Compare the Features and Benefits of Citi Custom Cash℠ Card and
Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card

You will earn 5% cash back (as ThankYou® Points) on eligible purchases in your top spending category each billing cycle, up to the first $500 spent, with 1% cash back thereafter on all of your other eligible purchases made with your Citi Custom Cash card. You do not have to select anything at any time. It’s automatic. And these are not rotating bonus categories – it’s the same choice each month.
The eligible bonus spend categories are:

• Restaurants
• Gas Stations
• Grocery Stores
• Select Travel
• Select Transit
• Select Streaming Services
• Drugstores
• Home Improvement Stores
• Fitness Clubs
• Live Entertainment

You’ll earn an unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases.

The 5X applies to your top category each month. So it’s kind of like a rotating bonus category except you choose – and you don’t even have to technically choose or register, the 5% is automatically applied to your highest spend category each billing cycle.

As a comparison, the Chase Freedom Flex offers a 5X rotating quarterly bonus category, but with a limit of $1,500 per quarter and on whatever categories they choose. This works out to the same $1,500 per quarter, but divided evenly each month such that you can utilize different categories each month.

This is the first and only card that I can think of that offers 5% at home improvement stores and at drugstores.

While a heavy spender may not be super impressed with the $500 a month cap, I think many spenders would be very happy to earn 5% on restaurants, grocery stores, gas, etc. on a card with no annual fee.

And heck, you could buy $500 worth of show or concert tickets one month and get 5% on that!

The Citi Custom Cash card is a perfect companion card to a Citi Premier® and a Citi® Double Cash card, creating a Citi Trifecta. If you have all three cards, you would use the Citi Premier for 3X Citi ThankYou points® on air travel & hotels, gas stations, restaurants and supermarkets, the Double Cash card for everything else at 2X, except for one category out of the Custom Cash’s options for 5X up to $500 a month. Personally, I think that most people would want to make this their go-to card for gas stations, as that is an easy one to spend roughly $500 a month on. But, of course, what category you pick will depend on your own spending patterns.

You might be thinking about getting multiple Citi Custom Cash cards – a Custom Cash card for each category, but you cannot. Acknowledging that someone might want to hold many of these to get everything at 5X, they have capped this card at one per person.

Bonus Eligibility Rules for the Citi Custom Cash card

The bonus offer is not available if you received one for opening a new Citi Custom Cash℠ Card account in the past 48 months.

However, this is GOOD news! You see, with all of the other Citi credit cards that earn ThankYou points you can only get one bonus, in total, every 24 months. Meaning that getting a Citi Premier precludes you from, for example, a Citi Rewards+.

But the Custom Cash card is not subject to that rule. So, you can get another Citi ThankYou® card bonus and a Custom Cash card bonus within the same 24 month period.

Bonus Category Definitions

It’s important to know what counts and what doesn’t, especially for bonus categories that start with the word “Select.”

The following definitions apply to the Citi Custom Cash card categories:

Restaurants

Includes purchases at cafes, bars, lounges and fast food restaurants. Excludes purchases at bakeries, caterers, restaurants located inside another business (such as hotels, stores, stadiums, grocery stores, or warehouse clubs) and third party dining delivery services.

Gas Stations

Excludes gasoline purchases at warehouse clubs, discount stores, convenience stores or other merchants that do not use the gas station merchant category code.

Grocery Stores

Includes purchases at supermarkets, meat/seafood stores, dairy stores, bakeries, and miscellaneous food/convenience stores. Excludes purchases at general merchandise/discount superstores; wholesale/warehouse clubs; candy, nut and confectionery stores. Purchases made at online supermarkets or with grocery delivery services also do not qualify if the merchant does not classify itself as a supermarket by using the supermarket merchant category code.

Select Travel

Includes airline, hotel, cruise line and travel agency purchases. Excludes timeshares, boat leases and rentals, campgrounds and trailer parks, and real estate agencies.

Select Transit

Includes car rentals, ferries, commuter railways, subways, taxis/limousines/car services, passenger railways, bridge and road tolls, parking lots/garages, bus lines, and motor home and recreational vehicle rentals. Excludes bike/scooter rentals, auto clubs and insurance companies.

