Citi Custom Cash® Card review
This no-annual-fee card offers a simple way to earn rewards without any effort on your part. Spend as you like, earning 5% cash back rewards in the category where you spend the most, so you save money where you need it the most.
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Key Features
descriptionEditor Analysis:
- 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) - there are no category enrollments to worry about or no need to juggle reward tiers. On everything else you purchase, you’ll get 1% cash back. Plus, as a special travel offer, earn an additional 4% cash back on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked on Citi Travel℠ portal through 6/30/2026.
- Spend $1,500 on purchases within the first six months of opening an account and you’ll receive 20,000 ThankYou® Points, worth $200.
- Enjoy 0% intro APR for 15 months on balance transfers and purchases (then RegAPR).
- If you're willing to keep up with rotating bonus categories or you're okay managing a tiered-rewards structure, you may stand to earn more rewards with another card.
Earning 5% cash back where you spend the most almost sounds too good to be true, but that’s exactly what the CardName offers. That said, like with any credit card, there are some restrictions to consider. Read on to learn more about the card_name. Citi is a CardRatings advertiser
Citi Custom Cash® benefits
There’s a lot to like about the CardName. For starters:
It has a solid welcome bonus. If you spend $1,500 on purchases within the first six months, you’ll receive 20,000 ThankYou® Points, which you can then redeem for $200 in cash back.
It has an excellent cash back system. You’ll earn 5% cash back on purchases in your top eligible spend category each billing cycle, up to the first $500 spent and 1% cash back thereafter. On everything else you purchase, you’ll get 1% cash back. As a special travel offer, earn an additional 4% cash back on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked on Citi Travel℠ portal through 6/30/2026. We cover in further details below why this is such a great system.
There is no annual fee. That means this credit card doesn’t come with as many perks as some of the cards that do have annual fees, but when you can find a generous cash-back card that has no annual fee, it’s worth your attention and consideration.
There is a some breathing room for the first 15 months. You’ll get a 0% intro APR on balance transfers and purchases for 15 months. After that, the variable APR will be RegAPR, based on your creditworthiness.
Citi Custom Cash® rewards
As noted, the CardName has a generous welcome bonus. Sure, one could take issue with that. The welcome bonus is $200, and you can find plenty of credit cards that will give you a bigger bonus, but at least you can get that $200 pretty easily. You just need to spend $1,500 within the first six months.
There’s also a valuable cash-back system in place. You’ll 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.
So you’re always earning at least 1% with this credit card but on certain items, 5%.
And as a special travel offer, earn an additional 4% cash back on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked on Citi Travel℠ portal through 6/30/2026.
Citi Custom Cash® categories
Typically, with many rotating cash back categories that come with credit cards, you have to remember to enroll in the category that you want to get a reward in. If you forget, you’re out of luck until the next enrollment period.
With this credit card, however, you have 10 categories of spending (see below), and whatever month you happen to spend the most in, that’s where you receive your 5% cash back. If you’re somebody who has trouble remembering what’s the latest deal in a cash-back bonus category, this could be the card for you. You’ll just earn money in whatever category you spend the most money in, automatically.
Even better, the bonus categories are pretty broad too, so unless you pretty much purchase nothing, most people should have more than enough here to be able to maximize the rewards if they are regularly using the card.
Here are the categories of spending the CardName offers bonus rewards:
- Restaurants
- Grocery stores
- Gas stations
- Select travel
- Select transit
- Select streaming services
- Fitness clubs
- Live entertainment
- Drugstores
- Home improvement stores
Citi Custom Cash® welcome bonus
So as noted above, the CardName has a welcome bonus. It’s $200. Sure, it’d be nice to get more, but that often entails spending more. All you need to do is spend $1,500 on items you need to buy regardless, within the first six months of opening your credit card account, and you’re suddenly $200 richer.
You’ll receive that $200 in the form of 20,000 ThankYou® Points. ThankYou® Points are worth a penny per point, and while that might not sound like much, they add up quickly when you get 20,000 of them. What’s really nice, too, is that if you have another Citi credit card that earns ThankYou® Points, you can pool your rewards into one account.
It’s also worth nothing that while it may not be an official welcome offer, you do get that 0% intro APR on balance transfers and purchases for 15 months. (After that, the variable APR will be RegAPR, based on your creditworthiness.)
You’ll have 15 glorious months of being able to buy stuff, or do a balance transfer, and you can pay it back at your leisure and have no interest charges (just make sure that you do pay it all off before the 15-month period is over; otherwise, you’re sitting on an interest bomb that you don’t want to detonate).
