Building the Ultimate Citi ThankYou Points wallet

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If you are comfortable carrying more than one credit card and want to build out a wallet that can earn generous rewards, you might consider building the Ultimate Citi ThankYou Points Wallet. This combination of four cards can get you a lot, including:

• A baseline 2% rewards on all of your spending.
• At least 3 points per dollar on air travel, hotel, restaurant, gas station, and supermarket purchases.
• 5% back in $500 of spending each month in one or more of the following categories: restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, select travel, select transit, select streaming services, drugstores, home improvement stores, fitness clubs, or live entertainment.
• A 10% rebate when you redeem the first 100,000 points each year.
• 2 additional years of warranty protection on most things you buy.

Here’s what you need to know about the Ultimate Citi ThankYou Points Wallet and how to build it for yourself.

What cards are in the wallet?

The Ultimate ThankYou Points wallet contains four core cards. Here they are:

	The earns 2% cash back on all purchases, 1% when you buy and 1% when you pay. The Double Cash has no annual fee.
	The card_name earns 5% cash back in your top eligible spend category each billing cycle on the first $500 spent, then 1% cash back. The Custom Cash earns 1% cash back on all other purchases. The Custom Cash has no annual fee. Eligible categories include restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, select travel, select transit, select streaming services, drugstores, home improvement stores, fitness clubs, and live entertainment.
	The card_name gives you a 10% points rebate on the point your redeem, on up to 100,000 points each year. The card earns 2x points at supermarkets and gas stations for the first $6,000 spent per year, then 1 point per dollar. The Rewards+ card has no annual fee.
	The Citi Premier® Card earns 3x ThankYou Points on restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, air travel and hotels, and 1x points on all other purchases. The card comes with a $100 annual hotel savings benefit and carries a $95 annual fee.

One of the things that makes holding this combination of cards together special is that the bonus categories largely complement each other. This means you can earn more rewards by spending strategically on the cards. More than that though, the cards synergize with each other. In particular, the Citi Rewards+® Card and the Citi Premier® Card make the points you earn from the other cards more valuable.

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 quick note about how Citi markets its credit cards

In this article and other articles, on the site, you’ll see the rewards on some cards referred to as cash back and the rewards on other cards referred to as ThankYou Points.

The Citi Custom Cash℠ Card and Citi® Double Cash Card are marketed as earning cash back. The Citi Premier® Card and Citi Rewards+® Card are marketed as earning ThankYou Points. All of these cards earn ThankYou Points behind the scenes. If you combine your ThankYou Points accounts, you can redeem all of your points as ThankYou rewards.

Ultimate Citi ThankYou points wallet earnings

Here’s an overview of how you’ll earn points when you hold the four cards in the Ultimate Citi ThankYou Points Wallet.

Category		The best card for rewards
All purchases		Citi® Double Cash Card – 2% cash back on all purchases, 1% when you buy and 1% when you pay the card. (Citi Double Cash rewards are earned as ThankYou Points.
Top eligible category		Citi Custom Cash℠ Card – 5% cash back in your top eligible spend category each billing cycle on the first $500 spent. Eligible categories include restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, select travel, select transit, select streaming services, drugstores, home improvement stores, fitness clubs, and live entertainment.
Gas Stations		Citi Premier® Card – 3x ThankYou Points at Gas Stations *Citi Custom Cash℠ Card eligible category
Restaurants		Citi Premier® Card – 3x ThankYou Points at Restaurants. *Citi Custom Cash℠ Card eligible category
Supermarkets		Citi Premier® Card – 3x ThankYou Points at Supermarkets *Grocery stores is a Citi Custom Cash℠ Card eligible category
Travel – Car Rentals and Prepaid Hotels		Citi Premier® Card – 10x total points on car rentals and hotel bookings on the Citi Travel℠ portal through 6/30/2024. Citi Rewards+® Card – 5x total points on car rentals and hotel bookings on the Citi Travel℠ portal through 6/30/2024.
Travel – Air travel and other hotels		Citi Premier® Card – 3x ThankYou Points on air travel and other hotels *Select travel is a Citi Custom Cash℠ Card eligible category and includes airline, hotel, cruise line, and travel agency purchases.

How to build the ultimate Citi ThankYou Points wallet

Citi’s application limits prevent you from simply applying for all of the cards in the Ultimate Citi ThankYou Points wallet. If you want to get all four cards, you’ll have to progressively build your Citi ThankYou Points wallet over time. And if you already hold some cards, you’ll probably acquire cards in a different order. Here’s how I would build the Ultimate Citi Wallet from scratch.

Step 1: Apply for the Citi Rewards+® Card (Day 1)

The Citi Rewards+® Card would be my first application because the card currently offers a limited-time welcome bonus to new cardmembers. Card issuers change their welcome bonus offerings periodically, and sometimes they drop them altogether. On a card with no annual fee, the current welcome bonus on the Rewards+ card is hard to beat.

