Link: Apply now for the no annual fee Citi Strata℠ Card
We’ve just seen the launch of the Citi Strata℠ Card, an exciting new no annual fee product in the Citi ThankYou ecosystem, which replaces the old Citi Rewards+ Card. This card could prove lucrative independently, or could make a great complement to one of the more premium cards earning Citi ThankYou points, to really maximize your rewards.
In this post, I’d like to take an in-depth look at this card, as it’s a product that many people should consider picking up, especially as a complement to the Citi Strata Premier® Card (review) or Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (review).
Citi Strata Card welcome offer & no fee basics
For someone looking to earn Citi ThankYou points, the Citi Strata Card is a no-brainer, whether applying directly, or product changing to this card from another product, as a downgrade option. Let’s go over the details of the welcome offer, eligibility, and (lack of an) annual fee.
Welcome bonus of 30K ThankYou points
The Citi Strata Card has a welcome bonus of 30,000 ThankYou points after spending $1,000 within the first three months. This is being marketed as a limited time offer, though we don’t yet know when it will be pulled.
For a no annual fee card, I’d say that’s an excellent welcome offer. Assuming you have this card in conjunction with a card earning premium ThankYou points, I value those points at 1.7 cents each, meaning that to me, the points are worth $510.
Card eligibility restrictions & rules
The Citi Strata Card welcome bonus isn’t available to those who have received a new account bonus on the Citi Strata, Citi Strata Student, Citi Rewards+, or Citi Rewards+ Student, in the past 48 months. It’s also not available to those who have converted another Citi card to one of those four cards, in the past 48 months.
Beyond that, eligibility for this card (including the bonus) is unrelated to whether you have any other Citi ThankYou card. That means you’re eligible for the bonus on this card if you have the Citi Strata Premier® Card (review) or Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (review).
Beyond that, Citi has fairly limited rules when it comes to getting approved for cards. The most important restriction to keep in mind is that you can typically only be approved for one Citi card every eight days, and at most two Citi cards every 65 days.
Card product change & downgrade potential
If you don’t want to apply outright for this card, it’s worth noting that Citi is generally pretty good about letting people downgrade and product change cards. So if you’ve had another Citi personal card for at least 12 months, you can phone up Citi and see if it’s possible to product change to this card.
Keep in mind that if you product change, you’re not eligible for the welcome offer, as that’s only open to those who apply outright. But I know some people might want to save their card applications for cards that have bigger welcome offers (and annual fees). Everyone has to decide for themselves.
No annual fee for primary & authorized users
The Citi Strata Card has no annual fee for the primary cardmember, or for authorized users. So this is a fantastic card in terms of being able to maximize value without having to pay an annual fee. Also keep in mind that holding onto cards can help your credit score in the long run.
Citi Strata Card points earning structure
What makes the no annual fee Citi Strata Card so valuable is the bonus categories that it offers on spending, which can help you supercharge the ThankYou points that you earn. In particular, the card is a great complement to products like the Citi Strata Premier® Card (review) or Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (review).
The bonus categories include the following:
- 5x ThankYou points on hotels, rental cars, and attractions, booked through Citi Travel
- 3x ThankYou points at supermarkets, on select transit, and at gas and EV charging stations
- 3x ThankYou points on an eligible self-select category of your choice
- 2x ThankYou points at restaurants
- 1x ThankYou points on all other purchases
Do note that this card has 3% foreign transaction fees, so I’d generally avoid using this card for purchases in foreign currencies. Let’s take a closer look at how these bonus categories work.
5x ThankYou points with Citi Travel
The Citi Strata Card offers 5x ThankYou points when you book hotels, rental cars, and attractions, through Citi Travel, which is Citi’s travel portal. This could be a good deal, though I’d note that there’s often an opportunity cost to booking through a credit card portal.
For example, typically when you book a hotel through a credit card portal, you’re not going to earn loyalty points with the hotel program, if that’s something you care about. So this is the bonus category I’m least excited about, frankly.
