Citi Custom Cash is no longer accepting applications, so this take is mainly for existing cardholders. Its strength is effortless 5% cash back on whichever eligible category you spend the most on each billing cycle, from dining and groceries to gas, travel, and streaming, with no annual fee and no category activation. The catch is the cap: the 5% applies only to the first $500 of that category each month, after which it falls to 1%, and everything else earns just 1%, so it works best paired with a flat-rate card. If you already have it, it remains worth keeping for that one targeted category. New applicants should look at alternatives like the Citi Double Cash for 2% on everything, the U.S. Bank Cash+ for a similar pick-your-category setup, or the Chase Freedom Flex for rotating 5% categories.
Earn rates & credits
| Category | Rate |
|---|---|
Top spend category Automatically on your top eligible spend category each billing cycle on first $500/mo, then 1% Eligible: Dining, Gas, Groceries, Transit, Travel, Streaming, Drugstores, Home Improvement, Entertainment | 5% |
Everything Else | 1% |
Card details
Regular APR | 17.49%–27.49% variable |
Intro APR on purchases | 0% for 15 months |
Intro APR on balance transfers | 0% for 15 months |
Approval odds
Product changes
Where cardholders came from before landing on this card, and what they moved it to afterwards. Thicker flows carry a larger share of the changes in that direction.
Citi Double Cash
Citi Strata
American Airlines AAdvantage MileUp Mastercard
Citi AAdvantage Business World Elite Mastercard
Citi Diamond Preferred
Citi Strata Premier
Citi Custom CashCiti Custom CashBased on 27 reported product changes. Percentages are shares of each direction, not of all cardholders, and a small sample can swing a long way.