A few weeks ago, Citibank discontinued its Rewards+ credit card, a niche product with one superpower: a 10% rebate on up to 100,000 redeemed ThankYou points annually. It also had a semi-useful feature that “rounded-up” purchases to the nearest 10 points, so a $1 charge would earn 10 points, an $11 purchase would earn 20 and so on.
Since then, it’s been a poorly-kept secret that Citi intended to replace the card with some sort of Strata-branded product. We now know many details about the new card, to be known as the “Strata.” Current Rewards+ cardholders will be switched over to the Strata starting on 7/20/25, and new customers will be able to apply for it later this year.
We’ll dive into the details below.
Citi Strata Details
- Citibank will be replacing the old Rewards+ card with a new product: the Strata:
- Current Rewards+ cardholders will be product-changed starting 7/20/25
- New applications will begin later this year
- Once new applications are available, the welcome offer will begin at 30K points after $1K spend within the first three months.
- Strata features will include:
- No annual fee
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5x on hotels, car Rentals and attractions booked through Citi Travel
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3x at supermarkets
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3x on select transit and at gas and EV charging stations
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3x in one category of your choice, including: fitness clubs, select streaming services, live entertainment, cosmetic stores/barber shops/hair salons or pet supply stores.
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2x at restaurants
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1x everywhere else.
- Neither the Rewards+’ 10% annual rebate nor its round-up feature will be part of the Strata card.
Quick Thoughts
At first glance, this new card will be much more useful for the vast majority of consumers and seems obviously positioned as a competitor to the Chase Freedom Flex and the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards. What’s not to like about a no annual fee card that earns 3% on groceries and gas; 2x on restaurants; and throws in a bizarre customizable option as well (I know lots of gamers will be waiting to pounce on that pet supply stores category)?
I find two things immediately interesting. First off, although it’s a billed as a “replacement” for the Rewards+ card, it bears little resemblance to it. The bonus categories for the Strata are far beyond what the Rewards+ offered, and there’s (unfortunately) no mention of the 10% annual rebate on points redemptions. That last part is a big downer for many of us, as it amounted to a 10K anniversary bonus simply for holding a card with no fee. Luckily, the press release doesn’t suggest that Rewards+ cardholders will be forced to product change, but rather “will have access” to it.
Even worse, we’ve now confirmed with Citi that all Rewards+ cards will be converted to Stratas and that “those who opened their Rewards+ card from July 20, 2024 through July 19, 2025 will continue to have access to the Round Up feature and the 10% Points Back until July 19, 2026.” That’s a bummer, I loved that aspect of Citi’s rewards program and hate to see it go.
The second thing that I find interesting: the multipliers on this card almost completely mimic those of the more expensive $95 Citi Strata Premier. The only differences are that the Citi Strata Premier earns an extra 1x on dining, 3x on a limited travel category and 10x on Citi Travel purchases (vs the 5x that the Strata earns). The only thing that the Strata gives me that I don’t already have is the customizable monthly category…and I’d have have to spend $5K in that category per year to offset the 10K that I get back because of my current Rewards+ card. I’d prefer to keep my Rewards+…if I could.
My assumption is that the Strata won’t have access to the full array of Citi’s transfer partners; those will only be unlocked by the Strata Premier. Given that, if I was applying for a new card, I’d prefer the Strata Premier’s almost identical (but slightly better) bonus categories, much better welcome offer, and full transferability to what I’d get with the Strata, even with the Premier’s $95 annual fee.
As a standalone cashback card with limited options for travel partner transfers, the Strata is more compelling…and given that there’s no annual fee, there’s no harm in having it along with the Strata Premier so you can let yourself run wild with pet supplies. I just wouldn’t use it as a replacement to the Strata Premier.
So, what am I going to do with my household Rewards+ cards, now that we know we’re all going to be forced to product change? Since I already have the Strata Premier, my strategy will be to max out the annual rebate in the next month or so and then product-change both of them to the Custom Cash card, with its choose-your-own monthly 5x category. For me, there’s more value to having additional 5x capacity than there would be to having the customizable 3x on the Strata. However, the Double Cash card could be another appealing option in order to get access to 2x points everywhere, for those that don’t already have one.
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I product changed a very old citi card to Rewards + earlier this year and got letter from Citi confirming I have 10% bonus until July 2026 while getting the new Card benefits of Strata starting Jul 2025.
Nice! That’s a great DP, thanks for sharing.
I would have assumed that product changes within the last year wouldn’t count, but glad to hear that they do!
I called to downgrade my AA Platinum Select World Elite card today and they gave me the option to product change to the Rewards + card. If I do that, it sounds like it will be changed to a Strata in late July. My ultimate goal is to get a Double Cash so I wonder if I will be able to eventually product change again to the Double Cash down the road…
Called back to actually execute the product change to the Rewards + card and after the rep selected the Rewards + they were blocked from actually doing the product change.
The 5x on the Custom Cash for gas is great but it’s a Mastercard. Are there any $0 AF Visa cards that earn 5x for gas (and don’t exclude Costco?)
The Costco Business Visa is $0 AF and has 5x on gas, up to $6-7k.
IMO the best card for Costco gas is Wyndham Business earner visa, at 8x points, but that’s a $95 AF (well worth it with a net negative fee, given 15K annual points bonus).
