Best Citi credit cards of February 2025

Citi’s ThankYou rewards program allows cardholders to earn ThankYou Points by making eligible purchases. You can earn two types of points with Citi credit cards:

• “Basic” Citi ThankYou points: With Citi’s most basic points, you have limited redemption options — the most crucial being you can’t transfer them to travel partners for redemption. No-annual-fee Citi rewards cards earn “basic” points.
• “Full-fledged” Citi ThankYou points: These points have a bit more reach and versatility, given that you can transfer and redeem them with Citi’s travel partners. “Basic” points are only worth up to 1 cent each, even through the Citi Travel℠ portal, but “full-fledged” points earned with the Citi Strata Premier can be worth around 1.6 cents each on average with the right travel transfer partner, according to Bankrate’s point valuations.

Like the Chase Trifecta, the Citi Trifecta allows you to combine ThankYou points and rewards from different Citi cards: the Citi Strata Premier, the Citi Double Cash® Card and the Citi Custom Cash. Although it serves a niche role, rewards maximalists could even add the Citi Rewards+® Card to their card stack to squeeze much more points from small purchases. By pooling the points from these cards together, you can rack up far more points on your existing spending and transfer them to Citi travel partners at a potentially higher redemption value — netting you much more rewards value than one card can alone.

The Citi credit card rewards program is worth it if you can maximize everyday spending — especially if you’re open to using multiple Citi cards — but the program caters towards folks who prefer saving on their everyday spending via cash back and budget travel on occasion. You may want to check out Amex or Chase rewards cards if you’re a die-hard jetsetter or you’re looking for a solid selection of domestic travel transfer partners.

When it comes to maximizing rewards value from Citi cards, the secret is to focus more on earning the most points possible from Citi cards’ variety of rewards categories and card combinations rather than sweating over getting the best redemption value with transfer partners. Here’s a quick rundown of each card’s role in your spending strategy:

• The Citi Custom Cash offers a top-notch rewards rate on a single eligible category, but you’ll want to pair that with another Citi card so you don’t settle for earning 1 percent on all other purchases. That way, you can also proactively choose which category you want by only using this card for those purchases.
• The Citi Strata Premier is the go-to card for travel expenses, gas, restaurants and groceries. If you’re booking a flight or hotel soon, it’s also worth checking if there’s a high-value transfer partner that you can put your points toward.
• The Citi Double Cash is the default card for all purchases outside of the top category on your Custom Cash or Strata Premier categories.
• The Citi Rewards+ is for utilizing its point round up feature on frequent small purchases like snacks and coffee.

Although Citi cards are pretty barebones in terms of additional features outside the Strata Premier card’s annual hotel benefit, here are some largely universal Citi credit card features that may come in handy on trips or in a pinch:

• Citi Concierge service: Provides a team of experts to assist with everyday needs like locating restaurants and pharmacies
• Citi® Quick Lock: Lets you lock a misplaced Citi card without affecting any recurring transactions
• Citi Entertainment: Offers special access to exclusive event experiences, ticket presales and purchases for top sporting events, concerts, dining experiences and more
• Citi Flex Loans: Though not every cardholder will be eligible, this invitation-only program lets you take out a loan against your Citi card’s credit line with a fixed APR. There’s no application, credit inquiry or origination fee for Citi cardholders, and you have the flexibility to choose your loan terms.

The Citi Secured Mastercard could be the easiest card to get, since it’s one of Citi’s only cards for credit-builders and people with a limited credit history. There isn’t a specific credit score (or even a prior credit history) suggested to apply, although you’ll be required to put down a $200 to $2,500 security deposit.

If you’re an eligible student, you may be able to qualify for the Citi Rewards+® Student Credit Card* more easily than a traditional credit card.

In most cases, you'll need a credit score in the good to excellent range (a FICO score of 670 or higher, or a VantageScore of 661 or higher). 

You should check your credit score and compare it with recommended score ranges to give yourself an idea of the credit cards you have the best chance to qualify for. Preapproval tools like CardMatch™ could give you an even better idea of what cards you could qualify for with your current score and credit profile — and without a hard credit pull temporarily hurting your credit score.

Learn more: How to get preapproved for a Citi credit card

The closest candidate would be the Citi Secured Mastercard, but it's marketed as available with a limited credit history. You may be able to qualify depending on your credit profile, but there’s also a chance Citi could turn you down if you have a low credit score due to a history of credit mismanagement. 

Learn more: How to get a credit card with bad credit

The minimum credit limit you start with can vary by card, based on the terms and conditions listed for Citi cards on the issuer’s site. For example, the Citi Strata Premier card’s terms say the credit limit could be as low as $2,000, the Citi Rewards+ card’s terms are as low as $1,000 and the respective terms list as low as $500 for the Citi Custom Cash, Citi Double Cash, Citi Simplicity and Citi Diamond Preferred cards. 

Your approved credit limit will ultimately depend on a few factors, such as your previous credit history and gross annual income. However, issuers typically don’t list a maximum or “typical” credit limit.

