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CNN Underscored evaluations monetary merchandise reminiscent of bank cards and financial institution accounts primarily based on their general worth. We might obtain a fee by the LendingTree affiliate community in case you apply and are authorised for a card, however our reporting is all the time impartial and goal.
Our fast take: The Citi® Double Money bank card has no annual charge and earns a market-leading 2% money again on each buy you make — 1% if you purchase, and 1% extra if you pay it off. It received’t get you free journeys to fancy seaside resorts or entry to unique airport lounges, nevertheless it’s a top-notch, if not flashy, workhorse bank card.
Execs:
- Easy, simple to earn and redeem money again.
- No annual charge.
- Professional customers can convert the money again to versatile journey factors.
- 18-month zero% introductory price on steadiness transfers (rises to a variable 13.99% to 23.99% after the intro interval).
Cons:
- No bonus classes.
- three% overseas transaction charge.
- No journey or luxurious perks and minimal buy protections.
- No introductory price on purchases.
Present sign-up bonus: None.
Finest for: Individuals who need to routinely earn money again on every little thing they purchase with out fascinated about it.
Bank cards are complicated. So many options, a lot to consider. Even the phrases used to explain bank cards sound like gobbledygook: bonus classes, introductory charges, APR, annual charges, versatile factors, switch ratios, secondary auto protection… Do it’s important to have a doctorate in economics to grasp this stuff?
That’s what we love in regards to the Citi Double Money bank card, and why we’ve even chosen it as CNN Underscored’s “benchmark” bank card. In a phrase, it’s easy. Easy to grasp, easy to make use of, easy to redeem its money again.
But you received’t be left behind with regards to rewards, as a result of it all the time earns a market-leading 2% price on all of your purchases. Plus, it has completely no annual charge, ever, which implies it’s mainly a card you may stick in your purse or pockets and by no means have to fret about.
Does that make it essentially the most invaluable bank card in the marketplace? Not essentially. You may get extra bang to your buck with different playing cards, particularly in case you usually spend some huge cash in sure classes the place different bank cards supply bonus rewards, which might offset getting a decrease return on the remainder of your on a regular basis spending with that card.
There are additionally higher bank cards in case you’re in search of luxurious journey perks like a free journey around the globe in top quality. However to tug that off, you’ll both have to do a whole lot of homework to grasp how versatile journey factors work, pay a excessive annual charge for a bank card or each.
If these choices don’t sound interesting to you and also you’d reasonably simply begin getting money again in your pocket each month with out pondering an excessive amount of about it, you’ve most likely landed on the right card. Let’s check out why we predict the Citi Double Money is a good selection for individuals who need the “set it and neglect it” possibility of the bank card world.
See in case you qualify for the Citi Double Money bank card.
First, the Citi Double Money prices nothing to have in your purse or pockets. There’s no annual charge on the cardboard ever, which means you don’t have to fret about whether or not you’re getting sufficient out of the cardboard to warrant what it prices — it prices zero simply to have it.
On high of getting no annual charge, the Double Money has the most effective and most simple incomes charges throughout all bank cards. You’ll earn 2% in money again — 1% if you purchase one thing, and one other 1% if you pay it off — on each single buy you make, with no caps of any type.
For individuals who don’t spend some huge cash day by day in a particular bonus class, reminiscent of eating, groceries or journey, incomes flat-rate money again most likely makes essentially the most sense, and there’s actually no different main bank card obtainable right this moment that gives as excessive of an ongoing flat-rate return on each single buy with out an annual charge.
The Citi Double Money is market-leading with regards to flat-rate money again on each buy.
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The money again you earn with the Citi Double Money can be simple to redeem. You’ll be able to both use it as a press release credit score to offset any purchases you make with the cardboard, have it deposited right into a checking account or have Citi ship you a examine for it. The one requirement is that you simply want a minimal of $25 in money again to make a redemption, although there’s no most on the quantity you may redeem.
