Citi Custom Cash Review
We’re pumped to share our Citi Custom Cash review with you. Incredibly versatile, it fills a unique flexible spending void. Its model is different than the Freedom Flex in that you pick your chosen monthly category with what you buy.
I take that as an opportunity to spend $500 within one of the TEN Citi Custom Cash categories each month. Once you’ve built that idiosyncrasy into your process, it’s easy to get (up to) 2,500 Citi Thank You points every month. As long as you can keep up with spending those gift cards and paying off the full balance, that is.
In combination with the Chase Freedom Flex, the two work well together to cover spending that would otherwise fall through the cracks. The Citi Custom Cash is the remainder that balances the Freedom Flex’s quarterly predetermined flex categories.
The 20,000 points for $1500 spent intro bonus is a milestone most can reach. It’s my go-to for hardware store purchases and grocery $500 gift cards. The Citi Custom Cash is Freedom Flex’s backup for purchases that would otherwise fall into the low accrual abyss of regret but with one caveat. You need a second card to facilitate point transfers.
Citi Custom Cash Benefits
Versatility as promised.
The Citi Custom Cash offers 5X in highest spending category up to $500/month in these Citi Custom Cash Review categories:
Includes purchases made at pharmacies in grocery stores, general merchandise/discount superstores, and wholesale/warehouse clubs if those merchants submit purchases made in their pharmacy with the drug store and pharmacy merchant category code.
including: concerts, live sporting events, live theatrical productions, amusement parks, and orchestras.
Excludes: charitable organizations that provide live entertainment (benefits), sporting camps, sports complexes where you participate in the sport, public and private golf courses, country clubs (including membership fees), bowling alleys, movie theaters, tourist attractions, museums and art galleries.
Includes membership fee and other purchases at athletic, sports and recreation facilities requiring membership such as health, tennis, and swimming clubs.
Excludes fees associated with virtual services for home exercise equipment, personal monitoring devices, or fitness streaming classes.
Excludes gasoline purchases at warehouse clubs, discount stores, convenience stores or other merchants that do not use the gas station merchant category code.
Includes purchases at supermarkets, meat/seafood stores, dairy stores, bakeries, and miscellaneous food/convenience stores.
Excludes purchases at general merchandise/discount superstores; wholesale/warehouse clubs; candy, nut and confectionery stores. Purchases made at online supermarkets or with grocery delivery services also do not qualify if the merchant does not classify itself as a supermarket by using the supermarket merchant category code.
Includes purchases at home supply warehouse stores, lumber and building materials stores, paint and wallpaper stores, hardware stores, nurseries – lawn and garden supply stores and paints, varnishes and supplies stores.
Excludes florists and florists’ supply stores; nursery stock; wholesale construction stores; and glass stores.
Includes purchases at cafes, bars, lounges and fast food restaurants.
Excludes purchases at bakeries, caterers, restaurants located inside another business (such as hotels, stores, stadiums, grocery stores, or warehouse clubs) and third party dining and delivery services.
Includes airline, hotel, cruise line and travel agency purchases.
Excludes timeshares, boat leases and rentals, campgrounds and trailer parks, and real estate agencies.
Includes car rentals, ferries, commuter railways, subways, taxis/limousines/car services, passenger railways, bridge and road tolls, parking lots/garages, bus lines, and motor home and recreational vehicle rentals. Excludes bike/scooter rentals, auto clubs and insurance companies
Includes: Amazon Prime Video, Including Amazon Music, Apple Music, Paramount+, Disney+, DirectTV Stream, ESPN+, fuboTV, HBO Max, NBA League Pass, Netflix, Pandora, Showtime, Sling TV, Spotify, Starz, SiriusXM, Vudu, YouTube Red, YouTube TV, and Tidal.
Pros
- Amazing Versatility every month
- Hardware Stores included for us DIY weekend warriors
- Rare opportunity to amass points for a Disney Trip
- Streaming Entertainment extensive
- Travel purchases made outside credit card portals included
- Citi Partner Offer Portal
Cons
- Point transfer to travel partners requires an active Prestige or Premier card.
- Even after transferred to another card, points earned from other cards will expire after 60 days after earned closure and 90 days after they’re shared.
- $1500 requirement to get sign-up bonus is a bit steep. This was increased 08/22.
- Food delivery not included in restaurant categories.
- Gas at warehouse pumps excluded from gas category
- Warehouse stores excluded
- Travel and Transit categories separate – only one 5x at at time
Deal Tip
The Citi Custom Cash is the perfect $500 gift card to 2,500 points machine. I use it the grocery store, which often also gives gas points in turn.
Examples: Amazon, eBay, Disney for a Park Trip, AirBnb and Visa Debit for Costco are all good options depending on your plans.
