The Citi Custom Cash card is Citi’s answer to the traditional 5x rotating-category card (ie, Chase Freedom Flex or Discover It). The card offers 5x ThankYou points in the eligible category in which you spend the most, up to $500 in total purchases within that category per month. However, Citi uniquely allows that 5x bonused category to change each billing cycle based on spending patterns, which makes for a very flexible rewards card.
Citi Custom Cash Current Welcome Offer
| Card Offer |
|---|
20K Points ⓘ Non-Affiliate 20K points after $1500 spend in the first 6 monthsNo Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Recent better offer: Expired 9/13/22 - 20,000 points after $750 spend in first 3 months |
Citi Custom Cash Review
The Citi Custom Cash earns 5x on an extensive list of categories, including restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, select travel, select transit, select streaming services, drugstores, home improvement stores, fitness clubs and live entertainment. The 5x rewards that it earns are automatic in the eligible category in which you spend the most each billing cycle, with no need to activate or choose a category in advance (and your top category can change each billing cycle with your spending patterns). This makes the Custom Cash a fantastic no-annual fee card to hold and a very desirable component of a multi-card Citi wallet.
- Annual Fee: $0
- Authorized User Annual Fee: Free
- Foreign Transaction Fee: 3%
- What points are worth: The Citi Custom Cash card earns Citi ThankYou Points. On its own, these points can only be redeemed for 1 cent each. There is a limited amount of travel partners (Choice, JetBlue and Wyndham) that it can transfer to directly, but the “transferability” becomes much more powerful when combined with the Citi Premier or Citi Prestige cards, as the ratios are better and the selection of travel partners is more extensive. When fully-transferable, our Reasonable Redemption Values pegs the value of ThankYou points at 1.45 cents each.
- Best Use for Points: If you have either the Citi Premier or Citi Prestige card, ThankYou Points (TYP) can be transferred to most travel partners at a 1:1 ratio and this will usually yield the most value. TYP have one of the better mix of hotel partners of any of the major transferable currencies: Accor, Wyndham, Leading Hotels of the World and Choice Privileges; Choice is a particularly good value given that the transfer ratio is 1-2 (as opposed to 1-1 via Amex or Capital One or 1-1.5 without the Premier or Prestige card). Airline partners aren’t industry-leading, but offer excellent options, including Avianca LifeMiles, Air France/KLM Flying Blue, British Airways Avios, Eva Air and Turkish Miles and Smiles. Citi is the only program that transfers 1-1 to Eva Air, and it can be a very desirable option between the US and Asia. Cardholders can also use points for statement credit at a rate of 1 cent per point.
- Earning Categories:
- 5X flights and hotels booked through Citi Travel (through June 30, 2025).
- 5x on purchases in your top eligible spend category each billing cycle, up to the first $500 spent. Eligible categories include restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, select travel, select transit, select streaming services, drugstores, home improvement stores, fitness clubs and live entertainment.
- 1x everywhere else.
- Perks:
- 24-month Extended Warranty: Doubles the time period of your covered purchase’s original manufacturer’s warranty or store warranty up to a maximum of twenty-four (24) months.
- Who’s this card for? The range of possible 5x categories includes a number of options that aren’t often offered as bonus categories on other cards, so it should be easy for most folsk to find a good fit.
- Is the Citi Custom Cash a keeper? This card is absolutely a no-annual fee keeper. With an automatic 5x on up to $500 in the category in which you spend the most each month, this card makes elevated rewards as easy as pie. Make this card your dedicated card for a category in which you can easily spend right around $500 per month and you’ll earn a very easy 30,000 ThankYou points per year.
Citi Custom Cash Pros and Cons
Pros
- Earns 5x on an excellent variety of categories
- 5x earning changes monthly based on spending and doesn’t require any activation.
