated executor or administrator may redeem Points on behalf of the deceased. Contact the ThankYou Service Center at 1-800-THANKYOU (1-800-842-6596) (TTY: We accept 711 or other Relay Service) for more information." Citi says the same thing outside the agreement: its Estate Servicing Center page answers "What happens to Citi credit card ThankYou points?" with "ThankYou points must be redeemed by the estate representative within one year." Five limits follow from the text itself. (1) The default is loss, and the points are never property of the estate. (2) The exception is discretionary: Citi "can allow" the redemption; the agreement does not say it will. (3) The request must be WRITTEN, must come from the executor or administrator — "Only a lawfully designated executor or administrator may redeem Points on behalf of the deceased" — and must reach Citi within one (1) year of the death, with evidence satisfactory to Citi of both the death and the appointment. (4) The redemption is limited to Cash Rewards, which the current agreement defines as a check: "Cash Rewards. You can redeem Points for a check made payable to You. The minimum redemption amount for a check is $5. Checks are valid for one hundred eighty (180) days," and "Your Cash Rewards confirmation letter and check are sent only to your address on record via USPS First-Class Mail within one (1) to three (3) weeks of redemption." The executor does not get the partner transfers, travel bookings, statement credits, or direct deposits a living cardholder has. (5) The agreement fixes no points-to-dollar rate: "The value of a Point may vary depending on the Reward for which it's being redeemed. The value of a Point may also vary depending on whether it was earned with a Citibank Checking Account or with a particular Card Account. We have the right to change the Points to dollar conversion rate for Rewards at any time." Timing matters because the same agreement forfeits points on account closure: "If we close your Citi Account for any reason other than inactivity, You will lose your Points immediately, unless prohibited by law," and "If You have Points, and your ThankYou Account is closed for any reason, You will lose them immediately, unless prohibited by law." A voluntary close, a conversion, or an inactivity close leaves ninety (90) days. The card account is closed on death notification, so the executor's written request belongs with the notification of the death rather than after the closure of the account.
How to request a transfer
Follow these steps to initiate a transfer of Citi ThankYou points after the account holder's death:
- •Have the decedent's full legal name, date of death, and card or account number.
- •Have a certified copy of the death certificate. Citi states that "in most cases we require an original death certificate or certified copy."
- •Have your Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration, which is what the ThankYou clause requires as evidence of appointment.
- •A written request from the executor or administrator of the estate. The clause is explicit: "Only a lawfully designated executor or administrator may redeem Points on behalf of the deceased."
- •A certified copy of the death certificate.
- •Evidence of the identity and appointment of the executor or administrator — Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration.
- •Anything further Citi asks for; the clause conditions the redemption on evidence "satisfactory to us."
- •Write to: Thank You Service Center, PO Box 6278, Sioux Falls, SD 57117.
- •Call the Estate Servicing Center at 833-956-0413 (Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM ET) first to confirm the address is still current for an estate's written points request and to have the request logged against the account.
- •The death clause itself names the ThankYou Service Center at 1-800-THANKYOU (1-800-842-6596) (TTY: use 711 or another Relay Service) as the contact "for more information."
Required Documents
- Certified copy of the death certificate — Citi lists it on the credit card panel of the Estate Servicing Center as needed "only if redeeming rewards"
- A written request from the executor or administrator of the estate, reaching Citi within one (1) year of the date of death
- Evidence of the identity and appointment of the executor or administrator — Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration
- The decedent's full legal name, date of death, and Citi card or account number
- Any further evidence Citi asks for: the clause conditions the redemption on evidence "satisfactory to us"
Timeline
The hard deadline is set by the agreement and repeated on Citi's estate page: the executor's written request, with evidence of the death and of the appointment, must reach Citi within one (1) year of the date of death. This is the most clearly defined estate deadline among the major credit card points programs. Citi publishes no service standard for how quickly the Estate Servicing Center reviews the request, but it does publish the delivery timetable once a Cash Rewards redemption goes through: the confirmation letter and check are sent within one (1) to three (3) weeks, and the check is valid for one hundred eighty (180) days. Because the same agreement forfeits points immediately when Citi closes the account for any reason other than inactivity, the practical timeline is shorter than a year: the request belongs with the death notification, not after it.
