Citi Custom Cash Card

[Yasselife]

How reliable is Experian at matching cards?

[Anonymous]

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@AndySoCal wrote:

I looked at the card and lost interest in it.  US Bank cash +,  Max Cash or Chase Freedom Flex is better in my opinion. The reason why is the 5% is on one eligible category that you spent the highest amout in that month (upto $500) everything else is 1%. The other cards I mentioned the eligible amount you spend is 2000 per quarter Citi is 1500.  At least with the other cards you can earn more the 1%  with the other catagories not to mention Cash+ and Max Cash have two 5% catagories of your choosing.

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The cards have different strengths and use cases.  Cash+/Max Cash work well if you have high spend in one or two of the 5% categories.  (The 2% category isn't really that important with general 2% cards).   You can change every quarter if you wish.   Crucially for comparison with the new card, groceries isn't a 5% option.

CF/CFF has the advantage of earning UR, but the choice of category is determined by the issuer, not by the customer.   So if they aren't much use this quarter, and/or you would love say Paypal next quarter because of some upcoming purchase, but the category is this quarter, too bad!

The new card is excellent for those that can spend $500 in just one of the allowed categories each month.   Groceries is an obvious one.   And changing every month gives more flexibility, I can use a different card for groceries this month if I want to pay my fitness club this month for example.

TLDR: Each has advantages, and since this is MyFico, get them all.

[northface28]

You nailed it. Once everyone comes to their senses and gets over that "new car smell" I think it will be clear this is supplemental card NOT something you can use every day. 

[UncleB]

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@northface28 wrote:

You nailed it. Once everyone comes to their senses and gets over that "new car smell" I think it will be clear this is supplemental card NOT something you can use every day. 

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Even if not used every single day, some will find this a perfectly acceptable card for their monthly grocery spend - that's still fairly significant.

I can see myself doing this if/when I ever cash-out my MRs and close my Gold card.

[KLEXH25]

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@UncleB wrote:

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@northface28 wrote:

You nailed it. Once everyone comes to their senses and gets over that "new car smell" I think it will be clear this is supplemental card NOT something you can use every day. 

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Even if not used every single day, some will find this a perfectly acceptable card for their monthly grocery spend - that's still fairly significant.

I can see myself doing this if/when I ever cash-out my MRs and close my Gold card.

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That's exactly what I was thinking. But it would be a dining card for me, as long as I have the BCP. 

[MrDisco99]

And see I'd likely use it for live entertainment... as things open up, I'm looking forward to going to concerts and sporting events again.  It's very occasional, but can be expensive.

The other categories are either very low spend for me or already well covered by my other cards.

That's what I think is so cool about this card.  There's so many different ways to use it.

[Anonymous]

In my opinion, the Custom Cash is a nice addition to almost any cash back setup because of the flexibilty it provides with being able to choose a spend category for it.  Not a game changer but still nice.  It'll allow me to get a little closer to the ultimate goal of 5% cash back on all purchases.  

Along with the US Bank Cash+, it'll allow me to choose spend categories to work around the pre-assigned categories on my 5% rotating category cards (Chase Freedom Flex, Discover IT) and 5% fixed category card (Ducks).  The Custom Cash will probably get my grocery spends six months of the year because of the overlap with the rotating category cards and then the other six months will be open to pick other categories.  If the Ducks ever gets nerfed, it'll help out with gas too.

To better align with my current rotating category cards, I think I'm going align my Custom Cash billing cycle so that the statement cuts as close as possible to the last day of the month.

[kdm31091]

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@northface28 wrote:

You nailed it. Once everyone comes to their senses and gets over that "new car smell" I think it will be clear this is supplemental card NOT something you can use every day. 

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Although I am sure Citi is hoping people just use it for all spend and get mostly 1%, and 5% on only one area, you're right - most on here will just end up using this basically as a one category card. For some that's fine. To me, not worth an app, but you could convert a less used Citi card if/when the option becomes available. 

[DaveInAZ]

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@UncleB wrote:

This is an interesting new offering.  For those who have modest spend in a category like groceries, it might be a good fit. 

A few things are notable; 'Bookstores' is not a category (so no 5% off Amazon - a comparison to the old Sallie Mae came to mind here) and Walmart is excluded from the grocery category. 

I have too much recent activity to apply for it, but I might consider doing a PC of my Rewards+ MasterCard if they'll let me.  I'll have to think about that a bit. 🤔

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Well, that kills it for me, I buy most of my groceries at Walmart. Not sure how they can exclude Walmart when my local store codes as grocery on every other Visa/MC and I'm getting 3% on Savor, but the puny $500, cap doesn't entice me anyway and I've never liked Citi. 

[Anonymous]

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@DaveInAZ wrote:

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@UncleB wrote:

This is an interesting new offering.  For those who have modest spend in a category like groceries, it might be a good fit. 

A few things are notable; 'Bookstores' is not a category (so no 5% off Amazon - a comparison to the old Sallie Mae came to mind here) and Walmart is excluded from the grocery category. 

I have too much recent activity to apply for it, but I might consider doing a PC of my Rewards+ MasterCard if they'll let me.  I'll have to think about that a bit. 🤔

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Well, that kills it for me, I buy most of my groceries at Walmart. Not sure how they can exclude Walmart when my local store codes as grocery on every other Visa/MC and I'm getting 3% on Savor, but the puny $500, cap doesn't entice me anyway and I've never liked Citi. 

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@UncleB Where is Walmart excluded?   The conditions include:

Grocery Stores
Includes purchases at supermarkets, meat/seafood stores, dairy stores, bakeries, and miscellaneous food/convenience stores. Excludes purchases at general merchandise/discount superstores; wholesale/warehouse clubs; candy, nut and confectionery stores. Purchases made at online supermarkets or with grocery delivery services also do not qualify if the merchant does not classify itself as a supermarket by using the supermarket merchant category code.

which suggests that those Walmarts that code as supermarkets should be OK.   And interestingly, this includes bakeries which don't seem to count on some other cards.