NEW Citi Strata Premier - The Best All-Around Credit Card?

[@filpaul]

In terms of Customer Service… we have no Customer Service.

[@Daniel_Braun]

😂

[@De_Guatemala]

We used the Strata last month in Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay. Primary CDW outside the US, 3X car rentals, gas, groceries...we buy local groceries...and we used the $100 hotel credit for a 3 night stay in Iguazú, Argentina at the Mercure, for a lower price than the Accor app.

[@druiz012]

Good to know about the primary CDW outside the U.S.!

[@Daniel_Braun]

Very good to know, thanks for adding that about primary CDW outside of the US!! And thanks for the data point about the hotel credit being valuable for that stay. I definitely think it's a case by case basis as to whether the price in the Citi portal will be lower than elsewhere 👍

[@carloshidalgo3298]

Did you have to book rental thru citi or you just paid at rental company?

[@RSquared-travel-rewards]

Welcome aboard Daniel. The Strata Premier is the real CSP. I've been getting tons of value with this card. It is always in my wallet when I travel abroad. I can't talk about this card enough.

[@caribdude8151]

Yes Sir! 👍

[@Daniel_Braun]

Thanks Richard! Yeah I think there's a ton of value packed into this card so I've been a fan of it so far. Citi has a ton of great things going on!

[@chrisv4920]

Personally I find Citi way better than Chase in regards to its multipliers. Chase without Hyatt would not be worth it in 2024. Chase needs an update on their classic trifecta to be more competitive.

[@erronwhite8771]

Also southwest

[@Daniel_Braun]

Couldn't agree more! The main reason why I still include Chase in my setup is because of Hyatt transfers. If they lose them as a transfer partner, then I would value them much less than I do now. I think it's time that Chase updated cards to get more competitive with multipliers. At the very lease, make the CFU 2X

[@JakeVanderPloeg]

The animations when you were talking about the Citi Trifecta were beautiful. Well done my friend!

[@Daniel_Braun]

Thanks so much Jake, much appreciated man! Yeah my editor does an amazing job with those animations, so I'll pass this along to him 👍

[@Just_Stevo]

It can be done. I found a booking on the portal in New Orleans that was cheaper than booking directly. I got the $100 dollar credit plus 11750 points.

[@Daniel_Braun]

Perfect! Yeah I think it's just a case by case thing where sometimes the price is lower and sometimes it's not. For me with my quick sample size of 4 hotels though, I thought it was at least mentioning the concern. Glad to hear you found a good deal!

[@RampageMaximum]

If Citi were to add Hyatt and/or Marriott as transfer partners, I’m all in. I love using my points for hotel stays rather than flight tickets.

[@Themighty10000]

Same

[@SuubUWU]

You can buy points directly from Hyatt multiple times throughout the year. I usually stash my premier and custom cash points and cash them out for hyatt

[@Themighty10000]

@@SuubUWU so not a transfer partner but u can sometimes buy hyatt points with citi points. If so ill definitely think of adding a citi card to my rotation

[@RampageMaximum]

@@SuubUWU if you don’t mind me asking, how does this work? Cause if that’s the case, this could be my second trifecta setup lol

[@gregb5876]

If Bilt can add Hyatt, why can't Citi?

[@culman13121121]

Only card with 1:1 points transfer to EVA Air as well. Solid card all around in terms of point accrual.

[@Daniel_Braun]

Yeah, it's one of my favorite cards for earning points!

[@joshuagutierrez1]

We just booked our Hyatt hotel for Korea next year all on our Chase points! Saved almost $2,600. Thank you for your videos!🙌

[@Dankflamio]

Would love to get a detailed video on Citi strata premier vs Chase sapphire proffered! Great vids, Dan!

[@Daniel_Braun]

Thank you! And yeah I've definitely got a video planned for something like that very soon 👍

[@ron1061]

Great video, Daniel, and congrats on your engagement! New ring 💍 and new credit card! Makes sense! 😂🎈🎈

[@Daniel_Braun]

Thanks Ron! Haha yeah lots of new things in my life!

