Many credit card issuers, including American Express, Bank of America, Chase and Citi®, provide cash-back offers that can be added to eligible credit cards. For instance, with Citi, these offers are called Citi Merchant Offers and are found on Citi’s credit cards. It’s important to note that these offers are completely separate from the cash back or rewards that the card provides on purchases. However, you need to activate these offers before you can earn the extra cash back.
About Citi Merchant Offers
Citi Merchant Offers can give you cash back when you enroll in an offer and make an eligible purchase during a limited promotional period. The offers may be for a specific amount of cash back, such as a $25 statement credit if you make a $100+ purchase at merchant X, or you might receive a percentage back from your purchase amount at merchant Y.
How to get Citi Merchant Offers
You can add Citi Merchant Offers in two ways:
- Logging in to your Citi online account, selecting a credit card and going to the Merchant Offers page from the link on the left.
- Using the Citi mobile app, selecting your card and scrolling to the bottom to find the Merchant Offers.
The cash back you earn from using Citi Merchant Offers will be applied directly to your credit card account within a specified time frame after the purchase.
Types of Citi Merchant offers
Citi organizes its offers into five categories and has a “featured” category at the top with several offers. Here are examples of what you might find in each category.
Travel
Travel offers may include offers for travel-related providers, apps and services. For example, a ridesharing service, hotel chain or travel insurance company.
Dining and Entertainment
Dining and entertainment may include restaurants, streaming services and other entertainment providers.
Shopping
Shopping offers can be from online and physical stores that sell various products and services. When we looked at examples of Merchant Offers, the shopping category had the most available offers.
Health and Wellness
You might find offers for gyms, fitness studies and healthy food. However, you also might find some health-related offers in the shopping category.
Other
This category is designed to encompass Citi Merchant Offers that cannot easily fit into any other specific categories.
Other things you should know about Citi Merchant Offers
When using Citi Merchant Offers, it’s important to remember a few important details:
- You need to enroll in an offer before making a purchase: In order to receive cash back from an available offer, it is necessary to enroll in the offer before making your purchase.
- You can filter your offers: You can filter your offers by category and also whether it’s an online or in-store offer, and you can filter by offers based on those available, enrolled or redeemed.
- Review each offer’s terms carefully: The terms and conditions for offers might surprise you. Read them carefully to make sure your purchase will qualify and that you understand how much cash back you’ll receive.
Here are a few examples of individual offers. While earning extra cash back is certainly a welcome bonus, it’s important to carefully review the fine print to ensure you understand the details of the offer. A quick glance may not provide all the necessary information.
Earning 3% cash back at Amazon seems great, but you can only earn a maximum of $1. So, while saving money by enrolling in Citi Merchant deals seems enticing, some deals may not be as appealing as they appear once you read the fine print.
You can redeem the Lyft offer up to five times and get up to $7 total.
Eligible cards for Citi Merchant Offers
Citi doesn’t publicize a list of the cards that are eligible for Citi Merchant Offers. Based on independent reports, it appears that Citi Merchant Offers are only available on consumer credit cards — not Citi business credit cards. This may include the Citi Double Cash® Card*The information for the Citi Double Cash® Card has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer., a popular rewards card that doesn’t have an annual fee, and the newly launched Citi Strata Premier℠Card*The information for the Citi Strata Premier℠Card has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer..
The available Citi Merchants Offers may vary by cardholder and card, so it’s worth checking all your Citi credit cards if you have more than one.
Tips for maximizing your Citi card to get the most out of your Citi Merchant Offers
The statement credits you earn with Citi Merchant Offers are in addition to the Citi ThankYou® Points or cash-back rewards you earn from using a Citi credit card.
Here are some ways to increase your overall savings and manage your Citi Merchant Offers:
- Add the same Citi Merchant Offer to several Citi cards at the same time. Try to use the card that has the most bonus rewards on that type of purchase first. Once you use up the offer on that card, you can switch to the other card.
- Stack Merchant Offers with shopping portals that offer you additional cash back or rewards. You can check Cashback Monitor to compare current rewards rates from different portals.
- Look into third-party programs that can help you quickly enroll in and search through offers, such as CardPointers and MaxRewards.
Additionally, it’s important to consider how reviewing Citi Merchant Offers can influence your spending patterns. If you had a specific purchase in mind and there’s a Citi Merchant Offer available to save some money, it might be worthwhile to make the purchase and save. However, if you choose to make a purchase primarily because of the Citi Merchant Offer, there is a chance that you could end up spending more than you intended.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Citi Merchant Offers are cash back offers that are available on some consumer Citi credit cards. The offers are organized into five categories: travel, dining and entertainment, shopping, health and wellness and other. You can earn cash back by adding the offer to your card and then using the card to make an eligible purchase. Generally, you’ll receive a percentage of your purchase amount as cash back, or get a specific amount of cash back after making an eligible purchase.
You don’t need to do anything to redeem a Citi Merchant offer. Once you enroll in the offer and make an eligible purchase, Citi should add a statement credit to your account within a few days or weeks. If you don’t receive the statement credit, you can try contacting Citi customer service to see if they can resolve the issue and apply a statement credit to your account.
Many Citi credit cards offer a welcome bonus to new cardholders, such as bonus rewards if you spend enough money after receiving your card. Or an introductory 0% APR on purchases during a limited promotional period.
Citibank may also offer welcome gifts or promotions for opening a new personal or business checking account. If you’re eligible, you might receive a cash bonus for depositing and keeping money in your account for a minimum length of time. The welcome gift amount often depends on how much you deposit and keep in your account.
Citi ThankYou points are Citi’s transferable points that you can earn from Citi credit cards. The best ways to redeem Citi ThankYou points may depend on your goals and needs, but transferring the points to a hotel or airline’s loyalty program to book rewards travel is often the most valuable option.
*The information for the Citi Double Cash® Card and Citi Strata Premier℠Card has been collected independently by Blueprint.The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
