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Citibank has announced all the bonus categories for 2018 on the Citi Dividend Card. The categories will earn you 5% cash back, while other spending earns 1%. But remember that earning is capped at $300 per year.
Quarterly Categories
- Q1 (January through March) – Gas stations and Car rentals
- Q2 (April through June) – The Home Depot and Home Furnishings Stores
- Q3 (July through September) – Airlines and Movies
- Q4 (October through December) – Best Buy and Department Stores
Key Terms
- You need to register for the promo (Q1 opens January 1, 2018)
- Earn 5% cash back on bonus category; 1% on everything else
- Maximum cash back earning per calendar year is $300
Track Your Spending
You will have to track your spending with the Citi® Dividend Card since unlike the Chase Freedom® which has no cap on earning; the Citi Dividend has it's earning capped at $300 per year. This is regardless of whether the earnings come from a 5% bonus category or 1% earning. With the Q1 bonus including gas stations and car rentals, if you were to rent a Ferrari in January for $6,000, you would receive $300 back, and that would be it for the year. You would not earn anything back for the rest of the year, regardless of what you spend.
Our Take
Anytime you can pick up a 5% bonus is great however you will have to be careful and crunch some numbers first and then incorporate the card spend into a broader strategy. If you also hold the Freedom Card which also has gas stations as a 5% bonus category in Q1 2018, you are better off directing your gas bills to the Citi® Dividend Card for a couple of reasons:
- You have a higher spending limit of $6,000 (the Chase quarterly bonus is restricted to $1,500)
- This leaves more space in your Chase bonus to use on different items using the Mobile Wallet payment category bonus
You also need to look long-term at what your best options are. For instance, if you are looking to furnish a property, it might be worth your while to hold fire on Q1 entirely and wait for Q2, where you can spend a substantial amount at a household furnishings store and earn a 5% bonus. How will you be using your Citi Dividend 5% cash back bonus in the coming year?
Source: Doctor of Credit
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Thanks for the reminder. I depend on you guys more than I should. 🙂
I like how they announce the whole year’s schedule in advance compared to Chase’s Freedom card that only announces one quarter at a time.
Ditto for thank you for the reminder. 2018 is starting out to be a good FFM/Points year for me!
I wish every month had a basic in there (gas, groceries, etc…)
Thanks!
This is a pretty good card to add to an overall portfolio!
Well, meh categories.
Since Citi still has Dividend Cards, I wonder why they turned mine into another Thank You Rewards card years ago (I already had one).
I also like the fact that they announce the bonus categories for the year because it allows for more strategic planning. The 300 max for the year is limiting. I’m looking for a new card but I don’t think it will be this one.
I didn’t even know Citi had a card with rotating 5% bonuses. I am going to have to look into this more and compare to Discover and Chase.
Thanks for the heads up.
“Movies” is a pretty worthless category in 2018, imo. I do prefer seeing the whole year’s worth of announcements at once vs. how Chase Freedom does it.
My thought exactly. It would have been nice if Chase had revealed, or at least teased, all of next year’s categories, like this as well.
can you sign up for this card now? i don’t see it.
You cannot, however, you may be able to product change one of your current Citi cards.
Can I transfer TYP preferred card to this?
You’ll need to call Citi to confirm if you can or not. There are mixed data points and it appears to be on a case by case basis.
thanks for the info
With my Freedom and my Discover IT, I never got around to getting this card… hard to max out and another card to keep track of. I’d definitely use it if I had it, though!
I am not a fan of the Citi Dividend card.
Why not, Brian?
Not a bad offer but unfortunately $300 cap seems pretty low.
It is the same capacity as you get with Freedom and Discover (at 5%)
While this is an interesting program, I find I have trouble stretching my spending habits across too many cards. Wishing that i could, but I have to only stick with a few.
Still a useful card for earning 5%back.
Any restriction of what can be product changed to this card — for example, AA Platinum?
Just has to be another consumer card and open for at least 12 months. If you’re told no, HUCA.