[@ron1061]

@@Daniel_Braun I will continue to enjoy my Citi Custom Cash card.

[@druiz012]

Citi is a great 3rd ecosystem. I love how these banks are going hard after chase.

[@Daniel_Braun]

I love that more cards are stepping up their game! The competition will hopefully keep benefitting consumers with better features and sign up bonuses 👍

[@vitod7709]

I recently closed my Gold AMEX as the Annual Fee became too rich in my opinion. Applied for the Strata Premier instead to take advantage of the welcome bonus points for a trip to Paris next year. Great video, Dan! - Fellow Philadelphian

[@jflipz0016]

I closed my gold Amex last month as well and I’m looking for a new card right now. I’m leaning towards this card or capital one venture.

[@xder345]

Seriously: add Marriott and it's a golden card..... Also, I've had the Citi Costco card for almost a decade now and I've never had an issue with customer service on the Citi side. Not sure if the customer service portal for that card is specific to Costco or not, but that's an indicator, for me at least.

[@duganfr]

Chase has Marriott.

[@ariesdr5502]

I love the Costco card this video is making thing I need a trifecta

[@joshuameier6030]

Great video! The citi strata premier is an amazing card, but I’d rather just use the US Bank Altitude reserve as my all around card. 3% back on all mobile wallet purchases with guaranteed 1.5CPP redemption with real time rewards regardless of the time/place of travel and 8 priority pass lounge visits per year for $75 eff. Annual fee.

[@Daniel_Braun]

Thanks Joshua! Yeah I'm really starting to see why more and more people are liking the Altitude Reserve for it's effective 4.5% back on mobile wallet earnings redeemed for travel with RTR. Going to be talking a bit more about that card in an upcoming video!

[@gregduncan1611]

Congrats on one of the best credit card channels out there. It's good to see how the channel has grown over time. Any idea of how long the elevated welcome offer is likely to be around? Does Citi typically announce when a limited time SUB is about to end?

[@Daniel_Braun]

Thank you so much Greg! Sometimes I'll hear about when certain credit card offers end and then I try to make a community post about it. I don't always know when every offer will end though, and I haven't heard anything about the 75K offer on the Strata Premier yet

[@PharaohofVibes]

10:37 love the animations here from your editor. simple visual guides often make it easier for information to be absorbed by those of us who are more, visual learners. bravo

[@khurananikhil21]

Was discussing about this card with my friend 2 days back

[@Daniel_Braun]

I think it's a great card overall! Definitely fits in well with other $95 options

[@isaiahnavarro6632]

At this point, now I'm stuck at which card I should go for in terms of a travel credit card. This card seems like an all-around go-to card with the 3x for the main things. But then you compare to the Venture X and Sapphire preferred, and you miss the things like the lounge access, better transfer partners for domestic flights, annual travel credits, rental car protection, etc. It's so hard to choose which one is the best. Each card has something that makes you want to get it and something that makes you want to look at the next option. I want to say the Strata Premier card is the way to go, but with the credibility of chase/capital one along with their respective benefits, I'm just not too sure.

[@Keyshawngotbeats]

I feel this comment so much. I have the Strata Premier and its an EXCELLENT card for sure and you will not regret it. However I am looking at other cards especially the Chase Sapphire Preferred to get the chase trifecta and maximize rewards to transfer to Hyatt but I don't really know what to do either. It's def hard to pick cause every single card doesn't all the categories you want but this card does fit the bill for the average customer like myself.

[@brianmoreland9714]

Very well done. Excellent job on this video. Very informative. Many thanks!

[@Daniel_Braun]

Thanks Brian! Glad you liked it

[@gregb5876]

The Curve card is the perfect companion to the Citi trifecta... especially when you have a player 2. Hopefully they bring it back quickly.

[@Daniel_Braun]

We'll see if the Curve card comes back!

[@gregb5876]

@@Daniel_Braun I think Curve is the underlying tech used in the Samsung wallet. I don't know if that's been impacted.

