6 Citi Double Cash Card Benefits You Didn’t Know About

• Written by Michelle Lambright Black
  

  Michelle Lambright Black

  Credit cards, credit, travel, personal finance

  Michelle Lambright Black is a nationally recognized credit expert, credit and travel journalist, and the founder of CreditWriter.com. With more than 20 years of experience writing and speaking about credit, personal finance, and travel, she’s passionate about helping families and small business owners make confident, informed decisions about their money. Michelle’s work has appeared in dozens of top-tier outlets, including The Points Guy, Business Insider, Reader’s Digest, Forbes Advisor, USA Today, Parents, Money, FICO, Bankrate, Newsweek, Experian, Seattle Times, MarketWatch, and Buy Side from The Wall Street Journal. She specializes in topics like credit reporting, credit scoring, travel rewards, and family-friendly financial strategies. As a three-time finalist for the Best Personal Finance Freelancer award from the Plutus Foundation, Michelle is known for breaking down complex financial topics into relatable, easy-to-understand advice. She also works directly with major brands and destinations to develop editorial travel content, especially focused on multigenerational trips, family travel hacks, and maximizing rewards. When she’s not writing or interviewing experts, you’ll likely find Michelle traveling with her husband and three kids, curled up with a good book, or planning her next credit card points-fueled family adventure. You can connect with Michelle on Instagram (@CreditWriter) and X (@MichelleLBlack).

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• Edited by Emily Gadd
  

  Emily Gadd

  Credit Cards, Personal Finance, Health & Wellness

  Emily Gadd is an SEO editor, responsible for writing about personal finance and credit cards. She got her start writing and editing at Healthline. She is passionate about creating educational content that makes complex topics accessible. Emily lives in Seattle with her husband and two cats.

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• Reviewed by Jasmin Baron
  

  Jasmin Baron

  Credit Cards, Travel Rewards, Loyalty Programs, Family Travel, Credit Building, Credit Scores

  Jasmin Baron is CardCritics’ senior SEO editor, responsible for editing and writing credit cards, travel rewards, loyalty program, and other credit-related content. She is passionate about personal finance education and enjoys sharing tips and tricks for making the most credit card points and miles with her readers. Her expertise in maximizing credit card travel rewards originated from over two decades of aviation industry experience, including 18 years working as a pilot and college professor/flight instructor in her native Canada. Her work has appeared on sites such as CNN Underscored Money, Business Insider, The Points Guy, and point.me. When she’s not planning her next trip with credit card rewards, you’ll probably find her tinkering around in the kitchen, hanging out with her three kids, or playing with her dog, Benji.

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• Last Updated Aug 26, 2025

The Citi Double Cash® Card, an advertising partner, is a no-fuss, flat-rate 2% cash-back credit card that works great for everyday spending. While it doesn’t come with flashy bonus categories, the card is a solid option for those who prefer simplicity. 

The Double Cash Card offers several lesser-known benefits that can make it even more valuable, especially if you’re strategic with how you use it. 

1. No Annual Fee

The Citi Double Cash® Card keeps it simple with no annual fee. As a result, you don’t have to go through the mental gymnastics of evaluating whether the card deserves a place in your wallet year after year.

No-annual-fee credit cards can be helpful if you’re working to build a strong credit history. The older the accounts on your credit report (and, by extension, your length of credit history), the better for your credit score.

2. Earn Citi ThankYou Points With Regular Purchases

Like the name of the card suggests, cardholders can earn unlimited cash back twice on every purchase — 1% when they buy and another 1% when they pay.

But the Double Cash Card isn’t purely a cash-back credit card, because those rewards are fulfilled as Citi ThankYou® points. That means that the rewards you earn with the Double Cash Card offer more potential value than cash rewards. 

3. Flexible Redemption Options

Not only does the Double Cash Card offer flexibility when it comes to earning rewards, but there are also several ways to redeem the rewards you earn. 

Some users may prefer the simplicity of cash back. And for those people, the card offers three ways to redeem rewards in this manner — cash back as a direct deposit, check or statement credit. For example, if you earn 10,000 ThankYou points, you can redeem them for a $100 direct deposit, check or statement credit. 

You can also:

• Redeem for gift cards
• Book travel through the Citi Travel portal
• Shop with Points with select retailers
• Transfer points to most of Citi’s airline and hotel loyalty program partners
• Pool points with an eligible premium ThankYou points card and transfer points to any Citi travel partner with a better transfer ratio

There’s no fee to transfer points. But you do need at least 1,000 ThankYou points to participate in a points transfer. However, if you want to redeem your rewards points for a statement credit or direct deposit, there are no minimum requirements.

4. Intro APR on Balance Transfers

If you owe outstanding balances on other credit cards, the introductory APR offer that comes with the Double Cash Card could be another big benefit. The card features a 0% Intro APR on balance transfers for 18 months, then 18.24% - 28.24% (Variable). A 18.24% - 28.24% (Variable) APR will apply for purchases. That gives you up to a year and a half to chip away at your transferred balance interest-free. 

Cardholders who take advantage of the introductory offer will pay a balance transfer fee. There is an intro balance transfer fee of 3% of each transfer (minimum $5) completed within the first 4 months of account opening. After that, your fee will be 5% of each transfer (minimum $5).

If you’re considering using this balance transfer card to repay debt, make sure you start as soon as you open your account and make a plan for how you’ll pay everything off before the intro APR expires. 

5. Built-In Security and Shopping Protections

While the Double Cash Card doesn’t come loaded with elite travel perks or concierge access you might find with premium rewards credit cards, it does include several helpful protections. 

Cardholders can enjoy benefits like: 

• Extended warranty: When you use your card to pay for a covered item, extended warranty can double the time period of your purchase’s original manufacturer’s warranty or store warranty. Coverage is up to a maximum of 24 months after the original warranty expires, and some items, like collectibles, are excluded. 
• Identity theft protection: Through Mastercard, cardholders can enjoy benefits like identity monitoring, credit monitoring (Equifax only), credit and identity alerts and more.
• Contactless payment and digital wallet support: Cardholders can tap to pay or add their Double Cash Card to Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay for faster and safer checkout experiences.
• $0 liability for unauthorized charges: Citi does not hold cardholders responsible for any charges they did not authorize. 
• 24/7 fraud alerts: Citi proactively monitors for fraud and sends you alerts at the first sign of unusual activity on your account.

Unfortunately, the Double Cash Card doesn’t include purchase protection or travel insurance. But these baseline features — especially the identity theft protection perks — add value for a no-annual-fee card. Cardholders also get access to Citi Entertainment, where they can purchase presale tickets for a variety of concerts, sporting events and dining experiences throughout the year.

6. Welcome Bonus

New cardholders have the opportunity to earn a $200 welcome bonus after spending $1,500 on purchases in the first six months of account opening. Citi fulfills the bonus as 20,000 ThankYou points, which you can redeem for $200 cash back or for other perks, like travel.

The welcome bonus requires a low spending threshold compared to many rewards cards. This allows users to earn valuable rewards on everyday purchases without needing to meet a large spending requirement. 

Bottom Line

The Citi Double Cash® Card pairs well with other credit cards that offer big rewards in bonus categories like travel, groceries, dining and other areas because it offers a consistent 2% cash back on everything else. You can think of the Double Cash Card as your default payment option when a purchase doesn’t fall into a bonus category — especially if you don’t want to think too hard about which card to use in the moment.

Over time, even 2% can add up to some valuable rewards. The rate is certainly a lot better than the standard 1% cash back or 1x points that many other rewards credit cards offer when you use them for non-bonus-category spending.