Frequently asked questions
They are lost by default, with one published exception. The Terms state: "You will lose your Points upon your death, and your estate, successors and assigns have no property rights or other legal interests in such Points, except under these circumstances." The exception is the Cash Rewards Option: if the executor or administrator sends a written request within one (1) year of the death, with evidence satisfactory to Citi of the death and of their appointment, Citi "can allow" the remaining points to be redeemed for Cash Rewards. Citi's Estate Servicing Center puts it plainly: "ThankYou points must be redeemed by the estate representative within one year." The redemption is discretionary, check-only, and time-limited — partner transfers, travel bookings, statement credits, and direct deposits are not offered to the executor.
No. The Terms are explicit that "your estate, successors and assigns have no property rights or other legal interests in such Points." The one-year Cash Rewards request is not a right to the points; it is a request the executor makes, which Citi "can allow." What can reach the estate is the cash value of a redemption Citi agrees to make, not the points themselves. The clause also restricts who may ask: "Only a lawfully designated executor or administrator may redeem Points on behalf of the deceased."
It is a check. The current agreement defines Cash Rewards as "a check made payable to You," with a $5 minimum, "valid for one hundred eighty (180) days," and sent "only to your address on record via USPS First-Class Mail within one (1) to three (3) weeks of redemption." Citi publishes no points-to-dollar rate for it: "The value of a Point may vary depending on the Reward for which it's being redeemed," and Citi has "the right to change the Points to dollar conversion rate for Rewards at any time." So an executor should ask Citi to state the point balance as of the date of death and the dollar amount before the redemption is processed, and should also ask how the check will be made payable and where it will be sent, since the default is the decedent's name at the decedent's address of record.
Citi publishes an address for it. On the Estate Servicing Center page, selecting "Credit Cards" produces a per-product mailing list, and for points it reads: "Thank you Points: Mail: Thank You Service Center PO Box 6278 Sioux Falls, SD 57117." The same panel lists the documents as "Death certificate (only if redeeming rewards)." Call the Estate Servicing Center at 833-956-0413 (Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM ET) first to confirm the address is current for an estate's request and to have it logged against the account. The death clause itself names the ThankYou Service Center at 1-800-THANKYOU (1-800-842-6596) as the contact "for more information."
No — the request belongs with the death notification. The same agreement that carries the one-year Cash Rewards exception also provides that "If we close your Citi Account for any reason other than inactivity, You will lose your Points immediately, unless prohibited by law," and that "If You have Points, and your ThankYou Account is closed for any reason, You will lose them immediately, unless prohibited by law." Notifying Citi of the death is what closes the card. Raising the written points request together with the notification is what puts it in front of Citi before the closure is processed.
The agreement provides no other route. The Cash Rewards Option applies only where Citi receives the executor's written request "within one (1) year of your death," and the default rule outside the exception is that the points are lost at death and the estate has no interest in them. Citi's estate page repeats the same limit. An executor who learns of a large ThankYou balance late can still write and ask, but the clause the request rests on is spent.
The recipient can use transferred points under the program's normal terms. Keeping the deceased account holder's account number and contact details on file simplifies this process for the executor or surviving family.
Sources
Data sourced from Citibank, N.A. primary sources (6 pages reviewed). How we research.
Citi ThankYou Service Center
Citi Estate Servicing Center (deposit and credit card accounts); written ThankYou Points requests go to the ThankYou Service Center
Thank You Service Center, PO Box 6278, Sioux Falls, SD 57117 (the address Citi publishes on the Credit Cards panel of its Estate Servicing Center for ThankYou Points documents)
The hard deadline is set by the agreement and repeated on Citi's estate page: the executor's written request, with evidence of the death and of the appointment, must reach Citi within one (1) year of the date of death. This is the most clearly defined estate deadline among the major credit card points programs. Citi publishes no service standard for how quickly the Estate Servicing Center reviews the request, but it does publish the delivery timetable once a Cash Rewards redemption goes through: the confirmation letter and check are sent within one (1) to three (3) weeks, and the check is valid for one hundred eighty (180) days. Because the same agreement forfeits points immediately when Citi closes the account for any reason other than inactivity, the practical timeline is shorter than a year: the request belongs with the death notification, not after it.
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