[@TheRealEdgarSantana]

I added your video earlier today to my watch later list. After getting approved for my gold Amex 2 weeks ago which your video on that was very helpful 💯 thanks for another great video

[@theVhin]

I use Citi Double Cash and Citi Strata for my Citi Duo strategy. That's not bad for a $95 annual fee.

[@Heisenberrrg]

I have the double cash looking to upgrade! How is that strategy if you don’t mind me asking ?

[@theVhin]

@@Heisenberrrg It depends on which categories you spend the most, but for me, the double cash is for those categories outside the Strata’s 3x. As of now, I already have my Custom Cash card specifically for gas.

[@TheRealMattHerdman]

I found the Citi travel portal to be a great value when making cash bookings for hotels in Portugal and Switzerland. Rooms were either slightly cheaper, the same price, or included a room upgrade(lake view, balcony, etc) for only a bit more than a standard room when booking direct. A bit disappointing to see not so great value for domestic hotel bookings though. At least in my experience, the Citi Premier has gotten me great value on international trips through their transfer partners and using the Citi travel portal to make cash bookings for hotels.

[@Daniel_Braun]

That seems to be a common theme that I'm learning from a few comments here - that international hotel bookings through Citi are a bit better with prices in the portal. Definitely a good thing to know! But yeah in my quick search of domestic hotel stays, it was more expensive for sure. Thanks for the comment! I definitely wanna check out Switzerland soon

[@sungjeh]

They sure do take a long time to get the card shipped out…

[@Daniel_Braun]

I think my card took about a week to arrive. I like when issuers are able to ship overnight though

[@TheRitualChannel]

Being that the hotel prices on their travel portal are quite inflated. It makes the $100 hotel credit and the 10X multiplier on hotels almost meaningless 😢

[@MrScubastevemb2]

I just did this i use Expedia many times over the years. My booking to Thailand Expedia was $170 cheaper same flight and hotel. Ok Expedia pays me bonus back $34 cash back... And my chase card value of using the Preferred to pay. Gives me also $34 bonus points... OK that 2% Expedia 2% Chase,,,thats 4% return Not bad and $170 cheaper on Expedia. What you think ????

[@randyhernandez5469]

Now this is a good in-depth review 👍

[@Milkinporsche]

Strata has the best earning categories, but the car rental insurance isn't primary like Chase sapphire, if i remember correctly.

[@Daniel_Braun]

Correct, yeah the Citi Strata Premier has secondary coverage for US car rentals. A few people have commented that car rental coverage on the Strata Premier in primary for rentals outside of the US though - but still the Sapphire Preferred is better overall for this

[@arvinjacobmusic]

I think that the Citi Strata Premier offer primary rental car insurance while abroad.

[@Daniel_Braun]

It looks like it does! I was mostly focused on the US because that's where I've only every rented cars, but outside of the US it appears to offer primary coverage which is good. Still not as good as the Chase Sapphire Preferred that doesn't have this restriction for US car rentals though, so I wish Citi offered better primary coverage

[@wrthomas69]

This card might be in my future. Really looking for a card that has a transfer partner with JetBlue, which is what I fly almost all of the time.

[@seanc6699]

Good overview. In my situation, can't justify using the portal leaving just the 3% categories. 3% categories will be covered once I get the Robinhood gold card (curious to know how long that will last). If I traveled more, I think I would be looking at the newer WF autograph journey.

[@Daniel_Braun]

Those are all good options! I think the Robinhood Gold card is fine, but it's limited to cash back and there is a fee for Robinhood Gold. WF Autograph Journey is also a solid card, and so is this Citi Strata Premier

[@seanc6699]

@@Daniel_Braun yeah... I'm team cash back. Perhaps it's because I'm not points savey but I just don't find using points for travel being worth it vs getting 1 cpp cash back (excluding Hyatt points). Agree you could essentially get multiple no AF cards to cover all your other 3% categories but think it's with $50 AF to consolidate 3+ cards and not have to do any guess work what card I need to use. Just going to put the one off 3% cards on the back burner and put a light reoccurring charge on them just to keep them active.

