Something happened in September 2019 to arguably make the Citi Double Cash® Card the single best 2% card available: Citi added the ability to transfer cash back to ThankYou® points. Now, you earn ThankYou points by default. Since there are ways to get considerably more than 1 cent per point value from ThankYou points, the Citi Double Cash jumped to the top of many wallets.
Here’s everything you need to know…
Now with a signup bonus! A great complement to the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card.
Table of Contents
Application Tips
Should you apply?
The Double Cash is one of the most rewarding cards available and worth considering.
The Citi Double Cash rarely has a signup bonus. As a result, you may be better off product changing from another consumer Citibank card to the Double Cash card (call Citi to make the change). One warning: some Citi cards have 48 month restrictions against getting a bonus for the same or a similar card. For example, the Citi Rewards+℠ bonus has this restriction:
Bonus ThankYou Points are not available if you received a new cardmember bonus for Citi Strata Premier℠ Card, Citi ThankYou® Preferred, Citi Premier® Card (no longer available) or Citi Prestige® (no longer available), or if you have closed any of these accounts, in the past 48 months.
The reason this is important here is that if you product change from one of the listed ThankYou cards to the Double Cash card, Citi will record the event as if you closed the ThankYou card account. That will then reset the clock and you’ll have to wait 48 months before you can qualify for a bonus on a new ThankYou card.
Let’s say, for example, that you have the Strata Premier card and you want to product change it to the Double Cash, and suppose it has been more than 48 months since you’ve signed up for or cancelled any other Citi ThankYou cards. In that case, I’d recommend first signing up for another ThankYou card with a good bonus, and then product change the Strata Premier to the Double Cash afterwards.
Are you eligible?
Given that there isn’t usually a signup bonus for the Double Cash, the only eligibility criteria is whether or not you can get approved. Compared to other issuers, Citi is usually pretty easy on approvals.
How to apply
Product change to the Double Cash card or look for a signup offer in-branch. If you want to apply online, you can find the signup link here: Citi Double Cash Card.
Reconsideration
If your application is denied, call reconsideration here: 800-695-5171. If the reconsideration call doesn’t work, try the Citi Credit Card Executive Office: 423-477-6858.
Perks
This card doesn’t have any perks worth mentioning.
Rewards
Signup Bonus
This card doesn’t usually have a signup bonus, but if one is available it will appear here:
Now with a signup bonus! A great complement to the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card.
Spend
The best way to earn Citi Double Cash rewards is through credit card spend. Technically, this card earns 1x ThankYou points when you make a purchase and 1x ThankYou points when you pay your credit card bill. It is simpler to say that this card earns 2x.
The Citi Double Cash card is particularly good for “non bonused” spend. The Double Cash is good choice for any purchases you make, especially ones that don’t have a category.
Increase Spend
Here are a few examples that are particularly rewarding with the Double Cash card:
- Pay federal taxes: You can pay your estimated federal taxes by credit card for as low as 1.87% in fees. This is a way to buy ThankYou points for less than a penny each!
Citi Double Cash Redeem Rewards
Cash Back
By default, the Double Cash card earns ThankYou points. You can convert points to cash and withdraw the cash back as a statement credit, direct deposit, or a check by mail. Conversion is 1 cent per point. e.g. 10,000 points = $100.
Redeem for Purchased Travel
There are a few ways to get better than 1 cent per point value when redeeming ThankYou points for travel: Redeem for 1 cent per point value with the Citi Strata Premier Card; Or book a 4th Night Free award with the Citi Prestige Card (no longer available); Or combine both of these for up to 1.67 cents per point value.
You can get these benefits with points from the Double Cash card in a couple of ways:
- Combine ThankYou accounts: Combine your Double Cash ThankYou account with your Strata Premier or Prestige (no longer available) ThankYou account. Or:
- Convert your Double Cash rewards to ThankYou points and then share your ThankYou points with the ThankYou account that has the Strata Premier or Prestige (no longer available) card.
