It’s been a while since I talked about any Citi credit cards, so I wanted to bring up one that Citi has recently been sending me offers for: the Citi Custom Cash card. This card competes with the DiscoverIt and Chase Freedom Flex cards that offer 5% cash back in rotating categories each quarter and 1% cashback otherwise. Like its competitors, this card has no annual fee.
Welcome Offer
At the time of posting, the Citi Custom Cash card offers $200 cash back after spending $1 500 on purchases in the first 6 months of account opening, which is a pretty a pretty generous time for a reasonable spending requirement.
Earnings
This card’s earning structure is straight-forward: you earn 5% cash back in your highest eligible spend category each month and 1% back on everything else. The cashback is earned in the form of Citi ThankYou points, which can be redeemed at a rate of 1 ¢/pt for cashback.
Benefits
This card has no annual fee and no benefits beyond the points/cashback it earns.
How to use the points
There are two primary ways to use ThankYou Points. The first way is to redeem them for cashback at a rate of 1 pt = 1¢. Redeeming the points this way is definitely the simplest method and gives a good, guaranteed return of at least 1% on all spending.
The second way is to transfer them to a partner to redeem them for reward travel. To unlock the transfer option, you have to have another Citi card, like the Citi Premier card, for example. If you have this card, you can potentially unlock substantially more value out of the points than their face value. Citi’s transfer partners are a bit more niche than Chase or Amex. That is to say, although the three major airline alliances are represented, the only US-based airline on the chart is JetBlue.
Examples of using the card
Spend per month
Because of the way this card earns points, it’s difficult and potentially misleading to use my normal spend per month breakdown. Specifically, the more you spend in a given month, the lower the overall points/$ is. For example, if you spend $4 000 in a month, the maximum points you can earn is 6 000 (1.5 pts/$) vs if you spend $1 500 in a month, you could earn 3 500 points (2.33 pts/$). Or if you only use this card for a single category each month and no other spend (which is my recommendation), you’d spend $500 and earn 2 500 points (5 pts/$).
Specific examples
| Card | World Traveller ($750) (% return) | Marriott Hotel night ($230/night) | Points values (WT/Hotel) |
| No rewards card | 2 728 (4.9%) | 2 200 MP (7.3%) | $37.10 / $17.60 |
| Citi Double Cash | 2 728 + $15.00 (6.9%) | 2 200 MP + $4.60 (9.3%) | $52.10 / $22.20 |
| Chase Sapphire Preferred | 2 728 Avios + 1 500 UR (7.9%) | 2 200 MP + 460 UR (10.3%) | $59.60 / $24.50 |
| Citi Custom Cash | 2 728 Avios + $7.50 – $27.50 (8.6%) | 2 200 MP + $2.30 – $11.50 (12.3%) | $44.60 – $64.60 / $19.90 – $29.10 |
Is this credit card right for you?
I really think this card only makes sense if you combine it with another card. Earning 5% back in your highest category is great, but I definitely would consider it a waste to overspend on this card. If you combine it with the Citi Double Cash card, most anyone would earn substantially more cash back. The downside, of course, is that this card definitely does not lend itself to being a simple one and done card option.
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