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Boasting a portfolio of over 20 cards, Jarrod has been an expert in the points and miles space for over 6 years. He earns and redeems over 1 million points per year and his work has been featured in o...
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Citi Custom Cash® Card
U.P. Rating
The rating for this card has been determined by our own industryexperts who know the in's and out's of credit card products. Bonuses, rewards as well as ratesand fees are all taken into account. Compensation from the issuer does not affect our rating.We only recommend products we either use ourselves or endorse.
4.25
$200
$0
0% Intro APR on balance transfers and purchases for 15 months. After that, the variable APR will be 19.24% - 29.24%.
Fair to Excellent (580-850)
Citi Custom Cash® Card
Earn big on purchases in your top eligible spend category, up to the first $500 each billing cycle, with no annual fee!
U.P. Rating
The rating for this card has been determined by our own industryexperts who know the in's and out's of credit card products. Bonuses, rewards as well as ratesand fees are all taken into account. Compensation from the issuer does not affect our rating.We only recommend products we either use ourselves or endorse.
The Citi Custom Cash® Card is inventive when it comes to cash-back credit cards. Instead of earning a set amount of cash-back on predetermined bonus categories, the Citi Custom Cash card earns 5% cash-back on your highest eligible spend category each billing cycle, without an annual fee.
Thanks to that unique perk, you’ll never need to worry about whether you’re using the right card for the right purchase, as your Citi Custom Cash card will always pay you 5% back on whichever category you end up spending the most on each month.
Card Snapshot
Welcome Bonus & Info
Earn $200 cash back after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first 6 months of account opening. This bonus offer will be fulfilled as 20,000 ThankYou® Points, which can be redeemed for $200 cash back.
0% Intro APR on balance transfers and purchases for 15 months. After that, the variable APR will be 19.24% – 29.24%, based on your creditworthiness.
Earn 5% cash back on purchases in your top eligible spend category each billing cycle, up to the first $500 spent, 1% cash back thereafter. Also, earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases.
No rotating bonus categories to sign up for – as your spending changes each billing cycle, your earn adjusts automatically when you spend in any of the eligible categories.
No Annual Fee
Citi will only issue one Citi Custom Cash® Card account per person.
5% cash-back (on up to $500 each billing cycle) from your largest purchase category, including restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, select travel, select transit, select streaming services, drugstores, home improvement stores, fitness clubs, and live entertainment
No annual fee
Multiple redemption options
No redemption minimums
Cons
Your 5% category is limited to $500 in spend ($25 in cash-back) each month
Not particularly rewarding for any purchases outside of your top 5% cash-back category
You want a cash-back credit card that offers a capped 5% back on the category you spend the most on each month
You want to pool the points you earn with your premium Citi ThankYou Rewards card like the Citi Premier card
You want a card with no annual fee
Don’t Get If
You want a card that earns travel rewards
You want a card that offers set bonus categories
The Ideal Cardholder
The Citi Custom Cash card is perfectly suited for anyone who is looking for a cash-back credit card that rewards the categories they spend the most on each month, or as a supplemental card for those who are already in the Citi ThankYou Points ecosystem with a premium card like the Citi Premier® Card.
How To Earn More Citi ThankYou Points
5% Cash-Back Categories
The obvious way to rack up your rewards with the Citi Custom Cash card is by earning 5% back on your top spend category each month.
Fortunately, the Citi Custom Cash card gives you plenty of categories you can maximize.
Drugstores
Fitness clubs
Gas stations
Grocery stores
Home improvement stores
Live entertainment
Restaurants
Select streaming services
Select transit
Select travel
You have a couple of strategies here.
You could designate your card to one of these categories, say grocery stores, and use it exclusively for those purchases until you hit the $500 cap.
Alternatively, you could take things on a month-by-month basis depending on where you’re planning to spend your money for the month. Need to do some home repairs? Go with home improvement stores that month then. Planning a road trip? Then perhaps gas stations would be best for that month.
