Citi Rewards+℠ Card Review: A Credit Card That Rounds Up Your Rewards

The Citi Rewards+℠ Card is one of the few credit cards that offer something wholly unique with its round-up feature. On every purchase, the number of points you earn automatically rounds up to the nearest 10 points. It's an interesting perk that will certainly earn you some extra points, but does it make the card worth your time, or is it just a gimmick? That will depend on how often you use your credit card and how you plan to redeem those rewards.

No annual fee -- You can carry this credit card without paying an annual fee.

15,000 bonus points -- To earn this sign-up bonus, you need to spend $1,000 within the first three months. While this isn't one of the biggest sign-up bonuses available, it's a solid bonus for a no-annual-fee card, and the low spending minimum is easy to reach.

2 points per $1 at supermarkets and gas stations -- This rate applies to your first $6,000 in combined supermarket and gas station spending. After that you'll earn the default rate of 1 point per $1.

Round up to the nearest 10 points on every purchase -- As mentioned above, your points are rounded up on every purchase. So a $0.75 purchase that would normally earn you 1 point will instead earn you 10 points, a $45 purchase will earn you 50 points, and so on.

This also applies to purchases that earn 2 points per $1 due to the card's bonus categories. Let's say you spend $13 at a supermarket. Since that's a bonus category with this card, that $13 purchase would double to 26 points, and that would round up to 30 points.

0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers -- This intro rate lasts for 15 months for both purchases and balance transfers. However, you must make any balance transfers within the first four months of opening the card for that 0% intro APR to apply.

10% of your points back -- You'll get 10% back on the first 100,000 points that you redeem per calendar year. If you max this out by redeeming 100,000 points, then you'll get 10,000 points back.

Rewards rate -- Although the Citi Rewards+℠ Card has two bonus categories, there are plenty of rewards cards available that have either higher rewards rates or more bonus categories.

Foreign transaction fee -- Each foreign transaction has a fee of 3% of the transaction amount in U.S. dollars, so you wouldn't want to use this card for international purchases.

Citi ThankYou® points can be confusing, because there are different redemption options depending on which Citi credit cards you have.

If you only have the Citi Rewards+℠ Card, then you can redeem your points for the following:

• Travel purchases
• Gift cards
• Cash-back statement credits
• Purchasing products at Amazon.com or BestBuy.com

Of the options above, travel purchases and gift cards get you the best value at $0.01 per point. If you use your points for cash back and shopping at Amazon or Best Buy's sites, you'll get less than $0.01 per point, so that's not a good redemption option.

Your Citi ThankYou® points will be much more valuable if you also have either the Citi Premier℠ Card or the Citi Prestige®. If so, you can also transfer your points to any travel partner in the Citi ThankYou® Rewards program and make an award booking. That often allows you to get a much higher value for your points.

Here are two other cards that also offer great cash-back deals at supermarkets and gas stations. See how they compare to the Citi Rewards+℠ Card:

The Citi Rewards+℠ Card may be a good fit for you if either of the following is true:

• You use your credit card frequently for small transactions.
• You have the Citi Premier℠ Card or the Citi Prestige® and you're interested in boosting your rewards.

If you're the type to buy a $3 coffee here, a $6 lunch there, and make other small purchases throughout the day, then the Citi Rewards+℠ Card could earn you quite a few extra points through its round-up feature.

This card also works extremely well as a complementary option to either the Citi Premier℠ Card or the Citi Prestige®. Since it has bonus categories that those cards don't, it will give you the opportunity to earn more bonus points. You can also use it for any non-bonus spending to get your rewards rounded up.

Those who don't fit into either of the categories above will most likely be better off with cash-back cards or travel cards that have higher rewards rates.