Advertiser disclosure: Cards and Points has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Cards and Points and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers. Compensation may affect how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies or all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. Terms apply to all credit card benefits.
The fastest way to earn Citi ThankYou® Points is through a new cardmember sign-up bonus. Here are the best available new cardmember welcome bonuses on cards that earn ThankYou Points.
Best ThankYou® Points sign-up bonuses
Citi Strata Premier℠ Card: 70k ThankYou® Points
Welcome bonus: bonus_miles_full
An essential card if you collect ThankYou® Points—the Strata Premier℠ enables transfers to most travel partners.
Annual fee: $95
Citi Custom Cash℠ Card: $200 cash back (as 20,000 ThankYou® Points)
Welcome bonus: bonus_miles_full
The card is marketed as a cash back card, but it earns ThankYou® Points.
Use for up to 5x points on your favorite select category. You can get multiple Custom Cash℠ cards. Read our review.
Annual fee: $0
Citi® Double Cash Card: $200 cash back (as 20,000 ThankYou® Points)
Welcome bonus: bonus_miles_full
The card is marketed as a cash back card, but it earns ThankYou® Points.
Card does not always offer a welcome bonus. The best ThankYou Points card to use everywhere you’re not receiving greater than 2x rewards on another card. Read our review.
Annual fee: $0
Citi Rewards+® Card: 20,000 ThankYou® Points
Welcome bonus: bonus_miles_full
The card is marketed as a cash back card, but it earns ThankYou® Points.
Use this card to get a 10% points boost on your ThankYou® Points redemptions. Read our review.
Annual fee: $0
The cards with the best Citi ThankYou® Points welcome bonuses
Citi Strata Premier℠: Travel rewards and point transfers
The Citi Strata Premier℠ is the key to unlocking the value of travel transfer partners within the Citi ThankYou® Points ecosystem.
The card enables ThankYou point transfers to most of Citi’s travel transfer partners and offers better transfer rates to partners that you’ll get with Citi’s no-annual-fee cards. You can transfer the points you earn on any card that earns Citi ThankYou Points when you combine your ThankYou® Rewards accounts.
You’ll get the most ThankYou points when you use the Strata Premier within its bonus categories: air travel, hotel purchases, restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, and EV charging stations. Use the Citi® Double Cash® Card for spending everywhere else.
Annual fee: $95
This is a direct bank link. All information about the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card has been collected independently by cardsandpoints.com.
Citi Strata Premier℠ Card sign-up bonus
bonus_miles_full
The limited-time welcome bonus is a good bonus for a card in this annual fee range.
More about this card
Benefit highlights:
$100 annual hotel benefit.
Trip delay protection.
Trip cancellation and interruption insurance.
Lost and damaged luggage protection.
MasterRental car rental insurance.
Rewards:
10x on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked through CitiTravel.com
3x on air travel.
3x on 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 ThankYou® Points.
Learn more:
Learn more about the Strata Premier in our review of the card.
See our overview of the ThankYou Rewards program.
Citi Custom Cash℠ Card: Up to 5% cash back in one category
The Citi Custom Cash℠ Card can supercharge the amount of ThankYou® Points you earn in a single category when you use the card strategically.
The best way to use the Custom Cash is to select one of the card’s bonus categories and use the card exclusively for purchases in that category. You’ll get 5% cash back rewards (earned as ThankYou Points) on up to $500 of spending in that category each statement cycle. After you’ve spent $500 in a statement cycle, switch your spending to either the Citi® Double Cash or the Citi Strata Premier℠ .
Annual fee: $0
This is a direct bank link. All information about the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card has been collected independently by cardsandpoints.com.
Citi Custom Cash℠ Card sign-up bonus
bonus_miles_full
The 6-month window to earn this bonus makes it an easy bonus to earn.
More about this card
Benefit highlights:
Citi Entertainment® – Access to event ticket pre-sales.
Rewards:
5% cash back on your top eligible spend category each billing cycle, on up to $500 of purchases.
5% eligible categories include restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, select travel, select transit, select streaming services, drugstores, home improvement stores, fitness clubs, and live entertainment.
1% cash back on all other purchases.
