islandguy84

Citi has released a Custom Cash card that offers 5% in your top spend category in a month and 1% back in everything else.

They have a $200 signup bonus after $750 in spend. Interestingly they say the bonus is paid out as 20K Thank You points redeemable for $200 in cash so it appears this card earns thank you points and has a 1 pt to 1c conversion ratio.

Link to card on their site

xov91

Wow, does anyone else feel like this card came out of nowhere? I noticed the following language, which won't be popular:

"Citi will only issue one Citi Custom CashSM Card account per person. You will qualify for the bonus offer only if you have not received a bonus offer for opening a new Citi Custom CashSM Card in the past 48 months."

I'm actually tempted to try to convert my double cash to this card since I would use it more often.

mia

The 5% reward is capped at $500 spend. That's a potential $15/month versus putting the same expense on Double Cash

...and only applies to specific categories. many of which earn bonuses on other cards, but this could be good in a category where you have recurring expenses:

That's to prevent using a separate card for each category, but a couple could have two in a household.

Ragnarok

So this earns TYP. Combining with the Premier/Prestige and the Rewards+, it can form a strong Citi trifecta.
Plus it establish a 1cpp TPY Cash Out option on a $0 annual fee card. Noice!

lsquare

I'm not as excited anymore.

islandguy84

This card is clearly an attempt to compete with the Chase Freedom.

• Chase Freedom is 5x on rotating categories per quarter with a limit of $1500 in the quarter with a $200 sign on bonus
• Citi Custom Cash is 5x on a category, up to $500 per month (which is the same as $1500 per quarter) with a $200 sign on bonus

So it fills a similar spot in the Citi lineup to the Chase trifecta:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred/Reserve = Citi Premier/Prestige
• Chase Freedom Unlimited (1.5x unlimited) = Citi Double Cash (2x unlimited)
• Chase Freedom (5x up to $1500 per qtr) = Citi Custom Cash (5x on up to $1500 per qtr)

nwflyboy

Yup. It's the Citi Freedom Card. It's not awful, not incredible either.

Hey, Citi, how about some new BUSINESS cards to compete with Chase's VERY successful Ink cards? That seems to be the biggest hole in Citi's offerings. I'd jump on a Business version of this and other Citi personal cards...

Adelphos

I will get this card, either as a conversion from an AA card or a new approval. No brainer for someone that collects Thank You points

lsquare

I agree. I find Citi's business cards to be quite weak...

kdm31091

I think it's a good, not excellent, option. If you like TYP you may as well convert a lesser used card to this one (once it's allowed). I'm hesitant to say it's worth an app on its own. Maybe if it offered 2 or 3 categories at 5x as opposed to just only one.

diesteldorf

You both bring up great points, and I agree this card is not worth a 5/24 slot on it's own. One thing that has me concerned, and has yet to be addressed, is whether this card will be part of Citi's 24 month Thank You bonus restriction.

As far as I know Citi's terms states that you can only get one Thank You bonus every 24 months, and some have reported that product changes reset the clock. In my case, I got the Prestige in May, 2019, converted to the Double Cash, June, 2020, and am planning to wait until summer 2022 to apply for the Premier to collect another 60,000 bonus, depending on what is offered at the time.

If someone applies for the "Custom Card" to get the $200 bonus, which is actually 20,000 Thank You points, they may be locking themselves out of a bonus on the Premier/Prestige and not even realize it. Of course, someone that got the Premier/Prestige within the last two years, could potentially apply for the "Custom" card and not be eligible for the $200 bonus, and not realize it until the application is already processed, since Citi won't notify you ahead of time.

Getting this card as a product change is the best strategy, since the signup bonuses on the AA/Premier/Prestige are substantially larger. I'll keep my Double Cash for large non-bonus spend and for everything else that I don't have a card for, but this is nice option to have for Gas, Groceries, or Restaurants if I decide to cancel any Amex cards that have annual fees.

In my mind, the "Custom" card makes the Rewards+ card less valuable, but I won't consider getting either, until after I earn my next Thank You bonus next year.

WasKnown

It just sucks for people that double down on multiple Freedom Flex/Discover It cards to circumvent the low spending caps.

$500/month is nothing for many categories even for modest spenders. Making P2 get one is annoying for people that like to keep their p2 under 5/24

kdm31091

Citi (or Chase or Discover) doesn't necessarily want you holding a handful of the 5x cards and maximizing your benefits. That's the whole purpose of this rule from Citi. You get one 5% card with one category. As I said upthread I think 2 categories would be a little more reasonable for the product in general, but I completely understand not allowing more than one card per customer. The low spending caps exist for a reason and lenders don't want you circumventing them, or they wouldn't put them in place.

Points Scrounger

From YouTube comments, it's not possible to convert to the card from an existing product at this time.

WasKnown

Not saying that Citi should allow this or want this but it is totally ok to do this with Chase. It is pretty common for churners to have multiple Freedoms.