topic Issuer Analysis #3: citi in Credit Cards

Issuer Analysis #3: citi

E36 — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 21:19:06 GMT

This is part of my series of the 12 Biggest Credit Card Issuers.

Previous Threads:
1. Chase
2. American Express

3. citi

citi is one of the largest and oldest financial institutions in the United States and one of the largest credit card issuer.

It is the No. 2 credit card balance holder and No. 3 in spending.

citi has approximately 80 million cards in circulation and roughly 10.94%+ purchase market share. (2024 Numbers)

Product Overview

Secured: citi Diamond Secured Mastercard

No-Annual-Fee / Low APR: Simplicity, Diamond Preferred

Cash Back: Double Cash (2%) , Custom Cash

Airline Co-Brand: American Airlines

Retail Co-Brand: Costco, Best Buy

ThankYou Points: Strata ($0 AF), Strata Premier ($95 AF), Strata Elite ($550 AF)

Rewards Program: ThankYou Points

citi’s core rewards currency is ThankYou Points (TYP).

citi launched in ThankYou Rewards and PremierPass in 2004. Since then, it’s gone through a lot of changes.

citi introduced the Chairman Card in 2005, the premium card competitor for American Express Platinum. In 2010, citi launches the Citi Prestige with a $500AF. There was a lot of interesting perks that’s changed over the years, a lot of nerfs until it closed applications in 2021. With that going on with the flagship product, you see a lot of changes in the branding.

Prestige was the premium $500AF product, While Thank You Premier or Preferred $125AF, with Preferred $0AF. Only writing this now, I realize that each tier started with the Prefix “PRE.” With that said, you see the Thank You Branding with Thank You Preferred and Thank You Premier, and not Prestige. They also had the $ 0AF Rewards+ Cards. They got rid of the Thank You branding from the Premier Card.

There’s also Sears & citi Collaboration of the Shop Your Way Card which recently converted to a citi Thank You Card (which doesn’t allow new applications), and Shop Your Way with new partner First Bank & Trust.

In 2024, they took a page from Chase Sapphire playbook and rebooted everything to the Strata Line (Easy to Follow like Sapphire). Rewards+ was converted to Strata, Premier became Strata Premier, and they launched Strate Elite which is the successor the Prestige that was discontinued in 2021. Now they are marketing the SUB. For Citi cardholders, it’s worth giving it a chance for the SUB and I’ve read that if it doesn’t work out, they plan on downgrading to Strata, Strate Elite or Custom Cash. We will see how this turns out.

In the 2000s, forums talked about the great benefits of the Prestige. The 2024 Strata is building back up slowly as a competitor to Capital One Venture X, Chase Sapphire, and Amex Gold & Platinum. Just like Sapphire unlocks the ability for Freedom Cards for better transfer ratio to partners, Strata unlocks the ability for Cash cards for better transfer ratio for partners.

Rewards Program: Cashback

citi launched citi Dividend with 5% Rotating categories cash back in 2005 and citi Cash Returns 1% CB in 2007.

When citi launched the Double Cash in 2014—2% total (1% when you buy, 1% when you pay)—it became a benchmark flat-rate card in the industry.

2% Flat Rate (2014-Present):

Thile Fidelity was the first major 2% flat-rate CB Card. The citi Double Cash normalized 2% as the benchmark for flat-rate rewards.

Even today, Capital One, Bank of America, and Chase only offer a base of 1.5% flat cash back. It wasn’t until 2021, that a lot of the other major banks started catching on.

2003-2016 – Fidelity BOA/Amex
2014 – citi Double Cash
2016 – Fidelity Rewards (Elan Financial)
2019 – Synchrony Premier
2021 – Wells Fargo Active Cash, TD Double Up, FNBO Evergreen
2022 – Bread Cashback
2024 – US Bank Smartly, Navy FCU

There’s been a few >2% Cashback over the years: Alliant 2.5%, Ollo 2.5%, US Bank which recently got Nerfed. 2% seems to be the most sustainable with no requirements. Citi Double Cash has been consistent for over 10 years.

citi Double Cash is not the best 2% Cash back as it has FTF and you don’t get 2% CB. You get 1% CB, and 1% when you pay which makes it 2%. Nowadays, other card companies simply reward the 2% back. The main difference is that you can use the Double Cash in the citi ThankYou Rewards ecosystem, which can pair with a citi Strata Premier or Elite for higher transfer partner exchange ratios.

Note: Thanks to @ptatohed

citi is one of the few issuers who accept debit card payments. I pay my ThankYou card and my Custom Cash card with a 1% CB debit card making my TY card a 2 - 6% card (vs 1 - 5%) and my CC card a 6% card.

Paying with a 1% Debit Card can turn Double Cash into a 3% Card.

