Citi Custom Cash Rewards Are Changing and Nobody Knows What's Next
Customers are experiencing frustration and uncertainty due to frequent changes, denials, and potential discontinuation of Citi credit card products and rewards programs. This includes difficulties with point coding, product change restrictions, approval denials, and concerns about tax implications and long-term viability of rewards.
SOURCES (60)
“Right now it seems to only be kroger, I haven't Seen any dp on other branded cards being moved over and I’ve received nothing on my Harris Teeter. But likely they are doing one brand at a time starting with Kroger. All the stores are…”
“Can I PC if I apply for a new card right now or does it have to be a card I've had a 1 year+ ?”
“That's a great setup as long as you're ok with the BILT credits. I didn't know you could still downgrade to Citi Custom Cash, which was a great move. Technically you're still earning ThankYou points at a 70% transfer ratio. You could think of it as 3.5X with a 5% cash option.”
“I have a Kroger (Ralphs) card, and a Smartly v1 card. Have been reading the posts where people are getting letters stating their Kroger cards are being converted to a Smartly. I received a different notice today, hardcopy via USPS, dated 7/15. (nothing online) The letter I received simply says they are closing my Kroger card effective July 29, and no conversion is offered. Reason: "product no longer offered" I am assuming that because I already have a Smartly card, they are not going t”
It's on your thank you account. It's not officially a transfer partner yet
“Every credit card company apparently needs a portal. I don't know who benefits more - the banks or the guys who run the back end of these portals. I don't think consumers are winning.”
“Edit: I just had a 30 min long convo with the CSA rep after being transferred around someone was able to combine my Citi points. Also try this website: https://online.citi.com/US/nga/link-unlink”
“Still Custom Cash, it’s always been slow to update with product changes though. Seeing as others that have commented so far haven’t experienced the same, it’s likely and hopefully just a glitch.”
“Definitely, it’s not only the image but also the cards details as it now shows as a “Citi Strata” in the Wallet. What I’m wondering is if this could be a foreshadowing of a change to come as its future is unknown, and if others have had the same occur on their mobile wallets.”
“It would be much easier to check the citi app than relying on an incorrect image on apple wallet.”
“I have the Harris Teeter card and I just called to PC it. the CSR said there is no option to "upgrade" (the term they used) b/c I will receive a replacement to the co-branded card. I didn't get a notification on the web, but they said I will get a letter about it. Seems like it's too late to PC. I'm worried that if I get another Smartly, it might affect my v1 Smartly.”
“When you product changed to the CCR, were you able to get 6% for the first year or did you get stuck with 3% only?”
“Keep in mind the WF Active Cash & Citi Double Cash have FTF and limited to no purchase protections.”
“Title. Did anyone reach their anniversary and get any offer ? submitted by /u/ded_diabolical [link] [comments]”
“I keep the OG Freedom for secondary backup of Quarterly 5% Categories when it is for Gas, & the sporadic Warehouse Club Category if it hits. I use that for Costco since it is a Visa. When other categories I have a secondary 5% Quarterly card if I maxed out my Flex. Right now I have been using the OG for Gas at Costco this Quarter but now I switched to Amazon Prime since that for this quarter is giving 9% CB for Groceries, Gas, & Restaurants up to $1K spend and since it s a Visa I switche”
“Just got this email as well, was never expecting to see the day honestly. I wonder if this is in response to Citi making their AT&T Points Plus Card a no FTF card not to long ago.”
“I'm removing my husband as an authorized user on my 9-month-old Citi Custom Cash because it's bringing down his accounts age and has very high utilization; I don't want it dropping his score, as he has old account age with big credit lines and ~3% utilization without it. This is the warning it threw up: https://postimg.cc/HVvxb107 As you can see, Citi cards belonging to an authorized user stay active even after the user is removed. They're active until they expire. This is import”
“If you would like to post the screenshot of your Citi chat, you can go to https://imgur.com/ to upload the screenshot and then edit the body of your Reddit post and paste the link there.”
“And this is exactly why I only hold the CSR and AMEX Gold. I like to keep things simple.”
