Citi is making similar moves to American Express, excluding gift cards from earning credit card rewards. They have updated the terms on its Citi Double Cash card for now only. The have a list of transactions that will not earn cash rewards and loads or reloads of balances on gift cards or prepaid cards or cash equivalents are listed in there. Citi Double Cash is a card that earns 2% cashback on all purchases.

Here’s the new terms:

The following transactions are not purchases and will not earn cash rewards: balance transfers, cash advances, checks that access your Card Account, items returned for credit, disputed or unauthorized purchases, fraudulent transactions, traveler’s checks, foreign currency purchases, money orders, wire transfers (and similar cash-like transactions), lottery tickets and gaming chips (and similar betting transactions), loads or reloads of balances on gift cards or prepaid cards or cash equivalents, person-to-person payments, Citi Flex Loans, the creation of Citi Flex Pays, Card Account fees and charges (such as late fees and finance charges), and fees for services or programs you elect to receive through us.

Citi Double Cash looks to be the only card with the new terms for now. Let me know if you see it in any other Citi products.

Guru’s Wrap-up

Same as with Amex, these new rules will probably not change much in the real world. I think they will not be implemented, at least not right away. There’s been data points already for Amex purchases that are still earning rewards regardless of the gift cards exclusion. That will probably be the case for Citi Double cash as well. But it’s something to keep in mind. They now surely have the right to claw back rewards earned for gift card purchases.

HT: DoC