Redeem points for travel:
This option requires the Citi Strata Premier Card. Book travel through the ThankYou Rewards portal at 1 cent per point. For example, a $500 flight would cost 50,000 points.
You can book airfare, hotels, cruises, and car rentals in this way. Airfare purchased this way still earns airline miles and elite qualifying miles. Hotels booked this way do not earn hotel rewards. Worse, hotels booked this way often won’t offer you elite benefits even if you have status. Also, be sure to compare hotel prices booked through Citi with prices posted elsewhere. Citi often has far worse pricing.
Redeem points for a 4 night hotel stay: 25% point discount pre-tax (up to 1.33 cents per point value)
This option requires the Citi Prestige Card (no longer available). Book a 4 Night hotel stay for the price of 3 nights (not counting taxes & fees, the 25% discount results in 1.33 cents per point value). Hotels booked through the ThankYou portal do not earn hotel rewards. Worse, hotels booked through the portal often won’t offer you elite benefits even if you have status. Also, be sure to compare hotel prices booked through Citi with prices posted elsewhere. Citi often has far worse pricing.
Transfer Points to Airline Miles
The best use of ThankYou points, in my opinion, is to transfer points to airline partners in order to book high value awards. Here are some sweet spots for Citi transfer partners.
Note: You must have a Citi Strata Premier ℠ Card or Citi Prestige (no longer available) to transfer to all Citi transfer partners. The exceptions would be Choice Privileges, JetBlue, and Wyndham. These three programs allow transfers if you only hold a Double Cash.
It is usually best to wait until you find a great flight award before transferring points. One exception: Citi often offers 25% or 30% transfer bonuses to certain programs (Air France Flying Blue and Avianca LifeMiles are two recent examples). If you’re confident that you’ll use the points for good value, it may make sense to transfer points when those bonuses are in effect.
The Rewards+ Rebate
One way to make your rewards go farther is to get a Rewards+ card and combine it with your Citi Strata Premier or Prestige account (no longer available). The Rewards+ card offers a 10% rebate on redeemed points, up to 10,000 points rebated per year. By combining the Rewards+ ThankYou account with your Strata Premier or Prestige ThankYou account (no longer available), you’ll get that rebate when you convert points to airline miles or when you book travel.
A great card to complement a premium Citi account.
Manage Rewards
Combine Rewards Across Cards
If you are the primary account holder with multiple credit cards that earn ThankYou Rewards, you can combine ThankYou Rewards accounts. When your points are combined, they can then automatically be redeemed at the same value as your best card. Combining your Double Cash ThankYou account with the Strata Premier or Prestige (no longer available) card also gives you the ability to transfer points to airline miles.
There are disadvantages to combining points:
- You lose the ability to pick and choose which points are used when you redeem awards.
- You lose visibility into how many points remain with each card.
Overall, these disadvantages are minor. The advantages of combining your Double Cash ThankYou account with your Strata Premier or Prestige ThankYou account (no longer available) greatly outweigh the disadvantages.
Share Rewards Across Cardholders
If you don’t have a premium ThankYou card or you don’t want to combine it with your Double Cash ThankYou account, then you can opt to “share points” instead.
Citi allows people to transfer ThankYou points to anyone else, for free. The “anyone else” includes yourself if your accounts aren’t combined. There are two catches to this:
- Shared points expire after 90 days. Make sure you have a specific near-term use in mind before transferring points.
- 100K limit: Each member may share up to 100,000 points per calendar year. Each member may receive up to 100,000 points per calendar year.
Why this is valuable:
- A friend or family member with a Strata Premier card can book travel for you.
- If a friend has airline elite status with one of Citi’s transfer partners with which you want to book an award, you may be better off transferring points to your friend who can then transfer the points to the airline partner and book the award for you (to get free award changes, for example).
- If you haven’t combined accounts, you can still use points from your Double Cash card effectively by sharing them with your Strata Premier or Prestige (no longer available) account before redeeming the points.
Now with a signup bonus! A great complement to the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card.
