Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well. First, a quick nod to the bookworms and literary buffs who caught the reference to A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.  Now let’s fast forward to this century.  In mid-December, Laura and I both applied for the Citi Strata Elite Credit Card because we were hoping to triple dip the annual benefits ($300 Hotel Credit and $200 Splurge Credit) in December 2025, January 2026, and again in January 2027 before the $595 annual fee was due. Unfortunately, “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times” in terms of instant approvals.

The Results

My application: instant denial.  Laura’s application: pending.

We were both surprised and disappointed by the application results. I checked Citi’s application status page for both of our applications and called the Citi reconsideration department (800-695-5171) to plead my case that I didn’t need more credit with Citi and that I would happily move my entire credit line over from the Citi Strata Premier Credit Card to be approved for the Citi Strata Elite. Unfortunately, that was not possible and the rep told me to wait for the letter in the mail to arrive with more details.

Meanwhile, I figured Laura’s pending application would be reviewed and approved in the next 1-2 days since she only has 1 other Citi credit card, her Citi Costco Anywhere Visa Credit Card. Unfortunately, there were no updates to her application and she waited for an update via email or mail.

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The Letters

About a week later, I received my denial letter with the reasons cited:

• Your credit report shows length of time since the most recent account opening is too short.
• Your credit report shows too many recently opened accounts.
• Your credit report shows length of time since the most recent account opening is too short. (This is the same message as bullet 1, so I guess Citi really wanted to hammer this point home!)

Ironically, the back side of the letter said my Experian credit score was 872 out of 900 (which is excellent) and listed similar reasons from the front side of the letter.  I tried calling the Citi reconsideration department again, but the rep said Citi would only reconsider the application if there were errors in my credit report and I would need to fix those errors first before the Citi reconsideration department would reconsider my application.  I told the rep that there are no errors in my credit report, but that I was hoping to move all of my credit line from my infrequently used Citi Strata Premier to get approved for the Citi Strata Elite.  Nope, that was not possible, I was not getting approved for the Citi Strata Elite, but I was hopeful Laura would be approved.

1 or 2 days later, Laura received a different letter from Citi that said, “We need some additional information regarding your application” and it contained her Application ID and Reference Number. The instructions in the letter said to go to the “Check Your Application Link” at the bottom of the Citi website were incorrect / outdated, but she was able to find the link on the Citi website.

On the Citi website, Laura clicked the Credit Cards tab at the top of the page and then clicked the Check Your Application link.

She entered her application ID from the letter, then her zip code, and clicked the Check Your Status button.

She then selected the first option since her letter had a reference number, and clicked the Continue button.

She entered the Reference Number from the letter, selected that she applied for the application, and clicked the Submit button.

Success! Laura was approved for the Citi Strata Elite with a $19,000 credit line. This was so simple, I wish Citi would have called Laura or emailed her to verify she applied for the credit card since the whole process could have taken less than 5 minutes.

Laura then signed into her Citi online account and saw that her new Citi Strata Elite was automatically added to her account and that she could track her new credit card.

Laura also received a credit card approval email from Citi.

Then she received a second email from Citi that her new card was on its way and should arrive within 3 business days.

After that, she received an email from American Airlines that her 4 free American Airlines Admirals Club Passes were added to her American Airlines account.

She signed into her American Airlines account and went to the Rewards section and found the 4 American Airlines Admirals Club Passes.

The passes expire at the end of each calendar year and new passes post at the beginning of the calendar year.

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The Unboxing

A few days after being approved for the Citi Strata Elite, Laura received a package that contained her new credit card and welcome documents. The packaging was very impressive!

Here is the welcome letter, documents and brochures that came with her new credit card.

The metal card looks and feels very premium (especially since the credit card has a $595 annual fee).

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The Conclusion

So there you have it, a true tale of two Citi credit card applications. One instant denial and one pending approval (that was later approved after following the instructions in the letter).  I plan on applying for the Citi Strata Elite again in December 2026 and hope my luck is better next time around.  If you have applied for the Citi Strata Elite, please let me know if you were instantly approved or if you had to go through a similar verification process.  If you have any other questions about the credit card or approval process, please leave a comment below.  Have a great day everyone!

P.S. In case you were wondering, Laura was able to use the $300 Hotel Credit and $200 Splurge Credit in December 2025 and I shared the process in this post: How Fast Does the Citi Strata Elite $200 Splurge Credit Post for Best Buy Purchases?