The Citi Wallet is a group of four credit cards from Citi. These cards offer complimentary bonus categories and the ability to earn rewards as a single pool of ThankYou® Points. The Citi wallet is sometimes referred to as the Citi Trifecta, though there are four cards available.
Perhaps even better than earning points in a combined pool, two of the cards in the Citi wallet make all of the points you earn more valuable by opening up additional redemption options and giving you a rebate on the points you redeem.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Citi wallet.
In this article…
Citi wallet: The cards at a glance
Here’s a quick overview of the cards in the Citibank core wallet.
Citi Rewards+® Card. A generally uninteresting rewards card, but it can increase the value of the rewards you earn on your other ThankYou Points cards through its 10% Points Back bonus.
Citi® Double Cash Card. A cash back rewards card that earns 2% cash back rewards on all purchases—1% as you buy and 1% as you spend. Annual fee: $0- Citi Custom Cash℠ Card. The Custom Cash offers 5% cash back rewards in your highest spending category on up to $500 spent each statement cycle. While you can only get one Custom Cash through a direct application, you can get multiple Custom Cash cards through product conversions. Annual fee: $0.
Citi Strata Premier℠ Card. ThankYou Points earning card that offers 3x points on air travel, hotel purchases, restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, and EV charging stations, plus basic travel protection benefits. Annual fee: $95.
Citi Rewards+® Card. A generally uninteresting rewards card, but it can increase the value of the rewards you earn on your other ThankYou Points cards through its 10% Points Back bonus.Our quick take: Good for earning rewards, but better options exist if you want benefits or travel
If you are interested in earning cash back rewards and don’t care as much about travel benefits, the Citi wallet can be a good choice for you. Here’s how the Citi wallet stacks up against similar offerings from other banks.
- Earning rewards: Above average. With the Citi wallet, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t get at least 2% cash back everywhere, thanks to the Citi® Double Cash Card. And getting multiple Citi Custom Cash℠ Cards can get you earning 5% a bunch of places.
- Redeeming rewards: Below average. Cash back and transfers to travel partners are the only options you’ll want to look at. You won’t get any better than cash-back value when booking travel through the Citi travel portal.
- Benefits: Below average. Citi stripped most of the benefits from most of its cards years ago, but it added some travel protections back when it launched the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card earlier this year. The Citi Rewards+® Card is the only card with an extended warranty and purchase protection, but it does have one of the best extended warranties available.
Rewards: Great for cash back rewards
If you want cash back rewards in a wide selection of categories and don’t want to mess with redeeming rewards through a travel portal, the Citi Wallet has a very compelling value proposition.
When it comes to earning points, the Citi wallet is downright generous. It offers a card that can get you 2% everywhere, a card that earns 3x in several useful categories with no caps and getting multiple Citi Custom Cash℠ Cards can get you 5x points on a large swath of your spending.
Earning rewards: Best card in each category
Here is a list of spending categories and the best card for spending in each category. Note that the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card is listed as the best card for some categories that are also eligible 5% categories with the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card.
| Category | Best card(s) | Total rewards with the best card |
|---|---|---|
| General purchases |  | 2x ThankYou Points on all purchases with the Citi® Double Cash Card. (Marketed as 2% cash back—1% when you buy and 1% when you pay.) |
| Gas stations |  | 3x ThankYou Points with Citi Strata Premier℠ Card. |
| Grocery stores | | 3x ThankYou Points with Citi Strata Premier℠ Card. |
| Restaurants | | 3x ThankYou Points with Citi Strata Premier℠ Card. |
| Travel: Air travel | | 3x ThankYou Points with Citi Strata Premier℠ Card. |
| Travel: Booked through CitiTravel.com | | 10x ThankYou Points with Citi Strata Premier℠ Card on hotel, car rentals, and attractions booked through CitiTravel.com. |
| Top spending category each month | | 5x ThankYou Points with Citi Custom Cash℠ Card on up to $500 spent each statement cycle in your top eligible category. Eligible categories include: Restaurants, Gas Stations, Grocery Stores, Select Travel, Select Transit, Select Streaming Services, Drugstores, Home Improvement Stores, Fitness Clubs and Live Entertainment |
Redeeming rewards: Cash back or transfers to travel partners.
Within the Citi wallet, you can redeem your points for 1 cent of cash back each. There’s no opportunity to increase the value of your points by booking travel through Citi’s travel portal and there’s a pretty compelling argument that gift cards represent a poor use of points, even if they are on sale.
