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Some Citi credit cards earn cash back while some earn points. However, just because your card earns cash rewards doesn't mean you have to redeem your earnings for cashback. It's possible to convert your cash rewards to points that can then be transferred to airline or hotel partners.
In this article, we'll show you how to convert cash from your Citi® Double Cash Card to transferable ThankYou Points.
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 2% on every purchase with unlimited 1% cash back when you buy, plus an additional 1% as you pay for those purchases.
- 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 19.24% - 29.24% based on your creditworthiness
- Intro fee 3% of each transfer ($5 min) completed within the first 4 months of account opening. After that, 5% of each transfer ($5 min).
- No annual fee
In order for this to work, you need to hold a premium card with Citi. You need something with an annual fee, such as the Citi Premier® Card, Citi Prestige® Card, or Citi Chairman® Card. If you have one of these, the Citi Double Cash effectively earns 2X ThankYou Points per dollar on every purchase. That makes it one of the highest-earning personal rewards cards for non-bonus purchases. It also unlocks the ability to turn your cash back earnings into points that you can transfer to travel partners.
If you only hold the Citi Double Cash, you can still transfer points to JetBlue at a reduced ratio of 1:0.8 ($10 will convert to 800 TrueBlue points), or you could transfer to Sears. Neither of these options present particularly good value.
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How to Link Your Citi Accounts
First things first, you need to link your Citi accounts. This means having your multiple Citi credit cards showing up in one log in and combined in one ThankYou member number.
I run into this problem with every new Citi credit card that I open. So I'm well aware of the process how to link your cards to one ThankYou Member number:
- Online:
- Click on your “Points Summary” on the credit card main page
- This will take you to ThankYou.com to log in
- In the menu, choose “Manage My Account” and then “Combine My Accounts”
- Your accounts will only be eligible here if every single detail matches
- Phone:
- If any detail in your accounts is different (middle initial not showing on one card, etc.) you must call to combine
- Call 1-800-842-6596
Now that your accounts are linked together, you can easily convert your cash earnings to ThankYou Points.
You should note that it's nearly impossible to un-link your cards after this is done. If you want to keep cards separate for any reason, you won't be able to undo this process later on.
After early hiccups in this process when it first launched, it's quite smooth now. I regularly convert my cash rewards earnings to ThankYou Points quickly and easily on Citi's website. This converts cash rewards points to ThankYou Points at a 1:1 ratio, meaning I can transfer points to the full list of ThankYou Rewards airline partners.
Earn 2x ThankYou Points Per Dollar on Non-Bonus Spending
The new transfer/redemption feature doesn’t replace the cashback earning potential of the Citi Double Cash. The option to convert cash earnings to ThankYou Rewards is an added benefit—one that makes the card one of the most lucrative for everyday spending.
For example, if you also hold the Citi Premier, the rewards earned on your Citi Double Cash could potentially be worth:
- 2% cash back — or towards travel through ThankYou.Com (1¢ per point fixed-value)
- 2x fully transferrable ThankYou Points, potentially worth 3+ cents per point if transferred to airline partners for premium cabin rewards
Another benefit that isn’t gaining a lot of press is that it reduces the minimum amount of cash rewards required to redeem your rewards. Historically, one of the biggest gripes with the Citi Double Cash was the $25 minimum in your account before you could redeem them as cash back.
With the new transfer option, the minimum drops to just $1. Provided you have at least $1 in cash rewards in your account, you can now convert this to ThankYou Points. This is excellent news if you need to top off your ThankYou Points balance for a specific redemption.
How to Convert Citi Cash Rewards to ThankYou Points
Converting cash rewards from your Citi Double Cash to ThankYou Points is a one-way process. Transfers are final, so make sure you have a plan to use the points for more than 1 cent each.
Here is how to convert your cash rewards to ThankYou Points online.
1. Access Your Citi Double Cash Account
Log into your Citi online account and click on your Citi Double Cash card to view the details and manage this card. Near the bottom, choose “View/Redeem Cash Rewards”.