3x ThankYou points at supermarkets
The Citi Strata Card offers 3x ThankYou points at supermarkets. You generally won’t earn bonus points for purchases made at general merchandise or discount stores, freezer or meat locker provisioners, dairy product stores, miscellaneous food and convenience stores, markets, drugstores, warehouse clubs, wholesale clubs, specialty vendors, bakeries, candy stores, nut stores, confectionary stories, and meal kit delivery services.
3x ThankYou points on select transit
The Citi Strata Card offers 3x ThankYou points on select transit purchases. This generally includes car rentals, ferries, commuter railways, subways, taxis, limousines, car services, passenger railways, bridge and road tolls, parking lots and garages, bus lines, and motor home and recreational vehicles.
3x ThankYou points on gas & EV charging
The Citi Strata Card offers 3x ThankYou points on gas and EV charging. The gas station category typically includes gas and other gas station purchases, while the EV charging category includes most places where you can charge your car. You generally won’t earn bonus points for gas and EV charging purchases at warehouse clubs, discount stores, department stores, convenience stores, or other merchants that aren’t classified as gas stations or EV charging.
3x ThankYou points on self-select categories
The Citi Strata Card offers 3x ThankYou points on an eligible self-select category of your choice, with the following options:
- Fitness clubs
- Select streaming services
- Live entertainment
- Pet supply stores
- Cosmetic stores, barber shops, and hair salons
How does this self-select category work, in practice? When you open your account, select streaming services will be the default. You can then change that through your account by following this link, and then you can activate the self-select category you prefer. You can change your self-select category once each calendar quarter.
2x ThankYou points at restaurants
The Citi Strata Card offers 2x ThankYou points on restaurant spending. This generally include cafes, bars, lounges, fast food restaurants, takeout, and delivery. You generally won’t earn bonus points for purchases made at bakeries, caterers, and restaurants in other establishments (like hotels, department stores, grocery stores, discount stores, convenience stores, and warehouse clubs).
Citi Strata Card points redemption options
How can you redeem the points earned on the Citi Strata Card? As is the case with all major transferable points currencies, there’s some nuance to this, as the maximum redemption value you’ll get depends on the most premium card you have.
Citi ThankYou points value with the Citi Strata Card
If you exclusively have the Citi Strata Card, you can expect that points can be redeemed for anywhere from 0.75-1.0 cents each, depending on whether you’re seeking cash back, gift cards, or travel. However, beyond that, you can transfer points to most Citi ThankYou airline and hotel transfer partners. There are two catches:
- American AAdvantage is the one transfer partner you can’t transfer to
- Transfers to most partners are at a reduced ratio, generally at a rate that’s roughly 30% less than on more premium cards
More specifically, here are the transfer rates if you exclusively have the Citi Strata Card:
- Transfer to Accor Live Limitless at a 1,000:350 ratio
- Transfer to Aeromexico Rewards at a 1,000:700 ratio
- Transfer to Air France-KLM Flying Blue at a 1,000:700 ratio
- Transfer to Avianca Lifemiles at a 1,000:700 ratio
- Transfer to Cathay Pacific at a 1,000:700 ratio
- Transfer to Choice Privileges at a 1,000:1,400 ratio
- Transfer to Emirates Skywards at a 1,000:560 ratio
- Transfer to Etihad Guest at a 1,000:700 ratio
- Transfer to EVA Air Infinity MileageLands at a 1,000:700 ratio
- Transfer to JetBlue TrueBlue at a 1,000:700 ratio
- Transfer to Leading Hotels of the World Leaders Club at a 1,000:140 ratio
- Transfer to Preferred Hotels & Resorts I Prefer at a 1,000:2,800 ratio
- Transfer to Qantas Frequent Flyer at a 1,000:700 ratio
- Transfer to Qatar Airways Privilege Club at a 1,000:700 ratio
- Transfer to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer at a 1,000:700 ratio
- Transfer to Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus at a 1,000:700 ratio
- Transfer to Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles at a 1,000:700 ratio
- Transfer to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club at a 1,000:700 ratio
- Transfer to Wyndham Rewards at a 1,000:700 ratio
Citi ThankYou points value with more premium cards
There’s a trick to maximizing the value of the points earned on the Citi Strata Card. If you have the card in conjunction with either the Citi Strata Premier® Card (review) or Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (review), then you can pool all your points, and redeem them at a better rate.