Now, the rewards you’ll earn on spending with the Citi Rewards+® Card are pretty lackluster, but if you’re planning on building the Ultimate Citi ThankYou Points wallet, you’ll soon be picking up other cards that offer more rewards. And the Rewards+ card will get you set up to earn points when you redeem your rewards with a 10% Points Back rebate on up to the first 100,000 ThankYou Points you redeem each year.

Finally, the card offers the best credit card extended warranty benefit out there. When you purchase an eligible item on your Rewards+ card, you get extended warranty protection equivalent to an extra two years of your manufacturer’s warranty in most cases.

Step 2: Apply for a Citi Custom Cash℠ Card (Day 9)

Before applying for your second card, you’ll want to be aware of Citi’s application rules. Citi limits the number of applications you can submit and personal applications are limited to one every 8 days, and two application every rolling 65 days. Citi will let you apply for a second personal card once every eight days. So, you’ll have to wait about a week before applying for your second card.

The second card I’d pick up is the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card. The Custom Cash offers 5% back on your top eligible spending category each month on up to $500 of spending. Eligible categories include restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, select travel, select transit, select streaming services, drugstores, home improvement stores, fitness clubs, and live entertainment. Even if you have another card that earns elevated rewards on gas or groceries, you probably don’t have a credit card that earns 5% or more on each of these categories. Regardless of what other card you have in your wallet, you’ll find some utility in the Citi Custom Cash card.

Alternatively, you could apply for the Citi® Double Cash Card card if you don’t have another card that earns 2% cash back on all purchases.

Step 3: Apply for a Citi Premier® Card (Day 66)

The Citi Premier® Card carries a $95 annual fee, but it offers increased rewards across a bunch of categories. Air travel, hotel, restaurant, gas station, and supermarket purchases all earn 3x points with the Premier card, so you can start to earn a lot more rewards than you could with single category available on the Custom Cash card.

See the section below on optimizing your spending to learn how to start optimizing your spending once you get the Citi Premier card in your wallet.

In addition, holding the Citi Premier card opens up the option to transfer your points to airline and hotel transfer partners. Transfers to airline and hotel partners can be a way to increase the value of your ThankYou Points, but they do require learning transfer programs and redeeming points selectively. For more on using ThankYou Points, see our Guide to ThankYou Points.

Step 4: Apply for a Citi^® Double Cash Card (Day 74)

For most people, the Citi^® Double Cash Card will complete your wallet. The Double Cash earns 1% cash back when you make purchases and 1% cash back when you pay, making it effectively a 2% card that you can use for everything else.

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Step 5+: Get more Citi Custom Cash℠ Cards

The most lucrative card in the Citi ThankYou Points wallet is undoubtedly the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card. You might be wondering why you wouldn’t just pick up multiple Custom Cash cards. After all, getting 5% on $500 of spending is great, but getting 5% on $1,000 of spending would be better. Unfortunately, Citi will only approve you for one Citi Custom Cash℠ Card directly. But there is a way to pick up more Custom Cash cards.

Citi will allow you to request a product-change from most of its cards, including co-branded cards. In many cases, this means you can pick up a Citi American Airlines credit card and, after a year, change it into a Citi Custom Cash℠ Card, even if you already hold a Custom Cash. This can be both a way to pick up additional Custom Cash cards and earn a few welcome bonuses along the way. Read more about getting multiple Citi Custom Cash℠ Card cards.

How to optimize your spending

Assuming you’ve built out the full Citi Ultimate ThankYou Points wallet, earning the most rewards means optimizing your spending across your Citi credit cards. Since there are only four cards in your wallet, this is relatively easy to do. Here’s how you do it.

• Any purchases with a warranty go on your Citi Rewards+® Card. The benefit you are likely to get from getting the best credit card extended warranty benefit outweigh any marginal cash back.
• Select your Citi Custom Cash℠ Card category. Use your Custom Cash card only for spending in this category.
  • Generally, if you have heavy spending in select transit, select streaming services, drugstores, home improvement stores, fitness clubs, or live entertainment, this is going to be your best choice because these categories do not overlap with your Citi Premier® Card.
  • Otherwise, choose restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, or select travel.
• Use your Citi Premier® Card for all air travel, hotel, restaurant, gas station, and supermarket spending that does not go on a Citi Custom Cash℠ Card.
• Use your Citi® Double Cash Card for all other purchases.

Of course, this hierarchy of spending applies if you hold only these four Citi cards. If you have other cards in your wallet like 5% rotating category cards or other rewards cards from Chase, Amex, or other issuers, you’ll work these cards into your spending rules.

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.

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.