2. Convert Cash to Points
On the next screen, you will see the available cash rewards you have. On the credit card image, click on “Convert to Points”.
3. Choose the Amount to Convert
You now see the following screen. Choose how much of your available cash rewards you want to convert to points. There is a $1 minimum, and the maximum is whatever cash rewards you have available.
Transferring the $1 cash minimum will convert to 100 Citi ThankYou Points. There is no annual cap on the number of points you can transfer. Once the points are sitting in your ThankYou account, you can combine them with points earned on your other Citi ThankYou cards.
A Workaround, but a Word of Caution
The above describes how to redeem your Citi cash rewards and turn them into points within your own accounts. After you've done that, you can move points between your own Citi accounts pretty easily, provided they're combined into one log in / one Citi ThankYou account.
There is another way to go about moving your points (not the cash rewards, just the points) if your cards aren't linked in the same ThankYou account. You could “share points” from one of your own accounts to another of your accounts or share to someone else. Citi allows you to send ThankYou Points to any other account, up to 100,000 points per year. Note that transferred points will expire after 90 days.
Thus, you could “share points” to another account as a way to accomplish what you want without linking your accounts together. This could allow you to send points to your spouse or even just from account A to account B if you don't want to combine your multiple credit card accounts in the way we described above. Note that this is possible, but your points expire in 90 days after sharing them. Be ready to use them quickly if you do this.
This type of sharing can accomplish what you want (points all lumped together) and is different than what we are describing in this article: how to convert your own Citi cash rewards into points in your own account, requiring the accounts be linked together.
How Does This Affect Your Credit Card Strategy?
The ability to convert Citi cash rewards to ThankYou Points has catapulted the Citi Double Cash from a fallback card up to the top spot for everyday spending. There is no other personal rewards card earning an uncapped 2x flexible points on non-bonus spending.
The only card that comes close is the The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express. But it’s a business card, and the 2x points are limited to the first $50K spending each year. After that, it earns just 1x.
Where the Blue Business Plus has the Citi Double Cash beat is that it doesn’t require a companion card to execute transfers to partners. It earns fully transferable Membership Rewards points without the need to hold any other cards or pay any annual fee.
For most folks, it’s unlikely that you’ll need more than one everyday spending card, unless you can charge a considerable amount to your cards each month. So, is it worth making the switch from Chase or Amex and focusing your spending strategy on Citi? This largely depends on what cards you already hold in your wallet.
Let's look at a few common card combinations. Say you spend $25K a year on non-bonus expenses, $4K a year on dining, $3K a year on gas, and $5K a year on travel. This is how your rewards would add up, assuming a value of 1.7¢ for each type of points:
Citi Premier® Card and Citi® Double Cash Card
- Non-bonus = 50,000 (2x on the Citi Double Cash)
- Dining = 12,000 (3x on the Citi Premier)
- Gas = 9,000 (3x on the Citi Premier)
- Travel = 14,000 ($4K @ 3x for air travel/hotels on the Citi Premier + $1K @ 2x for other travel purchases on the Citi Double Cash)
- Total = 85,000 points = $1,445.00 @ 1.7¢ per point
- 60,000 point signup bonus worth $800 towards airfare through the ThankYou Travel Center, or potentially much more when transferred to airline partners
- 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 ThankYou.com
- No foreign transaction fees
- $95 annual fee
- 3X points per $1 spent on airfare, hotels, and at gas 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
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 2% on every purchase with unlimited 1% cash back when you buy, plus an additional 1% as you pay for those purchases.
- 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 19.24% - 29.24% based on your creditworthiness
- Intro fee 3% of each transfer ($5 min) completed within the first 4 months of account opening. After that, 5% of each transfer ($5 min).
- No annual fee
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Chase Freedom Unlimited®
- Non-bonus = 37,500 (1.5x on the Freedom Unlimited)
- Dining = 12,000 (3x on the Sapphire Preferred)
- Gas = 4,500 (1.5x on the Freedom Unlimited)
- Travel = 13,000 ($1K @ 5x for travel purchased through Chase and $4K @ 2x for other travel on the Sapphire Preferred)
- Total = 67,000 points = $1,139.00 @ 1.7¢ per point
- Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®.
