The Guide to Citi’s Credit Card Application Rules

Citi has an impressive lineup of rewards credit cards with generous welcome bonuses. Whether you’re looking to stock up on transferable Citi ThankYou points or AAdvantage miles, Citi has multiple cards to choose from. The downer? Citi has also begun restricting the welcome bonuses on some of these credit cards. In some cases, if you’ve had a Citi card in the last 48 months, you will not be eligible for another welcome bonus on a similar card.

So, how many Citi cards can you have? There’s a lot that's important to know if you’re contemplating applying for a Citi card any time soon. Here's what you need to know about Citi's credit card and application rules.

» Learn more: Citi ThankYou points: How to earn and use them

Citi’s 48-month rule restricts certain credit card welcome bonuses to once every 48 months. So if you apply for one of the affected credit cards now and decide to cancel the card in two years, you will not be eligible to reapply and receive the bonus again until 48 months after your first application.

Citi credit cards affected by 48-month rule

The good news is that basically all Citi credit cards are impacted by the 48-month rule. An easy way to identify impacted cards is to look for a disclaimer on the card page stating the following: “American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles are not available if you have received a new account bonus for a [card name] account in the past 48 months.” We’ve compiled the complete list of credit cards impacted by this rule:

• Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®.

• Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®.

• American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp®.

• CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard®.

• Citi Prestige® Card.

• Citi Strata Premier℠ Card.

• Citi Rewards+® Card.

• Citi Rewards+℠ Student Card.

• Citi Double Cash® Card.

• Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi.

• Costco Anywhere Visa® Business Card by Citi.

There are a couple of workarounds to Citi’s 48-month rule, which affects the American Airlines-branded credit cards. If you’re looking for more AAdvantage miles, you can opt for one of the co-branded credit cards, like the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard®.

Another option is to wait out the 48-month period, but avoid resetting the clock by keeping your Citi credit cards open. At least until your second welcome bonus posts.

Citi's 8/65 rule states that applicants are ineligible to apply for more than one Citi credit card in eight days, and not more than two credit cards in 65 days.

» Learn more: What to know about the Citi ThankYou Travel portal

If you’re ineligible for a Citi welcome bonus because of one of the above-mentioned rules, all is not lost. You can still get around these rules and figure out ways to continue earning points and miles in large quantities.

The information related to CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard® and Citi Prestige® Card has been collected by NerdWallet and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer or provider of this product or service.