Making use of for a brand new card is thrilling, however as time goes on, the identical card could not serve your wants or suit your way of life. You may cancel your card, however that may have an effect on your credit score rating and trigger you to forfeit the entire rewards you have gathered.
One solution to shield your credit score rating, established line of credit score and relationship with an issuer is to downgrade a bank card. Think about the Citi Strata Premier® Card (see charges and charges), a well-liked mid-tier journey card with a $95 annual charge.
Though the cardboard has a low annual charge, cardholders could discover it exhausting to justify paying it over time. The cardboard’s primary journey profit, the annual $100 resort credit score, is proscribed because it requires a resort reservation of at the very least $500 booked by way of Citi Journey.
A substitute for the Strata Premier is its no-annual-fee sibling, the Citi Strata℠ Card (see charges and charges). Beforehand, the cardboard was referred to as the Citi Rewards+ Card, however it was just lately rebranded and now boasts spectacular incomes charges.
No matter your cause is likely to be, let’s discover when and why you might wish to downgrade from the Citi Strata Premier to the no-annual-fee Citi Strata Card.
The knowledge for the Citi Rewards+ has been collected independently by The Factors Man. The cardboard particulars on this web page haven’t been reviewed or supplied by the cardboard issuer.
Maintain your hard-earned Citi ThankYou factors
By not canceling your Citi Strata Premier and as a substitute downgrading it to the Citi Strata, you will shield your hard-earned ThankYou factors.
When you cancel a bank card, you forfeit any rewards earned. For the reason that Citi Strata additionally earns ThankYou factors, downgrading helps you to hold your current rewards.
Simply know that your ThankYou factors on the Citi Strata are considerably much less precious. Whilst you’ll have entry to most Citi ThankYou switch companions, your factors will switch at significantly decrease charges.
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ThankYou factors on the Citi Strata Card switch to the next airline companions:
- Air France-KLM Flying Blue — 1,000:700
- AeroMexico Rewards — 1,000:700
- Avianca LifeMiles — 1,000:700
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles — 1,000:700
- Emirates Skywards — 1,000:560
- Etihad Visitor — 1,000:700
- EVA Air — 1,000:700
- JetBlue TrueBlue — 1,000:700
- Qantas Frequent Flyer — 1,000:700
- Qatar Airways Privilege Membership — 1,000:700
- Singapore KrisFlyer — 1,000:700
- Thai Royal Orchid Plus — 1,000:700
- Turkish Airways Miles&Smiles — 1,000:700
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Membership — 1,000:700
ThankYou factors earned on the Citi Strata Card additionally switch to the next resort companions:
If transferring factors is not an enormous deal for you, you possibly can nonetheless redeem your factors for money again, reward playing cards or buying at choose retailers.
I suggested a good friend late final 12 months to downgrade his Citi Strata Premier to keep away from the cardboard’s annual charge and shield his 50,000 ThankYou factors. A couple of months in the past, he wanted an award ticket. As a result of he was sitting on a pleasant stash of factors, he referred to as Citi customer support to improve his card in order that he might switch the factors to Qatar Airways Privilege Membership.
In that state of affairs, by downgrading the cardboard, my good friend had a type of financial savings account for the factors. It got here in useful and made his downgrade determination price it in comparison with shedding his factors when he beforehand determined the Strata Premier wasn’t working for him.
Associated: Getting began with factors, miles and bank cards to journey
You are OK with lacking the Citi Strata’s welcome provide
New Citi Strata Card candidates can earn 30,000 bonus factors after spending $1,000 throughout the first three months of account opening. Based mostly on TPG’s August 2025 valuations, this welcome provide is price $570.
When downgrading the Strata Premier, you possibly can’t earn a welcome provide for the Citi Strata.
Though 30,000 bonus factors appears like loads, it is not an overwhelmingly giant welcome give you’re passing up.
As compared, the all-new Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (see charges and charges) has a welcome provide of 80,000 bonus factors when making use of on-line, which is price $1,520 in response to TPG’s August 2025 valuations. You will need to spend $4,000 within the first three months of account opening to earn this welcome provide.
Associated: 21 playing cards presently providing welcome bonuses of 100,000 factors or extra
You get comparable incomes charges for bonus classes
When the Citi Rewards+ was refreshed into the Citi Strata Card, Citi overhauled the cardboard’s incomes charges. Actually talking, the cardboard’s incomes charges are fairly just like the Citi Strata Premier, so you will not have bother incomes ThankYou factors.
The bonus-earning classes embody:
- 5 factors per greenback spent on inns, automobile leases and sights booked on the Citi Journey web site
- 3 factors per greenback spent at fuel stations, electrical automobile charging stations, supermarkets and choose transit
- 3 factors per greenback spent on an eligible self-select class from one of many following: beauty shops, barber outlets and hair salons; health golf equipment; dwell leisure; choose streaming providers; or pet provide shops
- 2 factors per greenback spent at eating places
- 1 level per greenback spent on all different purchases
Maybe the brand new bonus classes will likely be much more helpful after downgrading, since you get entry to a self-select class and bonus factors on choose transit.
The incomes charges are fairly profitable, and it is nice to see the self-select class on a no-annual-fee card. You may change your self-select class quarterly to greatest match your spending.
Associated: Evaluating flat-rate with bonus-category cash-back bank cards
Will Citi refund my annual charge if I downgrade the Strata Premier?
If you happen to downgrade the Citi Strata Premier to the Citi Strata Card, you’ll get a refund for the annual charge if you happen to provoke the downgrade in your card anniversary date (which is when the annual charge usually posts). Most issuers, together with Citi, help you get a refund for a card’s annual charge if you happen to’ve already paid it and downgrade the cardboard inside one billing cycle from when the charge was posted.
Think about a technique that maximizes each playing cards
Another technique is to open the Citi Strata Card alongside your current Citi Strata Premier. Listed here are some advantages if you happen to select this route:
- Earn an extra welcome bonus (as long as you meet Citi’s eligibility standards)
- Earn extra Citi ThankYou factors by utilizing the Citi Strata for choose transit purchases and purchases that fall throughout the self-select bonus class
- Use the Citi Strata Premier for all different bonus class purchases, because it earns factors at a better charge
- Entry Citi’s full checklist of switch companions and higher switch charges of 1:1 for these companions
By including the Citi Strata to your pockets, you will have extra alternatives to earn bonus factors and an extra line of credit score, which will be helpful for giant purchases.
Backside line
It is all the time a good suggestion to routinely consider the bank cards in your pockets to see what’s working for you and what is not. The very best time to measure a card’s price is when the annual charge posts, so you possibly can determine whether or not to maintain it, downgrade it to a no-annual-fee model or cancel it.
Within the case of the Citi Strata Premier, there are a number of causes to downgrade it to the Citi Strata reasonably than closing out your account.
Holding each the Citi Strata Premier and the Citi Strata Card can also be another choice for these trying to maximize their incomes potential and spend money on the Citi ThankYou factors ecosystem.
To be taught extra, learn our full evaluation of the Citi Strata Premier.
To be taught extra, learn our full evaluation of the Citi Strata Card.
Apply right here: Citi Strata Premier
Apply right here: Citi Strata Card