“I started with the venture x. Now that I’m locked out of the venture due to their new rules, and I have barely any points left with them, I’ll probably jump ship next renewal. I get the same partners with Amex and I can earn MR more frequently with subs.”
“I know you said no AF, so strictly that would be the Citi Double Cash or WF active cash However I would highly recommend the Citi Double Cash paired with Citi Strata Premier. It has fantastic every day earning categories and when the thank you points are pooled with a double cash card, the cash back redemption rate, double cash rate takes precedence”
“Currently have CFU + Amex Gold (Delta). Solid credit, not worried about a new inquiry. The elevated bonus is part of why the timing works, but that's not the actual question. I want to know if CSP is worth holding long-term for what I actually plan to use it for. Context: Getting married in ~1 year, then law school right after My priority is Chase UR points, specifically for Hyatt transfers. We do a lot of hotel-heavy travel I have zero interest in CSR. The $550 fee doesn't make sense fo”
“Hope this is allowed, just wanted to add this as a data pont for anyone googling in the future since I wasn't able to find anything and had to test it myself and just pray. When buying Disney and Universal tickets through WorkingAdvantage it gets coded as entertainment and you get the bonus for it. I'm not sure if all purchases through them get coded that way since they sell a lot of other stuff, but these do at least. Big relief because I'm told that Undercover Tourist codes as trav”
“It makes me wonder if JetBlue is cracking down on transfer rates, in Citibank opted to just remove it from their lesser cards. I remember Chase getting rid of Emirates because they wanted to do 1:1 and Emirates said no or something like that. (Emirates points aren’t even good lol.) I mean, if I were JetBlue I’d get sick of Amex 1:0.8 and C1 1:0.6.”
“I need help. I keep getting offers for "Earn $50 Back on a purchase of a new eligible wireless plan of $65 or more", and my AT&T account can't keep up. I have four Citi Custom Cash cards, and they keep getting this offer every two months, and it always works. I've done it on cards from Chase and Amex too, though the offer didn't work for US Bank. My AT&T Fiber balance is -$355, and they don't let you make more payments if it's over $300. I wait for the day t”
“Sorry for the random reply to your comment, but I’m curious…did your tracker show up after some time? I’m in the same boat and wondering if I should call Citi.”
“All of a sudden my chase cards disappeared from Paze checkout except C1 and Citi. Also double checked my chase app via digital wallets and currently shows no cards eligible for Paze. Wtheck??? submitted by /u/Cool_Guest6597 [link] [comments]”
“I went in this morning to see if I was able to product change my Citi Strata Premier over to the Citi Custom Cash as I've seen that has worked for some people. Looks like this is no longer an option and they discontinued even the conversion option. Not sure if this has already been posted at some point but figured I'd share my experience of my final effort to get the Custom Cash. (I've also got a screenshot of chat with the Citi representative but was unable to attach it to this post”
“Public offer is 80k but 3.5k spend. The link to the inflight offer only showing 65k/1k spend. Anyone knows how or when the inflight changes to 80k?.”
Iirc, the Reserve does include United Club access, which the CSR does not.
“Yes but if they are not coded as being paid with Paze you won’t receive the 11x points and it won’t trigger the $10 credit. Thats why people are concerned and calling chase to have the transactions coded correctly.”
“I can't manually add either. I tried contacting citi support but they just added a note to my account to enroll into paze. Looks like only select citi card holders get access to paze. Is this happening to anyone else as well? It's the custom cash card. submitted by /u/Cookeh1204 [link] [comments]”
“It's mostly the Hyatt deval getting the negative attention. And ill admit that may impact me more than any of the positive changes. It does force me to decide if I'm transferring my Chase points to Hyatt before October or pivot to another partner. For people who don't really use Hyatt though the changes are arguably good”
“Did your Costco Citi card linked automatically when you set it up? For some reason, mine doesnt but my other two citi cards show up.”
“Those protections only apply if it’s used as a credit. If you use it as debit those don’t apply.”