What Can the Citi Custom Cash
Do For Me?
With a bit of forethought, there are few spent dollars for which the Citi Custom Cash won’t bust out 5 Citi Thank You Points.
Once you’ve built a strategy on how to best use it, little forethought nor activation are required. This card just goes to work for you! It represents pure, unbridled versatility.
Be not dismayed by the $500 monthly limit as, in combination with other flex or custom cash cards, it’s straightforward to put this card to work.
Noteworthy drawbacks include omission of office supply stores and that it’s a Mastercard. This means it cannot be used in store or at the pumps at any Costco.
Any Visa gift card you buy at a drug or grocery store would qualify, however, and work for Costco gas as well.
Effective point earning is all about smart matching. It’s intuitive that anyone aware of the earning potential in these cards would go out of their way to build a plan to earn as many points as possible. But, as each card has their own rules and categories nuances, how does one keep them all straight and avoid missing opportunities?
The answer to that question is The Deal Method. We’ll help you do a simple analysis of your spending patterns and travel aspirations to decide which cards are best for your unique situation and goals.
The Deal Method Flex Earn and Point Value
5 Citi Thank You points per dollar spent is equivalent to 9 cents per dollar or, roughly, a 9% return on everything you buy. In truth, the value of these points depends on how you use them.
Some redemptions are double or better while others are worse. Choice Hotels are the prolific sweet spot because points transferred there are doubled!
Citi Custom Cash
vs Chase Freedom Flex
To better cover some of the least commonly incentivized categories, flex cards like the Citi Custom Cash and Chase Freedom Flex are wicked important tools to have at your disposal.
Pick your custom cash category for the month and follow the Flex’s lead for that quarter. Their two powers combined are far more useful that either one by itself.
Citi Thank You Point Benefits
The best way to see how these points are most useful is to highlight the unique partners they work with that other banks (Chase, AMEX, and Capital One) do not and those that few others do.
Unique Airline Partners
Hotel Partner Advantage – Choice
- 1:1 Eva Air (Cap One loses 25%)
- 1:1 Thai
- 1:1 Malaysia
- 1:1 Qatar – Avios transfer freely*
- 1:1 Turkish Airlines (+CapOne are only direct transfer partners)
*Avios partners transfer freely and instantly between one another. This means that via Qatar, you can unofficially transfer points to British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Iberia and book on their many partner airlines and OneWorld Alliance listings.
- Points transfer to Citi at a 1:2 ratio to Choice Hotels, twice that of AMEX and Capital One.
- Citi points transfer instantly to secure your bookings on the spot
- This means 1/2 price redemption discount everyday for their upscale Cambria and Ascend Hotel Collections compared to AMEX and Capital One
Thank You Point Drawbacks
Unfortunately, without another Citi card, these points aren’t readily transferrable. You need a Citi Premier to transfer these points to most travel partners but Double Cash and Rewards+ transfer to JetBlue, Choice, and Wyndham (+Vacasa) hotels but at a 20% loss of redemption value. The points are otherwise redeemable as cash or to cover travel booked in the Citi Portal.
These points can expire:
If your travel partner has Citi cards, you can merge those accounts as an authorized user to “share” them between cards but with limitations. Shared points are limited to 100,000 points/year and carry a 90 day expiration date.
To make yourself an AU isn’t ideal though, as it looks to Chase like you have a Citi card and counts towards your 5/24.
Point of earn is tracked:
Points earned but transferred away from a card you close expire in 6 days.
There are not yet referrals:
There are whispers of invites for referrals but this isn’t yet broadly available to current cardholders outside of that. No referral bonus to be had, yet.
Choice Hotels
Choice Hotels Group is a mixed bag. Their portfolio includes many basic brands but, also, two that might surprise you if you aren’t familiar. Those more fond of upscale alternatives like Hilton, Hyatt, IHG or Marriott are often pleasantly surprised by Cambria and Ascend Hotels.
With locations priced reasonably in areas that are typically very expensive, these are often overlooked, great options to save and , if (and only IF) you use CIti Thank You points, represent a good redemption. Using AMEX or Capital One would deliver half the bang for your buck!
The easiest way to illustrate the Choice Hotel example is with a hypothetical situation and a bit of math. Seeing the results will help support my point. If you’re not a math person, move right along!
Redemption Assessment Example
I’m considering the Shoreline Inn & Conference Center in Muskegon, MI. It’s a 3 star property. It’s a ~4 hour drive away from Indianapolis and so will make a good option for a couple days away this Fall Break. I’m also considering Cincinnati and Chicago, however, which are both closer.
