Citi Professional Cash Card Review
Summary - We recommend the Citi® ProfessionalSM Cash Card to the business owner who is looking for a cash back credit card and also to build a business credit. This card allows you to earn 3% cash rebates on certain business expenses. Let's explore this card in greater detail.
Cash Rebate Formula - The Citi Professional Cash Card allows you to earn 3% cash back on purchases made at restaurants, gas stations, certain office supply merchants, and for auto rentals. You earn 1% cash back on all other regular purchases. You can earn rebates on purchases, cash advance and balance transfers and up to a total of $600 in cash rebates in one calendar year (Citi's calendar year starts from the beginning of January).
Rebates are called "professional dollars". Once you have earned fifty professional dollars, you can call Citi to issue you a $50 check. You can also earn five professional dollars for every $1,500 of balance transfer.
Annual Fee - There is no annual fee for the Citi Professional Cash Card. The apr is prime rate plus 5.99%. There is a 0% introductory offer on purchases for 12 months. The average daily balance method (including new purchases) is used to calculate monthly balances.
Other Benefits - With this credit card, you will get categorized monthly statements and quarterly and annual summaries and an online Expense Reporting tool which helps your online statements to customize reports for billing or reimbursements. You also get a 24/7 personal business assistant to assist you to travel or dining bookings (like a concierge service).
Citi Professional Cash Card Versus It's Peers
Let us compare this card with it's peers.
Citi Professional Versus Capital One No Hassle Cash Business - Capital One has a cash back card for business owners which allows you to earn 1% cash back on all purchases. The cash rebates can be either sent to you once a year. Or you can request it any time you wish. The Citi Professional Card beats this card because you can earned 3% rebates on a variety of expenses versus just 1% for the Capital One No Hassle Cash Business.
Versus Bank of America Cash Back Business Card - Bank of America (BOA) has a business cash back credit card that gives cardholders 3% rebates on office supply stores, gas stations and for computer network services. The Citi Professional Card has more categories to earn 3% rebates so it comes out slightly ahead against BOA.
Versus Simply Cash Business Card from American Express - The Amex SimplyCash has a couple of advantages over the this card. Firstly, you can earn 5% rebates on wireless bills, office supplies and equipment. You can also earn 3% rebates on gasoline for up to $12,000 in annual gasoline spending. The Citi Proffesional beats it in the restaurant and auto rental earnings category as the SimplyCash does not allow you to earn extra rebtaes on these categories.
Versus Cash Ink Cash - The Chase Ink Cash allows you to earn 3% cash rebates on gasoline, restaurants, office supplies, hardware and home improvement stores. Aside from the auto rental (that the Citi Professional has), these 2 cards are nearly identical.
Versus Costco Business Card - The Costco Business Card allows you to earn 4% on gasoline (up to $12,000 in annual gasoline spending), 3% on restaurants and 2% on travel. Comparing this card with the Citi Professional is a little bit like comparing apples and oranges. The Costco beats the Professional Card in gasoline (4% vs 3%). They are tied for the restaurant category (both 3%) and the Costco has the travel category that the Professional Card does not. Having said all this, only Costco members would even consider getting the Costo Business Card. For most folks, this comparison is not so useful.
Citi Professional Cash Card - How Good Is It?
Verdict - For the longest time, Citi does not have a cash back business credit card. The Citi Professional Cash Card fills this void. As a business cash back credit card, it has a good rebate formula. However, the SimplyCash® Business Card from American Express pays 3% on gasoline, and 5% on office supplies and wireless provider and allows you to earn unlimited rebates. If your business has a large expense and you want to maximize your cash rebates, perhaps the American Express SimplyCash is a better alternative.
Other cards like the Chase Ink Cash and BOA's cash back business card are also good alternatives.
Update - The Citi Professional Cash Card is no longer offered by Citibank. Having said that, there are lots of good alternative cards (like the ones mentioned in this review) that you should consider as well.
Positives
- Earn 3% cash rebates on select business purchases
- No annual fee and low apr
| Citi Professional Cash Card | |
| Reward Benefits | |
| Point Accumulation |
Earn 3 points for purchases at restaurants, gas stations, auto rentals and certain office supply restaurants Earn 1 point for every dollar spent on other purchases |
| Points Expiration | End of 3 Calendar Years |
| Caps on Points | 100,000 |
| Cost/Fees/Interest rates | |
| Introductory rate | 0% APR on purchases for 12 months |
| Annual Fees | No annual fee |
| Purchase APR | Prime Rate plus 5.99% |
| Balance Transfer APR | Prime Rate plus 5.99% |
| Cash Advance APR | Prime Rate plus 14.99%, min 19.99% |
| Penalty/Default Rate | Prime Rate plus 23.99%, min 28.99% |
| Min Finance Charge | $0.50 |
| Grace Period | 20 days |
| Balance Calculation Method | Average Daily Balance (including new purchases) |
| Balance Transfer Fee | 3%, min $5.00 |
| Cash Advance fee | 3% ,min $5.00 |
| Over-the-credit-limit fee | $35.00 |
| Late Payment fee |
$15.00 - less than $100 $29.00 - $100 to $250 $39.00 - $250 and above |