The Citi double cash back card is probably one of the best No Annual fees cards out there right now that earns you DOUBLE the points on all purchases (1% cash back for making the purchase and 1% cash back after you make the payment) and the best part is, you can convert the points you earn over to your Thank You Rewards account if you have a Citi Thank You Premier Card or the Citi Prestige Card.
I Love This Card
I’ll start by saying that is is one of my most widely used cards, simply because it covers everyday spending that doesn’t fall into specified categories that I earn more than 2% cash back with, or 2x the points on and mainly and most important, the ability to convert the cash back into ThankYou Rewards points. However, there is NO SIGN-UP BONUS for the Double Cash Back Card.
Zero Annual Fees
I already have a few credit cards that have annual fees, which is fine because the perks I get offset the costs. But some people just don’t want to pay an annual fee which is understandable. You get a lot of value with this card for zero annual fees.
0% Intro APR
While this is definitely going to be a perk some some folks, it is something that I don’t personally find value in being the fact that I don’t hold balances on credit cards and pay them off in full as would be a good rule of thumb for you as well. It’s wise to treat any credit card as you would a debit card to be responsible with it.
However, there is a 0% APR for 18 months on balance transfers and after that the APR is 13.99% – 23.99% which is then based off of how you manage your credit or credit worthiness.
You Can Change Cards or Downgrade To This Card AKA Product Change
So, when I wanted to get this card, I didn’t want to ding my credit with an inquiry or open a new card and go over the Chase 5/24 Rule. I had the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Card but wasn’t satisfied with the card anymore and I was able to transfer by the credit line and downgrade the card to the Citi Double Cash Card (would hardly say I was downgrading) all with a simple call over to a Citi representative. I maintained under the Chase 5/24 limit and didn’t have an inquiry to my FICO score. You can do this with almost any Citi card. Mind you, you can do this with most personal cards. Citi won’t let you do it with newly opened cards, less than 12 Months. I would recommend calling Citi to see what options you have available to you. It’s definitely worth it. However, if you already have the Citi Prestige or the Citi ThankYou Premier, I would recommend keeping one of those and incorporate the cards in your favor. I’ll quickly note that the Mastercard brand is way more widely accepted than American Express.
Card Caveats
This card has foreign transaction fees associated with it. A whopping 3% is charged with any foreign transaction fees so it would completely negate the earning potential if used. But there are some other great cards with zero foreign transaction fees available. Let it be noted that with Citi’s rules, you can only be approved for ONE card every 8 days and you can be approved for at most TWO cards every 65 days. so space it out if you are trying to grab some lucrative sign-up bonuses.
Earning and Burning, What You Need To Know
I’ve mentioned what a great card this is for everyday purchases. Getting a 2% return is awesome, and the fact that this card competes very well with its competitors with other zero annual fee cards and even many other cards that have an annual fee is unquestionable. Earning the return is a no-brainer in my opinion. I use this card for groceries, gas, amazon shopping, PAYING RENT (That’s a big earner right there and not everyone has that ability), etc. I will use this in lieu of cards that won’t earn a return in any of those categories. Remember, it’s all about earning more than 1 point per 1 dollar.
So now you need to want to cash out (not something I advise since I’m all about travel and getting the most out of my returns, but some of you may like this option) or you may want to do what I like to do and convert the cashback into Thank You Points in order to transfer your points over to some of Citi’s Great Travel partners for some incredible redemptions using Airline Loyalty Programs.
Converting your rewards is fairly easy. Simply log into Citibank account and select your Double Cash Card. Select the option that allows you to redeem your cash back and you will have options…
The Ability to convert to Thank You Points is fairly new as Citi introduced this ability in September 2019. Your Cash back back is worth $0.01 per $1 that you spend and when converting the $0.01 = 100 Thank You points. In the example it shows $54.57 and you can only transfer in whole dollar increments. $54 = 5400 Thank You Points. Select “convert to points.”
Click that button and Volia! You now have Points to use.
Thank You Points Redemptions
There are some really cool abilities you have with the airline loyalty program that Citi partners with.
Turkish Airlines Miles and Smiles is a great program to use if you are looking to go to Hawaii as they are a Star Alliance Carrier and you can use them to book United Flights in economy for just 7500 Thank You Points One way or for 12,500 Points in First Class one way.
Avianca’s LifeMiles Program has some really awesome redemptions like being able to book a first class seat with Lufthansa for quite a few thousand miles less than you would be able to do with United Airlines Award chart. I recently booked a Business class ticket to Sao Paulo, Brazil from LAX in Business class for only 45,000 LifeMiles and there was a promotion when I did it where I would get 25% more miles for transferring my Thank you points, which in the end only cost me 33,750 Thank You Points. All in a lie-flat seat. So you can see the extreme value in these programs.
Bottom Line
Clearly you can see that there is extreme value in using Thank You Points. The Citi Double Cash card is a huge player when it comes to earning those points as well. It has always been a great card for everyday spend but the fact that you can convert your rewards to Thank You points makes this card one of my absolute top go-to cards as it is almost unrivaled in my opinion. If you are looking for a solid No annual fee card, then i would highly suggest you apply for this card.
Finance disclosure
Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