If you want to transfer your points to airline and hotel travel partners, you’ll need the Strata Premier℠ Card. While Citibank lets you transfer your points to some partners with most cards in the Citi wallet, the Strata Premier card unlocks ALL of Citi’s transfer partners and allows you to transfer at the most favorable rates.
Citi’s transfer partners can offer some fantastic redemption opportunities but are, on average, harder to use than the transfer partners in other bank programs. Our most used transfer partners include: Avianca LifeMiles, Choice Privileges, and Air France KLM Flying Blue.
Finally, you’ll want to be sure that you combine all of your ThankYou® Points into a single rewards account and hold the Citi Rewards+® Card. If you do, you’ll get a 10% point rebate on the first 100,000 ThankYou® Point redemptions from any of your cards.
Benefits: Light on benefits, but a stellar extended warranty
Cash back and rewards aren’t the only things that matter. When the new laptop goes kaput two weeks after the manufacturer’s warranty ends, having a benefit like a credit card extended warranty can save you hundreds, if not thousands.
Here are the major benefits that you’ll get with each card in the Citi wallet.
|  |  | | |
| Extended warranty Extends the manufacturer’s warranty | ||||
| Purchase protection Provides protection against damage or theft for new purchases. | ||||
| Trip Cancellation and interruption insurance Provides reimbursement for some prepaid, non-refundable travel expenses if your trip is cancelled. | ||||
| Trip delay protection Covers incidental expenses if your trip is delayed, including for weather. | ||||
| Baggage delay insurance Covers necessary incidental expenses if your baggage is delayed. | ||||
| Lost/damaged luggage insurance Pays for the actual cash value of items lost by a common carrier. | ||||
| Rental car insurance Covers damage to or theft or a rental car paid for with the card. | ||||
| Airport lounge access Complimentary access to lounges with free food and beverages at a large number of airports. |
Generally, the Citi cards are lacking in the benefits department, but with one exception: The extended warranty benefit on the Citi Rewards+® Card may be the best credit card extended warranty benefit available—it extends the warranty of items you buy by 24 months, up to 7 years total.
The cards in depth: What role each card plays
Citi Double Cash® Card: Your first card and your card for “everything else.”
If you’re building out the Citi wallet, the first card you’ll want to get will be the Citi Double Cash® Card. With the Double Cash, you’ll earn 2% cash back—1% as you buy and 1% as you pay, as ThankYou® Points.
Best use: The Citi Double Cash® Card can function as your default card. If you don’t have a reason to use another card, use the Double Cash.
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 Custom Cash℠ Card: Your 5% rewards powerhouse
Once you’ve picked up your Citi Double Cash® Card, you’ll want to apply for your first Citi Custom Cash℠ Card. With the Custom Cash, you will get 5% rewards on the first $500 you spend in your highest eligible category each statement cycle, then 1%.
Best use: The best way to leverage the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card is to use it for up to $500 of purchases in one of its 5% categories each month. Put all other purchases on your Double Cash. Purchases outside of your highest eligible category and above $500 in that category each month earn 1%—and you’d probably rather earn 2% than 1% on those purchases.
You can get multiple Custom Cash cards, but Citi will only give you one when you apply directly. How? Right now, the easiest way is to apply for American Airlines consumer credit cards and then convert those cards to Citi Custom Cash℠ Cards after a year. We have an entire article on getting multiple Custom Cash cards.
The Citi Custom Cash® Card offers 5% rewards on up to $500 spent in your highest eligible category each statement cycle.
Citi Custom Cash® Card welcome offer
Welcome offer: Earn $200 in cash back after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first 6 months of account opening. This bonus offer will be fulfilled as 20,000 ThankYou® Points, which can be redeemed for $200 cash back.
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% cash back on your top eligible spend category each billing cycle on up to $500 spent.
- 5% on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked with Citi Travel®.
- 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
- Citi merchant offers
- Virtual account numbers
- Free FICO score
Rates and Fees
- Annual fee: $0
- Foreign transaction fee: 3% of each purchase transaction in US dollars.
Citi Rewards+® Card: Make your rewards more valuable when you redeem them, plus get a stellar extended warranty.
The Citi Rewards+® Card is an uninteresting card except for two features: It offers perhaps the best extended warranty available on a credit card and just having the card open will give you a 10% bonus when you redeem up to 100,000 points per year.
Best use: Only use the Rewards+ card for purchases where you want an extended warranty benefit and purchase protection. If you don’t need these protections, use another card. Otherwise, just keep the card out of sight and enjoy a 10% rebate when you redeem your points.
