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The Citi Rewards+® Card offers cardholders the ability to earn 2X points at supermarkets and gas stations (on up to $6,000 per year, then 1X points). But there are other features of this card you might not know about, such as its Mastercard perks, 0 percent introductory APR offer for purchases and balance transfers and many ways to earn additional rewards.
Whether you’re considering the Citi Rewards+ or already have it and want to maximize its benefits, it’s helpful to know everything available to you.
Citi Rewards+ Card benefits
No annual fee
One of the great features of this card is that you can earn rewards on your everyday spending without having to justify the cost of an annual fee. This means there’s no need to strategize your spending to cover the cost of card membership. When you’ve got a no-annual-fee card, simply using it to earn rewards will net a lot of value for you. However, be sure to pay your balance off each month so you avoid interest fees.
Welcome bonus
Another nice benefit of this card is the welcome bonus. You can earn 20,000 bonus points after spending $1,500 in purchases within three months of account opening. These points can be redeemed for $200 in gift cards at ThankYou.com.
0% intro APR offer
The Citi Rewards+ card offers a 0 percent intro APR for 15 months after account opening on both purchases and balance transfers. After your intro period ends, you’ll have a 17.24 percent to 27.24 percent variable APR.
If you decide to take advantage of the balance transfer offer, you’ll pay an intro balance transfer fee of 3 percent (minimum $5) on each transfer completed within the first four months after account opening. After the first four months have passed, a balance transfer fee of 5 percent (min. $5) applies.
Rewards on gas and grocery spending
Earning rewards is where you can really maximize the value of this card. The rewards structure offers 2X points on groceries and gas stations, with a limit of $6,000 in combined spending on those categories per year. Once you reach the limit for these spending categories, you’ll earn 1X points per dollar spent. All other purchases earn 1X points.
Many ways to redeem rewards
The Citi Rewards+ card accrues “basic” ThankYou points, which means you can’t transfer points to Citi airline and hotel partners (which is a more valuable redemption option). However, you can still use basic Citi ThankYou points to book travel through the Citi portal, and you’ll get a value of 1 cent per point. Other redemption options include gift cards, shopping with points at select merchants (like Amazon and BestBuy) and cash back (as a statement credit).
The best way to redeem your points is for gift cards or travel since both options provide 1 cent per point in value. Other redemption options, like shopping with points or cash back, net less than 1 cent per point in value.
Round-up feature
The Citi Rewards+ card offers a unique way to earn more rewards in the form of a round-up feature that allows you to round up the points you earn to the nearest 10 points. So if you make a $2 purchase, you’ll earn 10 points instead of 2 points. A purchase for $43 would round up to 50 points.
Note that your gas and grocery purchases will only round up after the 2X rate is applied. So, $64 of groceries would earn 128 points, which would then be rounded up to 130 points.
Annual redemption bonus
Every year, you’ll receive 10 percent of your points back on the first 100,000 points you redeem. If you max out this benefit, you could earn up to 10,000 points back, which is worth $100 in gift cards. Note that this benefit doesn’t apply to sharing points.
Mastercard benefits
You’ll qualify for select Mastercard benefits depending on your credit limit. Standard Mastercard credit cards have perks like $0 liability on unauthorized purchases and identity theft protection services.
Citi Entertainment
Citi Entertainment is a perk offered to all Citi cardholders. You’ll get access to presale tickets and exclusive experiences for concerts, sporting events, dining experiences and more.
How to maximize the Citi Rewards+ Card
If you want to get as much value as possible from this card, here are some tips that will help:
- Use your card for gas and grocery spending.
- Use your card for small purchases to take advantage of the round-up feature.
- If you have high-interest debt, take advantage of the balance transfer feature to pay off your debt.
- Redeem points for gift cards and other redemption options worth 1 cent per point.
- Pair this card with a premium Citi card (or go for a Citi card trifecta). With a premium Citi card, you can pool all of your points together and transfer them to Citi travel partners. This option provides a higher redemption value of up to 1.9 cents per point.
The bottom line
The Citi Rewards+ Card offers a number of respectable benefits for a no-annual-fee card, including rewards on grocery and gas station spending. Although the card’s bells and whistles are minimal, you can still get enough perks to justify getting (or keeping) the card.
