Citi Custom Cash vs. Double Cash: Tailored Bonuses or Effortless Earning
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Written by
Dia Adams
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Edited by
Jasmin Baron
The Citi Custom Cash® Card and Citi Double Cash® Card, an advertising partner, rank among the best Citi credit cards for a reason. Both are no-annual-fee cash-back cards with an easy-to-earn welcome bonus, but the way they earn differs greatly.
The Custom Cash Card rewards handsomely for targeted spending, while the Double Cash Card keeps things simple. Let’s break down the differences to help you decide which card is right for you.
How the Cards Compare: Citi Custom Cash vs. Double Cash
Side By Side Comparison
Annual Fee
Purchase and Balance Transfer APR
Welcome Bonus
Ongoing Rewards
Pros & Cons
- No annual fee
- No rotating categories
- Introductory APR on purchases and balance transfers
PROS
- 3% foreign transaction fee
- The bonus spend requirement is higher than average
CONS
- High rewards rate with no categories or caps to worry about
- Long balance transfer intro APR
- Generous welcome bonus
PROS
- No intro APR on purchases
CONS
Learn More
Welcome Bonuses
A highlight of both the Citi Custom Cash Card and the Citi Double Cash Card is the easy-to-earn welcome bonus. Even better, you have six months with both cards to make the required spending to earn it, which is double the time that most cards give you.
Both cards advertise a cash bonus, but the bonus is actually issued as Citi ThankYou points® , which can be redeemed in a variety of ways, including cash back. In addition, both cards offer an introductory 0% annual percentage rate (APR) as detailed below.
Citi Custom Cash Welcome Bonus
With the Citi Custom Cash Card, you can earn $200 cash back after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first six months of account opening. The card offers a 0% intro APR for 15 months on Purchases and Balance Transfers, then 18.24% - 28.24% (Variable). Balance transfer fee applies with this offer; 5% of each balance transfer; $5 minimum.
Citi Double Cash Welcome Bonus
The Citi Double Cash Card offers a welcome bonus of $200 cash back after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first six months of account opening. As one of the top balance transfer cards on the market, it also has 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. 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).
Earning Rewards
Here’s where things start to get interesting. The Custom Cash Card is designed to be maximized, while the Double Cash Card earns an appealing rate on all of your purchases.
How To Earn Rewards With Citi Custom Cash
The Custom Cash Card earns the following:
- 5% cash back on the first $500 spent (then 1%) on your top eligible spending category each month (eligible categories are restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, select travel, select transit, select streaming services, drugstores, home improvement stores, fitness clubs and live entertainment)
- 5% cash back on hotels, car rentals and attractions booked via the Citi Travel portal
- 1% on all other purchases
There are a couple of things I really like about the Custom Cash Card’s 5% offer. The first is that it doesn’t require registration, like other rotating category cards such as the Chase Freedom Flex® or Discover it® Cash Back. You’re automatically opted in, so you won’t accidentally miss out on your well-earned rewards.
The other great feature is that the category adjusts monthly according to your spending. So if you dine out a lot in February and have a large house project in March, you’ll earn the same 5% on both if it’s your top category. Over the course of a quarter, the cards offer 5% on the same $1,500 of spending, but it will be a lot easier to maximize the Custom Cash Card than the others.
How To Earn Rewards With Citi Double Cash
The Double Cash Card earns 1% cash back when you buy, plus an additional 1% as you pay, on every purchase. As a bonus, you can get 5% cash back on hotels, car rentals and attractions booked through Citi Travel.
CardCritics™ Opinion
What’s “best” is a matter of taste. If you want a one-and-done card, you’ll likely earn more over a year with the Double Cash Card. But if you know you’ll spend at least $500 per month in one of the categories above, the Custom Cash Card is a worthy option.
The break-even point between the two cards is $2,000 in spending per month, assuming you spend at least $500 in the 5% category to get the max rewards on the Custom Cash Card, then 1% after. Once you go over $2,000, the flat-rate 2% on the Double Cash Card will earn more in the long run.
If you’re looking to maximize your rewards, these cards would make a powerhouse wallet combo. You could use the Custom Cash Card to max out your bonus category, earning 5% cash back on $500 of spending per month, and use the Double Cash Card for everything else, earning 2% as you go.
Redeeming Rewards
Redeeming rewards with the Custom Cash Card and the Double Cash Card is straightforward and flexible. Rewards are issued as ThankYou Points, which have a variety of uses:
- Redeem for cash back as a direct deposit to your bank account, a statement credit, or a check. When redeemed for cash points are worth 1 cent each, so 10,000 points equals $100 in value.
- Use points for gift cards from a variety of popular retailers, with occasional sales giving slightly more than 1 cent per point in value.
- Book travel through the Citi ThankYou Rewards portal using your points.
- Shop with points at select partner brands, but often at less than 1 cent per point. 1,250 points are worth $10 in purchases when you redeem them via a merchant, so you’re better off redeeming your rewards for cash at one cent per point or 1,000 points for $10.
There’s one key difference between the two: Citi Double Cash Card has a select set of transfer partners, while the Custom Cash Card rewards are not eligible for transfers.
