Citi Double Cash benefits guide

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The Citi Double Cash® Card comes with a unique cash back offer — the opportunity to earn an unlimited 1 percent cash back on every purchase, as well as an additional 1 percent back every time you make on-time payments on those purchases. Essentially, you can earn a full 2 percent cash back on every purchase you make and pay off, which provides an incentive for you to pay off your balances as quickly as possible.

But what are the other Citi Double Cash benefits? Let’s take a closer look at the benefits of the Citi Double Cash Card, which include the ability to turn your cash back rewards into Citi ThankYou points and a 0 percent intro APR period on balance transfers.

The Citi Double Cash at a glance

As a flat-rate cash back card, the Citi Double Cash Card provides a unique rewards offer, of up to 2 percent cash back, that helps motivate you to pay off your credit card bill in full. It also gives you 18 months of a 0 percent APR (18.49 percent to 28.49 percent variable APR after) to pay off old debt without accruing interest charges. Eighteen months is a fairly standard time period among balance transfer offers and should be ample time for you to resolve your debt.

Earning rewards

Flat cash back

The Citi Double Cash Card offers an unlimited 1 percent cash back on all purchases, along with the opportunity to double your cash back when you make on-time payments on those purchases. For cardholders who regularly pay off their balances in full, it’s a straightforward offer, making it easy and effortless to earn up to 2 percent cash back on all your purchases.

Some people may discount the Citi Double Cash as low earning for its simplicity, but don’t count it out too quickly. In fact, compared to its sister card, the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card, another top cash back credit card, the Citi Double Cash earns more cash back in a year for high spenders.

Let’s look at a spend example. If you charge $24,000 in a year on your Citi Double Cash, you would earn $480 in cash back. However, because the Citi Custom Cash Card’s 5 percent category caps out at $500 per billing cycle and all other purchases after that earn 1 percent, $24,000 on the card would also yield $480. Essentially, those who spend annually $24,000 or more will earn more cash back with the Citi Double Cash’s unlimited cash back.

Sign-up bonus

Sometimes lacking one and sometimes offering one, the Citi Double Cash currently boasts a decent welcome offer. New cardholders who spend $1,500 in the first six months will earn $200 in cash back. Considering other welcome bonuses on the market, the $1,500 spending goal is relatively manageable, especially since you have six months to achieve it, which requires you to spend only $250 a month across the six months.

Redemption options

The Citi Double Cash Card has plenty of redemption options to enjoy the rewards your card earns. Though technically a cash back card, this card actually earns rewards as ThankYou points, which are quite versatile. Every 100 ThankYou points are worth $1 in cash back, and they can be used to book travel through the Citi travel portal, shop online and more.

Note, the card technically earns “basic” ThankYou points, meaning you won’t be able to transfer them to Citi airline or hotel partners.

You can also turn your ThankYou points into cash back redemption methods like statement credits, deposits into checking or savings accounts or mailed checks.

Balance transfer offer

One of the best Citi Double Cash benefits is its 0 percent intro APR offer — meaning no interest for 18 months on balance transfers, followed by a variable APR of 18.49 percent to 28.49 percent. The card even has an intro balance transfer fee of $5 or 3 percent (whichever is higher) on balance transfers performed in the first four months of opening your account. After that, the fee goes up to $5 or 5 percent, whichever is higher.

For most cardholders who have a little bit of credit debt accumulated from another high-interest card, the Citi Double Cash’s zero-interest offer should be enough time to pay that debt off.

Other benefits

The Citi Double Cash Card is a no-annual-fee credit card, which also means it doesn’t offer as many benefits and perks as cards that do charge an annual fee.

Nevertheless, the Citi Double Cash does offer a few useful perks, like 24-hour fraud protection and zero liability on authorized charges in case any fraudulent charges are found on your account. As a Citi cardholder, you’ll also have access to Citi Entertainment, which gives you exclusive presale tickets to concerts and sporting events and dinners by renowned chefs.

How to maximize your Citi Double Cash benefits

If you want to maximize your Citi Double Cash rewards, make sure you pay off your credit card balances every month. Remember, you only earn 1 percent cash back on every purchase if you don’t pay off that purchase at the end of the billing cycle, which undermines much of the card’s value. If you make a late credit card payment, you won’t earn the additional 1 percent.

For those with a little bit of credit debt, we recommend transferring your balances to the Citi Double Cash. Since the card lacks a 0 percent intro APR on new purchases, you should work on paying off those balances before charging anything with your new card. And, of course, be sure to meet that $1,500 spend goal within the first six months so that you can earn your sign-up bonus, worth $200. It’s only a good thing that the Citi Double Cash currently offers a welcome bonus, so you should capitalize on it while it lasts.

We also recommend using your rewards as Citi ThankYou points, rather than as cash back. Though redemption options like statement credit and cash back are tempting for their simplicity, the average worth of these is 0.5 cents per point. Instead, we recommend redeeming your ThankYou points for travel on the Citi travel portal or even home mortgage or student loan repayments, as these make points worth 1 cent apiece.

Bottom line

The biggest benefit of the Citi Double Cash Card is the opportunity to double your cash back every time you make on-time credit card payments. While you won’t get much in the way of travel perks or similar extra benefits, the ability to earn up to 2 percent cash back on every purchase you pay off is a huge win. And when you add in the Citi Double Cash balance transfer offer, the card becomes a double win.