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The Citi® Double Cash Card is now offering $200 cash back after spending $1,500 on purchases in the first 6 months.
Let’s take a quick look at this card and see how it might fit into your overall credit card strategy.
Offer no longer available
The welcome offer
The new welcome offer sticks out because for the longest time this card never offered a bonus and when it did, it was often around $150.
For that reason, a lot of people would get the Double Cash via a product change but now it could make sense to apply for this card directly.
$200 is a solid bonus for a no annual fee credit card but the bonus is even sweeter than $200 for some people which I will get into below.
Bonus earning
The Double Cash offers 2% cash back on all purchases with no limit although you have to pay off your credit card bill in order to receive the full 2% back (you only receive one percent back after the purchase).
One reason why I really like the Double Cash is because it pairs so nicely with the Citi Premier® Card.
That’s because if you have a card like the Premier, you can transfer the ThankYou points you earn from the Citi® Double Cash Card to travel partners just like you do with the Premier.
This opens up a lot of good possibilities.
First, you could combine this bonus with the current all-time high offer for the Citi Premier® Card, which is offering 80,000 points after you spend $4,000 in the first three months. (Remember, only apply for one Citi card every eight days.)
Getting both would set you up with 100,000 Citi ThankYou Points which you can then transfer to partners like:
- Aeromexico Club Premier
- Air France-KLM Flying Blue
- Avianca LifeMiles
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Emirates Skywards
- Etihad Guest
- EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
- JetBlue TrueBlue
- Malaysia Airlines Enrich
- Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
- Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Find some redemption ideas here.
Because you have the ability to transfer your points to airline partners, that means that you can receive more value from your points than just a one cent per point cashback rate.
For example, you might be receiving 1.7 cents in value per point when redeeming your points with partner airlines. This means that the Citi® Double Cash Card could net you ~3.4% back on your non-bonused purchases.
That’s really solid.
If you’re able to pick up both the Premier and Double Cash Card, your earnings could look like this:
- 3x points at Restaurants
- 3x points at Supermarkets
- 3x points at Gas Stations
- 3x points at Air Travel and Hotels
- 2X on all other purchases
Since the Double Cash has no annual fee, you essentially create one “super card” with the above earning rates.
The only major drawback to the Double Cash is that it does have foreign transaction fees (3%).
The Double Cash also offers 0% intro for 18 months on Balance Transfers.
Final word
The Double Cash is a solid card to use on non-bonused spend and now it has a solid welcome bonus making it a great time to jump on this card. Consider pairing it with the Premier for optimal value.
Related offer Citi Premier® Card: Earn 80,000 bonus ThankYou Points after you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months
Advertiser Disclosure: UponArriving has partnered with affiliate partners and may receive a commission from card issuers. UponArriving does not display all credit card offers and affiliate relationships may impact how offers are presented.
Editorial Disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analysis & recommendations are UponArriving’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, and CNBC. Read my bio.
