Citi® Upgrades The Home Depot Rewards MasterCard® To ThankYou NetworkSM

By: Finance News

Citi®, the world’s largest provider of credit cards, and The Home Depot®, the world's largest home improvement retailer, today announced that they are expanding their strategic relationship. The Home Depot Rewards MasterCard® and The Home Depot Business Rewards MasterCard®, both of which have no annual fees, will join the ThankYou NetworkSM rewards program.

As part of the ThankYou Network, The Home Depot Rewards cardmembers – both consumers and business owners -- will continue to earn two points for every dollar spent at over 1,800 The Home Depot and EXPO Design Center® locations and one ThankYou PointSM per dollar spent on all other purchases made with their card in the United States. In addition, cardmembers earn bonus points with their first purchase equivalent to a $25 gift card reward. Now they will be able to earn points faster because of the growing network of ThankYou partners, and will be able to redeem for a wider variety of rewards and experiences. The transition to the ThankYou Network will occur in the spring of 2007.

The 10 million-member ThankYou Network is Citigroup’s free rewards program that lets members get points for doing what they already do -- from using eligible Citi credit cards; banking at Citibank with an eligible checking account; booking eligible travel on Expedia.com; and now, for The Home Depot Rewards MasterCard® cardholders, making purchases with their card. ThankYou Network also offers members an additional one to 10 points for every dollar spent – every time they shop online with hundreds of leading retailers, e-tailers and cataloguers through www.ThankYouNetwork.com. ThankYou Network takes rewards programs to the next level by allowing members to pool points from multiple activities into one Member Account so they can redeem for rewards faster.

“This enhancement of The Home Depot Rewards MasterCard® into the ThankYou Network strengthens the existing partnership between Citigroup and The Home Depot and demonstrates our commitment to improving our products for our partners and their customers,” said Bill Johnson, executive vice president of the Citi Cards Partnership Group.

“At The Home Depot, our goal is to provide customers with the premier shopping experience in home improvement, and we believe this program is another way we deliver on that promise,” said Roger Adams, CMO and senior vice president of Marketing for The Home Depot. “We are excited about the accelerated points earning opportunities and new and unique rewards that we’ll be able to offer our customers through the ThankYou Network. We’ve made it easier for them to redeem points for the rewards and experiences they want most.”

ThankYou Network provides members tremendous choice in redeeming their combined points for rewards -- from gift cards and brand-name goods, including The Home Depot, to unique experiences and charitable donations to online travel powered by Expedia® -- with options starting as low as 1,000 points. Members simply go to www.ThankYouNetwork.com to redeem for rewards quickly and easily.

About Citigroup

Citigroup (NYSE: C), the leading global financial services company, has some 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 100 countries, providing consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management. Major brand names under Citigroup's trademark red umbrella include Citibank, Citi Cards, ThankYou NetworkSM, CitiFinancial®, Primerica®, Smith Barney® and Banamex®. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com

About ThankYou Network

Founded by Citigroup, ThankYou NetworkSM is a free rewards program that lets members earn points from a growing network of places and pool these points into one ThankYou Member Account. Members get points for using eligible Citi credit cards, banking at Citibank with an eligible checking account and booking eligible travel on Expedia.com. Members can reward themselves with almost anything – from travel, brand-name goods, and gift cards at favorite stores, to unique experiences and charitable donations at www.ThankYouNetwork.com

About The Home Depot

The Home Depot® is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer, with 2,122 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. Through its HD SupplySM businesses, The Home Depot is also one of the largest diversified wholesale distributors in the United States, with nearly 1,000 locations in the United States and Canada offering products and services for building, improving and maintaining homes, businesses and municipal infrastructures. In fiscal 2005, The Home Depot had sales of $81.5 billion and earnings of $5.8 billion. The Company employs approximately 355,000 associates and has been recognized by FORTUNE magazine as the No. 1 Most Admired Specialty Retailer and the No. 13 Most Admired Corporation in America for 2006. The Home Depot’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange® (NYSE: HD) and is included in the Dow Jones® industrial average and Standard & Poor's® 500 index.