Citi Custom Cash Card

[Anonymous]

Just finished looking through some of the discussion this week, and this card might be the end for my Citi Premier. I'm probably better off downgrading it to a Rewards+

Groceries: 5% to 5.5% (custom & R+)

Gas 3% to ~2.5% (R+)*

Dining 3% to 2.2%

Travel 3% to 2.2%

All else: 2% to 2.2% (DC & R+)

Yes, 3 of the 4 categories are reduced, but for me they're offset by the grocery increase and non-category increase. Plus there are still two 5% categories from Atlantic Union/Elan, whatever Discover is doing for 5%, BoA's 3% category, and 2.5% travel (HSBC). 

I used the premier more for the multiple 3% categories than for the transfer partners. But the CC/DC/R+ trio gives the same points as my current CC/DC/Premier setup, with no AF. 

*$31 = 62typ, round up to 70typ, 10% back when redeemed

[Cashbackjunky]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Just finished looking through some of the discussion this week, and this card might be the end for my Citi Premier. I'm probably better off downgrading it to a Rewards+

Groceries: 5.5% (custom & R+)

Gas ~2.5% (R+)*

All else: 2.2% (DC & R+)

I used the premier more for the multiple 3% categories than for the transfer partners. But the CC/DC/R+ trio gives the same points as my current CC/DC/Premier setup, with no AF. 

*$31 = 62typ, round up to 70typ, 10% back when redeemed

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You just made me go down a rabbit hole with the rewards+ (I might want to add it to supplement my Custom Cash).

One thing I'm noticing is they mention the TYP's can be redeemed for gift cards and seem to push that hard. Is that the only way they can be redeemed?

Would I be able to redeem the 10% extra TYP's as a statement credit for my Custom Cash?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Redemption offers vary by card. For doublecash, once you convert cash rewards to TYP, you can only get gift cards (full value), travel credit (full value), pay at Amazon (reduced value), pay at Shell/BP (reduced), xfer to JetBlue (5pts = 4miles). I believe Rewards+ is similar to DC, if not identical.

What I need to confirm with Citi is the possibility of merging multiple TY accounts into one acct which retains the benefits of each original acct. The custom cash card's points CAN be redeemed full value for statement credit or direct deposit. 

If that's how it works, you would then be able to redeem TY pts from the R+ and DC cards for cash, and you'd get the 10% rebate from R+ on the first 100k pts redeemed each year.

[Wavester64]

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@MJ-san wrote:

Here's a data point based on a conversation with someone on the backdoor #.

I was declined for too many inquiries, Fico8 was 802.

They are looking at 6 monts and according to the rep, 3 is the max for other cards, 2 for the Custom Cash. 

I had 5, 2 were duplicates, so they factored them out, still at 3. 

Hope the helps anyone getting an itchy app finger, 

mj

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@MJ-san what were your other numbers at the time of the app besides 3/6 and 802 F08 score?

[cws-21]

First, Happy Father's Day to all whom it applies! Regarding the Citi Custom Cash Card, does anyone know if Dunkin is included in the restaurant category (perhaps as a fast food establishment) or would it be excluded as a bakery or the like? I know I can just give it a try, and I likely will, but I was just wondering if anyone could confirm through info. of which I am unaware or experience. Replies are much appreciated.

[Hoben02]

I use the awardwallet app lookup tool to check vendor categories. Looks like Dunkin' Donuts is dining

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@cws-21 wrote:

First, Happy Father's Day to all whom it applies! Regarding the Citi Custom Cash Card, does anyone know if Dunkin is included in the restaurant category (perhaps as a fast food establishment) or would it be excluded as a bakery or the like? I know I can just give it a try, and I likely will, but I was just wondering if anyone could confirm through info. of which I am unaware or experience. Replies are much appreciated.

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[Yankee2]

Not sure if it's 100%, but Visa website shows resturant. 

Industry/MCC

RESTAURANTS/ BARS - 5814

[MJ-san]

@Wavester64 what other #s? 5% utilization, AAoA 11.3, oldest 34.4,?

I spoke with another credit analyst who looked it over and said she definitely sees the duplicate inquiries, but they can't override them- if I want them to reconsider, the duplicate inquiries have to be removed. She also echoed what the last rep stated, this card is a little more stringent vs. others and inquiries & new accounts factor heavily. 

[TyRacing]

is it 5% on Restaurants, fast food, takeouts? or just Restaurants?

what you guys think, how long will the $200 SUB and 0% APR intro on purchases last?

Thanks for the support!

[UncleB]

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@coldfusion wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'm hoping that TYP can be combined between the DC and the Custom Cash and then redeemed as statement credit or cash. That'll effectively reduce the $25 minimum cash back on the DC if that's your only Citi card.

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Citi supports allowing multiple cards to share the same TYP pool but you have to call in to request it, and unless there has been a process change you have to be transferred to a different internal group as a standard CSR doesn't have the necessary access privileges to do it.

You should doublecheck though how a combined pool would work if you were looking to redeem for statement credit as they do mantain metadata on how the points were earned.

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@Anonymous I have a (related) data point on this now.

I called to get my new Double Cash TYP account profile 'fixed' (suffix added to last name) to make it a match for my Rewards+ TYP account, and I was able to merge them online.  I expected for the CSR to offer to do the merge for me - I was clear this was my intent with getting the profile updated - but nope, after some keystrokes she told me the profiles were a match and I could do it myself online, LOL. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I went back online, and was able to do the merge (after fighting with Firefox with a broken final screen... I was finally successful on Edge).  I was then able to request a direct deposit redemption of the total TYP balance in the newly merged TYP account, and it worked.

TL;DR... I was able to convert ~$7 of cash rewards from a Double Cash to TYPs, then redeem those TYPs with ~700 existing TYPs for a ~$15 direct deposit, bypassing the DC's $25 minimum redemption.

A few notes... this was for the Rewards+, not the new Custom Cash, but I assume (???) the same rules likely apply.  Also, to minimize the chance of having drama I merged the DC TYP account into the Rewards+ TYP account (retaining the original Rewards+ TYP account); I have no idea if this mattered, but with Citi's IT being so janky I wasn't taking any chances.  @coldfusion's mention above about the metadata being retained on where the TYPs originate is well-documented, so I personally won't be converting $$$ to points until I'm ready to cash them out.

Finally, after the redemption was processed I got another email notification stating that I'll be receiving the usual 10% points rebate offered by the Rewards+... on the entire TYP balance I redeemed.  This isn't news by any means, but I had forgotten about this 'perk' altogether.  I admit this makes me second-guess doing a PC of the Rewards+, haha.