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How to get maximum value out of your Citi Double Cash ThankYou points

Emily Thompson
Articles
Emily Thompson is a credit cards writer. Prior to joining TPG, she was a teacher who used points and miles to travel on a budget. Now, she uses her teaching skills to help make credit cards accessible for everyone, regardless of their goals or experience.
Aug. 18, 2022
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5 min read
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When you’re looking for the best return on your credit card purchases, you have two primary earning categories: points/miles-earning cards or cash-back cards.

One of the best cash-back cards around is the Citi® Double Cash Card (see rates and fees), Despite having no annual fee, you can earn a solid 2% cash back on all purchases — 1% at the time of purchase and another 1% when you pay your balance.

Let's have a look at the hack to get you maximum value out of the ThankYou points you earn on your Double Cash card.

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How to maximize points earned on the Citi Double Cash Card

The Citi Double Cash card has always been marketed as a cash-back card, but in March 2022, Citi announced that the card would earn rewards in the form of ThankYou points.

You can still redeem these ThankYou points for cash back or gift cards, but you can also now redeem them for travel by shopping through the Citi travel portal or by transferring them to three of Citi's transfer partners: JetBlue TrueBlue, Wyndham Rewards and Choice Privileges.

(Screenshot from thankyou.com)

However, if you also have the Citi Premier Card (see rates and fees) or the Citi Prestige Card (no longer available to new applicants), your ThankYou points are even more valuable, because you can transfer them to the full range of Citi's transfer partners. Holding one of these cards unlocks additional loyalty programs, including Aeromexico, Etihad Guest, and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. It also increases the redemption value for JetBlue TrueBlue, Wyndham Rewards and Choice Privileges.

The information for the Citi Prestige has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

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Similar to transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards points from your Chase Freedom Unlimited to your Chase Sapphire Preferred card in order to take advantage of Chase travel partners, you can combine your ThankYou points from multiple cards to reap maximum benefits.

Even better, combining your ThankYou points is very simple. While Chase requires you to transfer your points from one card to another, Citi allows you to simply combine all of your ThankYou points into the same account.

(Screenshot from citi.com)

Related: Credit card showdown: Citi Double Cash vs. Chase Freedom Unlimited

Once your ThankYou points are combined, you can use redeem them for the full list of redemption options on any of your Citi ThankYou cards.

An example

If you have the Citi Premier Card or the Citi Prestige Card, the additional transfer partners will appear on your ThankYou redemption page. If you have 20,000 ThankYou points, for example, holding one of these cards allows you to transfer them to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, where you can use them to fly from the Northeastern U.S. to the U.K. during the standard season, according to their redemption table.

Additionally, while you can transfer your ThankYou points to Wyndham Rewards without holding one of these cards, holding one of them increases your transfer value by 20%.

(Screenshot from citi.com)

Something to keep in mind

Note that even though your ThankYou points all show up together on your account when you combine them, Citi keeps track of which points you earned with which card. If you cancel one of your cards, the points associated with that account will expire within 60 days of your cancelation. If you plan to cancel a card, make sure to redeem those points quickly enough to avoid losing them.

Bottom Line

The Citi Double Cash Card is one of the top everyday credit cards due to its 2% (or 2 ThankYou Points) earn rate on all purchases. TPG values ThankYou points at 1.8 cents each, meaning this card effectively gets a 3.6% return on all purchases.

You can get even more value from the ThankYou points you earn on your Double Cash card if you also hold a Premier or Prestige card.

Official application link: Citi® Double Cash Card

Additional reporting by JT Genter and Joseph Hostetler.

Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.