Many Citi Strata Premier cardholders have received an email indicating that cash back redemptions are going to be slashed in value, going from 1c per point to just 0.75c per point beginning on 8/24/25.
The email
Many Citi Strata Premier cardholders are receiving an email indicating that redemptions are changing for Strata Premier cardholders in August:
We are writing to let you know that we are making a change to the ThankYou® Rewards Program. Effective 08/24/25, the redemption value for Cash Back redeemed through the ThankYou Rewards account associated with your Citi Strata Premier® will change. Current Value for Cash Back: 10,000 ThankYou Rewards Points are redeemable for $100. New Value for Cash Back, effective 08/24/25: 10,000 ThankYou Rewards Points are redeemable for $75. You may redeem ThankYou Points for Cash Back at the current redemption value through 08/23/25. After that, the new redemption value will apply. Remember: There are many other great ways to redeem ThankYou Points for rewards like booking flights and hotel stays through Citi Travel® or redeeming for gift cards from popular brands. Sign on to thankyou.com to see all the different ways you can use ThankYou points.
Quick Thoughts
We initially thought that this issue might be limited to those who do not have their points pooled across the Citi Strata Premier and Citi Double Cash cards, but we heard from at least one reader with those accounts linked who received this email.
The reason we thought that might make a difference is because we have so far only seen the email addressed to Citi Strata Premier cardholders, not to Double Cash cardholders. It would seem challenging to refer to the Double Cash card as awarding double cash if the rewards weren’t worth 1c per point.
At this point, I think that the change only applies to those with a Strata Premier card and only for redemptions made through the Strata Premier. Greg has a Citi Prestige card and has not received an email about this change.
It would seem reasonable to guess that the Custom Cash rewards points would also continue to be worth 1c per point since that card is advertised as earning a percentage of cash back.
While we won’t know for sure what happens until August, my instinct is that this likely only affects those without a Citi cash back card to which they can link ThankYou points. For people in that situation who also prefer to redeem their points for cash back, this is obviously a hugely negative change.
That said, you’ll almost always get much better value by transferring rewards to Citi transfer partners and using your points to book travel. If your primary use of Citi points is booking travel with transfer partners, this change won’t be of significance to you. Still, I always prefer to see the backup of redeeming points at $0.01 per point in case situations change and you end up needing a cash redemption.
It is worth noting that not all Strata Premier cardholders have yet received the email. It is unclear at this point whether the email is rolling out slowly or some cardholders are grandfathered in to a better redemption rate for some reason.
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I got the email for the Citi Prestige.
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Hopefully they don’t devalue all the points. Citi has the best cash back portfolio by far for major spend categories with the Custom Cash(es)
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The most benign reason I can think of is they want to create differentiation between the Premier and the return on a new higher fee card. Still bad, but not as bad as if they are just in general cutback mode
1. I’m much more alarmed by this change than you seem to be, particularly when combined with the relatively-unimportant transfer ratio changes recently. Part of the appeal of the bank programs has been that they were seemingly much safer stores of value given the nature of the rewards and the flexibility provided. This doesn’t just affect earning value going forward, it affects the value of points you’ve already earned.
2. I’m struck by how this directly undercuts the cards competitiveness with the CSP, which now will have both more rewarding travel portal redemptions (1.25 vs 1) but also more rewarding statement credits (1 vs 0.75).
3. Regarding the DC, it’s not just that they refer to it as “double cash”; at least at the moment they explicitly advertise it as “2% cash back on purchases” via TYP earning. On the other hand, if they did devalue down to 0.75c, that would put it right in line with the Chase Freedom Unlimited.
Bingo on #3. Can it is still “double cash” as is it 2 points….you just need to know the value.
Thanks for getting this out, Nick. (For others, I’m the guy he is referring to who has pooled Premier and DC points.) I know Greg has said Citi always knows where you points actually came from; will be interesting to see if they can have different redemption rates in a pooled situation like mine. Maybe they sent to me in error? If not, I’m thinking your assessment may be optimistic. (Note, they can still call it “double cash” as you are getting 2 points; just not telling you how much they are worth.)
My DC and Strata TYP are linked and I received the email. Maybe the first email batch was for people who have redeemed for cash in the past, as I have,
Having experienced Citi customer service for decades, I’m 100% sure the best explanation is slow email or poor IT, and not some hopeful hodgepodge of certain people grandfathered in.