Some links to products and travel providers on this website will earn Traveling For Miles a commission that helps contribute to the running of the site. Traveling For Miles has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Traveling For Miles and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Terms apply to all credit card welcome offers, earning rates and benefits and some credit card benefits will require enrollment. For more details please see the disclosures found at the bottom of every page.
The Citi® Double Cash Card is a no-frills, no annual fee cash back card that doesn’t offer any big impressive benefits or headline-grabbing earning rates in a select spending category but is still one of the very best cash back cards that you can hold. For the miles & points enthusiast as well as for someone just looking for a good cash back card, the Citi® Double Cash Card can be a compelling proposition.
The Citi® Double Cash Card
Annual fee
- $0 (zero)
Welcome bonus
This card is not currently offer a welcome bonus.
Earning rate
- 2% cash back on all purchases with no cap on earnings*
*The card pays 1% cash back when an eligible purchase appears on your monthly statement and further 1% cash back upon paying, a the very least, the minimum amount due on the statement.
Headline benefits
This card does not offer any notable benefits.
What’s so special about this card
Historic popularity
The Citi® Double Cash Card has always been a popular card because it allows users to earn 2% back on purchases on spending in categories in which other credit cards don’t generally offer bonuses.
While spending in categories like dining, travel, gas, and groceries are easily covered by cards like the American Express® Gold Card (review), the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card, and the Citi Premier® Card it’s hard to get more than 1 point/dollar (1.5%/dollar) on spending in a number of other popular shopping categories (big box stores, department stores, etc…) and that’s where the Citi® Double Cash card comes into play.
The big enhancements
Back in 2019, the Citi® Double Cash Card got a huge boost when Citi introduced one very important change to how the card’s cash back can be used.
Up until 21 September 2019, the Citi® Double Cash Card was a pure cash back card in that the best that you could extract from it was the 2% cash back that the card offers. Then, from 22 September 2019, Citi began to allow the cash back earned by the Citi® Double Cash Card to be converted to its ThankYou points currency when a cardholder also holds either the Citi Prestige® Card or the Citi Premier® Credit Card.
On 28 March 2022, the Citi® Double Cash Card got even better:
- The historic requirement to earn $25 cash back before the cash back can be claimed was removed.
- The card now earns ThankYou points rather than cash back which means that card holders earn one ThankYou point when they make a purchase and one ThankYou point when they pay for that purchase.
- ThankYou points earned by the Double Cash Card continue to be redeemable for cash back at the original rate (1 point = 1%) but they can also be redeemed for, amongst other things, gift cards, flights, and hotels.
The ThankYou Points earned by the Citi® Double Cash Card continue not to be transferable to most of the Thank You program’s transfer partners unless a cardholder also holds a premium ThankYou credit card, but transfers to JetBlue, Choice Privileges, and Wyndham Rewards are possible.
For those who hold a premium Citi ThankYou card as well as the Citi Double Cash Card, the ThankYou Points earned by the Double Cash Card can be converted to any one of 16 airline loyalty currencies so, effectively, the Citi® Double Cash Card can effectively earn 2 miles (or points) per dollar in any of the following airline loyalty programs:
- Aeromexico – Club Premier
- Air France/KLM Flying Blue
- Avianca LifeMiles
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Etihad Guest
- Emirates Skywards
- Eva Air Infinity MileageLands
- JetBlue TrueBlue
- Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
- Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
It can also earn 2 points/dollar in either of the following hotel loyalty programs:
- Choice Privileges
- Wyndham Rewards
I value Citi ThankYou points at 1.5 cents each (based on the value that I know I can get out of them without much effort) so when paired with a Citi Premier Card, the Citi® Double Cash Card effectively earns a cardholder a rebate of 3% on all purchases.
A cardholder who transfers ThankYou Points to one or more of Citi’s airline partners, who’s prepared to put in a bit of work, and who exercises a bit of patience, can often extract considerably more value 1.5 cents out of each ThankYou point used (usually by booking premium cabin awards) and it’s this that makes the Citi® Double Cash Card’s earnings considerably more valuable than the headline 2% rate would suggest.
This is what makes the Citi® Double Cash Card one of the most useful cash back cards around.
A great pairing
As I’ve already mentioned, as a standalone card the Citi® Double Cash Card is a great card to hold because it allows a cardholder to earn a minimum of 2% cash back wherever they shop but, as I’ve also explained, the card gets even better if it’s paired with one of Citi’s more premium cards.
With that in mind, here are the earning rates a cardholder would have access to if they held the Citi® Double Cash Card alongside the Citi Premier® Card (which comes with a $95 annual fee):
- 3 points/dollar – Dining
- 3 points/dollar – Supermarkets
- 3 points/dollar – Gas stations
- 3 points/dollar – Air Travel & Hotels
- 2% cash back or 2 points/dollar – Spending in all other categories
Base on my valuation of Citi ThankYou Points (1.5 cents each), the earning rates listed above represent effective rebates of between 3% and 4.5% on all of a cardholder’s spending. That’s fantastic for an annual outlay of just $95.
Also, as the Citi Premier® card gives cardholders a $100 rebate on a hotel stay costing a minimum of $500 (and booked through ThankYou.com), used correctly, the Citi® Double Cash/Citi® Premier credit card pairing could pay for itself.
Bottom line
The Citi® Double Cash Card has always been a strong cash back card, but ever since Citi started to allow the cash back that it earns to be converted to ThankYou points it has been one of the best cash back cards on the market. On its own, it’s a great card to hold but when held alongside the Citi Premier Card it forms a fantastic credit card pairing.
Click here to find out how to apply for the Citi® Double Cash Card
I might switch from the BoA Cash Rewards to the Double Cash for online purchases. I get 3.3% on the Cash Rewards (with a checking account) and would get 2.22X with the Double Cash. As long as I transfer and redeem for at least 1.49cpp, it’s the better option.
The DC won’t work for products that need a warranty, so I’ll need to keep the Cash Rewards category “Online” for those (I’d prefer Home Improvement). Maybe I can get Player 2 to open one?