Citi Custom Cash
Citi, Mastercard, no annual fee. Earns Citi ThankYou Points, valued at 1.60¢ a point.
Rates checked against the issuer 2026-08. Foreign transaction fee: 3% of each purchase abroad.
The short version
- Best at: nothing in particular — no category puts it in the top three of the catalogue.
- A year's rewards: about $505, with no fee to pay.
- Weighing it up against: Double Cash, Freedom Flex.
Is the annual fee worth it?
No annual fee, so everything it earns is kept: about $505 a year on the illustrative household's spending, which puts it number 15 of 59 the no-fee cards in the catalogue. All of them, ranked.
Price its credits, perks and sign-up bonus your way — tick what you would use and say what it is worth to you.
Priced on an illustrative household spending $2,205 a month on a card — the assumption, in full. Credits and perks are not priced: they are worth their face value only if you would have spent that money anyway.
What it earns, category by category
| Earns on | Rate | ConditionsWhat the issuer attaches to this rate: a spending cap, a category you have to switch on, or a booking you have to make through its travel portal. |
|---|---|---|
| Restaurants & Bars, Groceries, Gas Stations, Public Transit, Streaming, Drugstores, Entertainment, Hotels, Food Delivery, Rideshare & Taxis, Parking & Tolls, Car Rental, Vacation Rentals, Home Improvement, Gyms & Fitness | 5x | Only while you have this category switched on. Up to $500 per billing cycle, then the base rate. Automatically applies to your top eligible category each billing cycle |
| Everything else | 1x |
Where a year's rewards come from
| Spending on | Earns a yearWhat this card earns on each kind of spending over a year, for the illustrative household on the method page. Before the annual fee. |
|---|---|
| Groceries | $300 |
| Everything Else | $60 |
| Restaurants & Bars | $36 |
| Gas Stations | $18 |
| Online Shopping | $18 |
| Utilities | $18 |
Priced on an illustrative household spending $2,205 a month on a card — the assumption, in full. Credits and perks are not priced: they are worth their face value only if you would have spent that money anyway.
What the issuer lists besides rewards
- No category to activate — the issuer picks your top category for you
- Closed to new applicants as of May 2026; existing cardholders keep the card
- Citi withdrew extended warranty, return protection and rental car coverage from its cards in September 2019
Similar cards
- American Express Amex EveryDay — annual fee none
- Wells Fargo Autograph — annual fee none
- Bilt Blue Card — annual fee none
- Bilt Mastercard — annual fee none
- Every travel card, ranked
- The best two- and three-card combinations
Point values: published industry valuations, read 2026-09. How every number here is worked out.