The Citi Strata Elite Triple Dip Is What Sold Me on the Card

ByStacy Stearns

I’ve been in a bit of an application drought lately. I’ve been leaning heavily on bonus categories, stacking offers, and shopping portals instead of opening new cards. Plus, I was sitting at 5/24 and didn’t drop to 4/24 until December, then 3/24 in January. It just made sense to slow down.

Points and miles is a long game. Most of my 2026 travel is already booked, and we still have plenty of points banked, so I didn’t feel pressured to chase every new offer. But I did have a short list for my next card.

My top three were:

  • Chase Ink Business Preferred
  • Citi Strata Elite
  • Amex Gold

The Ink Preferred would’ve protected my 5/24 slot since it’s a business card. The Gold and the Strata Elite are solid long-term cards, though I figured the CSE would be great for year one and then easy to downgrade to a Premier or Custom Cash later.

The problem? Chase declined me for the Ink Preferred… again. Super frustrating. I’ve been trying to stay in their good graces, using my CSR heavily and putting more spend through my Ink Cash. But they still weren’t having it, so I moved on. No hesitation.

That left the Strata Elite and the Gold. I went with the CSE because the offer was elevated, and potentially going away SOON! And if you’re going to apply for a card, you might as well grab it during a boosted bonus window as long as it fits your wallet. I knew I could hit the $6K spend in three months, and with the timing at the end of the year, I could squeeze a triple dip out of the perks to offset that $595 annual fee.

And yes, applying still makes me weirdly nervous. After getting denied for the CIBP, I wasn’t feeling confident. But the CSE came through with an instant approval.

Now the fun part: putting that card to work and getting every bit of value back out of year one.

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