Just keep in mind that you can only earn 5% back on up to $500 in spend on a single category. So if you spend $500 in January on dining and $479 at gas stations, you’ll earn 1% back on all of your gas station spend. So you’ll want to plan ahead to avoid this.
If you are able to hit the $500 threshold each month on one of the eligible categories then you will be able to earn $25 each month — amounting to $300 over the year!
All Other Purchases
Of course, you could use the card for all of your other purchases outside of your top spend category, but you’ll earn just 1% back when doing so.
So you’d be better using another card for these purchases, like the Citi® Double Cash Card that earns 2% back on all purchases — 1% when you buy and another 1% when you pay.
Citi Shopping Portal
Like most point programs, Citi offers its own shopping portal where cardholders can shop online with popular merchants like Nike or Microsoft and earn additional points or cash-back when doing so.
This is available to all Citi cardholders, so be sure to check the portal for extra rewards opportunities before you online shop.
Adding Additional ThankYou Point-Earning Cards
Since you’ll mostly only want to limit the spend on your Citi Custom Cash card to purchases that will fall within your top spend category, adding a second Citi ThankYou Rewards card can be the perfect solution.
Consider the Citi Premier card, which earns an uncapped 3x points per $1 at restaurants, gas stations, supermarkets, air travel, and hotels. You could select a category to use your Citi Custom Cash card for, and then use the Citi Premier card for your other purchases given its large number of bonus categories.
Better yet, you could pool all the points you earn together and use the Citi Premier card to transfer those points out to one of the travel transfer partners — which is where you can get huge value for your points!
Hot Tip:
If you’d like to learn more about Citi ThankYou Points and how to get huge value with transfer partners, check out our guide on how to redeem Citi ThankYou Points.
How To Use ThankYou Points for Max Value
When it comes to flexible rewards like Citi ThankYou Rewards, the main benefit is all of the options you have when you are ready to redeem your points. So let’s take a look at what options you have and which provide the best value.
Cash-Back
The most straightforward option, seeing as the card is a cash-back card, is to redeem the points you earn for cash-back at a rate of 1 cent per point.
You can do this by redeeming your points as a statement credit to offset recent purchases you’ve made with the card, in the form of a direct deposit to your linked bank account or a physical check delivered in the mail.
Remember there are no redemption minimums, so you can redeem your points for cash-back as often as you’d like.
Gift Cards
Citi also gives you the option to redeem your points for gift cards with select merchants, usually at a rate of 1 cent per point. However, it doesn’t make much sense to redeem your points this way when you could redeem them for cash-back at the same rate.
Points With Partners
If your Citi card is linked as a payment method with select Citi partners, you can use your points at checkout instead of charging the purchase you’re making towards your card.
But again, you’d likely be better off just opting to use your points as a statement credit to offset the purchase given its greater flexibility.
Citi Travel Portal
Through the ThankYou portal, you can redeem your points towards virtually any travel purchase you want, including airfare, hotels, rental cars, etc. But again, most people would rather redeem their points towards $100 in cash than $100 off a hotel stay.
Pair With a Premium ThankYou Card To Transfer to Travel Partners
If you hold a premium ThankYou credit card in addition to your Citi Custom Cash card, like the Citi Premier or Citi Prestige® Card (no longer open to new applicants), combining your points and then transferring them to one of Citi’s travel transfer partners allows you to get a lot of value for your points.
This is our favorite way to redeem Citi ThankYou Points because you can use these points for luxurious business and first class flights, which usually costs thousands of dollars, for just the cost of the taxes and fees of the ticket!
Bottom Line: When it comes to getting the maximum value for your Citi ThankYou Points, we highly recommend using transfer partners if you have a premium ThankYou Rewards card. Otherwise, your best bet will almost always be redeeming your points for cash-back.
The rating for this card has been determined by our own industryexperts who know the in's and out's of credit card products. Bonuses, rewards as well as ratesand fees are all taken into account. Compensation from the issuer does not affect our rating.We only recommend products we either use ourselves or endorse.
