What the Double Cash covers
- No annual fee
- 2% on everything, no categories to track
- Rewards are ThankYou Points
The gap in numbers
The worked example compares the Double Cash with a supermarket card, a dining card and a gas card at an example household's spend. It appears here once every rate it uses is verified against the issuers' own pages. The calculator above runs the same comparison on your numbers now.
The pairing nobody mentions: what the points are worth
Citi publishes two transfer rates to the same partners, and which one applies is decided by the card in the wallet. For American Airlines, read on 2026-10-03: 1,000 ThankYou Points = 700 AAdvantage miles for Double Cash, ThankYou Preferred, Strata and Custom Cash holders, and 1,000 points = 1,000 miles for Strata Elite, Strata Premier and Prestige holders. The same 70% pattern held across every partner Citi listed that day.
Neither rate appears on any card's own page. A shopper comparing Citi's Strata card with the Strata Premier sees the same list of partners on both and no ratio on either.
What that means in practice: the cash option wins unless a mile is worth more than the cash value of a point divided by 0.7 at the standard rate. SavvX counts points at their cash-out value until a member shows they actually transfer, which is the same test applied here.
The premium rate is worth paying the Strata Premier's $95 fee for only if the extra 300 miles per 1,000 points transferred add up to more than that each year.
Source: Citi ThankYou partner programs, AAdvantage panel, read 2026-10-03. Citi's page prints no "last updated" date.
Suggested pairings
Almost everyone: nothing, or one category card
A flat-rate base card on everything is already a strong wallet. Add a card only where spending in one category is heavy enough to beat the Double Cash after any fee.
Heavy grocery household
A supermarket card, if grocery spending is large enough to clear its fee.
Anyone who eats out regularly
A no-fee dining card that beats the Double Cash at restaurants.
Only if you transfer points to airlines
A premium Citi card raises the transfer rate from 0.7x to 1.0x. Judge it on what the extra miles are worth to you, not on the partner list, which is the same either way.
How SavvX decides
SavvX runs your real transactions against the catalog and shows what adding a card would change for you, net of its annual fee, and counts points at what you will actually get for them, not at a headline rate. If a second card does not pay for itself on your spending, it will not recommend it.