The Ultimate Guide To Using Citi Merchant Offers [Earn Cash-back!]

Everyone likes to save money, especially on planned expenses.

Banks often offer some sort of cash-back and bonus points as incentives to convince consumers to use their cards at select merchants — this is on top of the points or cash back the card normally earns.

Amex Offers and Chase Offers have been around for a while, but Citi’s foray into cash-back incentives had been noticeably absent until mid-2022.

Now, Citi Merchant Offers have been fully rolled out and Citi cardholders can add select offers to their cards to earn statement credits.

Citi Merchant Offers are still playing catchup with the likes of Amex Offers, but there is still a lot of value to be had.

Let’s take a look at this relatively new card benefit, and how you can use it to save big money!

What Are Citi Merchant Offers?

Citi Merchant Offers are cash-back deals that are linked to your Citi cards which can save you money on shopping, dining, travel, and more.

These offers vary from card to card, are added periodically by Citi, need to be manually selected by the cardholders, and come with specific terms and conditions.

Once an offer has been added and an eligible purchase has been made, Citi will add the cash back as a statement credit a few days later.

Offers can be added via the Citi website or app.

Types of Citi Merchant Offers

Citi Merchant Offers are quite wide-ranging, so Citi organizes them into 5 categories: Travel, Dining & Entertainment, Shopping, Health & Wellness, and Other.

Travel

Travel offers are sure to be a favorite of Upgraded Points readers, and fortunately, there have been some good ones recently.

Between my Citi Premier^® Card and my wife’s Citi Prestige^® Card, we have been targeted for some pretty attractive offers over the past few months.

Some examples of Citi Merchant Offers for travel that you might find in your account are:

• $10 back on any purchase with Uber
• $20 back on a purchase of $200 or more with Hawaiian Airlines
• $20 back when you spend $100 or more on a stay at a Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express hotel
• $50 back when you spend $200+ at a Hotel Indigo
• $50 back on purchases of $500 or more with Virgin Atlantic

If you have plans to make purchases with participating vendors, this is an easy way to save 10% to 20%.

Dining & Entertainment

The Dining & Entertainment section is also quite decent, especially thanks to the number of local dining options.

It appears that restaurants located near where your credit card is registered are prioritized over major chains, which is unique. Just beware, you likely can’t “double dip” with other dining programs as your card might be automatically unlinked after adding a Citi Merchant Offer.

The entertainment options can be quite valuable as well.

Some examples of Citi Merchant Offers for dining and entertainment that you might find in your account are:

• 6% back from a local restaurant
• 10% back from Domino’s
• $10 back on a purchase of $25 or more with Uber Eats
• 50% back on a purchase of $8.99 or more with Cinemark Movie Club

Whether you are catching a movie or ordering dinner from your favorite takeout restaurant, you will likely find some valuable Citi Merchant Offers in your account.

Shopping

Most of the available offers fall under the Shopping catch-all category.

With everything from clothing to supermarkets, there are plenty of opportunities to save here.

Some examples of Citi Merchant Offers that you might find in the shopping section of your account are:

• 5% back at Sam’s Club
• $15 back on a purchase of $15 or more with Spirit Halloween
• $15 back on a purchase of $100 or more with MLB Shop
• $15 back on a purchase of $100 or more with Fanatics
• 20% back on Kindle eBooks or a Kindle Unlimited subscription
• $25 back on a purchase of $50 or more with Stitch Fix
• $50 back on a purchase of $100 or more with Macy’s Wine Shop

As you can see, there are plenty of offers from retailers you might already be planning on spending money with.

Health & Wellness

The Health & Wellness section is a new(er) addition, and relativity weak compared to the others.

As of writing, I only had 2 active offers:

• $20 back on a purchase of $100 with Pure Barre
• 30% back on a purchase of $29.99 or more with Vitality Society

As Citi Merchant Offers continues to grow, I’m sure we will see more Health & Wellness options here.

Other

If the Shopping category wasn’t broad enough, there is also Other.

Although there are fewer options, the variety is very similar, often just different brands of the same type of business.

Some examples of Citi Merchant Offers that you might find in the shopping section of your account are:

• $10 back on a purchase of $25 or more with Gopuff
• 20% back on a purchase of $6.59 or more with Allstate Roadside Services
• $30 back on a purchase of $100 or more with Wine.com
• 20% back (up to $20) on any purchase with Norton

These categories just seem to be a way to make it easier to scroll all of the active offers, which is nice, but not very well executed.

What Cards Come With Citi Merchant Offers?

Citi has not made it clear exactly which cards are eligible for Citi Merchant Offers, but it appears that most consumer cards are eligible, including co-branded cards. 

However, as a data point, my CitiBusiness^® / AAdvantage^® Platinum Select^® Mastercard^® does not have the Citi Merchant Offers section.

If you are looking for a new Citi card, some of our favorites are:

How To Use Citi Merchant Offers

Citi does not have the most user-friendly design, as finding Citi Merchant Offers can be rather confusing on your first go. But after you’ve located them on the desktop and/or app, they are (slightly) easier to find again.

From a desktop, just log into your account and look for Rewards & Offers on the navigation bar at the top of the screen. Select Offers for You and then scroll down to Merchant Offers. If you have multiple cards, you will see multiple options for Citi Merchant Offers.

If you are using the Citi app, just log in and then scroll down until you see Explore Offers for You. Click on that and then look for Save with your Citi card, See Your Offers.

Once you have found an offer that you like, simply click on it and then click Add Offer.

Once you have added the offer, you can use that card to make an eligible purchase at the retailer, and your statement credit should show in your account within a few days.

Hot Tip: Make sure you add the offer before making a purchase, otherwise you will not receive the credit. 

Maximizing Citi Merchant Offers

One of the best parts of these types of offers and statement credits is that you can still stack them with other offers.

Whether you have a coupon code, added another offer via SimplyMiles, clicked through Rakuten, or all of the above, you’ll receive cash-back as long as the charge hits your Citi card with the offer attached!

Final Thoughts

Citi was a little late to the game with Citi Merchant Offers, but it is playing some aggressive catch-up.

With over 100 rotating offers on any given day, Citi Merchant Offers can offer some tremendous value for no extra cost

If you have a Citi credit card in your wallet, you should take a look at your offers, as there is a very good chance you could save some money with just a few clicks!

The information for the Citi Prestige^® Card has been collected independently by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information regarding the CitiBusiness^® / AAdvantage^® Platinum Select^® Mastercard^® was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.