- Enjoy benefits such as 5x on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, 3x on dining, and 2x on all other travel purchases, and $50 annual Ultimate Rewards Hotel Credit, plus more.
- Get 25% more value when you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises through Chase Ultimate Rewards®. For example, 60,000 points are worth $750 toward travel.
- Count on Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more.
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024.
- Member FDIC
- 5X points on Lyft rides through March 2025
- 5X points on travel purchased through Chase
- 3X points on dining at restaurants worldwide
- 3X points on eligible streaming services
- 3X points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs)
- 2X points on all other travel
- 1X point per dollar spent on all other purchases
- INTRO OFFER: Earn an additional 1.5% cash back on everything you buy (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) - worth up to $300 cash back!
- Enjoy 6.5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, our premier rewards program that lets you redeem rewards for cash back, travel, gift cards and more; 4.5% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service, and 3% on all other purchases (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year).
- After your first year or $20,000 spent, enjoy 5% cash back on Chase travel purchased through Ultimate Rewards®, 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service, and unlimited 1.5% cash back on all other purchases.
- No minimum to redeem for cash back. You can choose to receive a statement credit or direct deposit into most U.S. checking and savings accounts. Cash Back rewards do not expire as long as your account is open!
- Enjoy 0% Intro APR for 15 months from account opening on purchases and balance transfers, then a variable APR of 20.49% - 29.24%.
- No annual fee - You won't have to pay an annual fee for all the great features that come with your Freedom Unlimited® card
- Keep tabs on your credit health, Chase Credit Journey helps you monitor your credit with free access to your latest score, real-time alerts, and more.
- Member FDIC
- Earn 5% on travel purchased through Chase
- Earn 3% on dining at restaurants
- Earn 3% on drugstore purchases
- Earn 1.5% on all purchases
American Express® Gold Card and The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express
- Non-bonus = 50,000 (2x on the Blue Business Plus)
- Dining = 16,000 (4x on the Amex Gold)
- Gas = 6,000 (2x on the Blue Business Plus)
- Travel = 12,500 (averaged out at $2,500 @ 3x for airfare booked direct using the Amex Gold + $2,500 @ 2x on the Blue Business Plus)
- Total = 84,500 points = $1,436.50 @ 1.7¢ per point
- Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $4,000 on eligible purchases with your new Card within the first 6 months of Card Membership.
- Earn 4X Membership Rewards® Points at Restaurants, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S., and earn 4X Membership Rewards® points at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per calendar year in purchases, then 1X).
- Earn 3X Membership Rewards® points on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com.
- $120 Uber Cash on Gold: Add your Gold Card to your Uber account and each month automatically get $10 in Uber Cash for Uber Eats orders or Uber rides in the U.S., totaling up to $120 per year.
- $120 Dining Credit: Satisfy your cravings and earn up to $10 in statement credits monthly when you pay with the American Express® Gold Card at Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com, Milk Bar and select Shake Shack locations. Enrollment required.
- Get a $100 experience credit with a minimum two-night stay when you book The Hotel Collection through American Express Travel. Experience credit varies by property.
- Choose the color that suits your style. Gold or Rose Gold.
- No Foreign Transaction Fees.
- Annual Fee is $250.
- Terms Apply.
- Rates & Fees
- 4X Membership Rewards® Points at restaurants, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S.
- 4X Membership Rewards® points at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per year in purchases, then 1X)
- 3X Membership Rewards® points on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com
- 1X on other purchases
- Earn up to a total of $10 in statement credits monthly when you pay with the Gold Card at Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com, Milk Bar and select Shake Shack locations. This can be an annual savings of up to $120. Enrollment required.
- 0.0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months from the date of account opening, then a variable rate, 18.49% - 26.49%, based on your creditworthiness and other factors at account opening. APR will not exceed 29.99%
- Earn 2X Membership Rewards® points on everyday business purchases such as office supplies or client dinners. 2X applies to the first $50,000 in purchases per year, 1 point per dollar thereafter.
