Best Citi Credit Cards of October 2019

Citi (or technically, Citibank) is the fourth largest commercial bank in the U.S. It also issues more than a dozen credit cards, some under the Citi brand and others through co-branded partnerships with merchants like Costco and American Airlines.

Citi is known for its cash back and long promotional APR card offers, but the bank also issues several travel rewards and business cards. You’ll need at least good credit to qualify for most Citi credit cards. However, if you’re new to credit, or rebuilding it, Citi does have secured and student credit card options. 

Citi ThankYou Rewards is the bank-branded program for several Citi credit cards: Citi Rewards+ Card, Citi Rewards+ Student Card, Citi Premier Card, and the Citi Prestige Card.

When you use one of those cards, you’ll earn a set number of points per dollar spent. The earning rate will depend on the card, but you’ll earn at least 1 point per dollar spent, and more on spending in categories that may include groceries, gas, or travel purchases. 

Citi ThankYou points are typically worth about 1 cent each and can be redeemed for:

• Travel purchases like flights, rental car, and hotel reservations
• Gift cards
• Cash back
• Shop or pay with points at participating online retailers, like Amazon and Best Buy
• Online bill payments
• Charity donations

ThankYou points can be transferred to partner loyalty programs, such as Jet Blue’s TrueBlue program, and the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.

Citi is phasing out many of its credit card perks, beginning September 22, 2019. It will discontinue many common travel and shopping benefits, such as trip cancellation and interruption insurance, baggage delay and lost baggage insurance, and lowest-purchase-price guarantees via Citi Price Rewind. Exact changes will vary based on the card, so reach out to Citi directly for more information about your account. 

Citibank customer service is just OK, according to J.D. Power’s 2018 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study. The bank ranked sixth among 11 major card issuers, scoring 797 on a 1,000-point scale, slightly below the industry average score of 801. 

However, as a Citi cardholder, you will have some useful service benefits, such as free access to your FICO score online and via the Citi mobile app, a 24/7 customer service phone line, and a secure, online portal where you can chat with a customer service representative. 

At The Balance, we're committed to giving you unbiased, comprehensive credit card reviews. To do this, we collect data on hundreds of cards and score more than 55 features that affect your finances.

About This List

The Balance team created this best card list using the same evaluation process used to score our best overall card rankings, but focused solely on cards issued by Citi (though we excluded co-branded airline cards from this round-up). We re-evaluate this list on a monthly basis, or when there are major changes to Citi's credit card offerings.

What We Score

We consider low APRs, big sign-up offers, valuable rewards, and minimal fees some of the best card qualities, and our scoring model reflects this. Our full methodology includes further detail about how we evaluate credit card attributes.