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)
“You fail to mention that your money is held hostage for a full year where it’s not with other cards.”
“Case in point. I have two Citi cards with 100k limits. I recently applied for a Diamond Preferred to do a balance transfer. Approved. For $500.”
“Another offer: 1500 Thank you points ($15) for 750 spending or 3000 Thank you points for 1500 spending. It is really nothing.”
“I imagine it will be treated as a new CSP if you product change back to it with the 4:3 for Hyatt.”
“You dont get card specific offers (but there are extremely few anyway). The other points are correct. Idk why you just wouldn't PC VX into V1 or Savor. And also the spark cash is just a higher SUB for churning now.”
“Yes I used the splurge on AA. The lounge passes I didn’t get a chance to use. Most of my travel is international and I get lounges from my status with oneworld”
“wait they offered you the other citi strata cards? because my af fee posted last week and it was only the citi aa cards and att card”
“AF came up this week and asked about what downgrade paths were available and unfortunately it was only ATT card of some sort that earns TY points or American Airlines cards. Was hoping custom cash would still be available but was not. Guess it’s really toast. As for the strata elite… just didn’t find good value in it. I still hold the Citi Prestige and it’s just a way better daily earner. That Blacklane credit was mostly useless. Edit: I was not offered any strata cards. Meant to say AA. s”
“Damn. That’s the old school Chase design. But I feel you, OP. I have the Amazon Prime card in the Whole Foods design, but in Apple Wallet is’t the default design image.”
“Yes, close the Citi account once the fraud is resolved. Freeze your credit at all three bureaus immediately if you haven't already. File a report through the FTC's identity theft site documenting the full timeline, including the fraudulent site, the card compromises, and the impersonation call. That creates a federal record that supports every dispute going forward. Looks like someone has enough of your personal information to impersonate you convincingly with Citi's verification pro”
“Did they? Oh, I converted like a week after though. Guess I got lucky. Scratch that then. Just stick with double cash and strata”
“It’s back up. I did a product change today from the Cash Rewards to More Rewards”
“Yep. I have a trio of Citi Custom Cash cards, which I am milking as long as I'm allowed.”
Finally canceled mine after last year, it was too much to keep up with.
“I picked up premier last spring and did combine points but confusing datapoints .. some say you gotta burn all CSE points even ya downgrade it to ATT. Others say it’s good and won’t lose anything”
“Both my WF Active Cash and P2 who has her own account get an invalid CVV error when trying to verify our cards with Paze. Anyone else run into this? submitted by /u/phycodes [link] [comments]”
“Was SYW a different card than it is now or it just used to be a Citi card and now isn't?”
“A few of the Citi cards such as the Citi Strata Premier and a few of the Citi AAdvantage cards (MileUp, Platinum Select) still have Citi’s older two year flat extended warranty benefit on eligible purchases. Other Citi cards (Double Cash, Strata Elite, AAdvantage Globe) also have a extended warranty benefit, but the newer version offered only offers up to two years of additional coverage depending on the original manufacturer warranty, matching the length of the original warranty up to two years”
“Interestingly, Google Gemini says a glitch sometime appears on the Strata Premier product page offering an upgrade to the Prestige, but no one has ever successfully product changed the Premier into Prestige: The "Strata Premier" FAQ Anomaly Credit forums like Doctor of Credit and Frequent Miler have tracked a bizarre IT quirk or unannounced policy. The official landing page for the Citi Strata Premier has occasionally displayed an FAQ stating: "To see if you are eligible to upgrad”
“The American card isn’t. I know people talk about having to apply for the card are the UAE and Singapore versions. I don’t know what perks there are for those countries”
“Thank you ! I did as you suggested and 12 hours after I activated my new replacement card I got an email from Citi that my card was added to PAZE . Every other bank has a button to add the digital wallet to Paze if you delete by accident. Citi should be ashamed of themselves with crummy IT. The CSR’s when I called before going down the rabbit hole kept thinking I said make a payment and hung up multiple times when I tried to get customer service to re sync the token or whatever pushes it to Paze”
“When I first got credit cards I got a Discover secured card and graduated it to the Discover It Cash back. At the same time I got a Citi secured card and graduated it to the Citi Double Cash. I'm not aware if there's differences in their secured offerings but I feel like you should be able to.”
“Hi everyone! Has anyone ever graduated a Citi Diamond secure card to then product change to a card like Double Cash so as to avoid having Diamond Preferred? Is that even possible? Thanks for taking the time to read! submitted by /u/Repulsive_Salad_3274 [link] [comments]”
“I would try like hell to get it. Still got mine after all these years and it’s such an incredible earner. When my Strata Elite AF pops up I’ll happily cancel.”
“The annual fee just posted on my Citi Strata Elite, so I contacted customer service to change it to a more useful card. I wanted to convert to Strata Premier. They only offered me cards I already have, so that part of the conversation was useless. I told the agent what I would really want most is Citi Prestige, but joked that it's not an option any more. He said that it was possible for some people to convert a card to the Citi Prestige, but would not tell me what cards converted to it. Has”
I don’t yet but looks like I’ll just have to go for it to find out.
“Ya, it could very well have been wrong for me.. I did ask him specifically, “do I get $100 per month for a total of $300.” He said yes but didn’t seem too confident. I’ll check again tomorrow, because $100 for $6k spend is poor”
“I just got this card 1 month ago on old offer. Anyone have experience getting them to adjust?”
“No AF but I also checked on product changing and that’s not available. I’m not opposed to closing it, for some reason I was under the impression that you should not close accounts.”
“You would pay two transfer fees plus a potential interest hit on the Citi card if you’re already carrying a balance there.”
