AwardWallet receives compensation from advertising partners for links on the blog. The opinions expressed here are our own and have not been reviewed, provided, or approved by any bank advertiser. Here's our complete list of Advertisers.
The earning rates offered by many Citi credit cards are among the best available. By building out a portfolio of cards for earning Citi ThankYou® Points, you can quickly build your Citi ThankYou Points balance. In this post, we're diving into a three-card strategy — a “Citi Trifecta” if you will — to maximize your earnings.
In short, this Citi card combo earns:
-
- 5X on your top spending category (out of a list of 10 eligible categories)
- 3X on airfare, hotels, gas stations, restaurants, and supermarkets
- 2X on everything else
- a bunch of bonus points through sign-up bonuses
You can combine and transfer these points to 14 airline and five hotel Citi ThankYou transfer partners. Best of all, you'll pay a total of $95 in annual fees to hold all three cards.
Here's how to put together this winning strategy.
Page Contents
Earn Up to 3X Points, Plus 60,000 Bonus Points
- 3X points per $1 on airfare and hotels and at gas stations, restaurants, and supermarkets
- Annual Hotel Benefit: Save $100 off a single hotel stay of $500 or more (excluding taxes and fees) when you book through CitiTravel.com
- No foreign transaction fees
- $95 annual fee
- 10X points per $1 on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked through CitiTravel.com
- 3X points per $1 spent on airfare, and other hotel purchases
- 3X points per $1 spent at gas and EV charging stations
- 3X points per $1 spent on dining at restaurants, including cafes, bars and lounges
- 3X points per $1 spent at supermarkets
- 1X points per $1 spent on all other purchases
The Citi Strata Premier℠ Card earns 10X points per $1 on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked through CitiTravel.com; 3X points per $1 spent on airfare and other hotels; and 3X points at gas stations, EV charging stations, restaurants, and supermarkets — all of which are practical everyday spending categories that provide cardholders a solid return on expenses. Plus, jumpstart your points earnings by earning a sign-up bonus of 60,000 points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.
Cardholders can also take advantage of a $100 annual hotel savings benefit, pay no foreign transaction fees, and receive shopping protections like purchase protection and extended warranty.
Related: Citi Strata Premier full review
Earn 2x Points on Every Purchase, Plus $200
If you're looking to pay down debt or finance a larger purchase, this card also comes with one of the best available introductory APR offers on balance transfers.
- Earn $200 cash back after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first 6 months of account opening. This bonus offer will be fulfilled as 20,000 ThankYou® Points, which can be redeemed for $200 cash back.
- 2% cash back on every purchase - 1% when you buy + 1% when you pay
- 0% intro APR on balance transfers for 18 months. After that, the (Variable) APR will be 18.24% - 28.24% based on your creditworthiness
- There is an intro balance transfer fee of 3% of each transfer (minimum $5) completed within the first 4 months of account opening. After that, your fee will be 5% of each transfer (minimum $5)
- No annual fee
- Earn 2% cash back on every purchase—1% when you buy and 1% when you pay. Plus, earn 5% total cash back on hotel, car rentals and attractions booked on the Citi Travel℠ portal through 12/31/25. Citi cash rewards now also convert to ThankYou points at 1:1 ($10 = 100 ThankYou points).
We consider the Citi Double Cash® Card the best rewards card from any issuer for non-bonus spending. The card is marketed as a cash-back card earning 2% cash back on every purchase 1% when you buy plus 1% as you pay. However, rewards are issued as ThankYou Points that can be redeemed for cash back or transferred to a few travel partners.
If you also hold a Citi Strata Premier credit card or Citi Prestige® Card, you can combine ThankYou points across accounts to transfer them to all 21 Citi transfer partners.
Related: Citi Double Cash full review
Earn 5x Points on Your Top Spending Category, Plus $200
- Sign-up bonus of $200 in cash back after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first 6 months of account opening, issued as 20,000 ThankYou® Points
- 5% cash back in your top eligible spend category on up to $500 of purchses each billing cycle
- No rotating bonus categories to sign up for--the top earning category adjusts automatically each month to the eligible category in which you spend the most.
- Excellent intro APR offer on purchases and balance transfers
- No annual fee
- Earn 5% cash back on purchases in your top eligible spend category each billing cycle, up to the first $500 spent
- 1% cash back thereafter, plus, you'll earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases
- No rotating bonus categories to sign up for – as your spending changes each billing cycle, your earn adjusts automatically when you spend in any of the eligible categories.
- Special Travel Offer: Earn an additional 4% cash back on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked on Citi Travel℠ portal through 6/30/2025.
