Been running Amex Gold for years ($325 AF) but decided to run the actual numbers on switching to Citi Strata Premier ($95 AF).
Results surprised me.
The Math:
- Annual fee difference: $230 saved
- Points earned (8 months): 150K vs projected 110K with Amex
- Redemption: 235K AA miles → $6K in business class to Kauai (2.16 cpp)
- Points rebuilt: 85% back in 8 months (including 75K SUB)
Why it worked:
- Citi: 3x on dining/groceries/gas + 10x travel portal
- Amex: 4x dining/groceries only (no gas, no portal bonus) – My spend pattern: Heavy gas station and travel portal usage
The catch:
- Lost Uber/dining credits (but I wasn't maximizing them anyway)
- Citi transfer partners are more limited
- But for AA miles specifically?
Citi wins hard Not saying everyone should ditch Amex Gold, but if you're AA-focused and not using those credits, the numbers don't lie.
Anyone else make a similar switch?
What were your results?
Amex Gold → Citi Strata Premier: Saved $230/year and earned 40K MORE points. The math breakdown
byu/rexblein inCreditCards
Posted by rexblein
15 Comments
I’d love to see the actual numbers
The math isn’t mathing
breaking news: AA fliers best served by card that can transfer to AA. more at 11
Would you actually have spent 6k on business if you didn’t have points?
Becuase I would have cashed $3k and just take economy. This is why cpp doesnt always math.
235k AA for 2 biz class tickets to Hawaii?? Lol. What a terrible redemption.
If you are paying effective AF $325 for the Gold you aren’t mathing.
Isn’t the biggest downside having to deal with Citi?
Smart move!
“I swapped a card that only gives grocery/dining multipliers for a card that gives grocery/dining/gas multipliers and I, as someone who has large gas expenditure, got more points”
No shit?
On paper the Premier is definitely one of the best earning cards for transferable points.
But you can do *A LOT* better than that for business class. International to Europe in FIRST class can be had for less than 200k round trip.
You really should have looked at 100k fewer points for business than what you spent.
What was your actually spending in the relevant categories? That swing seems a bit ridiculous considering gas and the travel portal are the only categories better in the Premier.
Also, if you aren’t offsetting at least most of the AF on the Gold, it probably just wasn’t the card for your lifestyle. How are you doing with the $100 hotel credit on the Premier?
You say your heavy spend categories are gas and travel portal. But have been using Amex Gold. All you did was optimize set up based on your heavy spend categories. Has nothing to do with credit card vs credit card. Completely 2 different cards for different purposes. Anyways, congrats on the Kauai trip!
Why use Amex Gold for gas at all?
You said so yourself that you spend high in gas and travel. That’s not the gold strength. Dining and groceries are my biggest spends and I use it for flights. I actually get 5x back in groceries because the grocery store I shop at is on Rakuten so I get 1x from that on top of the 4x from Amex
Why do you think Citi transfer partners are more limited? AA beats Delta because of the points value and the JetBlue transfer ratio is better with Citi, so Citi wins with domestic airlines. With hotels, Amex has Hilton and Marriott but their redemption value is so low it’s better to pay cash. With Citi, you at least have options that give you real value over cash, so Citi is better for hotels. For international airlines it’s going to depend on where you fly and what airlines you prefer, but I think I’ll give Amex a slight edge. Overall, I would give it to Citi.