Beyond Chase: Citi Killer Combo of Citi Double Cash®, Citi Strata Premier®, Citi Custom Cash®
If you are a beginner who has racked up a lot of Chase Ultimate Rewards points, the Citi ThankYou® Points ecosystem, a partner of Travel Freely, that starts with the Citi Strata Premier® Card (formerly Citi Premier® Card) may be the next stop for you. This card is a home run when it comes to everyday expenses:
- Earn 3x at grocery stores
- Earn 3x at restaurants
- Earn 3x for air travel and hotels
- Earn 3x at gas stations
- Earn 1x for everything else
Why this is good for most people
The Citi Strata Premier is already an excellent choice for many thanks to the fact that it offers 3x for travel and gas stations. Additionally, 3x for grocery stores and restaurants is huge. Food and fuel are big portions of most people’s spending. For Strata Premier cardholders, it means having a transferable points-earning card which offers unlimited 3x in these critical categories for only $95 per year.
Combine this card with your Citi Double Cash® Card and Citi Custom Cash® Card and you have an awesome, but very cheap combination.
Start with Double Cash for “2x” Everywhere
A great complement to the Citi Strata Premier® Card.
Citi’s Double Cash card is a no-brainer for most. It has no annual fee and earns 2% cash back for all spend in the form of unlimited 1% cash back when you make a purchase, plus an additional 1% as you pay your credit card bill. While marketed as a cash back card, the Citi Double Cash actually earns ThankYou points. See this post for complete details: Citi Double Cash Complete Guide.
For more information on this card and how to apply, check out the link below:
A great complement to the Citi Strata Premier® Card.
Add the Strata Premier for 3x categories and point transfers
This is an excellent rewards credit card with a solid signup bonus and 3x spending categories. This card is comparable to the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, but with different transfer partners. Read the application rule carefully regarding "48 months." Terms apply.
The Strata Premier has an annual fee of $95 per year. If you spend $9,500 per year in the card’s 3x categories (grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, and most travel) and if you value ThankYou points at only 1 cent each, then the extra rewards you earn compared to the Double Cash will offset that annual fee. To put this in perspective, $9,500 is only $183 per week. Many of us spend a lot more than that at grocery stores and restaurants alone.
Most importantly, the Strata Premier gives you the ability to transfer points to various airline and hotel partners at a higher ratio than the no-fee ThankYou cards (like the Double Cash). For example, you can transfer points to Avianca or Turkish miles in order to book Star Alliance awards (book flights on United, Lufthansa, ANA, etc.); or transfer points to Virgin Atlantic or Air France to book Delta flights. If you know what you’re doing, it is often possible to get far more value from your rewards by transferring points to airline partners.
Finally, for those interested in using the Citi Travel℠ portal, you’ll earn 10x points on Hotels, Car Rentals and Attractions booked directly through the portal.
Sprinkle in the Custom Cash
Great card for those who want to max out 5% cash back (or 5x ThankYou® points) on one specific spending category (no more than $500 per month). Could be a good companion card for Citi Strata Premier® Card. See terms for eligible spending categories.
To round out this trio, add the no-annual-fee Custom Cash card with its flexible 5x categories. This is a great card for those who want to max out 5% cash back (or 5x ThankYou points) on one specific spending category (no more than $500 per month).
Eligible 5x categories include Restaurants, Gas Stations, Grocery Stores, Select Travel, Select Transit, Select Streaming Services, Drugstores, Home Improvement Stores, Fitness Clubs and Live Entertainment. For those familiar with Chase Freedom Flex℠ rotating categories, this is much easier because it automatically adjusts your monthly spending category to whichever is highest.
Combo Pros and Cons
The combination of cards listed above is great, but not perfect. Here are some pros and cons…
Combo Pros
- $95 total annual fee
- Earn 3x in several popular categories
- Earn 2x everywhere else
- Earn 5x in eligible categories (automatically adjusts based on your highest spending category each month)
- Transfer points to valuable transfer partners
- Citi Strata Premier offers travel protections for purchases made with this card.
- Citi occasionally offers transfer bonuses so that you’ll get more than 1 airline mile per ThankYou point.
Combo Cons
- The Double Cash and Custom Cash charge foreign transaction fees.
- Cashing out points at a value of 1 cent each can be tricky (unless you also have the Prestige card – no longer available).
- Some may prefer transfer partners from other programs such as Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards.
Bottom Line
Citi’s Double Cash, Strata Premier, and Custom Cash trio offers outstanding reward earning power. One problem is that it’s not necessarily a great combination for beginners. The Double Cash alone makes sense for most people, but once you branch into ThankYou Rewards things get more complicated. To get full value from your points, you need to know how to leverage airline partners. And to cash out points at 1 cent each, you need to know a trick for doing so.
Still, for people who know how or are willing to learn how to get the most from transfer partners, it is an awesome combination. Together, you’ve got a powerhouse setup: 5x on rotating categories, 2x everywhere else, and 3x on dining, gas, groceries, and travel—all for just a $95 annual fee.
Note: This article was inspired by Frequent Miler – any content used with permission.
