(Targeted?) Upgrade offer for Citi Premier

Here’s an interesting offer that landed in my inbox just now:

I’d take it in a heartbeat if there were a bonus involved; as it is, it’s not a bad offer for someone who is ineligible for Citi sign-up bonuses due to their new, more restrictive churning policy. (Which, if you’ve forgotten, is that you can only get one bonus per card family per 24 months after opening or closing a card.) Since I recently transferred out all my Thank You points and closed my Citi Prestige card, I’m out of the Citi bonus game for a while.

If I did want to start earning Thank You points again, this would be a good way to get the best-earning card they offer without getting a hard inquiry on my credit report. I also don’t know if this would reset the 24-month clock or not. If it does, that would definitely change my decision calculus, since it would make little sense to reset the clock with no bonus to show for it. Unfortunately, I don’t trust Citi’s customer service reps to give me the correct answer here.

Bonus restrictions aside, I’m going to pass on this one mostly because I can earn the same (3x on travel and gas) through other cards that have more valuable points in my opinion. I originally downgraded my Premier card to a Preferred when I decided that Citi’s rewards program was less useful to me than Amex and Chase, and therefore had no reason to keep paying the annual fee. In the right circumstances, the opportunity to earn additional Thank You points for another fee-free year could make sense, although I’m happy to leave this one on the table.