Uh Oh: Citi Strata Cards Get New Bonus Eligibility Rules (Lifetime Replaces 48 Months)

Citi has just quietly changed the eligibility terms for its lineup of Strata cards, and it’s potentially bad news for those looking to earn a welcome offer. Instead of being able to earn a bonus on each card once every 48 months, the rule now seems to be that you can earn the bonus on each card only once per lifetime. It remains to be seen how enforcement of this rule actually works, though…

New Citi Strata Card bonus rules explained

The Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (learn more), Citi Strata Premier® Card (learn more), and Citi Strata℠ Card (learn more), is Citi’s excellent trio of personal cards earning ThankYou points. Up until now, these cards have followed Citi’s standard 48-month rule when it comes to eligibility for the bonus.

This has meant that you’ve been eligible for the welcome offer on each card as long as you haven’t received a welcome bonus on that exact card within the past 48 months. For example, here’s what the terms for the Citi Strata Elite used to say:

Bonus ThankYou Points are not available if you have received a new account bonus for a Citi Strata Elite account in the past 48 months or if you converted another Citi credit card account on which you earned a new account bonus in the last 48 months into a Citi Strata Elite.

However, this language has now been updated, as flagged by Doctor Of Credit. There’s no more mention of 48 months, but instead, you’re potentially not eligible for the welcome bonus if you have or previously had the card. Here are the new terms:

New account bonus offer is not available if you currently have or previously had a Citi Strata Elite account. You also may not be eligible for the new account bonus offer based on a number of factors, such as your history of opening, closing and using credit cards.

Time will tell how strict these new Citi bonus rules are

On the surface, the new Citi Strata bonus rules sound very strict. Based on a literal interpretation, you’re now eligible for the welcome bonus on each of the Citi Strata products once, and if you’ve already had it, you can’t earn the bonus again. It goes beyond that, though:

• According to the terms, you might not be eligible for the bonus on a card even if you product changed from another card on which you never received a bonus
• There’s also new general language about how “a number of factors” may impact your eligibility for a bonus

Now, it’s worth mentioning that this might not be quite as strict as it sounds. For one, typically even card issuers with a “once in a lifetime” rule don’t actually enforce the rules as strictly as that suggests. For example, with Amex’s similar policy, it seems that a “lifetime” actually correlates to somewhere around seven years.

Next, it’s anyone’s guess if Citi has actually updated its bonus rules in the background, or if it has just updated the language on the application page, in hopes of deterring those people who might primarily be applying for cards in order to take advantage of the welcome bonuses.

So this is obviously a negative change, in the sense that there’s less clarity and (on the surface) it’s harder to earn bonuses. However, we’ll have to wait for some data points before we truly know the scope of these changes. For what it’s worth, as of now these changes only seem to apply to the Citi Strata lineup, and not to any other Citi cards. For example, Citi AAdvantage card eligibility rules remain unchanged.

Bottom line

Citi has updated the welcome offer eligibility on its portfolio of Citi Strata cards, including the Citi Strata, Citi Strata Premier, and Citi Strata Elite. Previously you were eligible for the welcome offer on a particular card as long as you hadn’t received a bonus on that exact card within the past 48 months. Per the new terms, it would appear that the bonus on each card is once per lifetime.

We’ll see what enforcement of this actually looks like. Once in a lifetime bonus rules are rarely as strict as one might assume. But no matter how you slice it, this is a negative change for those looking to earn bonuses on these cards.

What do you make of these new Citi Strata bonus rules?