Amenities offered are attractive at this price. Rooms include free parking, continental breakfast (though reviews suggest this stopped during COVID), two large beds and a balcony overlooking a harbor and Muskegon Lake.
The rooms look dated though – very circa early 2000s with classical stye. I’m on the fence about whether I should book this based on reviews and guest pictures.
I’m looking between 10/14-16. Cash price ranges from $157-324/night but not all are bookable with points. The most expensive and best option is one king, one queen corner suite with a wrap-around balcony view of the lake.
There’s enough space to sit out on the balcony overlooking the harbor – I love to do that in the evenings after kids are put to bed. That’s the main allure to a place like this.
This room is $256/night plus taxes and fees paying at check-in. You can prepay in advance and save but rewards are easily canceled or changed so this is a more direct number to compare for our calculations. So let’s explore how we should pay and whether this is a good value redemption in the grand scheme.
The math is the key to knowing a good redemption from a bad one. So let’s break that math down.
Cash cost: $589.04
Points cost: 55,000 Choice points OR 27,500 Citi Points.
That means $589.04/27,500 = 2.15 cents/point.
What about the cheapest room, then?
cash price: $427.86
Points cost: 55,000 Choice points OR 27,500 Citi Points.
That means $427.86/27,500 = 1.55 cents/point. That’s about 25% less valuable as redemptions go.
So which one is the better option? Using transferrable points of any kind provide a superior value to paying cash but just barely unless using Citi. Using Citi points gives you a 50% discount compared to AMEX or Capital One.
Considering the estimated value of a Choice point of 0.6 cents/per point, thats about 3.5 more valuable than the equivalent number of Choice points and exactly twice as valuable as AMEX or Capital One. It pays to know how to play this game well.
Anything above the estimated point value, 0.6 cents/point, is considered a good redemption. But it’s not the best ever.
A Hyatt in Cincinnati. The timing of our trip coincided with leaves changing there around this time and it was an easier trip to take for a few days away. That redemption was also better:
Cash price: $1,097.52 vs 24,000 Hyatt Points for 4.57 cents per point. That’s twice as good of a redemption compared to the Choice hotel. I actually had those sitting around from a former trip to Hawaii so opted for that instead.
Citi Custom Cash Vs Discover It
Discover It is another flex card option but, as the points don’t transfer to travel partners like Amex, Chase, Citi, and Capital One, the value of these points you can earn is less significant and so we don’t recommend folks get this card.
Merchant Offers? YES!
Having any Citi card unlocks their merchant incentives portal but it’s not easy to find.
Unlike Chase and AMEX, they won’t email you to make sure their offers are top of mind.
The Hypothetical Potential
$6,000 ($500/month for the year) of flexible spending combined though gift cards translates to a straightforward 50,000 Citi Thank You Points the first year and 30,000 per card each subsequent year. If your significant other, or traveling partner, did the same, double those figures.
It allows unrivaled flexibility that meshes well with your planning. By pivoting monthly, its straightforward to cover many former everyday charges with a big ‘Ole 5X!
The Bottom Line
I give the Citi Custom Cash a 10/10 – one for each of the 10 categories you can activate to secure 2,500 points every month! While isn’t one size fits all, grabbing a $500 gift card you know you’ll later use is the simple solution. As long as you have the dollars to cover thyself.
The Citi Custom Cash Credit Card is a must-have to exchange “other” 1-2X purchases with ultimate 5X. Requiring a 2nd card to transfer to partners is an important detail to know and plan around. It, or an everyday 2X card like the Capital One Venture, are 3rd cards to consider but should slot into a long-term plan that includes another Citi card.
For this reason, many favor the Double Cash over the Custom Cash. While there are far better sign-up bonuses out there with hefty annual fees and overlapping benefits, this card fills a practical void and is incredibly versatile. if you use this card to pick up the slack of Freedom Flex categories, you’ll emerge from the smoke with oodles of points banked!
Many would disagree, insisting that given the 5/24 rule, each of your first five cards should be Chase ones. I disagree. Hardware stores and indirect Costco coverage were a large part of our spending poorly covered before I got this card. I think a new Citi Custom Cash card is well worth considering to add versatility to your wallet, as long you have a route to transfer those points that would otherwise remain in jail
Frequently Asked Questions
670 or better with more than a year of established credit and little or no balance carried.
Though it does require a good credit score of 670 or better, your chances of approval are best with a score of 700+. If you don’t carry a balance and you have an established history, this is a card you can get if not immediately then eventually.
Nope, none.
Citi will only issue one per person but does allow product changes after a year with any other Citi Card as of 04/22.
Double cash gives 2 points for every dollar spent – one when you charge and a second point when you pay the balance off. The custom cash gives 5 points per dollar towards the amount you spend in your highest of the ten spending categories.