[@Mr.DJones]

Thank you.

[@flubberghosted2472]

I couldn’t pass up the Strata Premier bonus, but I think I am going for the Citi quadfecta, which includes the Rewards+ card for the 10% refund on points redemption! 🥳🎉🎈🎊

[@sunshinecycling]

I believe I read that it is Secondary Coverage in your home country and Primary everywhere else.

[@MarkS-cd3cw]

I find it hard to go for some of these when you look at the percent you get on grocery from AAA card that no one talks about with no annual fee

[@velious2121]

Can I book a Hyatt through their site? I already have Hyatt card so this would give me two "free" nights instead of the one I currently have.

[@Adiscretefirm]

Did the Citi portal and the hotel's sites apply taxes and fees evenly? Or is one final price and one pre tax?

[@Daniel_Braun]

I actually ended up just showing the final prices in the example numbers shown in this video. But the taxes and fees were mostly consistent from what I was looking at with Marriott, Hyatt, and Hilton. Maybe a few dollars difference, but nothing major

[@gbear8207]

I don't mind having to book directly with the airlines, but I will never get a card that locks me to their travel site. The biggest issue other than cost, is the number of flights are limited.

[@divnbum1308]

How do you swap cards to continue getting benefits. Do you close a card and then come back for bonus?

[@BOOYACKAA100]

I find it hard how people justify having to book travel on the portals to get points. Aren’t the travel portals terrible and basicly act as 3p travel agencies which are bad for airfare anyways?

[@HspncAt7heDisco]

I've heard Citi's travel portal isn't very good. Personally, I really like Capital One's though. It's thoughtfully designed and easy to navigate. And since they offer price-matching and 10x on purchases (with Venture X), we pretty much only use their portal to do any kind of travel booking.

[@Daniel_Braun]

Yeah the Capital One portal seems to be the most user friendly and has the best prices (thanks to the features and price matching). Citi's portal seems to be overpriced more than others, at least for domestic travel. A few people have commented that international hotel prices were actually better in the Citi portal than elsewhere. So like always, I think it's all about doing research every time to find the best deals because sometimes the portals are worth it - and then other times they are just a waste of money haha

[@stevenlowe8104]

5:39 do you know if these 3x multipliers apply to foreign/overseas restaurants, supermarkets, and gas station? I know other cards specify “global restaurants” or “US supermarkets” but Citi Strata Premier doesn’t. Thanks in advance!

[@user-ko4pe9yd4e]

Chase needs 3X on Gas and Groceries.

[@blakebraboy6909]

🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾

[@Sakurasan2023]

Love it ❤

[@Daniel_Braun]

Thanks as always!

[@Sakurasan2023]

@@Daniel_Braun you're welcome

[@betsavallejo9929]

Does anyone know if Citi honors the MLA waived annual fee for military like chase and AMEX does?

[@Anthonyjones-pq4ff]

Which is more expensive Hotel stays or plane tickets .. Stayed in NYC for 6Days Hotel stay $4K

[@oliverramclam6009]

Is the card metal?

[@Boxerexp]

so with restaurants, is that only in person swipes/over the phone purchases? or is it like Amex gold card/savor one where door dash and uber eats are game for the multiplier ? has my interest, I'm trying to get into all big 3 eco systems. however, if the restaurants are only in person.. I might try with US bank.

[@Daniel_Braun]

So here's what I found on Citi's website for what counts as restaurants: "Includes purchases at cafes, bars, lounges, fast-food restaurants, restaurant delivery services, and take out restaurants. Excludes purchases at bakeries, caterers, and restaurants located inside another business (such as hotels, stores, stadiums, grocery stores, or warehouse clubs). You will not earn 3 ThankYou Points on restaurant gift card purchases if the merchant does not use the restaurant merchant category code."

[@MarkS-cd3cw]

What is the cash back or statement redemption on the points? I’ve been hesitant because it says gift cards or travel rewards

[@liz1185]

Hii, do you think you can do a review on the Citi Simplicity card? I'm interested in a balance transfer card.