“Lol. You don't lose all of it. It's locked for a time period and you can redeem it later. OP, just why? To help with pre-commitment to long term goals... Most people abandon their goals if they have nothing at stake. It's a problem I noticed I personally had. If the idea is so bad, why are people signing up tho?”
“I’ve had a Capital one platinum with a 2k limit since May. This was my first ever credit card and they have just offered me a QS product change but I really want a Savor. They gave me until Oct 11 to decide so I was trying to see whether it would be better to take the QS and wait for another product change or let it expire to see if they offer me the savor. submitted by /u/DxrkkVixen [link] [comments]”
“I had this with a hotel booking, got the credit and then a full refund, and the credit just sat there for weeks. It did eventually disappear but it took longer than I expected. Maybe they batch process the reversals or something.”
“Thank you. I've never had a card "retired" by Amex. Would I automatically be moved to the new version?”
“Hi all, I'm considering applying for the Citi Strata Elite and wanted to ask about approval difficulty. My last new card was an Amex Hilton about four months ago. I'm not applying right away, maybe end of this year or early 2027, but would love feedback. Also, for those who have the card, how easy is it to add an authorized user? Did Citi require any extra verification or proof of address? Thanks. submitted by /u/Designer_Pressure609 [link] [comments]”
“I got the platinum invite, but have no interest after seeing the "benefits" and discovering this sub. The main thing that caught my interest though was the 4x of my credit limit. I LOVE my gold card, but they only gave me a $10k limit on it and they won't increase it. I have had it about 4 months now, pay it off weekly, and have 820 credit score. Anyone else having this issue?”
“Is there anyway on Citi's website to check the status of my intro offer to see where I am on it and to verify the spend requirement? I can't seem to find one in plain site so I'm wondering if its hidden somewhere. submitted by /u/Avder42 [link] [comments]”
“The changes revamped potential market for the CSR. It used to be a good card for people who lived anywhere with easy redemptions and nice bonuses if you go to big metros. Now it's a card for people who live in big metros. We don't live in a big city, but one of the reasons why we dropped the CSR after the updates was because it lost the easy redemptions. If you didn't want to play the transfer partner game, you could still get 4.5% equiv. in the portal with the 1.5x multiplier. They&”
“Citi implemented this convoluted 2% cash back redemption method of 1% when you buy, 1% when you pay because they were one of the first, if not the first bank to introduce a 2% cash back credit card. Since then however, other banks have come out with their own 2% cash back credit cards which is just a flat 2% cash back with no hoops to jump through. When TD Bank introduced their own TD Double Cash 2% cash back credit card, they initially mirrored Citi's 1% when you buy, 1% when you pay redemp”
“The delta between the cash back and the CC surcharge should be small. I still prefer the CC as 'insurance'. With BofA PRE at 2.625%, it's a pretty small gap.”
“great news - thanks for the heads up, my statement just generated was able to redeem $22.88 without issue”
“Is that true with a conversion from another checking account? Or only for a new checking account?”
“Oh it does seem like CS has an 80k offer. Looks like I missed 150k by 6 weeks. Oh well. Yea I opened up a Blue Biz Plus Card before I closed down the vanilla biz plat a while a back. I think I'll just go the CS plat route.”
“Where do you see the Citi Double Cash bonus tracker? On my Chase Sapphire Preferred I see "Spend $3,xxx by Oct. xx to earn 100,000 bonus points." Similar to OP, I am pretty sure I saw, upgrade from Citi Diamond Preferred to Double Cash and get $150 in statements credits for $500 spend.”
“Same thing happened to me. So glad to hear I'm not the only one lol Sadly I doubt we get to keep this money...”
“The Citi Double Cash is (or at least in 2015 was) profitable for Citi , likely in part due to its 1%+1% earning structure. That said, Fidelity subsidizes its 2% card - perhaps because Fidelity doesn't issue the card itself, but rather engages Elan (U.S. Bank) to issue and manage the card, and Elan naturally expects to earn a profit for its services. So 2% is likely barely profitable for an issuer who issues and manages the card in-house, which I imagine is why we haven't seen more issuer”
“Idk if I’m tripping, but I feel like I am missing my welcome offer after getting the Citi double cash card. I got a prequalified offer in the mail around January 2026 for the Citi double cash card and I’m 95% sure it said $200 welcome bonus after spending $1500 in the first 6 months. I spent well over that amount in the first 6 months but never got the bonus. Called customer service and they said the offer never existed. Did I mess up somewhere during the signup process? submitted by”
Then ask for the line of credit to be moved to the one you want to keep.
“I was offered $100 statement credit on $2k+ spend per month over three months. Wonder if this is a good offer. I have not decided on product change (AA MileUP was the only option) or keeping it. What's your thought? submitted by /u/Po_TN [link] [comments]”
“The beauty of the C1 setup is being able to transfer the cash back from the Savor into points on the Venture. You don't get that benefit if you get something from another bank.”
“Thanks for that info. The rep I spoke to yesterday prob didn't know that. Citi is inconsistent like that. I will check again after January 2027.”
“Well, just so you know.. they told me that none of them can be converted until January of 2027. At least that is the story that I was told today LOL”
“I always record my application showing the offer and its terms until i get my SUB for this exact reason. I've read at least 2 other instances similar to yours and the recs are: 1. Email the CEO, as they have a team to handle issues. 2. File a CBFP complaint and hope for the best.”
I transferred 55k points I had left to southwest and will cancel it.
“Was just discussing this with my wife as she has the card and the annual fee hits next month. Choice just isn’t our hotel chain of choice and it’s seriously hit or miss on property quality. Even still after thinking about it, 30k points a year for 95 bucks helps out when you’re desperate enough to need a room there. I’m on the fence to keep it or dump it.”