Custom Cash (2021 – Present): The Custom Cash automatically gives 5% in your top eligible category (up to the cap) without requiring activation. The cap is $500 spending a month.

5% CB falls into 3 categories: Rotating (Outside of your control), Choose-Your-Category, Fixed. Custom Cash is basically a choose your category, but you don’t have to select it, it will automatically select your highest spend on that card. By itself, it may not seem exciting, but people use this to fill their gaps with 1, 2 or multiple Custom Cash cards.

Custom Cash (1 Highest Spending Category): Restaurants, Gas, Grocery Stores, Home Improvement, Fitness

Main competitors:

Choose-Your-Category:

Bank of America Customized Cash (Choose 1) 3% (Base) 5.25% ($100K in BOA/Merrill): Gas/EV. Online Shopping, Internet, Dining, Travel Drug Stores, Home Improvement
Red Stone (2025 Update) (Choose 1) 5%: Travel, Restaurants, Amazon

US Bank Cash+ (Choose 2) 5%: Fast Food, Home Utilities, TV, Internet & Streaming, Department Stores, Cell Phone, Electronic Stores

Issuer	Req.	Card			Grocery	Dining	Gas	Other
Bank of America	$100K	Customized Cash (Choose 1)	Visa	5%		x	x	Online Shopping, Internet, Dining, Travel Drug Stores, Home Improvement
	$100K	Customized Cash	Visa	3.5%	x
citi		Custom Cash	MC	5%	x	x	x	Home Improvement, Fitness
US Bank / Elan Max		Cash+ (Choose 2)	Visa	5%				Fast Food, Home Utilities, TV, Internet & Streaming, Department Stores, Cell Phone, Electronic Stores
US Bank / Elan Max		Cash+ (Choose 1)	Visa	2%		x	x
Bank of America		Customized Cash (Choose 1)	Visa	3%		x	x	Online Shopping, Internet, Dining, Travel Drug Stores, Home Improvement
Bank of America		Customized Cash (Choose 1)	Visa	2%	x

citi Custom Cash offers a unique value proposition. You can get 5% on Grocery, Dining, or Gas (or all 3 if you have 3 citi Custom Cash Cards). People that like to max out there spending either use these cards or use these cards to supplement what they already have.

Bank of America offers higher rewards of 5.25% The caveat is you have to hold $100K in Bank of America or Merril Accounts. You can’t get 5.25% on groceries though, but it does offer 3.5% on groceries and wholesale clubs. There’s also an option of 5.25% on Online Shopping. However, if you don’t meet that requirement, it goes down to 3%.

US Bank+ allows you to choose 2, not 1 5% categories. Rather than compete head to head, they allow you to pick the rare Home Utilities Category. You can’t choose Groceries, Dining or Gas.

Set Categories:

It’s also important to know the 3% Set Categories. Some people don’t like juggling cards and would rather use less cards for sake of simplicity even if it means losing 2%. The following cards offer 3% on multiple categories.

Issuer	Card		Grocery	Dining	Gas
First Bank & Trust	Shop Your Way 5321	Visa	3%	3%	5%
Comenity	AAA Travel Advantage	Visa	3%*	3%*	5%*
Navy Fed	More Rewards	Amex	3%	3%	3%
Comenity	AAA Daily Advantage	Visa	5%*	1%	3%*
American Express	Blue Cash Everyday	Amex	3%	1%	3%
Comenity	Bread Rewards	Amex	3%	1%	3%
Ollo	Everyday Rewards	MC	3%	1%	3%
Capital One	Savor	MC	3%	3%	1%
Wells Fargo	Autograph	Visa	1%	3%	3%
Chase	Freedom Unlimited	Visa	1.50%	3%	1.5%
Mission Lane	Gold Line	Visa	1%	3%	3%

*Capped

As you can see, Custom Cash has it’s place for Card Reward Maximizers.

Strong Balance Transfer Offers: citi has historically been competitive in long 0% intro APR offers and balance transfer promotions.

There are two cards no reward cards: Simplicity and Diamond Preferred. The terms may be more favorable with Simplicity but from what I’ve read the credit limits are higher with Diamond Preferred. citi has always positioned its products as financial tools and these

Quirks

Customer Service. Some people have reported poor customer service. My experience is that it’s not bad, but it’s not great. Chase and Amex definitely has better customer service.

Some card holders report balance chasing, reducing credit limit when you start paying the balance down or involuntary closures for low utilizations.

Why Citi Became So Popular

Popular Cards: Double Cash, Custom Cash, Simplicity/Diamond Preferred (for Balance Transfers), Costco, American Airilines AAdvantage Executive

New Cards: Strata, Strata Premier, Strata Elite

Discontinued Popular Cards: Prestige, Old Premier, Shop Your Way

citi also became popular through mailers and marketing campaigns.