Thanks Dave for reminding me about the Wyndham card, the 8x spend @ $0.92 cpp makes it ~7.3%.
I do have the Costco card – currently earning 5.25% with the BofA Customized Cash (1.75x Platinum Honors bonus).
The reason I had this card was primarily for the 2 year extrnded warranty coverage. I wonder if they will let me product change back to the diamond preferred which also had that coverage. Worried they’re going to nerf it.
If we let our cards be converted to the Strata, will that make us ineligible for a welcome bonus on the Strata Premier? Also, Strata premier has good travel insurance coverage. Is that true for the new Strata? I doubt a free card will get coverage.
It shouldn’t, because Citi’s churning rules are based on when you last received a welcome bonus, not when you last opened or closed a card.
We haven’t seen any details regarding travel insurance yet, but I’d be surprised if it will have much to offer.
Thanks for your reply, Tim. I was also inquiring because sometimes you can’t have an open card in the family of cards, eg, strata cards.
Hey Tim, can you clarify the timing of the forced conversion?
Are you saying if you opened your Rewards+ card before 7/20/24, then you will be converted 7/20/25, and can only get 10% rebate once (for 2025)? But if you opened your Rewards+ card from 7/20/24 through 7/19/25, then you will be converted 7/19/26, and can get 10% rebate twice (once for 2025 and once for 2026)?
If that’s the case, I wonder how these rules apply if you opened a different card before 7/20/24 but product changed to Rewards+ after 7/20/24.
I’m wondering the same about your last point. I PC’d to Rewards+ from a Custom Cash a couple of months ago when the rumor came out about it being discontinued.
Update:
I received an email from Citi confirming that “10% Points Back (on the first 100k ThankYou Points redeemed per year) will remain on your account through July 19, 2026.”
Original card opened 4/28/23. PC to Rewards+ 3/22/25. Planning to get the rebate twice!
Just a data point–I called Citi to express my disappointment. I asked if there were any other cards I could product change my Rewards+ into. Custom Cash was not an option. I know this can be a YMMV situation, but the only options the agent saw were the Citi AA cards (Mile Up, Platinum and Executive). I found that interesting given that recent data points that said changes between AA & TYP earning cards was no longer possible (they actually gave me no TYP product change options).
It’s one way is to AA not from AA. That being said, some have been offered Costco as a choice.
In similar fashion, while WF issues Bilt, there’s no product changing to or from other WF cards and no moving credit line to or from other WF cards. Bilt is an isolated island. Big detractors.
In the article that Tim wrote on this blog on 3/27/2025, he stated that it was apparently no longer possible to product change TYP and AA cards in either direction. He asked them to try to convert a Strata Premier to an AA card and that was not possible.
Wells Fargo is definitely more picky about product changes. For their own branded no annual fee cards, it is super easy, with some people even having the option to do it in the app without talking to customer service. For co-branded ones, like Bilt or Choice, no product changes are available (for my no fee Choice I could not even convert to the one with the annual fee). Additionally, all the data points that I have seen suggest the Autograph Journey cannot be product changes (cannot be downgraded to the no fee Autograph).
My hopeful silver lining in all of this is they add AA as a transfer partner soon, and having a 10% rebate on points is too expensive for them, so they nixed the Rewards + in preparation of that.
Might the 10% rebate be a feature of the new Strata Elite card?
Why is replacing in quotes? It is literally replacing it.
They’re presenting it as an upgrade of the previous product, but it doesn’t offer the same benefits and is effectively a completely different card. Essentially, Citi ended the Rewards+ and added a different product that has no relationship to the previous one. It’s like “replacing” an apple with an orange.
That’s what replacing means… There is still no need for a quotation and even more so for your last sentence. They are literally replacing an apple with an orange.
Pretty sure Citi is not in the fruit business, if you really want to get pedantic.
Does product change to custom cash be added to 5/24?
“The only thing that the Strata gives me that I don’t already have is the customizable monthly category.” While I totally agree there is little additive value to having a Strata Premier and a Strata card, I think the “select transit” 3x category is also a (very very small) benefit on the Strata, not included on the Premier.
Let’s see if there is an FTF. Knowing Citi, I’m guessing the answer is “yes”.
am I missing something about gamers and the pet supply store (3x)… because they would still get better (5x) at office supply stores
Only that it’s a joke. 😉
Tim, do you recommend transferring 100k TYPs this year before the conversion date to receive the 10% rebate?
Without the 10% rebate, I would rather have another Custom Cash CC for 5x.
Absolutely. I just added exactly that to the end of the post, now that we know product-changes will be forced. There’s no way that I’d choose the customizable 3x category over additional 5x capacity with a Custom Cash. I’m going to max out the rebates this month and then change them over.
Not only that, if you let Citi convert your card in July, they will most likely make you ineligible to get a sign-up bonus on the Strata for some time.
I thought Strata SUB eligibility is based on last SUB date earned, NOT actually having a card (unlike the complicated Bonvoy rules!)
The current Strata (premier) says you’re ineligible for a SUB if you converted your Rewards+ to a Strata in the past X months. To make things worse, Citi solicited cardholders to convert them.
I suspect citi could do the same for this case.
Assuming you don’t want to be automatically converted, can you convert your current Rewards+ card to another Custom Cash?
Seems to be a huge YMMV. All you can do is call and find out.