Citi Double Cash

The Citi Double Cash is the 2% yardstick every other cash-back card is measured against. It pays 1% when you buy and 1% when you pay, on everything, with no categories to track and no rotating calendars. Because the rate is flat and unconditional, it has become the reference point reviewers use to judge whether any other flat-rate card is actually worth carrying. It is issued by Citi on the Mastercard network and is aimed at applicants with good credit, roughly 670 or higher. The concrete terms are straightforward. There is no annual fee, so the card costs nothing to hold. The regular APR is 17.49% to 27.49% variable, and there is a 0% intro APR for 18 months on balance transfers only; there is no intro APR on purchases. The welcome bonus is $200, delivered as 20,000 ThankYou points, after $1,500 in spending in the first 6 months. The card earns full ThankYou points, which become transferable only when paired with a Strata Premier or Elite; held on its own, the points function as cash back. The intro balance transfer fee is 3% during the first 4 months, then rises to 5%. The rewards math has a condition worth stating plainly. The 2% is split: you earn 1% at purchase and the second 1% only as you pay down that spending, so the full 2% depends on actually paying your balance. Carrying a balance erodes the reward fast, because the 17.49% to 27.49% variable APR is far larger than the 2% you earn back. The honest flags are specific. First, there is no purchase intro APR, so this is not the card for financing a new purchase interest-free; the 0% window applies to balance transfers only. Second, the 3% foreign transaction fee makes it a poor choice abroad or for anything billed in another currency. Third, the balance transfer fee is only 3% if you move the balance within the first 4 months and 5% after that, so the transfer economics depend on acting early. Finally, the transferable-points upside is conditional on also paying for a separate premium ThankYou card, which reintroduces a fee the Double Cash itself avoids. Read plainly, this is a low-cost, flat-rate cash-back card for disciplined full-balance payers, plus a usable 18-month balance transfer tool for existing debt, and little more.