- Eligible spending categories are: Restaurants, Gas Stations, Grocery Stores, Select Travel, Select Transit, Select Streaming Services, Drugstores, Home Improvement Stores, Fitness Clubs and Live Entertainment.
The icing on the ThankYou Rewards cake, the Citi Custom Cash® Card earns 5% cashback (issued as 5X ThankYou Points) on the first $500 spent in your top spending category each month. Plus new cardholders will earn $200 (earned as ThankYou Points) after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first 6 months of account opening.
Eligible categories include restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, select travel, select transit, select streaming services, drugstores, home improvement stores, fitness clubs, and live entertainment. That gives cardholders plenty of options to maximize returns on this card.
Related: Citi Custom Cash full review
Leverage the Citi ThankYou Card Trifecta for Top Returns on Spending
With a wallet full of high-earning ThankYou Rewards cards, you're ready to start stacking points for your next adventure. Let's dive into a quick illustration of the points on offer for cardholders.
For example, let's say you spend an average of $450 per month at supermarkets, $300 at restaurants, $150 at gas stations, $250 on air travel and hotels, and $850 on other purchases you can charge to a credit card. (For reference, that's a total of $2k in card spending per month.)
This is how many ThankYou points you could earn if maximized:
- Citi Custom Cash: Earn 5x on groceries = 2,250 points
- Citi Strata Premier: Earn 3x on dining, gas, and travel = 2,100 points
- Citi Double Cash: Earn 2x on other purchases = 1,700 points
- Total: 6,050 points per month
That's over 6,000 points in earnings from $2,000 in spending — an average of over 3x ThankYou Points per dollar spent!
As you can see, racking up points on your everyday spending can quickly add up to a substantial balance of rewards. Even if you just redeem for cash back, you'll earn $726 in cash back each year using this strategy. That's far more than the combined $95 cost to hold all three cards each year — and that's before you factor in these cards' other benefits.
However, your ThankYou Points earnings can be much more valuable when redeemed for travel through Citi transfer partners. Incredible North America Citi sweet spots include JetBlue flights for under 5,000 points, United flights for 6,500 points, and even flights to Hawaii for just 7,500 points. AwardWallet users have redeemed Citi points for an average of 2.18¢ each through transfer partners. But even if you average just 1.5 cents per point in value, your annual return is more than $1,000.
- 10X points per $1 on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked through CitiTravel.com
- 3X points per $1 spent on airfare, and other hotel purchases
- 3X points per $1 spent at gas and EV charging stations
- 3X points per $1 spent on dining at restaurants, including cafes, bars and lounges
- 3X points per $1 spent at supermarkets
- 1X points per $1 spent on all other purchases
- Earn 2% cash back on every purchase—1% when you buy and 1% when you pay. Plus, earn 5% total cash back on hotel, car rentals and attractions booked on the Citi Travel℠ portal through 12/31/25. Citi cash rewards now also convert to ThankYou points at 1:1 ($10 = 100 ThankYou points).
- Earn 5% cash back on purchases in your top eligible spend category each billing cycle, up to the first $500 spent
- 1% cash back thereafter, plus, you'll earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases
- No rotating bonus categories to sign up for – as your spending changes each billing cycle, your earn adjusts automatically when you spend in any of the eligible categories.
- Special Travel Offer: Earn an additional 4% cash back on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked on Citi Travel℠ portal through 6/30/2025.
- Eligible spending categories are: Restaurants, Gas Stations, Grocery Stores, Select Travel, Select Transit, Select Streaming Services, Drugstores, Home Improvement Stores, Fitness Clubs and Live Entertainment.
Who's Eligible for Citi Cards?
These cards all share a base set of application restrictions that apply to all Citi cards:
- Maximum of one (1) personal card per eight days
- No more than two (2) total cards per 65 days
- Maximum one (1) business card per 95 days
In addition to the overall issuer rules, ThankYou Rewards-earning cards also feature one extra restriction: You can't get a bonus on a particular card if you've earned a new account bonus on that same card within the past 48 months. For example, the Citi Strata Premier notes:
Bonus ThankYou® Points are not available if you have received a new account bonus for a Citi Strata Premier® account in the past 48 months.
However, this 48-month rule doesn't restrict you from putting together a trifecta of the Citi Custom Cash, Citi Strata Premier and Citi Double Cash.
Related: Understanding Rewards Credit Card Application Rules and Restrictions
Final Thoughts
The ThankYou Rewards program features excellent transfer partners, and building a high-earning card combo is a piece of cake compared with application restrictions applied by other issuers. On top of new cardmember sign-up bonuses, you'll have top-tier earning rates with these three cards. And you won't pay large annual fees to build this rewards strategy, which makes it even better. You'll be ready for the fun part: learning about the ways to use ThankYou Points.
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.