- You've got the power to use your Card beyond its credit limit* with Expanded Buying Power.
- *The amount you can spend above your credit limit is not unlimited. It adjusts with your use of the Card, your payment history, credit record, financial resources known to us, and other factors.
- No Annual Fee
- Terms Apply
- Rates & Fees
- Earn 2X Membership Rewards® points on everyday business purchases such as office supplies or client dinners. 2X applies to the first $50,000 in purchases per year, 1 point per dollar thereafter.
Bear in mind, your annual expenses can differ from what we have listed above, and you may value each rewards' currency higher or lower. It's a good exercise, though.
Calculating the total points you can earn based on your spending patterns is an excellent way of determining the value of the rewards you can accumulate with each card issuer. You should do this based on the cards you hold or are interested in applying for. For example, if you don’t want to pay any annual fees, the Blue Business Plus is a winner, as you don’t need a companion card to transfer points to partners. (Rates & Fees)
Application Strategy and Restrictions
Your application strategy for the Citi Double Cash hinges on whether you already hold one of the companion ThankYou Rewards-earning cards or if you’ve opened or closed one in the previous 24 months. Without a companion card, the Citi Double Cash is effectively still a 2% cash back card. So, getting a premium Citi card is the key to being able to transfer your rewards to partner airlines and hotels.
Citi application rules for premium ThankYou Points-earning cards state:
Bonus ThankYou® Points are not available if you received a new cardmember bonus for Citi Rewards+®, Citi ThankYou® Preferred, Citi ThankYou® Premier/Citi Premier® or Citi Prestige® Card, or if you have closed any of these accounts, in the past 24 months.
If you qualify for the Citi Premier, we recommend getting the premium card before applying for the no-annual-fee Citi Double Cash. The Citi Premier offers a high-value signup bonus of 60,000 after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.
Another way to acquire a Citi Double Cash card, if you don’t want to apply for the card outright, is to downgrade from another personal Citi card. Traditionally, Citi has proven to be the most generous card issuer when it comes to downgrades. Citi allows cardholders to downgrade even co-brand personal cards to the Citi Double Cash.
Downgrading presents several advantages over a new application. This allows you to keep your original credit line and reallocate credit. Plus, it prevents a new card account from showing up on your credit file if you want to limit new accounts due to Chase 5/24 or similar rules.
Our Take
The Citi® Double Cash Card has been one of our benchmark rewards cards since its release, earning 2% cash back on every purchase and charging no annual fee. Despite Citi dropping most of its travel and purchase protection benefits back in 2019, the ability to convert cash rewards to flexible points keeps the Citi® Double Cash Card on our list of top rewards cards for everyday spending.
The Citi Double Cash isn’t the first card to effectively earn 2x transferable points on everyday spending, but it stacks up well against the competition. The Blue Business Plus is a small-business (rather than consumer) card, and it caps 2x earning at $50,000 in annual spend. The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card offers unlimited 2x earning, but points transfers aren't 1:1 to all programs (details here).
Provided you can pair it with a premium ThankYou Rewards card, the Citi Double Cash is a powerhouse rewards card.
However, if you're looking for a simpler, one-card strategy and don't have a business, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card could be a good 2x-earning alternative.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: American Express® Gold Card (Rates & Fees), and The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express (Rates & Fees)
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.
This was my goto card for paying my mortgage using plastiq before plastiq rates went up
Citi Double Cash rewards card is cash no more in March. Received a letter that everything is being converted to points and no cash rewards moving forward (unless you redeem points for something cash-like ie statement credit)
Correct. They will be points but can still be redeemed at 1¢ each as statement credits. The advantage to this is that you won’t need another card to ‘unlock’ the earnings into points.
I had to call to get my TYP accounts for my Premier and Double Cash cards combined. Starting from either account online if I chose to combine accounts the other account was not listed as an account that could be combined. After a fairly painless phone call to the phone number listed in this post my accounts are combined and thankyou.com shows that I can transfer all of my points to any of their travel partners. As other noted before I combined accounts the Double Cash points could only transfer to JetBlue.
