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Cardholders of the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card may have received a disappointing email this week stating that the cashback redemption rate for their ThankYou Rewards points is changing. Effective August 24, 2025, cardholders will only receive $75 per 10,000 ThankYou Points redeemed. That's a redemption of 0.75¢ per point, down from the current redemption rate of 1¢ per point.
AwardWallet confirmed with Citi that this change applies to not only the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card but also the Citi Prestige® Card, which is no longer open to new applicants.
The full statement that Citi provided to AwardWallet is as follows:
Citi Strata Premier and Citi Prestige cardmembers are being informed this week of an upcoming change to our cash back redemption program, however, this change will not go into effect until August 24, 2025. Cardmembers can continue to take advantage of the current redemption value for cash back until then. For Citi Strata Premier and Citi Prestige cardmembers, the cash back redemption value for 10,000 ThankYou Points will be updated from $100 to $75.
The bright spot? Cardholders who also have a Citi Double Cash® Card or Citi Custom Cash® Card linked to same ThankYou account will still be able to cash out points at 1¢ per point. This is good news to preserve the cash-back value of ThankYou rewards for those who hold multiple Citi cards or perhaps the Citi trifecta.
Does This Affect the Value of Citi ThankYou Points?
Citi ThankYou Points are most valuable when transferred to Citi ThankYou hotel and airline partners. In recent redemptions, AwardWallet users have saved an average of 2.18¢ per point.
As a real-world example, you could transfer 17,500 ThankYou Points at 1:2 to Choice Hotels and book this Cambria hotel in Chicago. The room costs $288 a night, giving a solid 1.65 cents per Citi point redemption value. This redemption rate is more than double the new cashback redemption rate after August 24th.
With that said, sometimes redeeming points for cash back is the best use for a particular situation in order to save money on a trip or other expense. In this instance, this devaluation is obviously bad news for those without a companion Citi card to preserve the 1¢ valuation.
Relying on a 1¢ per point redemption as the floor value was always the norm, and now that floor is being lowered. That is even more incentive to familiarize yourself with Citi's transfer partners and redeem points for better value.
Related: The Best Ways To Redeem Citi ThankYou® Points
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