Guide: Redeeming Cashback From Your Citibank Cashback Cards

Cashback is pretty straightforward and the story usually goes like this: you spend according to the card requirements and cashback offsets the amount you have to pay in your current or perhaps the next statement month. Nearly every bank’s cashback cards work like this, but Citibank’s cashback cards work a little differently from the rest.

Manual redemption is required for most Citibank cashback cards

Curiously, Citibank requires users to redeem their cashback manually for most of their cashback cards. I imagine there are some people who avoid points and miles cards because of the often complicated game of redemption, so they might be a bit wary about this. Thankfully, redeeming cashback from Citibank cards isn’t super complicated although it may not be what you are used to compared to other banks.

Leftover/stuck cashback

On top of a redemption system, Citibank cashback has to be redeemed in blocks. This results in leftover or stuck cashback in your account. For example, you may have earned S$58 of cashback with your Citibank card but because cashback has to be redeemed in blocks of S$10, you are stuck with S$8 that you cannot get out of the card until you earn another S$2 at least.

It’s an annoyance that Citibank imported from miles and points cards and something you should take note of to avoid losing too much cashback.

Citi SMRT card

The Citi SMRT card requires users to manually redeem their cashback in S$10, S$50, and S$100 blocks. You can redeem the cashback from within the Citi app, or by sending the bank a text message.

To redeem S$10, you need to SMS the following to 72484:
RWDS <space> Last 4 Digits of Your Citi SMRT Card number <space> SMRT10

For S$50 and S$100, replace SMRT10 with SMRT50 and SMRT100 accordingly.

To avoid leftover cashback, you have to do some calculation and planning when you go about making your spend. A S$1,500 might earn you S$75 of cashback, but you will only be able to redeem S$70 worth. It isn’t too bad if you’re using the card regularly, but if you are doing a one-off expense and not using the card for a while it’s something to take note.

Also, the SMRT$ earned by Citi SMRT expire! Take note of the way expiry works for SMRT$ here.

Citi Cash Back+

Citi Cash Back+ also requires manual redemption of cashback earned. Redemptions have to be made in S$10, S$20, and S$50 blocks.

To redeem S$10, you need to SMS the following to 72484:
RWDS <space> Last 4 Digits of Your Citi SMRT Card number <space> CSHBK10

For S$20 and S$50, replace CSHBK10 with CSHBK20 and CSHBK50 accordingly.

Citi Cash Back

Citi Cash Back (sans plus) does not require manual redemption of cashback earned. But don’t worry because Citi still made sure that cashback earned on this card worked a little differently from other banks – you need to have earned at least S$50 for the cashback to be credited to your statement.

On top of that, amounts above S$50 need to be a multiple of S$10 to be credited to your statement. Here are some examples to illustrate what happens:

Cashback Earned in a Month	Amount Credited to Statement	Leftover
S$30	S$0	S$30
S$50	S$50	S$0
S$54	S$50	S$4
S$69.98	S$60	S$9.98

To be clear, you don’t actually lose the leftover cashback. Instead, the amounts that don’t get credited are stuck in your account until you earn enough cashback to meet the redemption threshold of S$50 and S$10 multiples.

So if you have leftover S$20 in a month and earn another S$30 the next month, both amounts will combine and be credited as S$50 to your statement. If you don’t reach S$50, your cashback will remain stuck in your account. My S$9.98 has been in limbo for more than a year:

Again, it isn’t too much of an issue if you are constantly using the card. But if you plan to use it for one-off purchases it might be worth doing some calculation ahead of time to avoid such an annoyance. For instance, at 8% cashback, S$875 is a sweet spot to get S$70 worth of cashback.

Still very good cashback cards

Every bank is a little odd and has its own tiny quirks, I suppose, and despite Citi’s weird way of handling cashback, their cashback carads are still pretty good, particularly the Citi SMRT and Citi Cash Back cards.

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Seth Wee was a licensed financial adviser representative from 2009 to 2025, with over 16 years of experience in Singapore’s financial advisory industry.

He started Sethisfy.com in 2019 to share practical insights on credit cards, banking products, and miles strategies, helping readers identify financial products that deliver the best value. Seth has been featured in CNA, Channel 8, Today, and a host of other publications. In 2025, he was also part of a panel at CPF’s Ready For Life festival.

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