a blue and green credit card

Bad News: Citi ThankYou Points Cash Out Statement Credits Don’t Earn Cash Back with Citi Double Cash

Share this post

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  On April 10, 2021, Citi reduced the value of Citi ThankYou Points (TYPs) when redeemed for travel from 1.25 cents per point (CPP) to 1.0 CPP.  To make up for the devaluation of TYPs, Citi started allowing members with a Citi Premier Credit Card to cash out TYPs at 1 CPP in any amount, down to a single TYP (this redemption already existed on the Citi Prestige Credit Card).  With that info in mind, I wanted to test out the cash out feature on my Citi Double Cash Credit Card.  I made several small purchases and then several cash out redemptions.

Unfortunately, the cash out statement credit redemptions do not count as eligible payments, therefore they do not earn cash back on the Citi Double Cash (I missed out the normal 1% cash back for paying off the credit card).  As you can see by my recent statement, I made $88.99 in purchases, made a $5.01 payment, and $83.98 in cash out statement credits (which posted as credits instead of payments).

a screenshot of a credit card

Here is a breakdown of my transactions.  As you can see, the $5.01 payment counted as an Eligible Payment, while the four $83.98 cash out statement credits did not count as an Eligible Payment.  I should also note that if you redeem your cash back from your Citi Double Cash as a statement credit, that will also not count as an Eligible Payment, you are better off redeeming for a direct deposit to your linked bank account or converting to TYPs (but don’t use those TYPs to do a cash out statement credit).

a screenshot of a cash back receipt

Here is a breakdown of my four cash out statement credit redemptions in my Citi ThankYou portal.  I can also report that the cash out statement credits did count toward the 10% rebate, up to 10,000 TYPs per calendar year, on my Citi Rewards+ Credit Card.  As far as I can tell, you can use the cash out statement credit redemption feature for any Citi credit card that is linked to your account, regardless if they earn TYPs or not.  If you do have a Costco, American Airlines, or Dividend credit card with Citi, please confirm if you can receive a cash out statement credit.

a screenshot of a screenshot of a credit card

If you have any questions about the cash out statement credit redemption feature, please leave a comment below.  Have a great day everyone!


Share this post

4 thoughts on “Bad News: Citi ThankYou Points Cash Out Statement Credits Don’t Earn Cash Back with Citi Double Cash

  1. A B

    Why wouldn’t you just redeem the statement credits on your premier card? If you must do it on your DC card, then either just take the cash back straight at 2% or just think about it as a 1.99X card.

    Reply
    1. Grant Post author

      Hi AB, I never use my Citi Premier CC for anything, I just hold onto it so I have access to the TYP transfer partners. I really only use my Citi Double Cash CC and Citi AT&T Access More CCs.

      Reply
      1. A B

        Even so, you can take a statement credit on a $0 balance and then have Citi send you a check for the refund.

        Reply
        1. Grant Post author

          Yes, that is true. Since I use my Citi AT&T Access More CC often, I will just pay that card with statement credits.

          Reply

Leave a Reply to A BCancel reply