The Citi Double Cash card is Citi’s take on the 2% cash back card. The card earns 2% cash back (awarded as 1% when you buy and 1% when you pay) on all purchases with no annual fee, but the card’s real superpower is that it earns ThankYou Points behind the scenes, which gives you the opportunity to get even more value from your points.
Citi Double Cash Card at a glance
The Citi Double Cash® Card is the card you want to use “everywhere else” if you’re collecting ThankYou® Points and it’s also great as a 2% cash back everywhere card. The recent addition of an extended warranty benefit substantially ups the card’s value for many.
Citi Double Cash® Card welcome offer
Welcome offer: Earn $200 cash back after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first 6 months of your Citi Double Cash® card account opening.
This bonus is marketed as cash back, but earned as Citi ThankYou® Points. This card enables cash back redemptions at 1 cent per point.
Annual fee: $0
Rewards
- 5% total cash back on hotel, car rental, and attractions booked through the Citi Travel portal.
- 2% cash back on every purchase
Earn 1% cash back when you buy, plus an additional 1% as you pay.
Rewards are earned as Citi ThankYou® Points.
Benefits
- Extended warranty
Rates and Fees
- Annual fee: $0
- Foreign transaction fee: 3% of the U.S. dollar amount of each purchase.
Citi Double Cash Review
Cards and Points Rating: 5.0/5.0
Read more about our star ratings.
The Citi Double Cash® Card‘s value proposition is simple: 2% cash back on every purchase, awarded as 1% when you buy and 1% when you pay. And because of that simple value proposition, it can add value to almost any wallet.
The card is marketed as a cash back card, but it earns ThankYou Rewards points behind the scenes. Sure, you can get plenty of value using the card as a cash back card, but when you pair it with a Citi Strata Premier or Citi Strata Elite, you’ll be able to access Citi’s travel transfer partners at the most favorable rates and get even more value out of the card. (See our guide to ThankYou Rewards for more details on that.)
Citi’s card are notoriously light on benefits, but a few years ago Citi added extended warranty protection back to the Double Cash. In our view, this is probably the most important benefit on a card like this and is really what boosted our rating from 4.5 to 5 stars. That said adding purchase protection to the card could really make it shine.
Other than that, we’d love to see Citi do away with the confusing “1% back when you buy, plus 1% when you pay” thing. It makes the card more difficult to talk about and creates weird corner cases when you won’t get your full 2% rewards, like if you redeem points for a statement credit—you won’t earn 1% back on that payment. Citi can’t be saving that much money by making the product more confusing, so why not simplify it?
But overall, the Citi Double Cash is a solid choice for someone who wants a card to use everywhere else when they aren’t getting greater benefits elsewher.
Likes
- 2% cash back on every purchase.
- Earns ThankYou Rewards.
- Extended warranty benefit.
- No annual fee.
Dislikes
- Earning 1% back when you buy and 1% when you pay is confusing.
- Very light on benefits.
How to maximize the Citi® Double Cash Card
Here are a few things you can do to boost the value you get from the Citi Double Cash:
Redeem points for cash back, but NOT as a statement credit. With the Citi Double Cash card’s way of awarding 1% when you buy and 1% when you pay, you will give up that second 1% if you redeem your rewards as a statement credit because redemptions do not count as payments.
Combine your ThankYou Rewards accounts. By default, every Citi card you open that earns ThankYou Points will have its own ThankYou Rewards account. But you’ll get the most out of the rewards ecosystem if you combine your ThankYou Points accounts, since you’ll be able to access the most favorable redemption options from across all of your cards and you’ll be able to earn your rewards as a single pool of points.
Look into ThankYou Rewards transfer partners. You can earn cash back with the Double Cash and get plenty of value, but if you’re curious about getting more from your points check out our guide to ThankYou rewards. If you also hold a premium ThankYou Rewards card and combine your ThankYou Rewards accounts, you’ll be able to transfer points to Citi’s travel transfer partners at the most favorable rates.
Quick take: Great 2% cash back card
Aaron Hurd
Executive Editor of Cards and Points
I personally think that everyone should hold a 2% cash back card because it allows you to make better decisions about how you use your cards. When you know that you’re giving up 2% cash back, it almost never makes sense to swipe your airline or hotel card for your day-to-day spending. Would you buy a Delta SkyMile for 2 cents? No? Well, why are you swiping your card?
I’ve personally had the Citi Double Cash card since it was launched. It was my go-to card for most non-bonused spending before I established a sizable banking relationship with Bank of America to get the Preferred Rewards banking relationship bonus, boosting the rewards I can get everywhere to 2.62%.
But at the end of the day, not everyone is going to meet the requirements for a relationship banking program to earn more rewards. And the Citi Double Cash remains a great option for most people to earn 2% on their daily spending.