[@themariogreiner]

I mostly use points to travel between Europe and the US. Is Citi here still gonna be as useful as Chase? This card’s multipliers seem fantastic

[@Daniel_Braun]

I would say that it definitely can be - as long as you know how to redeem for award travel with transfer partners. Chase is more beginner-friendly with it's redemption options that include Hyatt transfers and a 25% or 50% points boost (depending on what Sapphire card you have) - but Citi still has very good airline partners that can get you to and from Europe while using points

[@FiftyCal]

I notice you claimed the custom cash offers 5X back but the reward on the website is 5% back. I just wanted to know if I’m missing something.

[@FictitiousCreed]

As far as I know, Citi rewards you in their "Thank You Point" currency similar to Chase's Ultimate rewards.

[@Daniel_Braun]

So if you read the terms of the Citi Custom Cash, it says: "You will earn: 5 ThankYou Points for each $1 you spend in your highest spend category each billing cycle up to the first $500 spent in that category. After the first $500 spent in that category during the billing cycle, you will earn 1 ThankYou Point for each additional $1 you spend. (See below for more information on the highest spend category.)" I also have the card myself and can confirm that as you earn rewards on this card, it accrues in the account as points. These points can be redeemed for cash back at a value of 1 cent per point (which is why 5X points = 5% back)

[@FiftyCal]

@@Daniel_Braun ok thanks for clarifying, kinda confusing the way they advertise it on the website

[@OhGeeGanksta]

Only US carrier is Jetblue? lol

[@densnow4816]

Do the 5X points on groceries include overseas or just in U.S?

[@Daniel_Braun]

The Custom Cash is not necessarily only 5X on groceries, but 5X on the highest spend category you spend on each billing cycle. But yes, as long as it codes as a supermarket, it should count anywhere 👍

[@caribdude8151]

So you're telling me that the Citi Strata Premier is the ONLY Citi card with travel/retail and insurance protections? As the Chase counterpart of the CCC and CDC which would be the CFF and CFU would have travel/retail and insurance protections for the no annual fee?

[@Daniel_Braun]

Yeah it appears to be the case here. CFF and CFU have limited protections, but CCC and CDC don't appear to have much for travel protections at the moment.

[@DavidGonzalez-n7p]

Is there a travel portal that doesn't play with prices across all credit card issuers?

[@Daniel_Braun]

Capital One at least has price matching if you find a better price somewhere else. I'd say that Chase and Amex are also decent for prices, but it all depends on the situation and you always have to run the numbers for yourself to get the best deal

[@SOXGATORS]

😊

[@Daniel_Braun]

First as always!! Thanks for watching 🥇

[@jeancarloferreira9770]

My sign up bonus points haven't been credited to my account yet even tho I already went over my spend amount. I believe they said they will post after the 1st or 2nd billing cycle. Does it matter if I buy my flight and request to get credit once I get the points or is that not an option?

[@Daniel_Braun]

So you will definitely need the points to hit your account before they can be used. I would give Citi a call if it's been over a month since you hit you minimum spend requirement. I think it took me just a few weeks in between spending $4,000 and receiving my 75,000 points

[@soapa4279]

Any comment on the Citi travel portal being 10% overinflated?

[@Daniel_Braun]

Yeah I talked about it in the video - I found a few examples of this and addressed it

[@soapa4279]

@@Daniel_Braun my bad, I always derp and comment too fast before finishing videos. lol!

[@Daniel_Braun]

@@soapa4279 😂 lol I figured that was probably the case - no worries! But yeah the portal pricing is definitely a concern for any credit card issuer, including Citi here 👍

[@iankm1]

Go birds.

[@Daniel_Braun]

GO BIRDS!! 🦅

[@iankm1]

@@Daniel_Braun about to use my flex at 5x to buy some tickets to the saints game in NO. Using a FNC at the WA

[@faizpkmn129]

2nd

[@Daniel_Braun]

You got it! Thanks for the early view and comment 🥈

[@PharaohofVibes]

since youre swapping out your AMEX Gold, what would be the main function of the gold? I have all and trying to balance