Hi everyone, I'm coming up on my account anniversary for my Citi Strata Elite card and deciding if I want to keep it or not, since it has a hefty annual fee. I called in to Citi customer service explaining just that and asking if they had any retention bonuses available. Not only was I told that no, there are no retention bonuses available, but also my plan B, which was to downgrade to Citi Strata Premier, was also not possible.
Having no retention bonuses is one thing, I get that it's fully their discretion, but is that second point actually true? Can I not downgrade from Ctit Strata Elite to Citi Strata Premier? Has anyone gone through this process already?
Citi retention bonuses: Does this seem right?
byu/reldude4445 inCreditCards
Posted by reldude4445
4 Comments
As far as I know, the Elite is in the same family as the AA cards and the AT&T card so that’s your only PC options. Bizarre, but seems to be true.
Citi is notorious for selectively offering product change options
Actually, everything is “fully their discretion.” They gave you a hefty SUB to try their product. They certainly did not make any money off you in the past year.
For every issuer that is desperate to hold onto every customer they can, and will therefore offer bonuses and downgrade options, there are others, like Citi, who have no interest in letting you hang around if you don’t want to pay the AF and allow them to at least try to recover some of the investment they already made in you.
I found it better when you’re calling after your annual fee has already posted. On both my AA Business and Platinum, my first call in was before the annual fee and both times said no retention offer. After fee posted, had to call in two times (one week apart) for the business card until a retention offer showed up.
The system has to be showing an offer at the time you call and make sure you are speaking to their retention customer service. Just keep calling back until an offer shows up on their system.