For most individuals, utilizing the Double Money to earn and redeem money again will probably be so far as they should go (and if the remainder of this paragraph and the subsequent one sound like Portuguese to you, don’t fear about it — simply use the Double Money as a money again card, the best way it was initially designed). However in case you’re a sophisticated bank card person, you may convert money again earned with the Double Money into Citi ThankYou Rewards journey factors, with $1 in money again equal to 100 ThankYou factors.
To transform your money again to factors, you’ll have to even have both a Citi Status® Card or a Citi Premier℠ Card, each of which have annual charges (within the case of the Citi Status, a really excessive one). ThankYou Rewards is an effective versatile level switch program, although it doesn’t have the easiest-to-use airline companions for transferable factors freshmen. However in case you wish to redeem bank card rewards for journey, it might make sense to show your money again into factors as a substitute and probably get much more worth for them.
What else can we like in regards to the Double Money? Effectively, as many individuals have sadly realized, bank cards generally is a strategy to get caught owing some huge cash in case you aren’t cautious about how you utilize them. For folk who’re presently staring down a boatload of debt and questioning easy methods to claw their method again out, the introductory steadiness switch function of the Citi Double Money can function a brief life raft.
New Double Money card holders can reap the benefits of a zero% introductory rate of interest on steadiness transfers for 18 months. It’s essential to notice that after the introductory price expires, you’ll pay a variable 13.99% to 23.99% (relying in your creditworthiness) on the remaining steadiness, so that you’ll need to you’ll want to both repay your debt in full or switch it to a different card earlier than the 18 months expire.
Associated: See CNN Underscored’s picks for one of the best steadiness switch bank cards.
Additionally, steadiness transfers incur a three% steadiness switch charge with a $5 minimal, so the switch isn’t totally with out value. Nonetheless, in case you’re presently paying excessive curiosity on one other bank card, a small three% charge may very well be an enormous reduction.
Lastly, the Citi Double Money is a Mastercard, so that you shouldn’t have a lot bother discovering retailers who will settle for it if you need to use a bank card to pay for items or companies.
Apply now for the Citi Double Money bank card.
Numerous different bank cards supply what are generally known as “bonus classes,” which means you’ll earn extra rewards — both money again or factors and miles — for some varieties of purchases. As an example, one other card would possibly supply three% money again on eating, 2% on groceries and 1% on all different purchases. Otherwise you would possibly discover playing cards with rotating classes, the place each few months the bonus classes change or might be chosen from a menu of classes by the cardboard holder.
You received’t discover any bonus classes on the Citi Double Money, and that’s the draw back of simplicity. So in case you routinely make numerous purchases in a selected class, you might discover one other bank card that gives a bonus for these purchases is a more sensible choice for you.
Or in case you don’t thoughts carrying a number of bank cards and usually switching to one of the best one relying on what you’re shopping for, you may probably out-earn the Double Money general by maximizing completely different bonus classes on numerous playing cards (although the Double Money may nonetheless be a great “catch-all” card for purchases that don’t fall into every other card’s bonus classes).
Additionally, in life, you normally get what you pay for, and since this can be a bank card with no annual charge, you received’t discover any nice perks on the Citi Double Money. Meaning no journey advantages, no journey protections like journey delay or automotive rental protection, no buy protections and no fancy eating or journey credit. That is your fundamental no-frills rewards bank card.
You additionally received’t need to use the Double Money on abroad purchases, for the reason that card has a three% overseas transaction charge. Meaning the price of making worldwide purchases is greater than the two% in money again you’d earn from them, so that you’ll need to prohibit this card to home use solely.
So long as you do not use the Citi Double Money abroad, the two cents you earn for each greenback you spend will go straight into your pocket.
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iStock
And it’s a minor level, however it’s essential to earn money again with the Double Money card not less than as soon as each 12 months to forestall your current money again from expiring. That shouldn’t be too tough — even one small buy every year will work — nevertheless it’s one thing to remember if you find yourself not utilizing the cardboard as typically as you initially deliberate.