➤ FREE TOOL:Balance transfer calculator
Potential downsides of the card_name
There aren’t a lot of downsides, but you know how it is – we all look at things differently. Here’s what you may or may not feel is problematic.
That APR. Once that 15-month introductory offer is over, you might recoil at the APR, which is RegAPR, based on your creditworthiness. But while the upper end of that range would be a high APR, obviously, the hope is, you’ll never pay it, because you’ll pay everything in full every month.
Maybe you can do better with a different cash back card? Some people may feel that you get more cash back with some other cards that do have rotating categories, or where one category is getting 5% cash back, and another is giving 3% and another is 2% and so on.
There’s a foreign transaction fee. There’s a foreign_fee foreign transaction fee charged on all international purchases. If you don’t travel internationally much or have other credit cards that don’t have a foreign transaction fee, this may not bother you in the least, but it’s worth noting.
How do cardholders rate the card_name?
CardRatings conducts a survey annually to learn what actual cardholders think of their cards. Here are the results for the card_name:
| Current Scores | Past Scores | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 80.3 | 87.8 |
| Features Satisfaction | 8.2 | 8.8 |
| Customer Service | 7.7 | 8.8 |
| Website/App Usability | 7.8 | 8.7 |
| Likelihood of Continuing to Use | 8.7 | 9 |
| Recommend to a Friend/Colleague | 7.9 | 8.5 |
How does the card_name compare to other cards?
CardName vs. CardName
The CardName offers you 2% cash back on everything you buy – unlimited 1% when you buy, and then you get 1% cash back after you pay for the purchases (as long as you at least make the minimum payment on time). The CardName, as you know by now, offers 1% for just about everything, but the category you spend the most in, you’ll get 5% cash back.
Another feature to consider: The CardName 0% interest offer goes a little further with its balance transfers – 18 months (and then RegAPR, depending on your credit worthiness), but it doesn’t offer that 0% interest deal on new purchases. The CardName has an 0% intro APR for 15 months on balance transfers and purchases (then reg_apr,reg_apr_type).
CardName vs. CardName
CardName has a potentially stronger special offer – an additional 1.5% cash back on everything you buy (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) – worth up to $300 cash back (CardName offers $200 after you spend $1,500 in six months). It also has a more extensive cash back rewards program: 6.5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 4.5% cash back on drugstore purchases and at restaurants including takeout and delivery, and 3% cash back on all other purchases. After your first year or $20,000 spent, enjoy 5% cash back on Chase travel; 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining; and unlimited 1.5% cash back on all other purchases.
But plenty of cardholders, especially those who don’t travel a lot, might prefer the CardName‘s more simple approach – get 5% on the categories you spend the most on, and 1% on everything else.
Who should apply for the CardName?
Anybody can apply and feel pretty good about getting the CardName, but it’s really meant for somebody who wants cash back without having to do much thinking about how to earn it.
And if you think about it, the way the categories are set up, it’s a pretty nice deal. If one month you just go crazy and are eating at restaurants for almost every meal, and your spending outpaces everything else, you’ll get 5% back. If another month, your entire family has head colds, and you’re constantly going to the drugstore, and that’s where you’ve become a big spender, maybe you’ll get 5% on all of that cold medicine. It’s a simple way to earn rewards.
Frequently asked questions
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Our Methodology
Survey methodology: CardRatings commissioned Op4G in September 2023 to conduct surveys among 1,869 cardholders nationwide. CardRatings website analytics from Jan. 1, 2023-Aug. 31, 2023 were used to determine a selection of the most popular cards and additional cards were included to add survey breadth. Responses to each of nine questions were given on a scale of 1-10 and respondents’ scores were then averaged under broad topics. To determine the overall score, responses from questions 1-8 were summed and the answer to "How likely are you to recommend this card to a friend, coworker or family member?" was double weighted. Current Scores reflect scores from the most recent survey (2023); “Past Scores” reflect scores from the 2022 survey.
Disclaimer:The information in this article is believed to be accurate as of the date it was written. Please keep in mind that credit card offers change frequently. Therefore, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information in this article. Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate information. See the online credit card application for full terms and conditions on offers and rewards. Please verify all terms and conditions of any credit card prior to applying.
This content is not provided by any company mentioned in this article. Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed here are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any such company. CardRatings.com does not review every company or every offer available on the market.
