May 16, 2025: The Citi Custom Cash® Card offers an easy-to-earn sign-up bonus of $200 cash back on an essential ThankYou Points card. Here’s what you need to know about the Citi Custom Cash welcome offer.
Best Citi Custom Cash® Card offer: Earn $200
Annual fee: annual_fees
Best sign-up bonus: bonus_miles_full
Learn how to apply.
This bonus is marketed as cash back, but earned as ThankYou® Points.
Bonus eligibility: One bonus per 48 months
Citi’s bonus rules are fairly simple to understand. You can only earn a bonus if it’s been 48 months since the last time you received a bonus on the same card. Here’s what the terms and conditions say for the Citi Custom Cash®
Bonus ThankYou Points are not available if you received a new account bonus for a Citi Custom Cash® Card in the past 48 months or if you converted another Citi credit card account on which you earned a new account bonus in the last 48 months into a Citi Custom Cash® Card.
Citi Custom Cash® sign-up bonus terms and conditions.
There is a small nuance to these terms that you might miss, and which is important if you’ve ever had the card before. Citi’s eligibility window for bonuses is 48 months since you last received a new cardmember bonus. Most cardmembers will receive a new cardmember several months after opening the card, so your card open date isn’t necessarily the best indicator of when you might have received a bonus.
Add to that the fact that you have six months to earn the bonus on the Custom Cash, and it is possible to have opened a Custom Cash close to five years ago and still not be eligible to receive a bonus. If in doubt, and you’ve had a Custom Cash before, check your account history to see when the points were awarded, add 48 months from the statement closing date when you were awarded the points, and then add a few months as a safety buffer.
My take on the Citi Custom Cash® sign-up bonus
The Citi Custom Cash® card is an essential card if you are collecting ThankYou Points. Even if you’re pursuing a cash back strategy, the card can earn 5% cash back rewards in several useful categories. (The card appears on our best-cards lists for gas, groceries, drugstores, home improvement stores, and several other categories.)
I don’t know of any previous increased welcome offers on the Citi Custom Cash® card, so now is as good a time as any to get the Custom Cash. While you can get the sign-up bonus on the Custom Cash more than once, if you’re invested in the ThankYou® Rewards program, you will probably only get the bonus on this card once.
That’s because you can only be approved for a new Custom Cash card if you do not already hold the card. But you can get a second, third, or more Custom Cash cards by downgrading other Citi Cards. Like you might expect, you can get a Custom Cash by downgrading a Citi Strata Premier℠ card, but many American Airlines cards can also be downgraded to the Citi Custom Cash.
My verdict: If you don’t already have the Citi Custom Cash® and aren’t trying to keep yourself under 5/24 for Chase applications or have another reason to limit your card applications, now’s a good time to apply for this card. Once you have opened your first Custom Cash and earned a welcome bonus, you should use downgrades from other cards to get additional Custom Cash cards.
The best ways to use Citi ThankYou Points
If you hold only the Citi Custom cash, the best use of your points is going to be cash back redemptions. You’ll get one cent per point of value for each of your points. Simple.
But the card really shines when combined with the Citi Strata Premier card. When you hold a Citi Strata Premier and combine your ThankYou Rewards accounts, you’ll be able to use all of the points earned with the Custom Cash with Citi’s most lucrative redemption option: transfers to all of Citi’s airline and hotel partners at the best rates. This redemption option is how you can possibly use your points to access rewards with greater than one cent per point of value.
Most of the other options available to redeem your points provide very poor value. When you redeem points for gift cards or travel, you’re losing out on the opportunity to earn points on booking that travel. Remember, you can always redeem for cash back and then use that cash back to book travel with your card.
Even if you’re getting one cent per point (or more!) by redeeming for gift cards, remember that many gift cards can be bought at a discount at places like Costco or gift card stores online.
About the Citi Custom Cash
Annual fee: annual_fees
All information about the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card has been collected independently by cardsandpoints.com.
The Citi Custom Cash℠ Card offers 5% rewards on up to $500 spent in your highest eligible category each statement cycle.
Welcome offer
Best sign-up bonus: bonus_miles_full
Learn how to apply.
This bonus is marketed as cash back, but earned as ThankYou® Points.
Rewards
- 5% cash back on your top eligible spend category each billing cycle on up to $500 spent.
- 5% on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked on the Citi Travel℠ portal through 6/30/2025.
- 1% cash back on all other purchases.
Rewards are marketed as cash back, but earned as Citi ThankYou® points.
5% eligible categories
5% eligible categories include:
- Restaurants
- Gas stations
- Grocery stores
- Select travel
- Select transit
- Select streaming services
- Drugstores
- Home improvement stores
- Fitness clubs
- Live entertainment
Benefits
- Extended warranty
Bottom line: Decent bonus on a good add to a ThankYou Points wallet
If you’re collecting ThankYou Points, having a Custom Cash card in your wallet can only add to your stash of points. Just use the card for a single (eligible) category of purchases and you’ll earn 5% cash back (as ThankYou Points) on the first $500 you spend in that category each month. While the card’s bonus certainly isn’t market-leading, it is fair for a no-annual-fee card.