The largest disadvantage of the Citi Double Money is its lack of a sign-up bonus. Whereas many different bank cards supply tons of of in bonus rewards only for signing up and spending a minimal quantity on the cardboard in your first few months, you received’t get any bonus for signing up for the Double Money. That’s not a deal breaker in case you’re utilizing this card long-term, nevertheless it does sting proper firstly.
Begin incomes money again on every little thing you purchase with the Citi Double Money.
CNN Underscored has chosen the Citi Double Money card as our “benchmark” bank card. That doesn’t imply it’s one of the best bank card in the marketplace — reasonably, it means we use it as a fundamental commonplace to match different bank cards and see the place they rating higher and the place they’re worse.
Right here’s how the Double Money scores as our benchmark card (see our bank card methodology for extra particulars on what we keep in mind with regards to perks, protections and redemption worth):
When reviewing different bank cards, we use this format and these standards to match them with our benchmark. You’ll be able to learn our bank card methodology for extra particulars on what we keep in mind with regards to perks, protections and redemption worth.
Click on right here to use for the Citi Double Money bank card.
There aren’t every other main bank cards in the marketplace that provide an ongoing 2% money again on all purchases with no annual charge, however when you think about sign-up bonuses which can be obtainable on playing cards aside from the Citi Double Money, another choices are value contemplating.
As an example, the Chase Freedom Limitless is a comparable flat-rate money again bank card that earns 1.5% money again on all purchases but additionally presently comes with a $200 sign-up bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first three months from account opening. It’ll take $40,000 in spending at 2% money again on the Double Money to make up that $200 bonus, which appears like quite a bit — besides that’s solely 20 months in case you normally spend $2,000 a month in your bank card.
If that’s you, then in just a bit over a yr and a half, you’d be doing higher with the Citi Double Money with no sign-up bonus versus the Freedom Limitless with one. However in case you normally spend lower than that every month, it’ll take longer to make up for the sign-up bonus, which could make the Freedom Limitless a more sensible choice.
Associated: Learn CNN Underscored’s evaluation of the Chase Freedom Limitless.
One other comparability card is the Capital One® Enterprise® Rewards Credit score Card, which provides an identical 2 miles per greenback on all purchases. Since you may redeem Capital One miles towards any journey expense and get 1 cent in worth for every mile, the Enterprise successfully earns on the similar price because the Double Money.
Whereas the Citi Double Money has no sign-up bonus, the Capital One Enterprise presently has a formidable sign-up bonus of 100,000 miles. However to earn all these further miles, you’ll need to spend a whopping $20,000 on purchases throughout the first 12 months after you open the account.
You’ll additionally pay a $95 annual charge on the Enterprise every year, and in case you’re not involved in journey proper now, then a card that earns miles to redeem for journey purchases won’t be one of the best match to your wants.
Associated: Learn CNN Underscored’s evaluation of the Capital One Enterprise bank card.
When you’re in search of simplicity, the Citi Double Money is one of the best money again bank card obtainable.
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iStock
When you spend a ton of cash on journey or eating, there’s possible one other bank card that gives sufficient further bonus rewards in these classes to make it value getting. You’ll additionally need a completely different bank card in case your aim is to earn luxurious journey rewards or perks — for that, you’ll have to pay an annual charge on a midtier or premium journey rewards card.
However in case you aren’t in search of journey luxurious and don’t need to cope with the complexity of bonus classes, you possible can’t go fallacious with the no-annual-fee Citi Double Money card. It’s an ideal selection for individuals who simply need a single, easy bank card that earns fundamental money again with a 2% return on every little thing, no matter their private spending habits.
If that sounds such as you, take into account grabbing one and popping it into your purse or pockets to begin incomes 2% money again on every little thing right this moment.
Study extra in regards to the Citi Double Money Card.
Discover out which playing cards CNN Underscored selected as our greatest bank cards of 2020.
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