Frequent flyers will enjoy 3x ThankYou Points at restaurants, gas stations, supermarkets, air travel, and hotels.
Frequent flyers will enjoy 3x ThankYou Points at restaurants, gas stations, supermarkets, air travel, and hotels.
Earn 60,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. Plus, for a limited time, earn a total of 10 ThankYou® Points per $1 spent on hotel, car rentals, and attractions (excluding air travel) booked on the Citi Travel℠ portal through June 30, 2024.
60,000 points
$960
$95
21.24% - 29.24% Variable
Upgraded Points credit ranges are a variation of FICO®Score 8, one of many types of credit scores lenders may use when considering your credit cardapplication.
Good to Excellent (670-850)
The Citi Premier® Card is an excellent option for anyone looking for an all-around travel rewards credit card. The card helps you earn points fast with great 3x bonus categories such as restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, airfare, and hotels. Plus, it offers access to airline and hotel transfer partners, doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees, and has a reasonable annual fee!
Pros
3x points at restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, airfare, and hotel purchases
Access to Citi transfer partners
Annual hotel credit
No foreign transaction fees
Cons
$95 annual fee
Earn 60,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. Plus, for a limited time, earn a total of 10 ThankYou® Points per $1 spent on hotel, car rentals, and attractions (excluding air travel) booked on the Citi Travel℠ portal through June 30, 2024.
Earn 3 Points per $1 spent at Gas Stations, Air Travel and Other Hotels
Earn 3 Points per $1 spent at Restaurants and Supermarkets
Earn 1 Point per $1 spent on all other purchases
Annual Hotel Savings Benefit
60,000 ThankYou® Points are redeemable for $600 in gift cards redeemable for $600 in gift cards or travel rewards at thankyou.com
No expiration and no limit to the amount of points you can earn with this card
If you want a travel-focused credit card then you should consider the Citi Premier card. The card offers 3x points per $1 spent at restaurants, gas stations, supermarkets, air travel, and hotels.
It also offers perks like an annual hotel savings benefit, no foreign transaction fees, and access to all of Citi’s transfer partners. With a reasonable annual fee, the Citi Premier card is an excellent option for people starting their points journey.
The rating for this card has been determined by our own industryexperts who know the in's and out's of credit card products. Bonuses, rewards as well as ratesand fees are all taken into account. Compensation from the issuer does not affect our rating.We only recommend products we either use ourselves or endorse.
The Freedom Flex card is an excellent no-annual-fee card that still earns big with 5% cash-back on travel and other bonus categories.
The Freedom Flex card is an excellent no-annual-fee card that still earns big with 5% cash-back on travel and other bonus categories.
Earn a $200 bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening.
$200
$0
Upgraded Points credit ranges are a variation of FICO®Score 8, one of many types of credit scores lenders may use when considering your credit cardapplication.
Good to Excellent (670-850)
The Chase Freedom Flex℠ sure does pack quite a punch — especially for a no-annual-fee card.
The Freedom Flex card is an incredible option for those looking for a well-rounded cash-back card, or a powerful point-earner when paired with a premium card in the Ultimate Rewards family.
Pros
0% Intro APR for 15 months from account opening on purchases and balance transfers, then a variable APR of 20.49%-29.24%.
Powerful cash-back earner: 5% back on quarterly categories and travel purchases through Chase Ultimate Rewards, 3% back on dining and drugstore purchases, and 1% back on all other purchases
No annual fee
Excellent cell phone insurance
Ability to pool points
Mastercard World Elite benefits
Cons
3% foreign transaction fees in U.S. dollars
Earn a $200 Bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening.
5% cash back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in bonus categories each quarter you activate. Enjoy new 5% categories each quarter!
5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, our premier rewards program that lets you redeem rewards for cash back, travel, gift cards and more
3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service, and unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases.
No minimum to redeem for cash back. You can choose to receive a statement credit or direct deposit into most U.S. checking and savings accounts. Cash Back rewards do not expire as long as your account is open!
