Citi Responds to Story on Its Facebook App

To the editor:

The Jan. 3 article by Jeremy Quittner, “Citi’s Facebook App Exposes the Perils and Rewards of Social Media,” discussed the functionality of our new ThankYou Rewards Point Sharing App on Facebook. Protecting our clients’ information is a top priority, and I would like to briefly address some of the questions in the article regarding the app and the privacy of ThankYou members’ information.

In order to use the app, members must add the app to their Facebook profile and then map their ThankYou Rewards account to the app. The information mapped relates to the member’s ThankYou Rewards account. No Citi credit card or bank account information is used in the app.

Because Citi hosts the app, no information about our members or their ThankYou account is shared with Facebook. Further, Citi does not collect or use any personal information a member has made public on Facebook beyond basic information required to fulfill the point sharing request.

ThankYou members can only invite their own friends on Facebook to add the app or join a pool via a private message. If they choose to join the pool and contribute, only the individual responsible for starting the pool can see how many points are contributed. It is not possible for anyone on Facebook to see information about other members’ rewards balances or how they earned their ThankYou points.

The ThankYou Point Sharing App was designed to respond to our members’ desire for a fun and social way to share their points and get rewards faster, and is another example of how we are delivering products that live in their digital world.

Ralph Andretta is the head of co-brands and loyalty for Citi Cards.