- No annual fee
- If paired with a Citi Premier or Citi Prestige card, it unlocks an impressive variety of hotel and air transfer partners and transfers to Choice Privileges at double the rate of Amex or Capital One
- Miles can be shared across cards and cardholders
- Forms an incredible $95 quartet with the Citi Rewards+, Custom Cash and Premier
- Points can be redeemed at 1 cents each for statement credits if you don’t want to get a card with an annual fee, although we don’t recommend
Cons
- Needs a partner card to fully unlock transfer partners
- Outside of the one 5x category, everything is 1x
- 5x categories are limited to $500 per billing cycle, which does require a bit organization to make sure you don’t spend at 1x after hitting the $500 max
- Welcome offers are usually quite modest
- Some folks won’t like that JetBlue is the only domestic airline transfer partner
Citi Transfer Partners
| Rewards Program | Citi Transfer Ratio | Best Uses |
|---|---|---|
| Accor Live Limitless | 1000 to 500 | Use to pay hotel bill with value of 2 Euro cents per point. In some cases (such as hotel to airline transfer bonuses) it may make sense to convert Accor points to the following airline miles at a 1 to 1 ratio: Finnair, Iberia, Qantas, or Virgin Australia |
| Aer Lingus Avios | 1 to 1 via Qatar | Fuel surcharges are sometimes lower when booking with Aer Lingus rather than British Airways, Qatar, or Iberia. It's possible to move points (Avios) between Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Qatar. See also: Avios Sweet Spots for Award Tickets. |
| AeroMexico ClubPremier | 1 to 1 | AeroMexico is a SkyTeam partner. Club Premier points can be used to book flights on AeroMexico, SkyTeam alliance members (such as Delta or Korean Air), or on select partner airlines. Unfortunately many have reported that awards are extremely difficult to book through AeroMexico so we do not recommend transferring points to this program. If you want to fly AeroMexico, look to transfer points to another SkyTeam partner (such as Air France) and then book AeroMexico with that program. |
| Air France KLM Flying Blue | 1 to 1 | Monthly Air France Promo Awards often represent very good value. Air France miles can be used to book Sky Team awards, including Delta awards. Air France often offers very good business class award pricing between the US and Europe & Israel. |
| Avianca LifeMiles | 1 to 1 | Avianca LifeMiles can be great for Star Alliance awards. They offer reasonable award prices and no fuel surcharges on awards. They also offer shorthaul awards within the US (for flying United, for example) for as few as 7,500 miles one-way. Best of all, their mixed-cabin pricing can lead to fantastic first-class award prices. See this post for details. |
| British Airways Avios | 1 to 1 via Qatar | While flights on British Airways itself often incur outrageously high fuel surcharges, many BA partners charge low or no fuel surcharges. Excellent value can often be had in redeeming BA points for short distance flights outside the US. It's possible to move points (Avios) between Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Qatar. See also: Avios Sweet Spots for Award Tickets. |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | 1 to 1 | Cathay Pacific has a decent distance based award chart, but they don't allow stopovers longer than 24 hours. Cathay Pacific Asia Miles can be a good option for booking American Airlines flights with a distance based award chart, especially if other OneWorld Alliance miles aren't available. For long distance flights, it is possible to reduce the cost of a premium cabin award by adding on a lower cabin segment. See this post for details. |
| Choice | 1 to 2 | Choice Privileges points seem to be randomly valuable within the US, but dependably valuable internationally in expensive locations such as Scandinavia and Japan. Points can sometimes offer great value when used towards participating Preferred Hotels of the World. |
| Emirates Skywards | 1 to 1 | The best use of Emirates miles has been to fly Emirates itself. Unfortunately fuel surcharges can be extremely steep. One workaround is to book select routes such as JFK to Milan or Newark to Athens. See: How to find and book Emirates first class awards. |
| Etihad Guest | 1 to 1 | Etihad offers a distance based award chart for flying Etihad and another for its partners. Points may offer good value for expensive but short-distance flights. |
| EVA Air Infinity MileageLands | 1 to 1 | If you want to fly one of the best business class products in the sky, the best way to snag EVA flights is with their own miles since they release more award space to their own members. One-way business class flights from the US to Taipei cost 75K to 80K miles. Fuel surcharges are very low on these routes. |
