Citi Double Cash Card review

The Good

• 2% rewards rate; redeem points for statement credit, check, gift card or savings account
• 0% APR period on balance transfers for a full 18 months
• FICO credit score for free
• No annual fee

The Citi® Double Cash Credit Card is a solid cash back credit card available on the market. The credit card offers 1 percent cash back on purchases and another 1 percent back when all those purchases are paid off. The standard for cash back used to be 1 percent. The Citi® Double Cash Card offers double that rate, paying 1 percent at the front end and 1 percent after paying your bill. You’ll earn the second half of the reward as soon as you pay your balance. We recommend you to pay the credit card bill every month in full to avoid interest.

You’re actually earning double cash back with this card, doing what you already do on every month; paying your bill for making purchases. Moreover, your cash back would not expire, there is no cap on the cash back you may earn and you do not need to enroll in any program for it.

Also, the 0% APR period is 18 months.  Most balance transfer cards only offer a 12 month period, so 18 months is good.

The Bad

• No sign-up bonus
• 0% APR for purchases
• Awards expire if the credit card is not used over 12 months

The rewards of the credit card will be overshadowed by the comparatively high APR If you do not pay the bill in full each month.

The Citi® Double Cash Credit Card is not great for traveling abroad. The highlights are basically U.S. specific, though there are quite a few perks like trip interruption and cancellation protection, worldwide car rental insurance, etc. If you need to travel frequently and prefer the double cash concept for it, securing an additional credit card could come handy. There is also a 3% foreign purchase transaction fee in it.

The Summary

The card is a unique cash back card that allows the cardholders to earn cash back twice on all your purchases, although its cash back structure is somewhat complicated.

The Citi Double Cash card is a good option for the people who want to earn cashback on all purchases without rotating categories as well as for the cardholders who have carried a balance in the past.  That said, we can only recommend it for those who think they will be able to pay their monthly credit card bill in the future.  If not, you should forego any credit card and go with the card that has the lowest rate.  Extra rewards are much less meaningful than paying down your past balance.