More specifically, here are the transfer rates for all of your points if you have one of the more premium cards:
- Transfer to Accor Live Limitless at a 1,000:500 ratio
- Transfer to Aeromexico Rewards at a 1,000:1,000 ratio
- Transfer to Air France-KLM Flying Blue at a 1,000:1,000 ratio
- Transfer to American AAdvantage at a 1,000:1,000 ratio
- Transfer to Avianca Lifemiles at a 1,000:1,000 ratio
- Transfer to Cathay Pacific at a 1,000:1,000 ratio
- Transfer to Choice Privileges at a 1,000:2,000 ratio
- Transfer to Emirates Skywards at a 1,000:800 ratio
- Transfer to Etihad Guest at a 1,000:1,000 ratio
- Transfer to EVA Air Infinity MileageLands at a 1,000:1,000 ratio
- Transfer to JetBlue TrueBlue at a 1,000:1,000 ratio
- Transfer to Leading Hotels of the World Leaders Club at a 1,000:200 ratio
- Transfer to Preferred Hotels & Resorts I Prefer at a 1,000:4,000 ratio
- Transfer to Qantas Frequent Flyer at a 1,000:1,000 ratio
- Transfer to Qatar Airways Privilege Club at a 1,000:1,000 ratio
- Transfer to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer at a 1,000:1,000 ratio
- Transfer to Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus at a 1,000:1,000 ratio
- Transfer to Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles at a 1,000:1,000 ratio
- Transfer to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club at a 1,000:1,000 ratio
- Transfer to Wyndham Rewards at a 1,000:1,000 ratio
Personally, I’d highly recommend thinking of the Citi Strata Card as a complement to one of the more premium cards. The good thing is that you can always pick up this card and start racking up points. As long as you pick up one of the other cards at a later point, you can redeem all your points at that higher rate. So it’s about the most premium card you have when you redeem points, and not when you accrue them.
Is the Citi Strata Card worth it?
The Citi Strata Card is a pretty compelling no annual fee card with some great category multipliers, and a solid welcome bonus.
If you ask me, though, this card is more interesting in the context of the overall Citi ThankYou ecosystem, and the ability to use this card in conjunction with other premium Citi ThankYou cards, to really maximize your rewards. In particular, think of this as a complement to the Citi Strata Premier® Card (review) or Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (review).
For example, if you pick up the new Citi Strata Elite Card, there’s something to be said for picking up the Citi Strata Card, so that you can take advantage of 3x points at supermarkets, and on select transit, and at gas and EV charging stations. Then there’s also the 3x points on eligible self-select categories of your choice.
With this, Citi has really created the ability to set up a lucrative card ecosystem, where you can maximize your points. I should also mention that some people may want to consider the Citi Double Cash® Card (review), which earns 1x ThankYou points when you make a purchase, and 1x ThankYou points when you pay for a purchase. That’s pretty awesome, since you can essentially earn 2x transferable points (including American AAdvantage miles) with the card, in conjunction with another premium Citi card.
Bottom line
The Citi Strata Card is a compelling no annual fee card. It offers a solid welcome bonus, plus some lucrative bonus categories that could prove useful for those who are engaged in the Citi ThankYou ecosystem.
I’m delighted to see the overall improvements to the Citi ThankYou ecosystem, and I think the Citi Strata Card and/or the Citi Double Cash® Card (review) make great complements to the Citi Strata Premier® Card (review) and/or Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (review).
If you want to learn more about the Citi Strata Card or want to apply, follow this link.