“https://imgur.com/a/xZO1jQZ the $454 has not change since I redeemed my points”
“One reason is if you don't have a Citi AA card and will not be having organic AA point activity very often. The AA points expire after 24 months if not a cardholder and no account activity... even AA shopping portal works but need to have some activity every 24 mo.”
“That was generally my plan. Accumulate points for 2 years then open another premier to do the transfer again.”
“remember the promos on those citi cards were no interest on balance transfers, not purchases. i got the citi double cash around same time (had same promo as custom cash) and ran into same issue; and realized it was 0% only on balance transfers.”
“I was approved for the Citi Custom Cash in March 2026. I am now getting charged interest for purchases. I called customer support and they are telling me I don't have the 0% APR as part of my sign up bonus. It was one of the main reasons I got the card.I do not have the email or welcome packet from when I signed up. Do I have any path forward or do I just have to accept it. submitted by /u/Under_abundance [link] [comments]”
“Just to report back on this topic. Though it took forever - the Credit Card (in my case Frontier Airlines - Barkleys MC) did finally post. So I managed to get the points on the CC and paydown my HELOC at same time. Just got AAdvantage Card (that says it will be MC) and will do the same thing. Now if I could do this with Amex and Chase I would consider other airline/travel cards. I just can't fathom making $3000 or more in CC charges in even 3 months!”
“Has anyone used the Citi strata elite card for the Nexus Trusted traveler program and received the credit? submitted by /u/IntelligentCable9520 [link] [comments]”
“From what I have seen, every bank devalues points redeemed for purchases. As I said just the other day I'm another thread, the rare times I check out with my Citi double cash at a store like CVS or Walmart, I want to throw something when the offer to "use 1250 point for $10 off your bill" pops up. And I'm sure they do it because a lot of people aren't paying any attention or can't do basic math.”
“Thank you for clicking on my post. I need your advice! I have about 90,000 1.25x grandfathered points and 3,600 normal points in CSP. I double-dipped all the new anniversary benefits, and I want to downgrade to get a refund on the annual fee. Questions: What is the best thing to do with my points before I downgrade? Try to use 1.25x points in the Chase travel portal? Should I just move it to CSR even if I lose 1.25x and transfer points to partners later? What should I downgrade to? Should I just”
“Why are you calling anyone to do this ? Are your cards pooled ? If they are just do it yourself on the website.”
“Try calling again later today. Sometimes it's just the agent being misinformed or lazy. I did this in Monday and it worked fine, but these things change without notice all the time.”
“Hey! Did they stop the points transfer in order to transfer out 1:1 with the custom cash. I called today and she said they no longer allow it. Should I try a different agent or is this something that is a new rule. submitted by /u/Cow26W [link] [comments]”
“I think this is possible based on previous DPs. https://www.reddit.com/r/CreditCards/comments/1payoup/product_changed_alaska_atmos_ascent_to_unlimited/ https://www.reddit.com/r/CreditCards/comments/1s2yixi/product_changing_atmos_ascent_to_no_af_bofa_ccr/”
“Does anyone know the maximum number of authorized users allowed on this card?” submitted by /u/CollarNo1197 [link] [comments]”
“Is it 10$ for ten times per qualifying credit card or just 10 transactions for every paze account? I have several cards that show up when using the paze checkout. submitted by /u/datplayer999 [link] [comments]”
“Custom cash is definitely a hack. I still prefer transferable currencies but I get why those zero AF cards work well.”
“Hey everyone, I applied for the Citi Double Cash card after getting pre-qualified. After submitting my application I didn’t get an instant approval or denial. It says: “Your application is under review. We may contact you via text message or voice call within the next 48 hours so we can continue processing your application. If we’re unable to reach you, we’ll contact you in approximately 7–10 days via mail or email.” For anyone who got this same message: What ended up happening? Approved or deni”
“Lots to unpack here. You said you want to get the VX at some point. You also say you want no AF cards. So, the thing is you are in perfect state for getting the VX, however, if you get more cards it will get harder to get the VX later as you know already. So, it's a decision you need to make.”