How To Redeem Rewards With Citi Custom Cash
Cash is king with the Custom Cash Card, except for the occasional gift card sales offering more than 1 cent per point. With this card, you can’t transfer points to Citi’s airline or hotel partners unless you have another Citi credit card with that option.
How To Redeem Rewards With Citi Double Cash
Besides the redemption options above, the Double Cash Card adds the ability to transfer to travel partners to the mix. That said, the partners are very limited, and even worse, the transfer rates are about to go down. Here are the transfer partners:
- Choice Privileges: 1,000 ThankYou Points = 1,500 Choice Points (1:1.5 ratio; changing to 1:1.4 after July 27, 2025)
- Wyndham Rewards: 1,000 ThankYou Points = 800 Wyndham Points (1:0.8 ratio; changing to 1:0.7 after July 27, 2025)
- JetBlue TrueBlue: 1,000 ThankYou Points = 800 JetBlue Points (1:0.8 ratio; changing to 1:0.7 after July 27, 2025)
You can also transfer to the Shop Your Way program at a rate of 1 ThankYou for 10 Shop Your Way points.
CardCritics™ Opinion
The ability to transfer points makes the Double Cash Card ThankYou points marginally worth more than Custom Cash Card ThankYou points if you want to use them for those three select travel partners. This isn’t an issue if you have another Citi points-earning card, such as the Citi Strata Premier® Card (an advertising partner), as you can combine points, but that flexibility may make a difference if you only want to hold one Citi card.
Card Benefits
The Custom Cash Card and Double Cash Card cards are light on benefits, even for no-annual-fee cards. There aren’t any real differences between them. Most are protection-oriented and include:
- 24-hour fraud protection: Citi will alert you if we see unusual activity on your account.
- $0 liability on unauthorized charges: You’re protected against unauthorized charges on your account.
- Citi Entertainment: Provides pre-sale and reserved seat access for Citi cardholders.
The best benefits the cards have come because both cards are World Elite Mastercards, which offer a few perks that may be of value to you.
- Up to 7% off prepaid stays at Booking.com through Sept. 30, 2025
- $30 statement credit on ResortPass bookings of $200 or more through Sept. 30, 2023
- 10% off scheduled Lyft airport rides and a $5 credit after your third monthly ride through Jan. 31, 2026
- Free two-month Instacart+ membership and $10 off your second order each month through Aug. 31, 2025
- $3 to $5 monthly statement credit on Peacock Premium or Premium Plus through Dec. 31, 2025
CardCritics™ Opinion
The cards have identical perks, so it’s not a big consideration when choosing between the two.
Fees and Costs
The Custom Cash Card and Double Cash Card are both no-annual-fee cards, but there are a few differences as outlined below.
Custom Cash Card Fees and Costs
- Annual fee: None
- APR: 0% intro APR for 15 months on Purchases and Balance Transfers, then 18.24% - 28.24% (Variable)
- Balance transfer fee: Balance transfer fee applies with this offer; 5% of each balance transfer; $5 minimum.
- Cash advance fee: Either $10 or 5% of the amount of each cash advance, whichever is greater.
- Foreign transaction fee: 3% of each purchase in U.S. dollars
- Late payment fee: Up to $41
- Returned payment fee: Up to $41
Double Cash Card Fees and Costs
- Annual fee: None
- APR: 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.
- Balance transfer fee: $5 or 3% of each transfer (whichever is greater) for transfers made within 4 months of account opening. After that: $5 or 5% of each transfer (whichever is greater) 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).
- Cash advance fee: Either $10 or 5% of the amount of each cash advance, whichever is greater.
- Foreign transaction fee: 3% of each purchase in U.S. dollars
- Late payment fee: Up to $41
- Returned payment fee: Up to $41
CardCritics™ Opinion
The main question to ask yourself when looking at these fees is, “Do I have a big purchase coming up that I want to finance at 0% APR?” If you do, the Custom Cash Card is for you because it is the only card of these two that has a 0% APR promotional rate on purchases.
How To Choose Between Citi Custom Cash vs. Citi Double Cash
To sum up, choose the Custom Cash Card if you like the idea of earning 5% cash back on one selected category each month and spending less than $2,000 per month on your credit card. Choose the Double Cash Card if you want to earn a flat-rate 2% cash back on all of your purchases, and you spend more than $2,000 per month on your credit card.
Or, choose both. The choice may be a case where more is more. By pulling out your Custom Cash Card for one type of purchase each month and your Double Cash Card for the rest, you’ll be rolling in cash back in no time.
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Frequently Asked Questions About the Citi Double Cash vs. Citi Custom Cash
What are the Citi Custom Cash categories?
The Citi Custom Cash Card offers 5% cash back on the first $500 spent on your top spending category each month among the following: restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, select travel, select transit, select streaming services, drugstores, home improvement stores, fitness clubs and live entertainment.
What are the Citi Double Cash transfer partners?
The Citi Double Cash Card’s transfer partners are JetBlue TrueBlue, Wyndham Rewards, Choice Privileges and Shop Your Way.
What’s the difference between Custom Cash and Double Cash?
The Citi Custom Cash Card offers 5% cash back on your most-spent eligible category up to $500 per month, then 1%. The Citi Double Cash Card offers 2% cash back on all purchases — 1% when you buy and 1% when you pay.