Looking into one of the other citi cards now.
I want to experience Singapore Suites on the A380!
Great article – Lots of useful information. Thanks.
I would much rather have the benefits the Double Cash card just eliminated than the ability to have Thank You points or more Thank You points. I wonder what others think? What people think about this may likely affect what they ultimately do.
I have not considered Citi double cash until now
Citi points are vastly underrated in the miles universe. Transfer options such as Avianca, Turkish, Asia miles are great. Since i save AMEX MR for mostly ANA, all my Avianca and Turkish miles come from Citi TY awards! And Citi has transfer bonuses a lot!
This is happening AFTER the Citi Double Cash card discontinued most of its customer-friendly benefits like PriceRewind, Purchase Protection, etc w.e.f. Sept 22 2019
Love the Thank You Rewards program!
I like amex bbp better. don’t need a second card to do transfers!
Wow, many options, and I never heard of the thank you points, thanks for informing ?
I love the simplicity of this card, the 2% cashback process works flawlessly with very little effort on my part, adding thank you points capability
sounds great but it also sounds complicated and something I most likely won’t do, for me it, really depends how simple the program is to utilize.
No doubt, cashback will almost always be simpler than point programs, primarily because you mostly don’t have to make redemption decisions or watch offers. But, as you probably know, that doesn’t mean cashback has the most value.
2% and now this – every little bit helps
I am looking at the Citi Double Cash Back card. Their partners to transfer to are not tempting to me, however, the 2% cash back is.
I love my Chase cards and Amex MR therefore will stay with them. 2% is SO tempting! argh!
I selected to get the TYPs on my 2 DC cards the other day. I was surprised to see a separate TYP number for each of them, showing my Premier & Sears under the oldest number with my TYP balance and a separate line for each DC with a separate number. Called to get the 2 DC cards under the 1st number, Philippines was of no help, India was of no help, asked for an American TYP person and WALA!!!
Now all of the points will go into the same TYP bucket. I figured its better to link them now than try to transfer or combine later.
Great news. Finally something good at Citi.
Thank you. It’s a way for me to use the less than $25 redemption threshold rewards I have since I switched to using the Bank of America cash reward and Premium Rewards cards for higher cash rewards when you have Platinum Honors.
great info. thanks
I think you mean this card shot up to one of the best travel cards when this was announced but then went back down when all the travel protections were done away with.
Very cool. Now it makes me want to get a Double Cash card again. I had one that they cancelled a couple months ago while I was out of the country. I just private messaged Citi and asked if they could transfer the points I had left on the double cash card to Thank You points. Sadly they said no. I’ll try calling and seeing what they can do.
good news for combing points!!! thankyou.
I have been using my CSR for every day spend. I may now get the CITI Double Cash for every day spend.
This is an enhancement that actually benefits customers! Makes getting citi cards much more compelling.
This is great news for the Citi afficionados but I think I would be spreading myself too thin if I tried to add this to my Chase and Amex trifectas. Good to know the options.
I like to use this card strictly as a 2% cash back card. Adding thank you points capability is fine, but I hope they don’t loss the 2% cash back in the upcoming future.
This is insane.
2 miles per dollar on every purchase that doesn’t belong to a bonus category on the ThankYou cards is surreal.
yes its pretty good
Great idea if you’re ready to spend those membership Rewards!
Great news, but I’d be more excited if Citi had better transfer partners.
Same here. I know you can book partner stuff but having some better carriers is a must.
And these TY points earned through the CDC card have no restrictions, correct? That is to say, these TY point are then transferable to travel partners? I read somewhere speculation partner transfers might be restricted.
Provided you hold a Citi Premier, Citi Prestige, or Citi Chairman card, you can transfer points to all partners once combined. You can convert Double Cash Rewards to TYP without a premium TYP card, but you can only transfer to Sears and JetBlue (at a reduced transfer ratio) unless you hold one of the cards mentioned previously.
That’s the beautiful of being a big spender 🙂