Citi Strata Elite Annual Fee Refund
Citi had one of the bigger fumbles of a card launch when they rolled out their new Strata Elite product. No, I am not taking about its lackluster perks and ho hum earning structure. I am talking about them locking tons of new premium cardholder accounts for no reason at all. And then forcing them to acquire and submit IRS form 4506-C as additional paperwork to get their accounts unlocked. I have never heard of a 4506-C form, much less seen a credit card issuer require one on an account. An account that THEY ALREADY APPROVED no less. It was a complete mess, an epic boondoggle in a way only Citi can. Well, to Citi's credit, I think they have done the right thing with this Citi Strata Elite annual fee refund. Throwing in a gifted welcome offer is a nice touch too.
What Happened?
Before we start fully singing Citi's praises we should back it up a bit. Originally Citi was only willing to give these frozen accounts 30 more days to meet the minimum spend requirement. You know, because the people couldn't actually use their new cards and all. Citi was unable to give the affected cardholders any type of timeline on when this mess should be cleaned up though. So, in theory, it could have gone on past those 30 days. It was better than nothing though. However, it didn't take into account the amount of time these cardholders were wasting ironing this all out. That was until The Wall Street Journal wrote a scathing report about all of this. That ratcheted the pressure up in a big way, and Citi decided to do the right thing because of it.
Annual Fee Refund & Free Welcome Offer
Shortly after the article broke (shocking, I know) Citi sent out affected cardholders the following (HT DDG):
“Thank you for opening a Citi Strata EliteSM account. At Citi, we take your security seriously and sometimes this means we need additional information to verify an account. As a result, your account was placed on a temporary block for verification purposes. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
We’re pleased to let you know that your account information has been verified, and you’re able to use your card. As a valued Citi customer, we’re offering you the following for any disruption this may have caused you, which will be processed within 5 business days:
- Annual Membership Fee:
- We’re issuing a statement credit equal to the amount of the Annual Membership Fee ($595). If any Authorized User Fee(s) ($75 for each user) were charged to this account prior to the date of this communication, we’ll also issue a statement credit in the amount of that fee(s). Please note that you must continue to make at least the minimum payment due on the account by the payment due date on your billing statement.
- Welcome Bonus Offer:
- We will award your welcome bonus offer of 100,000 ThankYou® Points, without the need to meet the spend requirement. Your account must be open and in good standing at the time the points are awarded.
We thank you for your patience and understanding through this process. If you have any further questions, please call us at 1-833-888-2168 Monday-Friday 8 am-8 pm and Saturday-Sunday 10 am-6 pm EST. For TTY: We accept 711 or other Relay Service. We truly value your business.”
I hope that everyone who received the request for the IRS form gets this deal. If you had to jump through that hoop, then I would be contacting Citi day and night asking for this to be added to your account.
Citi Strata Elite Annual Fee Refund: ToP Thoughts
While it took a lot of external pressure to get Citi to do the right thing, they did eventually do the right thing. I think giving people the welcome offer without requiring any spend makes a ton of sense, since affected cardholders were hampered on that goal. Throwing in the waived annual fee is a great next step, because it compensates cardholders for the time they wasted. I wish Citi would have gotten here much sooner, and under their own volition, but getting there is what matters. Hopefully everyone that has had to deal with this mess gets the same courtesy. Let me know if you were caught up in the IRS 4506-C form turmoil over in the ToP Facebook Group.
