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.
July 17, 2023 – Updated because a welcome bonus on the Citi Premier Card ended.
Citi ThankYou Rewards is a transferable rewards program offered on some Citi credit cards. And many Citi cards offer ThankYou Points welcome bonuses to new cardmembers. Getting a new card and going after a welcome bonus can be a great way to increase the amount of ThankYou Points you have.
Having just a handful of Citi credit cards can juice your point earning, as each card offers its own compelling way to earn points. But the fastest way to earn Citi ThankYou Points is by going after welcome bonuses on new credit cards. Here are the current welcome bonuses for Citi ThankYou credit cards.
Citi ThankYou Points welcome bonuses at a glance
My take on each of these welcome bonuses is below, but if just want to see the best Ultimate Rewards welcome bonuses in a table, here they are.
| Card name | Current welcome bonus | Our verdict |
|---|---|---|
 Citi Rewards+® Card Annual fee: $0 | Learn more and apply for the card_name - bonus_miles_full | Get it now |
 Citi Premier® Card Annual fee: $95 | Learn more and apply for the card_name - bonus_miles_full | Consider |
 Citi Custom Cash℠ Card Annual fee: $0 | Learn more and apply for the card_name - bonus_miles_full | Consider |
 Citi® Double Cash Card Annual fee: $0 | The Citi® Double Cash Card currently offers no welcome bonus for new cardmembers. Learn more about the card from our review, apply for the card on Citi’s website, or see our welcome bonus database for more information. | Wait |
Bonuses to get now
Like any other bank, Citi occasionally offers elevated ThankYou Points welcome bonuses on some of its credit cards. And some of the bonuses it offers are simply above average for cards in the same category or that charge a similar annual fee. Here are the welcome bonuses we recommend going after right now.
Citi Rewards+® Card
Welcome offer: Earn 25,000 bonus points after you spend $1,500 in purchases with your card within 3 months of account opening; redeemable for $250 in gift cards at thankyou.com. Plus, for a limited time, earn 5 ThankYou® Points per $1 spent on hotel, car rentals, and attractions (excluding air travel) booked on the Citi Travel℠ Portal through June 30, 2024.
There are two reasons to hold a Rewards+ card: For its Points Back rebate and its extended warranty benefit. The Citi Rewards+® Card’s headline feature is the 10% Points Back rebate. Cardmembers earn a 10% rebate on the first 100,000 ThankYou Points redeemed. But its lesser-known (and likely more valuable) benefit is its extended warranty. The Citi extended warranty can add an additional 2 years of warranty protection to items you purchase with the card. This is by far the best credit card extended warranty benefit available.
Get the Citi Rewards+® Card welcome bonus
Citi Rewards+® Card: bonus_miles_full
Our take on the welcome bonus: We don’t know of Citi offering a larger welcome bonus on this card. If you’re in the ThankYou Points ecosystem, so there’s no reason to wait if you’re considering this card.
The link above is a link directly to the bank’s website. We don’t make money when you use the above link, but we always show you the best offer.
Card highlights:
Annual fee: $0
Rewards: 5x on hotels and car rentals booked through Citi Travel through June 30, 2024. 2x at supermarkets and gas stations for the first $6,000 per year, then 1x. 1x on other purchases.
Why get this bonus now: The card’s current welcome bonus is larger than normal. Plus, having this $0 annual fee card will give you an additional bonus when you go to redeem you rewards.
Bonuses to consider
Citi Premier® Card
Welcome offer: Earn 60,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. Plus, for a limited time, earn a total of 10 ThankYou® Points per $1 spent on hotel, car rentals, and attractions (excluding air travel) booked on the Citi Travel℠ portal through June 30, 2024.
The Citi Premier® Card offers generous rewards both at home and on the road. The card awards 3 points per dollar spent on air travel, hotels, restaurants, gas stations, and supermarkets. Plus the card enables you to transfer your ThankYou Points to airline partners for the opportunity for great redemptions through partners like Flying Blue and Avianca LifeMiles. The card has an annual fee of $95.
Why we’re on the fence about this bonus: Citi recently ended a large welcome bonus for this card, but we don’t have any reason to believe that a larger bonus is around the corner. You can find the history of this and other bonuses in our welcome bonus database.
Citi Custom Cash℠ Card
Welcome offer: Earn $200 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.
The Citi Custom Cash℠ Card offers offers 5% cash back on purchases on the first $500 you spend each month in your top eligible spending category. Eligible spending categories include restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, select travel, select transit, select streaming services, drugstores, home improvement stores, fitness clubs, and live entertainment. This is an interesting, but useful, take on the rotating category card. If you’re looking to put together a wallet that earns 5x everywhere, the Citi Custom Cash is a must-have card.
Citi Custom Cash® Card: bonus_miles_full
Our take on the welcome bonus: Citi doesn’t often offer an increased welcome bonus on the Custom Cash. If you do not yet have a Custom Cash card, there’s no reason to wait for an increased bonus.
The link above is a link directly to the bank’s website. We don’t make money when you use the above link, but we always show you the best offer.
Card highlights:
Annual fee: $0
Rewards: 5% on the first $500 in monthly purchases in your top eligible category; 1% everywhere else
Why we’re on the fence about this bonus: The $200 cash back bonus is reasonable for a card with no annual fee, but there are better bonuses out there on other cards. Still, we don’t know that the bonus has ever been higher on the Custom Cash card.
Bonuses to wait on
Why wait on a welcome bonus? Sometimes earning one bonus precludes you from earning another bonus. Sometimes a card is offering a lower-than-average bonus. In every case, here are the welcome bonuses that you should think twice about before applying.
Citi® Double Cash Card
Welcome offer: The Citi® Double Cash Card does not currently offer a welcome bonus.
The Citi® Double Cash Card earns 2% cash back on purchases: 1% when you buy and 1% as you pay with no categories, caps or annual fee. Cash back is awarded as ThankYou Points, which means it can be transferred to airline partners. If you’re collecting ThankYou points, this card puts a floor on the number of points you earn. If you hold a Double Cash, there’s rarely any reason to earn less than 2 points per dollar on your spending.
Why wait on the Double Cash: The Citi Double Cash card currently does not offer a welcome bonus. But the card has offered a $200 bonus for new cardmembers in the past. We have no information on if this bonus might come back, but other 2% cards offer welcome bonuses.
Additional pointers on Citi cards
Citi ThankYou Points synergies
When you combine your Citi ThankYou® Rewards accounts, you can take advantage of the benefits of each of your cards across all of the ThankYou® Points that you earn. Cards that earn ThankYou Points include the Citi® Double Cash Card, Citi Rewards+® Card, Citi Custom Cash℠ Card, and Citi Premier® Card.
When you hold the no-annual-fee Citi Rewards+® Card, you earn a 10% rebate on the first 100,000 ThankYou Points you redeem each year. If you redeem 50,000 ThankYou Points for an award, you’ll get 5,000 bonus ThankYou points in your account automatically.
The Citi Rewards+® Card does not allow redemptions for cash back on its own. But if you hold another no-annual-fee ThankYou Points card like the Citi® Double Cash Card or Citi Custom Cash℠ Card, you can redeem your ThankYou Points for cash back. Cash back redemptions are also available when you hold the $95 annual fee Citi Premier® Card.
Holding the $95 annual fee Citi Premier® Card enables you to transfer your points to any of Citi’s ThankYou Points transfer partners, which include several hotels chains and global airline programs. Point transfers to travel partners are one of the best ways to get increased value from your points.
For more on point transfers, see our Guide to ThankYou Points.
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
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.
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.
The Citi 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.