The Citi Strata℠ Card offers 3x ThankYou® Points in several useful categories like groceries and gas/EV charging. But to get maximum value for your points, you’ll want to pair it with at least one other ThankYou Rewards credit card..
Citi Strata℠ Card welcome offer
Welcome offer: Earn 20,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 in the first 3 months.
This bonus is awarded as ThankYou Points.
If this is your only ThankYou Points card, you won’t be able to redeem your points for cash back at 1 cent per point. Pair this with a Double Cash or Custom Cash for cash back redemptions or a Strata Premier or Strata Elite for point transfer redemptions.
Annual fee: $0
Rewards
- 5x on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked through CitiTravel.com.
- 3x at supermarkets
- 3x on select transit
- 3x at gas stations and EV charging stations
- 3x in a self-select category of your choice
- 2x at restaurants
- 1x on all other purchases.
Rewards are earned Citi ThankYou® points.
Be aware that you won’t be able to redeem your points for cash back at 1 cent per point if you have only the Citi Strata card. Pair the card with a Citi Custom Cash or a Citi Double Cash and combined your ThankYou Points accounts to access 1 cent per point cash back redemptions. Or pair the card with a Strata Premier or Strata Elite card to access point transfers at the best rates.
Self-select category options
Here are the options you have for your self-select 3x category:
- Fitness Clubs
- Select Streaming Services
- Live Entertainment
- Cosmetic Stores/Barber Shops/Hair Salons
- Pet Supply Stores
When your account is opened, the default self-select category is select streaming services. You may change your self-select category once each calendar quarter.
Benefits
Consumer insurance benefits
- Damage and theft purchase protection.
- Extended warranty.
Rates and fees
- Annual fee: $0
- Foreign transaction fee: 3% of the U.S. dollar amount of each purchase.
Citi Strata Premier℠ Card: Rewards in categories and some travel protections
The Citi Strata Premier℠ Card is probably the last card you’ll add to your Citi ThankYou® Rewards wallet. The card will give you 3x in a variety of surprisingly useful categories, plus you’ll get a limited suite of travel insurance protections. And if you’re looking to leverage your ThankYou® Points through transfers to travel partners, having the Strata Premier opens up all of Citi’s transfer partners at the most favorable transfer rates.
Best use: Use when booking hotels, car rentals, and attractions through CitiTravel.com, plus use it in the categories where it earns 3x rewards. Always book your air travel with the card, even if you could earn 5% with a Custom Cash—the card’s travel protections are worth giving up a few points.
Annual fee: $95
Foreign transaction fee: None.
All information about the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card has been collected independently by cardsandpoints.com.
The Citi Strata Premier℠ Card is a staple of the ThankYou® Points wallet, earning bonus rewards in a variety of travel categories, plus restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations and EV charging.
Sign-up bonus
Citi Strata Premier℠ Card welcome offer
Welcome offer: Earn 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months.
This bonus is earned as Citi ThankYou® Points. This card also enables transfers to all of Citi’s travel transfer partners at the most favorable rates.
If this is your only ThankYou® Points card, you won’t be able to redeem your points for cash back at 1 cent per point. Pair this with a Double Cash or Custom Cash for cash back redemptions.
Annual fee: $95
Rewards
- 10x on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked through CitiTravel.com
- 3x on air travel and other hotel purchases.
- 3x at restaurants.
- 3x at supermarkets.
- 3x at gas stations and EV charging stations
- 1x on all other purchases
Rewards are earned as Citi ThankYou® Points.
Benefits
Consumer insurance benefits
- Extended warranty.
- Damage & theft purchase protection.
Travel insurance benefits
- Trip Delay Protection.
- Common Carrier Trip Cancellation and Interruption Protection.
- Lost or Damaged Luggage coverage.
- MasterRental coverage.
Travel benefits
- $100 annual hotel benefit. Get $100 off a single hotel stay of $500 or more booked through CitiTravel.com.
Rewards benefits
- Point transfers to partners.
Is the Citi wallet right for you?
Building your wallet around the four ThankYou Points cards offered by Citibank isn’t for everybody. You’re most likely to do best with the Citi wallet if you want to keep things simple, if you want cash back, and if you are opposed to paying annual fees.
The Citi wallet offers more points in categories that are useful and conspicuously absent from Chase’s offering, and you can do well with the Citi wallet, even if you don’t pick up the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card with its $95 annual fee.
If you want travel rewards and benefits, you’ll probably want to look at Chase or Capital One. There isn’t any upside opportunity to redeeming points for travel through Citi and Citi offers no ThankYou Points card with lounge access.
