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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 100,000 bonus points after spending $6,000 in the first 3 months of account opening. It’s even better than the card’s launch offer!
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 $2,700 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.
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.
@Dillon – must be a lot. Hardly a day goes by that he doesn’t shill for this card which, BTW, I have no interest in getting. Sure you could get value out of the first year but I already have the Amex Platinum and Gold cards along with the CSR and Citi Strata Premier so have more travel and food credits than I can probably use. Also, the requirement to book through the Citi portal to get any multiple on travel is a non-starter for me as it is so easy with my Platinum (airfare only) and CSR (hotels where I don’t get value with an affinity card).
Tells you IMHO Citi is struggling with this card when they obviously have enhanced the referral fees given how hard bloggers are pushing it. IMHO it is a failure and no reason anyone would ever want it outside of SUB and maybe some use for the first year credits.
Don’t forget the WSJ story about how a lot of people are having the card frozen after approval until they submit an income verification form and Citi processes it. Oh and they won’t extend the bonus window if they freeze your card.
But you have to fly American Airlines, no thank you.
@Retired Gambler – it was a failure before the WSJ article, and at this point it reeks of desperation. And because the Elite does not offer Citi branded lounge access and has very little in terms of other benefits, the current pitch can’t really be more than “look it’s Kristen Bell! Get it for 1 year for 100k TY points and the double dip on the coupons.” And I’m sure the last thing Citi wanted to do after the WSJ article was immediately launch the Globe card to further cannibalize any hope the Elite had of succeeding, but I’d imagine they were boxed in contractually by AA after having taken over from Barclays. And I’d wager AA is not particularly pleased either, although the WSJ just handed them a big fat public chip to use at every meeting they have with Citi for the next 12-24 months.
Globe is basically an Elite-lite with a 90k SUB versus 100k SUB (yes restricted to AA versus all of TY transfer partners, but still very good SUB), the same 4 passes to the admirals club, and if you get it now you can split the Globe’s credits over the 2 calendar years just like the Elite. But $350 instead of $595 so much lower risk for many people.
At this point it’s just a question of marketing dollar spend. For now they’re clearly offering very high referral fees while they figure out what exactly they want to do here (and it is a good SUB and Year 1 value – so no reason not to use VFTW’s links if you’re going to take the handout from Citi…). Maybe they just let it wither for a year or so and try for a relaunch in 12 months and tease some new Citi branded lounges in 2-4 airports. Maybe they come out with some kind of January 1, 2026 bonus structure for their existing HNWIs at a time when they are not as hamstrung by having to pay out twice due to the benefits being tied to the calendar year (150-200k offers for existing Citigold clients or something like that as a New Year’s special from January 1-10). Maybe they renegotiate with AA and beg them for 2 annual passes to Soho/Flagship lounges, although Executive Card members may throw a fit if that happens. Maybe they increase the price of the Executive Card to $695 to make up for the Elite’s failure and throw some more splurge credits on that card (there’s a promo right now for $150 off $1000 on 1stDibs on the Executive Card… a sign of things to come?). No idea, but I have to imagine it’s all on the table every day over at Citi HQ as they figure out how to make up for the dramatic loss of premium cardholders that Citi’s bankers probably already had penciled in for their next credit card securitization ABS product.
@Dillon, @Retired Gambler — I hope it ‘enough’ to keep the site going; and I’m sure Gary’s doing just fine. I will say, I did my part and used Gary’s link for the 100K offer (it’s not like I knew anyone else who had the card yet.) As usual, @Peter gets it! (I’m gonna milk this card for the double-dip, then probably downgrade to Strata no-fee.)
Was just denied. boo hoo. Was hoping they were approving everyone (which would explain the irs debacle). Did not see a single decline DP on doc and CB is defunct so thought i’d give it a try. In their defense i am blacklisted!
@ Gary — I rarely receive approval for Citi cards even with high scores and income. It feels like they hold the 50 different Citi cards I have churned over the last 30 years against me. I was instantly REJECTED for this card last time I tried, but I’ll give it another shot.
Gary is panting
@ Gary — DECLINED. AGAIN. Oh well, eventually. Come to think of it, maybe they don’t like me because of the fixed air Thank You Point redemptions that we turned into fat airline vouchers or the $30,000 of 4th night free reservations we had them pay for over a 2-year period. 🙂
@ Tom — Drooling.
@Tastemore224 – in fact, the folks who were affected seem to have (1) used a targeted link offer that wasn’t intended for them, (2) had their accounts unfrozen, and (3) had their annual fee waived and the spend requirement for the bonus waived, at least as I understand it. The link they’d applied through had also been the focus of fraud at scale (fake identity applications). But this understanding is second hand.
@Sexy_kitten7 — There were DPs on DoC about Citi wanting 1/6, 3/12, 6/24, but YMMV.
@Gene — Definitely that $30,000 of 4th night free… (you’re still the winner, sir).