Citi Custom Cash℠ Card Review: Limited but Easy Rewards

Quick Review

The Citi Custom Cash℠ Card is a solid rewards card, although its value to you will depend on your spending habits. Here’s what this credit card offers:

• Flexible 5% cash back: This card has a base cashback rate of 1%, but it offers 5% on the first $500 you spend in your highest spending category per billing cycle (determined automatically). This makes it possible to consistently earn rewards at a high rate for your biggest expenses, such as groceries.
• 0% APR period: The 15-month 0% APR period on this card makes it a decent choice for making large purchases or consolidating debts from other credit cards.
• Average welcome bonus: If you spend $1,500 in your first 6 months of card ownership, you’ll receive a $200 welcome bonus. This is roughly comparable to what this card’s competitors offer.
• High APR: The Citi Custom Cash℠ Card’s purchase APR is relatively high, at 17.74% – 27.74% (variable). Once the intro period expires, this card isn’t the best choice if you plan on carrying a balance from month to month.

The biggest downside of this card is the relatively low spending cap on its rewards program. A rewards rate of 5% in your top spending category is respectable, but once you spend beyond your $500 limit, this card’s utility will drop significantly until your limit is reset at the beginning of your next billing cycle.

Pros & Cons

Who Is the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card Best For?

The Citi Custom Cash℠ Card is a solid choice for:

• Modest spenders: If you rarely spend more than $500 per month in your top expense category (e.g., meals at restaurants, groceries, etc) then you won’t need to worry about the main drawback of this card—the low limit on its 5% cashback rate.
• People with multiple rewards cards: If you already have a collection of rewards cards, the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card can do a great job of supplementing them. Just pick a spending category that your current cards aren’t adequately covering and use it for those expenses.
• Debt consolidators: Because this card offers a 0% APR intro rate and allows balance transfers, it’s suitable for transferring debts from other credit cards, provided you get a high enough credit limit.

What the Crowd Says

The Citi Custom Cash℠ Card is a popular credit card, and it’s been well-received by most reviewers. Here’s how this card has been rated around the web:

What Major Publications Say

Many critics favorably compare the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card to its competitors, citing the card’s unusual rewards structure as a major selling point.

There are other credit cards that offer 5% cash back in flexible spending categories, but they generally require you to manually choose the category each month (or to keep track of rotating categories). By contrast, the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card will automatically apply the 5% rate to your top spending category.

Many reviews also praise the card’s 15-month 0% APR period, although they note that many of its competitors offer this perk as well.

Criticism of this card largely centers on the (relatively low) $500 monthly cap applied to the 5% rewards rate. More than a few reviews conclude that if you’re a big spender, or if you want a high cashback rate in more than one spending category, this probably shouldn’t be your only rewards card—but it can still make a solid addition to your wallet.

What Cardholders Say

Cardholders generally recommend the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card, citing the following pros and cons:

Cardholder praise for the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card largely echoes the professional reviews; people are fans of this card’s flexible and lucrative rewards program. Many consumers also find that the card’s 0% APR period and balance transfer capability make it useful for debt consolidation.

However, this card has also garnered a few notable complaints:

• Low credit limits: Many customers claim that the credit limit they received on this card was significantly lower than they received on other, similar cards from Citi’s competitors.
• Poor customer service: A number of users claim that when they had problems with their cards (in particular, after Citi placed fraud-related locks on their accounts for no clear reason), dealing with customer service was a headache, with long wait times, repeated transfers, and unhelpful agents.
• Trouble getting approved: Many people who were given “outstanding” approval odds for this card by third-party services like Credit Karma ended up being denied, despite having high credit scores.

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Rewards

Rewards

As mentioned, the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card’s rewards program is somewhat unusual. It features an automatic bonus category system.

While many cards require you to decide which bonus category you want to take advantage of, the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card tracks your spending habits each month to determine which category you spent the most in and applies your 5% cash back automatically.

There are ten different bonus categories that you can earn cash back in:

• Restaurants
• Gas stations
• Grocery stores
• Select travel
• Select transit
• Select streaming services
• Drugstores
• Home improvement stores
• Fitness clubs
• Live entertainment

What You Could Earn

You’ll get the best value from the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card if you use it strategically. Instead of using it for all of your purchases, pick a spending category none of your other credit cards offer rewards on. Use this card for those expenses and you’ll receive 5% cash back on every purchase you make.

Earnings Based on Strategic Use

The table below shows how much you’ll earn if you use the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card to buy groceries or gas (two categories that relatively few other rewards cards cover), based on how much the average American spends on each per year.