0% Intro APR for 15 months from account opening on purchases and balance transfers, then a variable APR of 20.49%-29.24%.
No annual fee - You won't have to pay an annual fee for all the great features that come with your Freedom Flex℠ card
Keep tabs on your credit health - Chase Credit Journey helps you monitor your credit with free access to your latest score, real-time alerts, and more.
If you’re mainly interested in earning cash-back, but like the rewards setup of the Citi Custom Cash card, then you’ll also like the Chase Freedom Flex card.
The Freedom Flex card earns 5% back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases on rotating quarterly bonus categories like gas, grocery stores, and dining. Plus, it earns 5% back on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards and 3% back on dining and drugstore purchases.
The information for the Citi Prestige® Card has been collected independently by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. The information regarding the Chase Freedom Flex℠ was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you’re looking for a cash-back card without an annual fee that offers a capped 5% cash-back on the category that you spend the most money on each month (there are 10 different categories), then, yes, the Citi Custom Cash card would be worth it to you.
Those who can meet the $500 category threshold for 5% cash-back can earn up to $300 in cash-back each year — which is pretty exceptional for a card with no annual fee.
No, the Citi Custom Cash card does not charge an annual fee.
Yes, the Citi Custom Cash card charges a 3% foreign transaction fee, so you should choose another card to use when you travel outside of the U.S.
You’ll earn 5% back, on up to $500 in spend per month, on one of the following categories:
Drugstores
Fitness clubs
Gas stations
Grocery stores
Home improvement stores
Live entertainment
Restaurants
Select streaming services
Select transit
Select travel
There is no set credit score that will guarantee an approval for the Citi Custom Cash card, as multiple factors are taken into consideration when you apply for a new card.
But assuming you have a credit score that is 700 or better, you should have a high chance of being approved for the Citi Custom Cash card.
Boasting a portfolio of over 20 cards, Jarrod has been an expert in the points and miles space for over 6 years. He earns and redeems over 1 million points per year and his work has been featured in outlets like The New York Times.
Disclaimer: Any comments listed below are not from the bank advertiser, nor have they been reviewed or approved by them. No responsibility will be taken by the bank advertiser for these comments.
5 comments
William
November 23, 2022
Whether or not the “Grocery stores” category includes super stores such as Walmart or Sam’s Club?
Hi William. Superstores such as Walmart and Target do not code as grocery stores. Warehouse clubs such as Sam’s Club or Costco also do not count as grocery stores.
Jules
February 17, 2023
I converted a Citi ThankYou card to Custom Cash. Anyone know if I can apply for a second one?
You can, but you likely will not be eligible for the welcome bonus.
Anonymous
July 17, 2023
Unwise decision, Citi Double Cash or Citi Costco Anywhere (if you have a Costco membership) would’ve been the appropriate ones since both do not have intro offers.
Any thoughts or questions? Comment below!
Email needed if you'd like comment updates. It will NOT be published.
This bonus value is an estimated valuation calculated by UP after analyzing redemption options, transfer partners, award availability and how much UP would pay to buy these points.
5 comments
William
November 23, 2022
Whether or not the “Grocery stores” category includes super stores such as Walmart or Sam’s Club?
Christine Krzyszton
November 23, 2022
Hi William. Superstores such as Walmart and Target do not code as grocery stores. Warehouse clubs such as Sam’s Club or Costco also do not count as grocery stores.
Jules
February 17, 2023
I converted a Citi ThankYou card to Custom Cash. Anyone know if I can apply for a second one?
Jarrod West
February 20, 2023
Hi Jules,
You can, but you likely will not be eligible for the welcome bonus.
Anonymous
July 17, 2023
Unwise decision, Citi Double Cash or Citi Costco Anywhere (if you have a Costco membership) would’ve been the appropriate ones since both do not have intro offers.
Any thoughts or questions? Comment below!
Email needed if you'd like comment updates. It will NOT be published.
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