Link: Learn more about the Citi Strata Elite℠ Card
The Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (review) is Citi’s new premium card. While the card has a steep $595 annual fee, there are lots of reasons to consider picking up this card.
I applied for the card several weeks back in a Citi branch (back when there was a big incentive to do so), while Ford just applied for the card online, and was instantly approved. So I want to report back with the two experiences.
While this card isn’t some amazing slam dunk that’s too good to be true, I think the card is absolutely worth giving a shot, especially with the welcome offer available, plus the excellent first year value.
Basic Citi Strata Elite application restrictions
As a reminder, there’s a portfolio of three personal Citi Strata products. In addition to the Citi Strata Elite, there’s also the $95 annual fee Citi Strata Premier® Card (review) and no annual fee Citi Strata℠ Card (review).
Eligibility for the three Citi Strata products is considered independently, including when it comes to the welcome bonuses, so that’s great for consumers. This means that having the Citi Strata Premier doesn’t preclude you from getting the Citi Strata Elite, and vice versa (you’re also eligible for this card if you have the Citi Prestige Card, which is no longer open to new applicants).
The most important thing to understand is Citi’s 48-month rule, which is that the welcome bonus on a particular card isn’t available to those who have received a new cardmember bonus on that exact card in the past 48 months. The 48 months is based on when you received the bonus on a card, rather than based on when you opened the card.
Also remember Citi’s general application restrictions, including that on a rolling basis, you can generally only be approved for at most one Citi card every eight days, and at most two Citi cards every 65 days.
Citi Strata Elite application & approval experience
You can apply for the card either directly online or at a Citi branch. When initially launched, the offer in the branch was superior to the offer online. However, now you can earn the same number of bonus points regardless of whether you apply online or at a branch, so I’d recommend applying online (and applying at a branch can be kind of annoying, as I’ll explain below).
With the huge limited time online offer, you can earn 100,000 ThankYou bonus points after spending $6,000 within three months. Let me share my experience with the two application processes (again, at this point the online process is the way to go, since you can earn 100,000 points either way).
Citi Strata Elite online application experience
The Citi Strata Elite online application process is really straightforward, and consists of just one short page. It’s actually shorter than applications with most other card issuers. It just asks for personal details — name, date of birth, social security number, address, phone number, income, etc.
At the end of the application, you’ll be asked for your American AAdvantage number, if you have one. The reason you’ll want to include this is because this is where the Admirals Club day passes will be deposited, as those are an ongoing card perk.
Ford received an instant approval on his application, with a huge credit line as well. Anecdotally, it seems a lot of people are reporting instant approvals on this card! For what it’s worth, he doesn’t currently have any other Citi cards on which he’s the primary cardmember.
He could then immediately set up his online account, and that also gave him access to a temporary digital card, with access to 10% of his full credit line. It’s always nice when you can start spending right away upon approval, especially if you’re applying prior to a planned purchase.
Moments later, he also received an email confirming that he already had the four Admirals Club passes deposited in his AAdvantage account.
So yeah, application experiences don’t get much easier than that!
Citi Strata Elite in-branch application experience
Several weeks back, I applied for the Citi Strata Elite at a Citi branch, back when you could earn more bonus points in-branch rather than online (that’s no longer the case). I’ll still share my experience, though it’s a lot less relevant now.
In the past, I haven’t had great experiences with getting Citi in-branch appointments, let alone even getting individual Citi branches to pick up the phone. So I was delighted when a banker answered after only a few rings, and said he’d be available any time. I headed over to the branch, and the application took all of 10 minutes.
This was my first time in years visiting a bank branch for an appointment, and a few things stood out to me. For one, it was kind of odd how my social security number was said out loud for confirmation, and how I had to state my income, etc. Fortunately the branch was empty, but otherwise it seems like there should be a better way, like asking people to enter it on a keypad or something, no?
Next, admittedly I’m a huge introvert, but the small talk was sort of painful:
“Where is your last name from?”
“It’s German(ish).”
“Oh, are you German?”
“Yeah, my parents are both from Germany, and all my other relatives live there.”
“Oh, Germany is a beautiful country.”
“Yes it is, have you been?”
“No… but you are lucky, now you are living in the greatest country on earth.”
Erm, can we just proceed with the application, please? Anyway, my application was instantly approved, though with a very low credit line (probably because I have a few open Citi cards with high credit lines, and there’s only so much credit banks will extend to consumers).
The banker never asked me if I had an AAdvantage number. That’s kind of frustrating, because as soon as my card was approved, I received an email indicating I had a new AAdvantage account, and my Admirals Club passes were deposited there.
If this ends up happening to you, there’s actually a pretty easy solution, which I figured out after the fact. Log into the AAdvantage account you want to keep, go to the “Account summary” section, and then select the “Merge accounts” option, which will let you combine the two accounts.
My long term Citi Strata Elite strategy
Now that I have the Citi Strata Elite, what’s my strategy? I think this is a solid card, though it’s not necessarily a card where the math is that overwhelmingly exciting (then again, cards with that kind of math tend to get devalued pretty quickly). I do think there’s huge merit to picking up the card and taking it for a spin, given the welcome offer and very strong ongoing perks.
The card has a $595 annual fee, and because I’m a Citigold member, I get a $145 reduction on that annually, meaning the card will cost me $450 on an ongoing basis.
The way I view it, the card’s $200 annual “Splurge Credit” is basically good as cash, since that can be used to purchase American Airlines tickets, or even to purchase retailer gift cards with Best Buy. It’s even offered every calendar year, so that’s particularly rewarding with your card’s first annual fee (you can receive $400 in credits before your first account anniversary).
While not quite good as cash, I do also value the up to $200 annual Blacklane credit, in the form of a $100 credit semi-annually. While Blacklane is generally a lot more expensive than Uber, I’ve found value with Blacklane’s on-demand rides available in select cities, including in Miami. So with reasonable pricing and nice cars, I’m getting good value there.
There’s also an up to $300 annual hotel credit, valid for hotel bookings of at least two nights through Citi Travel. If you can stay for two nights at a hotel costing just over $150 per night, that’s easy enough to take advantage of, though I wouldn’t consider it to be worth face value.
Then there’s the Priority Pass membership and four annual American Admirals Club passes. While those perks will be nice for some, I already have several cards that offer Priority Pass, and I also have an Admirals Club membership with the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (review). So for me, the incremental value there is limited.
I do also appreciate the card’s “Citi Nights” concept, whereby you can earn 6x points when dining on Friday and Saturday nights over select hours. Given that those are the nights where we usually go out to eat (if we do), it’s nice to maximize points on those purchases, with the industry’s best return on dining spending.
Bottom line
The Citi Strata Elite is Citi’s new premium credit card. The card is offering a huge welcome bonus, and has some solid perks that may interest many. With Citi ThankYou points now being transferable to American AAdvantage, perhaps the most exciting detail is being able to use this card to rack up American miles, including with the welcome bonus.
If you’re interested in applying for the card, the good news is that eligibility is unrelated to having any other Citi card, so lots of people should qualify. There are lots of reports of instant card approvals, and I can’t imagine the offer will get better than it is right now.
If you’ve applied for the Citi Strata Elite, what was your experience like?