Citi Strata Elite: Instant Approval And $2,400 First Year Value, Readers Confirm Success

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Citi Strata EliteSM Card (See rates and fees.)

Blog readers have shared great approval experiences with the Citi Strata EliteSM Card. Honestly that’s long been my experience with Citibank. If you’re eligible for a card – you meet income and credit requirements, you haven’t earned the initial bonus offer too recently or applied for too many Citi cards recently – I think you have better odds with them than many issuers.

I’ve never been turned down for a Citibank card, and my wife was approved for the Citi® / AAdvantage BusinessTM World Elite Mastercard® [See rates and fees] with a very, very small business. Readers share similar stories.

The card has a bonus that they advertise as limited time to earn 80,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months of account opening.

And it’s packed with benefits: Up to $300 Annual Hotel Benefit each calendar year off a hotel stay of two nights or more when booked through cititravel.com; up to $200 annual splurge credit (valid with merchants like American Airlines, and available each calendar year so potentially twice in your first cardmember year); $100 Blacklane credit twice annually (once in the first half of the year and once in the back half).

It also offers a Priority Pass Select card for airport lounge access and four American Airlines Admirals Club passes each calendar year.

Valuing the points at 1.5 cents apiece and realizing the hotel credit and splurge credits twice in the first cardmember year (because the benefits are timed to calendar year) that’s at least $2,400 in year one value… without putting a price on the Admirals Club passes or Priority Pass benefit.

Still, there ar some things to know:

  • Approval frequency: Generally Citibank won’t approve more than one new card every 8 days. You can’t just apply for two at the same time and get approved. And at most they’ll generally approve no more than two inside of 65 days. So if you want a third, you need to wait at least 65 days from the first card’s approval before applying.

  • 48-month rule: To be eligible for a bonus from the Citi Strata EliteSM Card you cannot have received one for that card in the psat 48 months. That’s not a big limitation, since card is brand new.

  • Each product is separate: What’s notable is that the limitation applies specifically to this card, not to the family of cards. That means earning the bonus for a Citi Strata Premier® Card (See rates and fees.) does not stand in the way from earning one for Strata Elite (and current Strata Premier cardholders are eligible for Strata Elite).

I received instant approval for the Citi Strata EliteSM Card – as soon as I hit apply.

That surprised me, since Citi already extends me quite a lot of credit and since Chase had just rejected me for their Sapphire Reserve for BusinessSM (See rates and fees) – I really wanted that card and offer, so I called for reconsideration and got it. I expected at a minimum to have to follow a similar path here.

Citi’s new premium card is pretty incredible in the first year, not just because of the strong initial bonus but also because of credits that are timed to calendar year rather than cardmember year. (Calendar year credits can be claimed twice in cardmember year one.)

They’ve constructed a card that is a no-brainer to get. There’s just so much value to the customer up front. I’m not sure if it’ll be a keeper long-term or a card that’s best for your everyday spend (although it is very good).

My take: apply for this card, reap the maximum benefits in year one, and then consider whether it’s right for you in the long-term.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Editorial note: any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer. Comments made in response to this post are not provided or commissioned nor have they been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any bank. It is not the responsibility of advertisers Citibank, Chase, American Express, Barclays, Capital One or any other advertiser to ensure that questions are answered, either. Terms and limitations apply to all offers.

Comments

  1. I was declined. The reasons cited were “lack of recent installment loan information” and “too many recently opened accounts”. It’s weird because I’ve never been declined for a Citi card before, I have no instalment accounts and I’ve had more recently opened accounts when they’ve approved me in the past.

  2. That AI art… the AA plane… headed for the Citi building… a bit… ‘too soon,’ no?

    Anyway, if not going for the ‘triple dip’ (Dec 2025 to Jan 2027), sure, why not, go for the ‘double dip’ at your leisure, and transfer everything to AA. Churn!

  3. Gary, did you see that ‘Citi has now added the ability for Citi Strata, Preferred, Double Cash & Custom Cash Cards to transfer to American Airlines, but at a reduced 1:0.7 rate’ (according to DoC.)

  4. @1990 – I did, but.. meh… more options for cardholders who don’t have premium cards is better, of course, but not something for anyone who does to chase

  5. It’s probably for the best; at that rate, I’d rather redeem for cash at 1 cent per point, though, I suppose it could be helpful for the rare case of someone needing to ‘top off’ at AA and only having one of those no-fee Citi cards. Overall, I’m pleased with Citi’s inclusion of AA as a transfer partner again; it was sad for BILT to lose them, but this’ll do.

  6. I love the new Citi Strata Premier, Double Cash and Custom Cash combo for easy points earning on everything… but beware, that means nothing to Citi.

    I have several Citi credit lines open, use them frequently and always pay my balance in full each month. Despite all of that, my Citi Strata Elite app was declined for “too many recently opened accounts”. Ironically, the day after being declined a new Strata Elite card, Citi sent me an email stating that because I am one of their best customers they were increasing an existing credit line! Called Citi reconsideration and was still declined on the Strata Elite.

  7. No love for me. Haven’t gotten a new citi card in a couple years, stellar credit, No doubt their form letter will say something generic.

  8. @Too soon — Wild. For you, it’s Citi; for me, it’s Capital One. At least Citi only hard-pulls from one credit bureau…

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