Rewards are earned as ThankYou® Points.
Learn more:
Learn more about the Citi Custom Cash in our review of the card.
See our overview of the ThankYou® Rewards program.
Citi Rewards+® Card: 10% bonus on point redemptions
You don’t get the Citi Rewards+® Card to earn points by using the card for spending—you get the card to enhance the value of the points you earn on other cards.
With the Rewards+ card, you’ll get a 10% rebate on the ThankYou points you redeem, on up to 100,000 of points redeemed each year. On its own, this isn’t terribly interesting given the card’s low earning rates on spending.
But the card will grant you its 10% points back bonus on any redemption you make from a combined ThankYou Rewards account. The upshot is that you can use your other cards that earn more points on your spending and get your 10% point bonus when you redeem the ThankYou Rewards you earned on those cards.
Citi Rewards+® Card offer: 20k bonus points after $1,500 of spending in 3 months. (Annual fee: $0)
bonus_miles_full Get this welcome bonus.
This is the standard welcome bonus on this card. Rewards are earned at Citi ThankYou® points.
10% Points Back bonus on your first 100k of ThankYou Points® redemptions. Extended warranty benefit. (More in our card review.)
This is a direct bank link. All information about the Citi Rewards+® Card has been collected independently by cardsandpoints.com.
Citi® Double Cash Card: Your card to use everywhere else
The Citi® Double Cash Card is the card that you use “everywhere else” within the ThankYou® Rewards ecosystem. It earns 2% cash back—1% when you purchase and 1% when you pay off your card.
The card’s 2% rewards can double the rewards on purchases outside of bonus categories offered on Citi’s other ThankYou points cards.
The quirky way the Double Cash earns rewards means you shouldn’t redeem your ThankYou points for a Double Cash statement credit. Statement credits from ThankYou Points don’t count as a payment, so you’ll forego earning 1% rewards on the amount of your statement credit redemptions.
Citi Double Cash® Card offer: $200 cash back after spending $2,000 in 6 months. (Annual fee: $0)
bonus_miles_full Get this welcome bonus.
The Citi Double Cash doesn’t always offer a welcome bonus, so this is a great time to get the card. Plus having 6 months to earn the bonus means the bonus is easy to get. Rewards are earned at Citi ThankYou® Points.
2% cash back—1% when you buy and 1% when you pay. (More in our card review.)
This is a direct bank link. All information about Citi Double Cash® Card has been collected independently by cardsandpoints.com.
A few notes on applying for Citi credit cards
- Citi has limits on the number of applications you can submit. You can only apply for one personal card every eight days and no more than two cards every rolling 65 days. Business cards are subject to the same eight-day limitation, but you can apply for no more than one business card every 95 days.
- You can get a new customer welcome bonus on Citi cards multiple times, but Citi has rules on how often you can earn a welcome bonus.
- ThankYou Point welcome offers are typically not available if you’ve received a new account bonus on the same card in the past 48 months.
- Welcome bonuses on AAdvantage cards are only available if you have not received a welcome bonus for the same card within the past 48 months.
- There is no limit to the number of Citi cards you can hold.
- You can check your application status on the Citi website or by calling 1-866-606-2787.
Frequently asked questions
Can I apply for more than one Citi credit card at a time?
Citi limits the number of applications you can submit to one personal card every eight days, and two cards every rolling 65 days. So, you can’t apply for multiple cards at a time.
Does the Double Cash earn cash back or ThankYou Points?
The Citi Double Cash is marketed as a cash back card, but behind the scenes, it earns ThankYou Points. If you hold the Citi Double Cash, you can redeem your points for one cent each. If you also hold a Citi Premier card, you can transfer your points to travel partners.
Can ThankYou Points be redeemed for once cent per point?
The Citi Strata Premier℠ Card, Citi® Double Cash Card, and Citi Custom Cash℠ Card allow you to redeem your points for one cent of cash back each. The Citi Rewards+® Card only allows you to redeem points for one cent each toward gift card redemptions, unless you hold one of the other cards.
Advertiser disclosure: Cards and Points has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Cards and Points and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers. Compensation may affect how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies or all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. Terms apply to all credit card benefits.
