Update 2024.10: This card most of the time does not include any welcome offer. There is currently a $75 welcome offer, which is the best deal ever on this card!
Application link
Benefits
- $75 Offer: Earn $75 after spending $1,500 in the first 3 months.
- Earn 4% cash back at gas stations worldwide (including Costco gas stations); 3% cash back at restaurants and on eligible travel spending worldwide; 2% cash back at Costco and Costco.com; 1% cash back on other purchases.
- No annual fee if you’re a Costco member.
- No foreign transaction fees.
Disadvantages
- You must have an active Costco membership in your name. We may cancel your Card account and your participation in this program if you do not maintain your Costco membership. You must maintain your Costco membership to redeem Costco Cash Rewards earned with the card.
- No significant sign-up bonus.
- Only the first purchases of $7,000 per annual reward year (12 consecutive billing periods beginning with the one that includes January 1) at gas stations can earn 4% cash back, after which you can only earn 1 %.
- You’ll get your cash back in the form of a Costco Annual Coupon, although you can redeem them for cash at Costco, it’s still a bit of a pain.
Recommended application time
- (8/65 Rule) You can apply for no more than 1 Citi card every 8 days and no more than 2 Citi cards every 65 days, whether approved or not.
- Citi greatly appreciates the number of recent drawdowns, we recommend applying when there have been fewer than 6 drawdowns in the last 6 months.
- We recommend applying for this card after having a credit history of at least one year.
Summary
This is a great cash back card with no annual fee! Among cards with no annual fee, the 4% cash back rate on gas (including Costco gas) is currently one of the highest. The 3% cashback on dining and travel is also quite competitive. For readers who aren’t that interested in points or miles but prefer cash back cards with no annual fee, this one is great for long-term use! However, this card does not offer a sign-up bonus, so the best way to get it is to change or downgrade the product, rather than applying directly.
Note that although this is a Costco co-branded card, it is not the best card for Costco purchases. Costco only accepts Visa credit cards, and the “Wholesale” category rarely enjoys high cash back rates for most cards. However, US Bank Altitude Reserve (UAR) offers up to 4.5% rewards when using Apple Pay/Android Pay at Costco. The Chase Freedom Unlimited (CFU) offers 1.5x UR points on all purchases, which represents a return rate of approximately 2.4%. Cards like Fidelity Rewards, which offer 2% cash back on all purchases, can be used at Costco and offer the same return rate as this card.
It’s worth noting that you must be a Costco member to apply for this card and the membership fee is either $60 (no extra cash back at Costco) or $120 (with extra cash back of 2% at Costco). If you’re not already a Costco member, is it worth getting one just for this credit card? Probably not, because the card’s benefits aren’t great when you factor in the $60 membership fee. But you can try a year of membership to see if you become a Costco fan!