| Finnair Plus+ | 1 to 1 via Qatar | Finnair points are now "Avios" and points can be moved to/from other Avios programs. Finnair uses zone based award charts rather than distance based. As a result, Finnair sometimes has better (and sometimes worse) pricing than other Avios programs. |
| Iberia Avios | 1 to 1 via Qatar | On their own flights, Iberia offers low award prices and a very reasonable 25 Euro cancellation fee. Partner awards can offer good value under some circumstances as well, but these are usually nonrefundable. Fuel surcharges are sometimes lower when booking with Iberia rather than British Airways, Aer Lingus, or Qatar. It's possible to move points (Avios) between Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Qatar. See also: Avios Sweet Spots for Award Tickets. |
| Jet Airways Inter Miles | 1 to 1 | JetAirways JetPrivilege miles are useful only for a few very specific cases such as certain flights to Hawaii for as low as 15K (30K business) one-way, or to the Caribbean or Central America for as low as 10K (20K business) one-way. Details can be found here. |
| JetBlue | 1 to 1 | JetBlue points offer the most value when cheap ticket prices are available and when award taxes are high relative to the overall cost of the ticket (more details can be found here). The JetBlue Plus Card and the JetBlue Business Card offer a 10% rebate on awards, so you can get more value by holding one of these cards. |
| Leading Hotels of the World | 1K to 200 | It is often possible to get 8 cents per point value, or more from LHW points. |
| Malaysia Enrich | 1 to 1 | Given Malaysia's award chart devaluation in June 2017, We're not aware of any good uses for these miles. |
| Preferred Hotels & Resorts I Prefer | 1 to 4 | Redeeming points for hotel stays offers the best theoretical value but availability can be hard/impossible to find. Next best option is to look for good value points+cash opportunities. Redeeming for certificates is always poor value. |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | 1 to 1 | Best use is probably for flights on El Al with no fuel surcharges. Also useful for short AA flights. Qantas offers distance based award charts similar to Cathay Pacific. Both are OneWorld Alliance members. I recommend comparing award prices across both programs before transferring to either. Qantas offers round the world business class awards for only 280,000 points (but with many restrictions) |
| Qatar Privilege Club Avios | 1 to 1 | Qatar has reasonable award prices for flying Qatar itself. Points are now transferable 1 to 1 to British Airways (and from there to Aer Lingus or Iberia). It is now also possible to book JetBlue flights with Qatar Avios. |
| Shop Your Way Rewards | 1 to 10 | Don't do it. Shop Your Way points can be redeemed for a variety of gift cards. That said, unless Shop Your Way starts offering discounted gift cards, there's no point in converting transferrable points to Shop Your Way. |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 1 to 1 | Use to book Singapore Airlines First Class awards (generally reserved for their own members), Alaska Airlines economy awards, or for Star Alliance awards (including United Airlines). |
| Thai Airways International Royal Orchid Plus | 1 to 1 | I'm not aware of any good uses for these miles |
| Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles | 1 to 1 | Miles & Smiles offers a number of awesome sweet-spot awards including 7.5K one-way anywhere within the US, even to Hawaii. Many awards cannot be booked online but can be booked via phone or email. See: Turkish Miles & Smiles Complete Guide and Turkish business class sweet spots from the US. |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 1 to 1 | Virgin Atlantic offers a few excellent sweet spot awards. See: Best uses for Virgin Atlantic points (Sweet Spot Spotlight). |
| Wyndham | 1 to 1 | Wyndham often allows booking multi-room suites for the same price as a standard room. It's sometimes possible to get great value from points in that way. Bonus: award nights are not subject to resort fees. Additionally, you can book Vacasa vacation rentals starting at 15K points per bedroom per night. Wyndham Earner cards offer automatic 10% discount on award stays. |
Related Cards
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
