Citi Strata Premier℠ Credit Card Review

Citi Strata Premier℠ Credit Card Review

In this article, we will take a look at the benefits and drawbacks of the Citi Strata Premier℠ Credit Card.

The Strata Premier℠ Card offers you rewards called ThankYou Points. These can be earned by booking vacations to your favorite destinations, often spending money at your desired hotels or restaurants, and even by making everyday purchases. ThankYou reward points can be extremely valuable to people who travel a lot and wish to have plenty of benefits. Furthermore, Citi offers a bonus of 75,000 points for new clients after they sign up and spend their first $4,000 within the first 3 months.

Citi Strata Premier℠ Credit Card: Pros and Cons

Rewards System in a Nutshell

The Strata Premier℠ Credit Card allows cardholders to earn 3x ThankYou Points for every $1 spent on travel purchases, as well as on restaurants, hotels, supermarkets, flights, and gas stations. However, all other purchases will only allow you to earn 1x points per $1 spent. These cost-effective rewards make the Strata Premier℠ Credit Card one of the most popular cards amongst people who travel frequently.

When redeeming the points through the Citi ThankYou Travel Portal, each point will be worth 1 cent. For example, this means you will need 10,000 ThankYou Points if you wish to purchase a $100 gift card. Therefore, the bonus 75,000 points you receive when signing up can be redeemed into an $800 gift card.

The points can be used in a few simple ways, as shown below:

• Shop with ThankYou Points – you can shop online at BestBuy.com and Amazon.com.
• Gift Cards – a large selection of gift cards is available if you wish to use your points for purchases in various stores.
• Travel Rewards – the points can be redeemed as hotels, cruises, miles for flights, and many more.

Another travel feature available to Strata Premier℠ cardholders is the $100 annual hotel savings benefit, which offers $100 off a hotel stay of at least $500 through the ThankYou portal. The points can also be transferred to partner airline loyalty programs, such as TrueBlue, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, or Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, without additional costs.

Who Can Benefit from Getting the Citi Strata Premier℠ Credit Card?

Since it is mainly a travel rewards card, the Citi Strata Premier℠ Credit Card is particularly profitable to people who travel often or go to restaurants and shop at supermarkets frequently. This is why spending money on flights, cruises, hotels, and other travel expenses earns you more points than regular everyday spending with this credit card.

If you constantly find yourself dreaming about your next vacation, plan on traveling a lot in the near future, or simply wish to benefit from travel rewards, then this is the perfect credit card for you. As previously mentioned, the annual costs and the high APR can be a setback, but if you have this type of lifestyle, the discounts and deals will definitely surpass these costs.

Moreover, the 16 airline transfer partners and the multiple World Elite Mastercard benefits that come with this credit card are also an advantage for frequent travelers, as they offer you perks like cheaper flights, free breakfasts, and room upgrades, as well as cell phone protection and Global Emergency Services. However, if you are interested in opening an account and getting the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card, you should be aware that it requires a good to excellent credit score.

Are there any other benefits?

The Citi Strata Premier℠ Credit Card comes with a lot of advantages, most of them targeting people who frequently spend a lot on traveling, gas stations, supermarkets, and restaurants. However, there are plenty of other benefits for all clients who wish to use this card when making everyday purchases while also enjoying their reward points.

• Citi Entertainment – this offers cardholders special access to purchase tickets for various events, from sports games, movies, theater plays, to concerts and festivals, before they are available to the general public.
• Extended warranty protection and damage and theft protection. This adds 24 months to warranties and repairing, or replacing any damaged or stolen item within 90 days of purchase.
• Contactless Pay - simply tap the card on the payment reader and enjoy safe shopping using the contactless-chip enabled card.
• Additional Cards – you can add another authorized user to your account for free to earn points faster and enjoy the rewards together.
• Digital Wallets – these can protect your credit card information while also allowing you to shop online safely without worrying about having your data leaked.
• ThankYou Service Center – if you wish to redeem your points by phone, call the service center at 1-800-THANKYOU (1-800-842-6596).
• No expiration on points earned – the ThankYou Points earned will always be available until you decide to redeem them or close your account.
• Free access to view your FICO Score – this makes it easy for cardholders to understand their financial status.

Conclusion

The Citi Strata Premier℠ Credit Card is a good credit card option not only for frequent travel expenses but also for everyday purchases, such as visiting restaurants (including cafes, bars, lounges, and fast-food restaurants), shopping at supermarkets, or refilling the car at gas stations.

One of the most significant advantages of the Citi Strata Premier℠ Credit Card is that it is definitely worth its annual fee. For example, assuming that you will redeem your ThankYou points at the rate of 1 cent, you will need to earn 9500 points to cover the annual fee of $95. You can earn this amount of points by buying food and gas for only $3,167 during a year, which is about 3 times less than the average spendings on these categories (according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). A great sign-up bonus of 75,000 points and an annual $100 hotel savings benefit are also great features of the card and will help cover the annual fee.

Considering all of this, we would recommend the Citi Strata Premier℠ Credit Card to people who plan to travel a lot or spend a lot of money on restaurants, gas, or supermarkets. This way, cardholders will be able to make the most out of the benefits and rewards that come with this travel rewards credit card.