Balance Transfer Arbitrage

That’s right, 5% cashback on everything you buy with this new card from Citi – the Citi CashReturns card. This post is a bit of a departure from the regular 0% balance transfer arbitrage stuff only because the potential of this card to save you significant sums of money is absolutely amazing. If you are planning on making any large purchases in the next three months (say, a wedding? a big blowout vacation? big anniversary?), you absolutely have to get this card because you can save 5% on top of whatever wheeling and dealing you’re able to secure otherwise.

This card also offers a 0% APY balance transfer but it comes with a 3% fee that has no cap, thus making it a very weak candidate for balance transfer arbitrage. It does however make it a great candidate for high spenders (at least for three months!).

There are a few other nice perks like how checks are sent automatically after a $50+ rebate is accrued, none of that junk involving check requests.

For balance transfer purposes, the Citi Professional Card has some great features that simply can’t be beat when it comes to the balance transfer arbitrage play.

• No balance transfer fee: Citi offers a lot of 0% balance transfers but some of them have balance transfer fees of 3% with a maximum of $75, but that fee has been waived on this card with this offer.
• 0% on balance transfers AND purchases: The 0% APR on balance transfers is a pre-requisite for a balance transfer arbitrage play but it’s nice that you get 0% APR on purchases as well. This means that you can make purchases and transfer a balance without worrying that a high rate purchase will get blocked by a big balance transfer.
• It’s a “Business card”: The card is designed for business expenses, hence the Professional moniker, which means that they’ll generally give you a higher balance than a regular consumer card.
• It’s a Citi card: Why is this good? Well they have a ridiculously easy balance transfer request process, you can request it online and have it sent to you as a check.

If I was picking my first card for a balance transfer, this card would be it.