Key moments:

2004 – Thank Your Rewards Launched
2006 - citi Dividend with Amex Launched
2007 - citi CashReturns (5% first three months, 1% after)
2004-2011 – citi Premier Pass
2005-2013 – citi Chairman $400 AF
2011-2018 – citi Thank You Preferred
2011-2021 – citi Prestige $450-495 AF
2011 – citi Thank You Premier $125 AF
2014 – Double Cash
2015 – citi Thank You Premier refresh to citi Premier $95AF
2016 – citi becomes Costco Exclusive Partner
2016 – citi Shop Your Way (partnership between citi & Sears)
2021 – citi Custom Cash launched
2024 – citi Premier refreshed as Strata Premier $95 AF
2025 – citi Shop Your Way converts to Citi Thank You. No New Applicants.
2025 – Shop Your Way partners with First Bank and Trust, SD
2025 – Strata Elite $550 AF
2025 – Strata $0 AF Launch

Personal Experience

I don’t remember exactly when I first opened a citi card because those tradelines were eventually removed from my credit report after I settled with citi. I previously held the citi Double Cash Card and a Best Buy store card (which was originally Synchrony). I defaulted in 2022.

From a user experience standpoint, citi’s website and interface never stood out to me as particularly intuitive. Compared to other major issuers, the digital experience felt less polished. When Double Cash first came out a lot of people talked about it and it was advertised everywhere, mailers, websites, etc.

When people talk about Citi today, the most frequently mentioned cards are:

citi Custom Cash Card, which automatically earns 5% in your top eligible category (up to the cap)
Shop Your Way, now Thank You (not available to new applicants)
OG citi Prestige (Closed to new applicants in 2021)

The Double Cash was revolutionary when it launched. At the time, no major national bank was widely marketing 2% flat cash back.

The quirk is that it earned 1% at purchase and 1% when you paid.

Since then, many issuers have introduced 2% cards with additional perks—such as TSA PreCheck credits, no foreign transaction fees, or simpler earning structures that don’t require paying first to earn the second 1%. As a result, Double Cash doesn’t generate the same excitement it once did. Although I just found out by @ptatohed , that you can make citi payments with a 1% CB Debit Card. By doing so, you can earn 3% CB.

Over the past year, it appears Citi has been working to clarify and streamline its ThankYou Rewards ecosystem, particularly with the reboot and introduction of the Strata lineup. While Citi’s transfer partners may not currently feel as strong as Chase or American Express, I can see Citi gaining more traction. I read that a cardholder uses Strata for it’s Airline Partner EVA. Time will tell as Strate Elite launched just last year in 2025.

Tl;dr: citi’s unique product is Custom Cash. citi accepts debit cards for payment so if you ahave a 1% CB Debit Card to make your payments, you can earn 1% more. Customer Experience may vary. Some experience Balance Chasing or account closures. Strata is new only starting in 2024 with the Elite starting in 2025. Strata's not really buzzworthy, but Citi is the Number 2 Credit Card Balance Holder so we'll see how this will shake things up (or not) in the next few years. They offer a couple of 0% APR 21-month Promo balance transfer cards.

Re: Issuer Analysis #3: Citi

Lou-natic — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 06:02:04 GMT

I'm still salty that Citi force PC'd the Rewards+ to Strata...bastards.

Re: Issuer Analysis #3: Citi

ptatohed — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 07:05:43 GMT

You should provide links to the previous series threads, with each new series thread. Thank you for the series!

Not sure if it's worth mentioning, but citi (branded with a lower-case 'C' BTW ) is one of the few issuers who accept debit card payments. I pay my ThankYou card and my Custom Cash card with a 1% CB debit card making my TY card a 2 - 6% card (vs 1 - 5%) and my CC card a 6% card.

Re: Issuer Analysis #3: Citi

E36 — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 16:04:13 GMT

@ptatohed wrote:
You should provide links to the previous series threads, with each new series thread. Thank you for the series!

Not sure if it's worth mentioning, but citi (branded with a lower-case 'C' BTW ) is one of the few issuers who accept debit card payments. I pay my ThankYou card and my Custom Cash card with a 1% CB debit card making my TY card a 2 - 6% card (vs 1 - 5%) and my CC card a 6% card.

Thanks for the suggested. I updated the post and will be doing so in the future posts!

citi (branded with a lower-case 'C' BTW

I've never noticed that. I updated the post. TIL!

Not sure if it's worth mentioning, but citi is one of the few issuers who accept debit card payments. I pay my ThankYou card and my Custom Cash card with a 1% CB debit card making my TY card a 2 - 6% card (vs 1 - 5%) and my CC card a 6% card.