Select Streaming Services

Includes the following cable, satellite, and streaming providers: Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Music, Apple Music, CBS All Access, Disney+, AT&T TV NOW, ESPN+, fuboTV, HBO Max, NBA League Pass, Netflix, Pandora, Showtime, Sling TV, Spotify, Starz, SiriusXM, Vudu, YouTube Red, YouTube TV, and Tidal.

Drugstores

Includes purchases made at pharmacies in grocery stores, general merchandise/discount superstores, and wholesale/warehouse clubs if those merchants submit purchases made in their pharmacy with the drug store and pharmacy merchant category code.

Home Improvement Stores

Includes purchases at home supply warehouse stores, lumber and building materials stores, paint and wallpaper stores, hardware stores, nurseries – lawn and garden supply stores and paints, varnishes and supplies stores. Excludes florists and florists’ supply stores; nursery stock; wholesale construction stores; and glass stores.

Fitness Clubs

Includes membership fee and other purchases at athletic, sports and recreation facilities requiring membership such as health, tennis, and swimming clubs. Excludes fees associated with virtual services for home exercise equipment, personal monitoring devices, or fitness streaming classes.

Live Entertainment

Includes ticket purchases for live entertainment, including: concerts, live sporting events, live theatrical productions, amusement parks, and orchestras. Excludes: charitable organizations that provide live entertainment (benefits), sporting camps, sports complexes where you participate in the sport, public and private golf courses, country clubs (including membership fees), bowling alleys, movie theaters, tourist attractions, museums and art galleries.

The Delta SkyMiles Platinum Business Card offers a slew of perks that will appeal to several types of business owners. Whether you’re looking to join the early ranks of Silver or Gold Medallion status, or want to climb further toward Platinum or Diamond, this business card provides excellent incentives for higher spend, helping you earn your way towards higher status levels.

Not only that, but you will earn 3x bonus miles per dollar spent on eligible Delta purchases, 1.5x miles on transit, U.S. shipping, and large purchases of $5,000 or more (up to an aggregate limit of $100,000 per year; earn 1X thereafter) plus 1x miles per dollar on all other eligible purchases.

In short, the Delta Platinum Business card’s earning rate is solid for businesses who want to reap the rewards on their high operating expenses.

The $350 annual fee can be hard to swallow, but several notable perks can help you save money when you’re flying with Delta.

First, you and up to eight passengers can get a first checked bag free on Delta Flights + Zone 5 Priority Boarding.

You’ll also receive up to a $100 credit toward your Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application or renewal (Terms apply).

And upon paying your annual fee every account anniversary, you’ll receive an annual companion certificate that’s valid for Main Cabin domestic, Caribbean, or Central American roundtrip flights on Delta. If used wisely, you can easily score hundreds of dollars in value from this recurring benefit.

Other smaller, but just as impactful, benefits include no foreign transaction fees, a 15% discount when redeeming SkyMiles for flights on Delta, as well as a solid range of travel and purchase protection benefits, including cell phone insurance.

For those that need a hand with reaching the next Delta Medallion® elite status level, this card earns 1 MQD (Medallion Qualifying Dollars) for every $20 spent on eligible purchases with your Card plus $2,500 MQDs each year – just for holding the card!

There are also up to $440 worth of statement credits available on this card.

You can get an statement credit of up to $200 after using your Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card to book prepaid hotels or vacation rentals through Delta Stays on delta.com.

You’ll also be eligible for up to $120 in Resy Credit (earn up to $10 per month in statement credits on eligible Resy purchases using your enrolled Card) and you can earn up to $10 back each month after using your enrolled Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card for U.S. rideshare purchases with select providers.

Note that you cannot enter the Delta Sky Clubs with the Delta Platinum Amex Business card. If you anticipate needing airport lounge access,  you may want to consider the Delta SkyMiles® Business Reserve Card, which comes with a much higher $650 annual fee. However, you’ll get access to Delta Sky Clubs when you fly Delta that same day with the Delta SkyMiles® Business Reserve Card. (Limitations apply.)

Overall, the Delta Platinum Amex Business Card is a phenomenal option for business owners who want to maximize their earning potential on Delta purchases, enjoy flight perks, and work towards elite status on Delta.

Rates and Fees for the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card