75K Points ⓘ Non-Affiliate 75,000 points after $4,000 spend in 3 months$95 Annual Fee FM Mini Review: Very strong earnings for spend. Excellent bonus categories. Points transferable to select airlines. Recommend pairing this card with Citi Double Cash and Citi Rewards+. Click here for our complete card review Earning rate: 3X grocery ✦ 3X dining ✦ 3X gas stations & EV charging ✦ 3X flights, hotels, travel agencies ✦ 10X hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked through Citi Travel℠ Card Info: Mastercard World Elite issued by Citi. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Noteworthy perks: Transfer points to airline partners ✦ $100 Annual Hotel Savings Benefit ($100 off a $500+ hotel stay, excluding taxes and fees, when booked through Citi Travel) ✦ Travel protections See also: Citi ThankYou Rewards Complete Guide |
20K points ⓘ Non-Affiliate $200 cash back after spending $1.5K in first six months. Note: $200 is awarded as 20,000 ThankYou® Points.No Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. FM Mini Review: 2X rewards for all spend with no annual fee makes this card a winner. Earn 2X everywhere and redeem for the equivalent of 2% cash back or 2X ThankYou points. Pair with the Premier or Prestige card to make points transferrable to airlines. Click here for our complete card review Earning rate: 2% cash back everywhere (1% cash back for each purchase + 1% when paying your credit card bill for that purchase). ✦ For a limited time: Earn 5% total cash back on hotel, car rentals, and attractions booked on Citi TravelSM Portal through 12/31/24. Base: 2X (2.9%) Card Info: Mastercard World Elite issued by Citi. This card imposes foreign transaction fees. Noteworthy perks: 1X when you make a purchase + 1X when you pay for those purchases ✦ 24 month extended warranty See also: Citi ThankYou Rewards Complete Guide |
20K points ⓘ Non-Affiliate 20K points after $1.5K spend in 3 months No Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. FM Mini Review: The fact that you can get 10% Points Back when you redeem, up to the first 100,000 points redeemed per year, makes this a great choice to pool with ThankYou Premier, Prestige, and/or Double Cash Click here for our complete card review Earning rate: 5x on travel booked through Citi Travel℠ Portal through December 31, 2025 (excludes air travel) ✦ 2X at supermarkets and gas stations on up to $6,000 per year ✦ Round up to nearest 10 TY points on all purchases Card Info: Mastercard World issued by Citi. This card imposes foreign transaction fees. Noteworthy perks: Round up to the nearest 10 points on all purchases with no cap. ✦ Get 10% Points Back when you redeem, up to the first 100,000 points redeemed per year. See also: Citi ThankYou Rewards Complete Guide |
20K Points ⓘ Non-Affiliate 20K points after $1500 spend in the first 6 monthsNo Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Recent better offer: Expired 9/13/22 - 20,000 points after $750 spend in first 3 months FM Mini Review: This is a great card to have and hold for a single category where you spend no more than $500 per month as it represents an excellent return without rotating categories to track. Earning rate: 5x on purchases in your top eligible spend category each billing cycle, up to the first $500 spent, 1x thereafter. Eligible categories: Restaurants, Gas Stations, Grocery Stores, Select Travel, Select Transit, Select Streaming Services, Drugstores, Home Improvement Stores, Fitness Clubs and Live Entertainment. ✦ 1x on all other purchases Base: 1X (1.45%) Travel: 5X (7.25%) Dine: 5X (7.25%) Gas: 5X (7.25%) Grocery: 5X (7.25%) Other: 5X (7.25%) Card Info: Mastercard issued by Citi. This card imposes foreign transaction fees. Noteworthy perks: 24 month extended warranty See also: Citi ThankYou Rewards Complete Guide |
$200 statement credit ⓘ Non-Affiliate $200 statement credit after $1K Spend in 3 MonthsNo Annual Fee FM Mini Review: This has a good gas station bonus for a no annual fee card, but there's not much else to make it a compelling card Earning rate: ✦ 3 points per $1 at gas stations ✦ 2 points per $1 at grocery stores ✦ 1 point per $1 on all other purchases Card Info: Mastercard issued by Citi. This card imposes foreign transaction fees. Noteworthy perks: $20 statement credit every billing cycle you spend $1,000+ or $10 statement credit when you spend $500 - $999.99 (for AT&T Wireless customers omly) See also: Citi ThankYou Rewards Complete Guide |
None This card is no longer availableNo Annual Fee This card is available in-branch only and is not available online. The bonus may vary by region and can be as high as 40K. Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Earning rate: 3x travel ✦ office supply ✦ professional services Card Info: Mastercard World issued by Citi. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Noteworthy perks: Anniversary bonus on base earnings each membership year. (1% in year 1, 2% in year 2 and 3% in year 3 and beyond.) See also: Citi ThankYou Rewards Complete Guide |