This just blew my mind! 🤯 I never realized that. Thank you so much! It really increased the appeal of citi cards to me! Thankful for people like you who know how to maximize cards!

Re: Issuer Analysis #3: Citi

crystal626 — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 19:50:33 GMT

@ptatohed wrote:
You should provide links to the previous series threads, with each new series thread. Thank you for the series!

Not sure if it's worth mentioning, but citi (branded with a lower-case 'C' BTW ) is one of the few issuers who accept debit card payments. I pay my ThankYou card and my Custom Cash card with a 1% CB debit card making my TY card a 2 - 6% card (vs 1 - 5%) and my CC card a 6% card.

Hmm... I must remember this now that I have a 1% debit card at my primary FI lol.

Re: Issuer Analysis #3: citi

redpat — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 21:03:10 GMT

Kudos to those who have kept their Prestige cards, 4th night free and 5x dining w/ transfer to AA now makes this a 10x plus category on spend.

I wish I kept mine.

Also, AA Citi Exec card is one of the best travel cards in the travel category,imo. Citi having AA as a transfer partner is game changing for Citi.

Re: Issuer Analysis #3: citi

E36 — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 21:28:04 GMT

@redpat wrote:
Also, AA Citi Exec card is one of the best travel cards in the travel category,imo. Citi having AA as a transfer partner is game changing for Citi.

I agree, before Chase Sapphire, Capital One Venture X, and Citi Prestige, Airline Cards were the OG Premium/Luxury cards and they still are today.

In the 2000s, if people weren't using Amex Gold/Plat for travel, they either had United MilesPlus, Delta Skymiles, or AAdvantage Card. They've been around for decades. Free baggage, lounge, upgrades, status, companion tickets.

There was one lounge that I couldn't access with my Amex Platinum in the 2000s (before Priority Pass), I can't remember if it was American or United or both. I mentioned in the Amex thread, I used the Delta Platinum more than the Platinum Card.

Re: Issuer Analysis #3: citi

SusanJA — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 23:24:17 GMT

Who/what is this for? SEO/GEO?

Re: Issuer Analysis #3: citi

E36 — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 05:23:13 GMT

@SusanJA wrote:
Who/what is this for? SEO/GEO?

I like to take notes and brain dump. My brain puts things in boxes and I just like to write it all down.

Re: Issuer Analysis #3: Citi

mxp114 — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 10:19:13 GMT

@ptatohed wrote:
Not sure if it's worth mentioning, but citi (branded with a lower-case 'C' BTW )

Yes, Citi's logo font is indeed citi, but that's the only time you see it in lowercase. Citi's Style Guide specifies to use Citi® or CITI® when writing and never citi. So it's Citi Prestige or CITI PRESTIGE but never citi Prestige. I believe the same is for Mastercard, the logo font is lowercase but you would never write mastercard.

Re: Issuer Analysis #3: Citi

ptatohed — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 16:32:28 GMT

@mxp114 wrote:

@ptatohed wrote:
Not sure if it's worth mentioning, but citi (branded with a lower-case 'C' BTW )
Yes, Citi's logo font is indeed citi, but that's the only time you see it in lowercase. Citi's Style Guide specifies to use Citi® or CITI® when writing and never citi. So it's Citi Prestige or CITI PRESTIGE but never citi Prestige. I believe the same is for Mastercard, the logo font is lowercase but you would never write mastercard.

Right or wrong, I always spell the issuer as they are branded on my cards. freedom, DISCOVER, nusenda, citi CUSTOM CASH, citi thankyou, DISCOVER it, etc.

Re: Issuer Analysis #3: Citi

mxp114 — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 19:16:38 GMT

@ptatohed wrote:
@mxp114 wrote:

@ptatohed wrote:
Not sure if it's worth mentioning, but citi (branded with a lower-case 'C' BTW )
Yes, Citi's logo font is indeed citi, but that's the only time you see it in lowercase. Citi's Style Guide specifies to use Citi® or CITI® when writing and never citi. So it's Citi Prestige or CITI PRESTIGE but never citi Prestige. I believe the same is for Mastercard, the logo font is lowercase but you would never write mastercard.

Right or wrong, I always spell the issuer as they are branded on my cards. freedom, DISCOVER, nusenda, citi CUSTOM CASH, citi thankyou, DISCOVER it, etc.

I understand that. I wanted to point this out because others may think citi is the correct written style. As was the case here with OP changing Citi to citi. For clarity, yes, it is indeed wrong, per Citi's own Style Guide for the brand guidelines. In case you were wondering, the official written style for the card is: CITI CUSTOM CASH® CARD, or Citi Custom Cash® Card.