Citi could possibly send you an offer to increase your credit limit if they review your account and see you've demonstrated good credit habits, such as regularly paying your full balance on time. However, the most proactive option is to directly contact Citi to request an increase through your online account or calling the customer service number listed on your card.

Citi ThankYou Points earned from your spending or sign-up bonus typically don’t expire as long as your account is active and in good standing. However, points earned in other ways could possibly expire depending on the circumstances.

• If you decide to close your account or if Citi terminates your rewards for any given reason, you have 90 days from the termination date to redeem all of your earned points.
  
  
• Points that are shared from another person’s account expire 90 days after you receive them.
  
  
• Citi also claims that points directly “issued by ThankYou Rewards will expire three years from the end of the year in which they are awarded to you.” This suggests the three-year timeframe only applies to rewards received from promotional offers (like referral bonuses) or older cards that might have expiration dates and are converted (not typical card spending).
  
  
• Co-branded Citi cards that earn rewards other than ThankYou points may be subject to different expiration rules, so you may want to check the rewards agreement of your co-branded card to be sure.

You can check the expiration status of your rewards through your ThankYou Rewards account online via “My Points Summary.”

Since many cardholders are eager to earn rewards, a key criteria for a card’s inclusion in our list is whether it offers impressive rewards value. This includes a card’s average rewards rate, estimated annual rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value and reward redemption value.

To estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings, we calculate its average rewards rate based on how much it earns in different bonus categories, as well as how closely those categories match the average person’s spending habits. In other words: Does the card earn rewards at a high rate in the most popular spending categories?

We use consumer spending data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to get a reliable third-party measure of people’s spending habits. The most recent BLS data estimates average total spending in 2023 was $77,280 per consumer. We then narrow our focus to which purchases are likely to be put on a credit card and earn rewards, subtracting expenditures like housing, vehicle purchases and education. This gives us a total “chargeable” annual spend of around $22,500.  

This includes the following spending by category:

• Groceries: $6,000
• Dining out: $3,900
• Entertainment: $2,500
• Gas: $2,400
• Apparel and services: $2,000

Using this data, we assign a weighting to each of a card’s bonus categories. For example, a card’s grocery rewards rate receives a 26 percent weighting based on how much of the average person’s budget is spent on groceries. We also estimate the redemption value of points or miles from various issuer, airline and hotel rewards programs.

This weighting and rewards valuation allows us to estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings — how many points or miles you’d earn with a given card if your spending was about average and you used the card for all of your purchases — as well as what those points are worth. We also use point valuations to determine a card’s sign-up bonus value

With these calculations complete, we assign each card a score based on how its average rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value, rewards rate and redemption value stack up against other cards in its primary category.

The better these values, the higher its score will be, making it more worthy of inclusion in our list and increasing its potential ranking.

Here’s a deeper look at the factors considered as part of a rewards card’s “Value” rating:

We also rate all cards based on how their ongoing average APR compares to the average APR you’ll find other cards in their primary category. However, the impact of an especially high or low APR on a card’s overall score depends on its primary category.

For rewards-earning cards, this factor has only a minor influence on the card’s score and whether the card is included in our list, since rewards card users generally try to avoid carrying a balance. That said, rewards-earning cards may get a solid boost in score and be more worthy of inclusion in our list if they also offer an intro APR on balance transfers or new purchases, since such offers aren’t always present on these cards.

More important to these cards’ scores and their inclusion in our list is how their annual fees influence their overall value. We consider a card’s annual fee in two ways — how it ranks relative to the fees you’ll find on other cards in the category and how it impacts a card’s overall rewards value. 

Cards with an annual fee will always be at a slight disadvantage in our scoring system since annual fees inherently cut into your rewards value. However, if a card offers terrific value via its ongoing rewards and perks, it can earn a high score and a spot in our list even if it carries a high annual fee. After all, the highest rewards rates and most valuable perks are often found on cards with annual fees.

Interest rates and intro APR offers play a much larger role in a card’s score and whether it’s included in our list when the card is designed specifically for users looking to save on interest charges, such as dedicated balance transfer or low-interest cards. 

Other fees considered include cash advance and late payment fees, along with penalty APRs.

Along with rewards value and cost, we consider other factors that could give cards great long-term value, like flexible rewards redemption and especially unique and valuable perks.

We rate rewards-earning cards based on the restrictions they impose on earning and redeeming rewards and consider this when deciding on a card’s inclusion in our list.

These restrictions could include only allowing users to earn a high rewards rate on a small amount of spending or requiring users to meet a certain earning threshold before they can redeem rewards. We also examine whether points are worth less when you opt for some redemption options over others and whether a card gives you the flexibility to transfer rewards to airline and hotel partners.

We also evaluate each card’s perks based on their value, usefulness and uniqueness. Cards that offer top-tier benefits like airport lounge access or travel credits are likely to stand out, but we also aim to highlight cards that offer valuable under-the-radar perks, like cellphone protection or one-off credits for everyday expenses like dining and streaming services.