On May 28, 2026, Citibank abruptly closed the Custom Cash to new applications. The landing page for the Citi Custom Cash now shows the following message:
Citi is no longer accepting applications for the Citi Custom Cash® Card product as of May 28, 2026. If you are interested in a cash back card, you are welcome to apply for the Citi Double Cash® Card. Existing Citi Custom Cash cardmembers are not impacted and can continue to use their card and enjoy its benefits.
The Custom Cash was a unique card that offered incredible value if you used it correctly. And that was probably what underpinned Citi’s decision to kill the card. Read on for more on what made this card special, why it was cancelled, and how you might still be able to get this card.
The unique value proposition of the Custom Cash
The Custom Cash was unique in that you could effectively choose your 5% bonus category by directing your spending on the card. Whichever one of the 12 eligible categories you spent the most in each month earned 5% cash back on the first $500 you spent. And all other spending earned 1%.
That said, the optimal way to use the card was to select a single 5% category each month and use the card solely for spending in that spending category, and then only up to $500 during the statement cycle. And that is how I always recommended people use the card.
For most people, the card was extremely useful as a gas or grocery card, though it also somewhat uniquely offered 5% at home improvement stores which, with strategic use of gift cards spaced over several months, could save you a ton on home improvement projects.
The card was (likely) a long-term money loser
Ultimately, the reason why Citi cancelled the Custom Cash probably came down to money. I suspect that the product was a long-term money-loser for Citi and whoever makes product decisions decided to kill it because there was not a path to profitability.
Credit card issuers generally make money in two ways: interchange, or the money charged to merchants to process transactions, and interest/fees.
If a large majority of cardmembers are using the Citi Custom Cash optimally, there is no way for Citi to make money on the interchange. Citi was probably getting about 2% of transaction volume in interchange fees, but if it’s paying 5% in rewards on most of the transactions on the card, it’s easy to see how the math doesn’t work out.
And I suspect that the number of people who revolved balances on the Citi Custom Cash was low, relatively to other cards. Generally, I’ve foujnd that people who gravitate toward cash back rewards are less likely to revolve balances. And there may not have been enough of them to have the product make sense.
What will happen to existing cards?
Of course, there’s no way for me to know what Citi will do with the card, but I’d expect that if you already have the Custom Cash you’ll be able to keep it. That’s pretty explicitly stated on the Citi landing page for the Custom Cash, so that’s almost a certainty in the short term. But I’d say that the odds are better than even that you’ll be able to keep your existing Custom Cash for a long time.
Numerous examples exist like the Citi Prestige, legacy Citi ThankYou cards, and the Citi Dividend card, where Citi has closed the card to new cardmembers, but allowed existing cardmembers to keep the product. I personally hold a Citi Dividend card, which Citi hasn’t offered to new cardmembers for well over a decade.
Of course, you can point to the recent example of the Rewards+ card being converted into the Citi Strata card. But in that case, Citi was replacing a product, not discontinuing it. If Citi offers some sort of 5% rotating category card similar to the Chase Freedom Flex or even something like the U.S. Bank Cash+, they might convert existing Custom Cash cardmembers to that product.
But since there has been nothing announced, I’d expect that you’ll be able to keep your Custom Cash if you have it for a long time.
How to get the Custom Cash: Product change
Of course, sometimes there are ways to get cards that have been shut down for new applications but not discontinued entirely.
Most famously, you can still get the Ritz Carlton card by applying for a personal Marriott credit card and then requesting a product change after a year to that card.
As of when I’m posting this, product changes are still being allowed from other ThankYou cards to the Custom Cash. And, in the past, Citi has allowed product changes from personal American Airlines cards to the Custom Cash.
But if you intend to get a Custom Cash card through a product change, I’d suggest requesting a product change sooner rather than later—there’s no guarantee that this option will stick around.
Bottom line: Citi’s product mix is evolving
Of course, I’m saddened to see the end of the Custom Cash—the card was an easy one to recommend because it could be incredibly rewarding if used correctly. But, unfortunately, that was probably what led to the card’s demise—it offered too much value.
That said, I am still generally happy about the overall arc of Citi’s recent updates to its ThankYou Points program. In the last few years, with the launch of the Citi Strata products, and the addition of American Airlines as a transfer partner, the program has become more easy to use and more valuable for most people.
