Key takeaways
- The Citi Customized Money® Card affords automated money again rewards in your high spending class every billing cycle, with one class being journey.
- Additional, you may earn a beneficiant welcome bonus to be used towards journey purchases by means of Citi’s portal.
- When you’ve got a pricey journey arising, it’s also possible to benefit from the cardboard’s introductory APR on each purchases and steadiness transfers.
Citi is an promoting associate.
Whereas the Citi Customized Money® Card is marketed as a higher-earning money again card, there are fairly a couple of causes frequent vacationers additionally enroll.
The cardboard’s recognition with vacationers is partly as a result of kind of rewards the cardboard earns, which can be utilized inside the Citi ThankYou® program. In the meantime, the incomes fee on the Citi Customized Money will be very aggressive in comparison with different journey bank cards. That is very true given the Citi Customized Money’s lack of an annual payment.
Learn on to be taught the why the Citi Customized Money is nice for journey and the way on a regular basis cardholders can use this card to stage up their rewards recreation.
Rewards fee that extremely favors journey purchases
The Citi Customized Money® is exclusive as a result of it affords 5 p.c again on as much as $500 spent in your high incomes class every billing interval (then 1 p.c again), in addition to 1 p.c again on all different purchases. Finally, this implies you’ll get a whopping 5 p.c again in no matter class you spend essentially the most in, offered it falls inside an “eligible” spending class.
Fortuitously, maximizing a Citi Customized Money journey class is simple since a spread of purchases can rely. Within the journey class particularly, eligible spending for the highest incomes fee contains purchases made with airways, resorts, cruise traces, automobile rental firms, trains, subways, parking garages and taxis.
For those who max out the $500 in bonus spending on journey purchases every billing interval, you may earn $300 in rewards on this entrance alone annually.
The chance to earn more money again (for a restricted time)
The Citi Customized Money Card additionally affords the distinctive alternative to earn more money again on high of its common rewards fee. Customers can leverage this profit to earn a powerful complete of 9 p.c money again on particular travel-related bills similar to resorts, automobile leases and sights when booked by means of the Citi Journey℠ portal.
This limited-time promotion permits cardholders to get pleasure from substantial financial savings and maximize their money again earnings till June 30, 2026. By benefiting from this provide, you may considerably improve your general rewards potential and make journey experiences much more rewarding.
Beneficiant welcome bonus
Along with as much as 5 p.c again on varied bonus classes, together with journey, this card’s welcome bonus is one other nice solution to save on journey. This bonus provides you 20,000 ThankYou factors — price $200 in money again — after spending $1,500 on purchases within the first six months.
Not solely is the spending requirement extraordinarily affordable for the time allotted, however, like your rewards, it’s additionally within the type of Citi ThankYou factors.
Nonetheless, all of Citi’s no-annual-fee playing cards (together with the Customized Money card) earn “primary” ThankYou factors, which can’t be transferred to journey companions for a probably increased worth. Nonetheless, additional under, we’ll cowl how one can get round this restriction with a card-combining technique.
Straightforward redemptions for journey and different purchases
For those who solely plan to hold the Citi Customized Money, you may preserve issues easy and redeem your rewards for direct deposit, a verify or assertion credit score. This provides you the prospect to redeem rewards to cowl journey purchases made together with your card, together with issues like airfare, resort stays and even trip packages.
Nonetheless, it’s also possible to use your rewards to e-book journey by means of Citi’s journey portal. This allows you to use your factors to e-book sure sorts of journey instantly, which might embrace flights, resort stays and cruises, to call a couple of choices.
Different choices embrace redeeming your factors for reward playing cards, eligible purchases on Amazon, merchandise and a few Citi mortgage merchandise. These choices can turn out to be useful whenever you aren’t touring as a lot and easily don’t have a must cowl your journey spend with card statements or deposits out of your rewards.
Choice to pool factors for superior journey redemptions
With one other Citi bank card that earns normal ThankYou factors in your pockets (reasonably than “primary” factors), you may even switch your rewards to Citi journey companions.
Citi journey companions are broad and assorted, they usually usually allow you to extract much more worth out of your rewards. Most companions allow you to switch factors at a 1:1 ratio as nicely, aside from applications like Alternative Privileges and Sears Store Your Method.
Repay an enormous journey with none curiosity (for a restricted time)
Rewards apart, Citi Customized Money journey advantages can assist you pay down trip prices, should you use it responsibly. Let’s say you will have an enormous trip to plan, and also you don’t have fairly sufficient money to make it occur. On this case, the Citi Customized Money can assist you earn rewards whereas providing you with the prospect to repay your steadiness interest-free for a restricted time.
Particularly, the Citi Customized Money affords a 0 p.c intro APR on purchases and steadiness transfers for 15 months, adopted by an APR of 18.24% – 28.24% (Variable). Simply remember the fact that you’ll must repay the total steadiness in your card earlier than the intro interval is over. In any other case, you’ll repay any remaining balances on the card’s excessive common variable fee.
The underside line
The Citi Customized Money may not look like essentially the most thrilling rewards bank card round, however it may be fairly helpful in order for you the prospect to earn journey rewards with a money again bank card. Plus, you may pair this card with a journey bank card from Citi to unlock a spread of superior journey redemptions.
For those who’re simply starting to hunt out award journey, you’ll even be pleased to know this card doesn’t cost an annual payment. This implies you may preserve it for the lengthy haul whether or not you’re touring usually or not, and also you’ll by no means should justify its price primarily based on how a lot rewards worth you earn and redeem.
These are simply among the causes the Citi Customized Money will be price it for frequent flyers and vacationers who like to e-book weekend getaways nearer to residence. Learn extra in regards to the card and obtainable Citi Customized Money advantages earlier than you determine for your self.