Remember that you can’t earn the 5% rate on purchases in both categories—it’ll just be applied to whichever one you spent the most in.

Earnings Based on General-Purpose Use

For context, here’s how much you’ll earn if you use the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card as your everyday card for all of your purchases (again, based on the average American’s typical yearly spending):

As you can see, if you use the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card for purchases outside of your top spending category, your effective rewards rate will be much lower (this equates to a 2% cashback rate across the board).

That’s why using this card effectively means committing to only using it for one type of purchase, and preferably supplementing it with another rewards card.

How to Redeem Points

You can choose whether you want to redeem your rewards as cash back or Citi ThankYou Points. There are several ways to use your rewards:

• Redeem as statement credit: You can use your rewards to pay off your future or outstanding balance on your credit card.
• Redeem as a direct deposit or check: You can deposit your rewards directly into your checking account and use them as cash.
• Redeem for gift cards: CitiBank offers a wide range of gift card options to choose from, including popular clothing brands and national restaurant franchises.
• Use as travel rewards: You can redeem ThankYou Points for plane tickets, cruises, and hotel bookings.
• Use points to shop at Amazon.com: ThankYou Points can be redeemed through the Shop with Points program on Amazon.

Welcome Bonus

The Citi Custom Cash℠ Card offers a welcome bonus of $200 if you spend $1,500 or more on the card in the first 6 months after opening it. This is a decent bonus, although not an astounding one—it’s on par with what’s offered by similar cards.

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Rates & Fees

Fees

• Annual fee: $0
• Monthly fee: $0
• Cash advance fee: $10 or 5%, whichever is higher
• Balance transfer fee: $5 or 5%, whichever is higher
• Foreign transactions fee: 3%
• Late payment: Up to $41
• Returned payment: Up to $41

Interest Rates

• Purchase APR: 17.74% – 27.74% (variable)
• Intro purchase APR: 0% for 15 months
• Cash advance APR: 28.99% (variable)
• Balance transfer APR: 17.74% – 27.74% (variable)
• Intro balance transfer APR: 0% for 15 months
• Penalty APR: Up to 29.99%
• Minimum interest charge: None

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Benefits

The Citi Custom Cash℠ Card offers several services and protections:

Services

How Citi Entertainment Works

Most of the benefits listed above are fairly standard. The most notable one—which you’ll receive on almost any Citi card—is access to Citi Entertainment.

Formerly known as Citi Private Pass, Citi Entertainment is a platform that you can use to buy presale and preferred tickets to “entertainment experiences,” which include:

• Concerts
• Movies
• Theater performances
• Comedy shows
• Sporting events
• Dining experiences

You’ll get early access to these tickets before the general public can buy them. Citi Entertainment also offers other perks, such as the chance to buy VIP packages, and may sometimes offer complimentary movie screenings.

Protections

The Citi Custom Cash℠ Card also offers a standard suite of protections against identity theft and fraud:

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FAQs

What bank issues the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card?

The Citi Custom Cash℠ Card is issued by Citibank. It operates through the Mastercard credit card network.

Does the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card have a grace period?

Yes, the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card has a grace period of 23 days. This period falls between your statement closing date (when your final monthly balance is calculated) and your payment due date.

If you pay off your balance in full by the end of the grace period, you won’t have to pay any interest on your purchases from that billing cycle. Conversely, if you carry a balance past your payment due date, you’ll be charged interest (which on regular purchases will be at a rate of 17.74% – 27.74% (variable)).

Does the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card allow cash advances?

Yes, this card allows cash advances. When you use your card to get cash at an ATM or perform another cash-like transaction, you’ll be charged a cash advance fee of $5 or 10% of the amount you borrowed, whichever is higher.

Cash advances on this card are charged interest at a rate of 28.99% (variable) and begin accruing accumulating interest charges immediately (they don’t feature a grace period). This makes them quite expensive, so it’s best to reserve them for emergencies.

Does the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card allow balance transfers?

Yes, as mentioned, the Citi Custom Cash Card allows balance transfers. You’ll have to pay a balance transfer fee of $5 or 5%, whichever is higher, and after your 0% APR period expires, you’ll be charged interest on your transferred balance at a rate of 17.74% – 27.74% (variable).

How do you contact customer service for the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card?

You can contact Citi over the phone at this number:

Credit Card Assistance

(800) 347-4934

You can also write to Citibank’s customer service at this mailing address:

Citibank Customer Service

P.O. Box 6500

Sioux Falls, SD 57117