Citi Strata Premier Replaces Citi Premier: What Changed?

There had been rumors of Citi launching a new “Strata” card for a long time and speculation as to what this card would be like. The card finally launched this week, and it’s not exactly what I was expecting.

Essentially, the Citi Premier Card has been replaced by the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card, with minor tweaks. Let’s look at all the details.

Citi Premier becomes Citi Strata Premier

The Citi Strata Premier Card is Citi’s new mid-range personal credit card that earns transferable points. This card replaces the Citi Premier Card:

• The Citi Premier Card is no longer open to new applicants
• Those who had the Citi Premier Card have automatically been converted to the new Citi Strata Premier Card
• For all practical purposes, the Citi Strata Premier Card is considered the same product as the Citi Premier Card; for example, welcome bonus eligibility is based on whether you’ve had the Citi Premier Card

The Citi Strata Premier Card has the same $95 annual fee that the Citi Premier Card had, and for that matter, not all that much has changed about the card. The card is also offering a great welcome bonus (though note that in this case you’ll get a better deal when applying directly through Citi’s website, rather than through the OMAAT link).

What makes the Citi Strata Premier different?

So, what makes the Citi Strata Premier Card different than the previous Citi Premier Card? The Citi Strata Premier Card has all the same perks that were available on the Citi Premier Card, including:

On top of that, we’ve seen a couple of minor new perks added, with the introduction of the Citi Strata Premier Card:

• The card now offers 3x points on EV charging, in addition to gas
• The card now permanently offers 10x points on hotels, rental cars, and attractions booked through the Citi Travel portal; previously, the 10x points was marketed as a limited-time promotion

For more details, read my full review of the Citi Strata Premier Card.

What’s Citi’s motivation for the Strata branding?

When rumors started swirling about the Citi Strata Premier Card sometime back, I wasn’t sure what exactly to expect, though I figured one of two outcomes was most likely:

• Was Citi going to materially change its Citi Premier Card, perhaps with a higher annual fee and different perks and rewards structure?
• Was Citi going to introduce a new ultra-premium card, given that the Citi Prestige Card hasn’t been open to new applicants in years, while other card issuers have been putting a big emphasis on these higher annual fee cards?

I was surprised when we learned that the Citi Strata Premier Card is basically just an ever-so-slightly modified version of the Citi Premier Card. I can’t help but be curious about Citi’s motivation for this, and if we should be waiting for another shoe to drop.

Could a more premium product be introduced with the Citi Strata branding, perhaps something like the Citi Strata Prestige? Would we see a Citi Strata Premier Business?

The word “Strata” is also interesting for a credit card. It refers to layers of something, whether rock or soil or even a dish (with bread, cheese, meat, etc.). I guess the card art is intended to reflect that concept.

The only other explanation I can come up with is that Citi saw the success of the Chase Sapphire portfolio (which has the Preferred and Reserve products), so is trying to copy that, with the Citi Strata concept. I’m curious to see how this evolves. Maybe the motives will become apparent soon enough, or maybe this is the extent of the changes, and we’ll be left wondering. Just singularly rebranding the Citi Premier as the Citi Strata Premier seems like an odd change.

Bottom line

The long-awaited Citi Strata Premier Card has finally launched, and it looks a whole lot like the Citi Premier Card. It’s essentially just a rebranding of the product we knew, with the addition of 3x points on EV charging and the permanent ability to earn 10x points on hotels, rental cars, and attractions booked through the Citi Travel portal.

I’m curious if this is the extent of the “Strata” credit card portfolio or if this is only the start of something bigger.

What do you make of the “new” Citi Strata Premier Card? And what do you think Citi’s motivation was for this change?