None This card is no longer availableNo Annual Fee FM Mini Review: Downgrade from Prestige or Premier to this card in order to keep points alive Earning rate: 2X dining and entertainment Card Info: Mastercard World issued by Citi. This card imposes foreign transaction fees. See also: Citi ThankYou Rewards Complete Guide |
None This card is no longer availableNo Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. FM Mini Review: 10% points rebate (up to 10K rebate per year) make this a great choice to pool with ThankYou Premier, Prestige, and/or Double Cash Earning rate: 2X at supermarkets and gas stations on up to $6,000 per year ✦ Round up to nearest 10 TY points on all purchases Card Info: Mastercard World issued by Citi. This card imposes foreign transaction fees. Noteworthy perks: Round up to the nearest 10 points on all purchases with no cap. ✦ get 10% of your points back on the first 100K redeemed each year See also: Citi ThankYou Rewards Complete Guide |
None This card is no longer availableNo Annual Fee FM Mini Review: This card may be worth it for a welcome bonus, but it would be worth considering a product change to the Double Cash down the road..Unforunately, it seems it is no longer possible to product change to the AT&T Access More card. Earning rate: ✦ 2 points per $1 on products and services that are purchased directly from AT&T ✦ 2 points per $1 on all purchases at online retail and travel sites ✦ 1 point per $1 on all other purchases Card Info: Mastercard World issued by Citi. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. See also: Citi ThankYou Rewards Complete Guide |
None This card is no longer available$95 Annual Fee This card is no longer available to new applicants. Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. FM Mini Review: Excellent choice for those who shop often online (thanks to 3X earnings) Earning rate: ✦ 3 points per $1 on products and services that are purchased directly from AT&T ✦ 3 points per $1 on all purchases at online retail and travel sites ✦ 1 point per $1 on all other purchases Card Info: Mastercard World Elite issued by Citi. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: 10,000 anniversary bonus points after $10,000 in annual spending See also: Citi ThankYou Rewards Complete Guide |
None This card is no longer available$495 Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. FM Mini Review: The Prestige card's best in class 5X rewards for dining, airfare, and travel agencies is hard to beat. Sadly, this travel card doesn't provide any travel protections. Earning rate: 5X airfare, dining, and travel agencies ✦ 3X hotels and cruise line ✦ 1X everywhere else Card Info: Mastercard World Elite issued by Citi. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Noteworthy perks: $250 travel rebate per calendar year ✦ Free lounge access: Citi Properietary Lounges; and Priority Pass Select with free guests ✦ $100 Global Entry application fee credit ✦ 4th night free hotel benefit See also: Citi ThankYou Rewards Complete Guide |
Citi Application Tips
- 48 Month Rule: With most Citi cards, you can only receive a welcome offer every 48 months. This applies to the same exact card, not families of cards and is counted from the date that you receive the welcome offer, not from when you're approved.
- Velocity Limits: Citi allows a maximum of one personal card per 8 days and a maximum of two personal cards per 65 days. Business cards are limited to one per 90 days.
- Card Limits: Citi doesn't have a strict limit on the amount of cards that you can have, but it does place limits on the total amount of credit that they will issue you across all cards. Unfortunately, unlike most banks, Citi does not allow you to move credit from one existing card to the another card.
- Application Status: Call (866) 606-2787 or go here to check your application status. For Costco cards, call (877) 343-4118.
- Reconsideration: If denied, call (800) 695-5171 for personal cards or (866) 541-7657 for business cards.
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I have Citi AA card. Can I product change to this card? If so, what will happen to my AA miles I accumulated so far?
Is it possible to get a second one by product changing another card?
Yes, it is. Greg has three or four by doing exactly that.
Is Citi sensitive to gift card purchase? If I just spend $500/month on buying giftcard at grocery stores or gas stations, is it going to be a problem like with Amex?
Not at $500/month. I do exactly what you’re saying, as do quite a few others, I imagine. I’ve never heard of any issues with it.