Citi Refunding Fee and Issuing Bonus without Spend Requirement for Strata Elite Cardholders
Many new Citi Strata Elite applicants were hit with a request for Form 4506-C (request for tax return information) after being approved and receiving the card. Citi also locked accounts for those who were affected, until the process is completed.
At first Citi gave one month extension to complete the spending requirement to some of those affected. But then all these issues were covered by WSJ in an article titled They Signed Up for Citi’s New Premium Card. It Turned Into a Nightmare. And that may have prompted Citi to take action and go far and beyond what I would have expected.
Citi is now emailing affected Citi Strata Elite cardholders to inform them that the annual fee and any AU fees will be refunded. They are also issuing the welcome bonus of 100,000 points without the spending requirement.
Here’s the text of the email:
“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’m not sure if these emails are going out to everyone who was affected by the 4506-C issue. Let me know in the comments if you have received it.
HT: reddit
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