If you want to earn travel rewards, I always recommend doing what you can to earn points. You are not invested in any single airline or hotel loyalty program because of the flexibility of these programs. American Express Membership rewards and Chase Ultimate rewards have a large number of cards. The program overall is getting more compelling as Citi ThankYou is catching up. I wanted to look at the best cards to maximize your points earning potential. There are only personal credit cards that earn ThankYou points, and hopefully some business cards will be added in the future. The reality is that you need one of two cards to be able to transfer ThankYou points from one card to another. If you are starting from scratch, you need a specific card since one of the cards is no longer open to new applicants. There are three excellent complement that can help you maximize your rewards and the card is compelling in and of itself. You should be able to earn up to 2x ThankYou points per dollar spent on all your purchases if you use the right strategy. There are two Citi ThankYou cards that can be used to transfer rewards to the airline and hotel partners. There is an annual fee. There are bonus categories of 3x points on dining, 3x points on groceries, 3x points on gas stations, and 3x points on hotels.The two Citi ThankYou “hub” cards
Citi Premier® Card
If you want to maximize the value you get through the other cards, you need the premier card. A $100 annual hotel credit through the ThankYou portal is one of the fantastic bonus categories on the card.
The Citi premier card has a best-ever welcome bonus of 80,000 ThankYou points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months. I think this is the best mid-range credit card out there.
If you want to apply for the Citi premier card, you must read a full review.
There is an annual fee.
Bonus categories include 5x points on dining, 5x points on airfare, 3x points on hotels, and 3x points on cruises.
This card is only useful if you already have it, because it is no longer open to new applicants. While the 5x points on dining on this card is nice, I would argue it is not nearly as well rounded of a product as the Citi premier, which has solid bonus categories on dining, groceries, and gas, all with a less expensive annual fee.
You can read a full review of the card.
The Citi credit cards act as an excellent complement to the premier card. All of these have no fees.
While they don't independently earn points that can be transferred to airline and hotel partners, there is a fun trick that they can use with the Citi premier card. The process can be accomplished online. The three cards below can be used to supplement ThankYou points.
There is an annual fee.
2x points on all purchases and 1x points when you pay for them are bonus categories.
There is no annual fee for the Citi Double Cash Card. When you pay for a purchase, the card gives you 1x points. The rewards can be combined with other cards or redeemed for cash back at the rate of one cent per point. One of my go-to cards for everyday spending is this one.
The Citi Double Cash Card has a welcome bonus of 20,000 ThankYou points, which can be used to make purchases, after spending less than $2,500 in the first six months. This is a good time to pick up the card because the card didn't have a welcome bonus before.
You can read a full review of the Citi Double Cash Card.
There is an annual fee.
5x points in your top eligible spending category every billing cycle, on up to $500 worth of spending per billing cycle, and 1x points everywhere else.
You can earn 5x points with the Citi Custom Cash, but you can only spend $500 per billing cycle to get bonus points. Spending categories that are eligible include drugstores, fitness clubs, gas stations, grocery stores, home improvement stores, live entertainment, restaurants, and transit.
Some of those categories aren't eligible for bonus points with many other cards so this could be useful if you spend a decent amount at home improvement stores or on entertainment
The Citi Custom Cash Card will give you 20,000 ThankYou points if you spend $750 in the first three months.
You can read a full review of the Citi Custom Cash Card.
There is an annual fee.
Purchases are rounded up to the nearest 10x Thank You points, 2x points at supermarkets and at gas stations, and 1x points everywhere else.
The Citi rewards card is special because of a couple of things. The bonus points at supermarkets and gas stations are not important since the Citi premier has better bonus categories there. What is cool is that you can round up purchases. A $1 purchase earns you 10 ThankYou points.
10% of your points will be returned when you redeem them, up to 10,000 points per year. If you redeem 100,000 ThankYou points per year, you will get 10,000 points per year with this card.
There is a welcome bonus of 20,000 ThankYou points and 5x points on the first $6,000 spent at restaurants for the first year on the card.
If you want to apply for the Citi rewards card, read a full review.
If you want to earn airline miles, you can pick up credit card duos, and that is an area where I think Citi beats any other issuer. The Citi Double Cash Card is one of the best two-card strategies. This is a great strategy.
If you want to apply for the two cards, you should pick up the premier card first and then apply for the double cash card nine days later. You can only be approved for one Citi card per eight days and two per 65 days on a rolling basis.
That combination can't be beaten. If you want to put a bit more effort into your strategy, I would recommend picking up the other no annual fee alternatives, including the Citi Custom Cash Card and Citi rewards card.
The options for Citi ThankYou are still very good, even though they aren't as robust as those of Amex Membership rewards and Chase Ultimate rewards. Excellent bonus categories, a reasonable annual fee, and a massive welcome bonus are some of the features of the Citi premier card. I love earning 2x ThankYou points with the Citi Double Cash Card.
Which Citi Thank You cards do you use?
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