How Far Can Premium Go?

I wrote in CardsFTW #161 about the upcoming changes to the flagship Chase Sapphire Reserve. It’s a popular topic amongst credit card nerds, mass-affluent millennials, and fintech folks. All of us are always watching Chase.

It’s not just us: I noted in that post that American Express, who pioneered the ultra-premium credit card space, tried to get in front of the Chase announcement by letting everyone know that changes to the Platinum card are upcoming. (If anyone at Amex is reading this, I’m waiting for you to make the Platinum card unequivocally better than the Gold Card. I feel like the Gold card, both personal and business, is a better deal. Amex has said this will be its “largest investment ever” in the Platinum card, so they better make it worth it!)

Not to be outdone by Chase+Visa and American Express, news about Citigroup+Mastercard is hitting the market. Bloomberg reported that Citibank announced during an earnings presentation last week that it plans to launch a new version of its Strata Card called “Strata Elite” in the third quarter which “rounds out our family of proprietary rewards cards.”

Terms and images of the new card leaked to the Internet this week.

Leaked card image

Citi Strata Elite Rewards

Citi's flagship cards earn ThankYou Points, which are a transferable points currency. Like other premium cards, the big win here is for travel booked via Citi's proprietary travel platform. Amex and Chase do this as well. The problem with these portals is the pricing isn't market-leading. I can often find better deals on the hotel's or airline's proprietary website, especially if I can use an easy discount code like AAA. How is it that Citi, Chase, and Amex can't at least match AAA?

Strata Elite will earn:

12 points per dollar on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked via Citi Travel
6 points per dollar on airfare booked through Citi Travel
6 points per dollar at restaurants during "Citi Nights" which is Friday 6:00 PM through Saturday 6:00 AM ET, or Saturday 6:00 PM through Sunday 6:00 AM ET.
3 points per dollar at restaurants other times of the week
1.5 points per dollar on everything else

⏰

A decade ago, Chase had First Fridays, when Chase Sapphire Preferred (pre-Reserve) cards would earn extra points on the first Friday of the month. At the time that was a unique rule–just one day. This is the first time I've seen such a hyper-specific rule as a 12-hour period twice each week for a bonus. (This is why we build custom reward platforms!)

Like other ultra-premium cards, there are a number of additional cash credits, such as:

$300 hotel benefit via Citi Travel
$200 Annual Splurge Credit (this appears to be a surprise merchant activation; details are sparse, although assume it involves entertainment and/or travel)
$200 credit to Blacklane chauffeur service
GlobalEntry/TSA Precheck Credits

There are also a few other non-cash benefits:

Discounted annual fee for Citigold banking customers
PriorityPass Select
4 passes to the American Airlines Admirals Club

Given the price increases from Chase and the upcoming changes from Amex, this card feels like it was designed to compete with the prior versions of these cards. I expect a 2026 refresh.

Mastercard World Legend

The new Citi Strata Elite card will be a Mastercard World Legend card, which is a new type of BIN (Bank Identification Number). Visa and Mastercard have product types that are structured by BIN and have looked like this to date:

I know the Rewards level gets called Platinum, but I'm making a point here

Visa Infinite was launched in 2015 by City National Bank before Chase Sapphire Reserve launched as an Infinite card.

I have long thought of the Infinite as pairing up with World Elite, but perhaps it will pair against Legend? Or perhaps Legend is a level higher.

The press release about World Legend doesn’t say much, but it does indicate some timing:

Mastercard is launching the World Legend Mastercard – its most prestigious consumer card to date. Designed for individuals who want access to exceptional and exclusive experiences that bring them closer to their passions, World Legend is available to banks globally today and will debut to cardholders in the U.S. in Q3 2025, followed by a broader international rollout.

Sounds expensive to me.

Me, Elsewhere

Conference season is starting. Half of my calls last week included the question, “What are you attending this fall?”

Here are a few places you can find me (by date order):

Fintech Devcon, Denver, CO, August 4 - 6. I’ll be speaking on rewards ledgers. It’s not too late to register and join me. Use code "Friend25" for $195 off registration or $1,000 flat rate.
SardineCon, San Francisco, CA August 20.
Money20/20, Las Vegas, October 26-29. My colleague Ellen Dearborn, Principal at Totavi, will moderate a panel on credit cards.
Fintech NerdCon, Miami, November 19-20. I’ll be speaking about something super nerdy. Promise. Discussions have already caused rolled-eyes and Googling.

Fintech Takes

I appeared last week on Alex Johnson’s Fintech Takes podcast. We talked about Chase Sapphire Reserve, Bilt, and stablecoins.

Fintech Takes: Cards, Rent, and Crypto — Fintech Takes — Overcast

Overcast

Charta Crediti*

I wrote about a new MGM Rewards card back in CardsFTW #152. I mentioned a few other gaming company co-brand cards (Unity by Hardrock, Caesars Rewards). I’ve always been surprised that banks have been happy to do gambling credit cards, even when they were originally resistant to things like crypto. Now, we have having a ton of crypto cards (see CardsFTW# 145, 146, and 156) and Caesars and its existing partner Bread Financial/Comenity Bank are launched an updated card: the Caesars Rewards Prestige Visa Signature card.

Et Tu, Visa?

The new card has a $149 annual fee, comes with a variety of benefits at Caesars properties, including 7 points per dollar at Caesars, a complimentary hotel night, $100 in dining credit, and $50 in Slot Play credit. You can even earn Diamond Tier status by charging a mere $50,000 to the card per year.

Next up, I’m predicting cards from Draft Kings and FanDuel.

*I tried to translate 'credit card' into Latin. This isn't the actual name of a product, though if you make one, I want shares.

Lloyd's Catches a Curve (Ball)

I don't normally write about funding and acquisitions, but if you know my history as the founder of Wallaby (see CardsFTW #136: There is No One Card to Rule Them All), then you'll understand why I've been following the story of Curve so closely.

Is it a flag? Are all the straight lines a joke about "curve"?

Curve was founded in 2015, following my exit of Wallaby to Bankrate. The company aimed to be an all-in-one wallet, which they achieved in the U.K. due to open banking regulations, but failed to launch elsewhere.

News hit on Monday that Lloyd's Banking group is acquiring Curve for $161 MM. That's a lot of money, but less than the $301.7MM raised across 11 rounds (per Crunchbase). Congratulations to Shachar and team on a landing. Getting acquired is really, really hard, whether it's a "good" deal or not. I wanted Curve to win, because I wanted (still want) a Wallaby card. It is not to be, however. I'm curious to see what Lloyd's does with the assets; given the history of big banking groups buying fintech companies, I won't be holding my breath for much.

Chase Dining, We Hardly Knew You

Chase sent a message to cardholders this week letting them know that Chase Dining is ending

Can you miss something you never knew existed?

To which I promptly responded, "What is Chase Dining?"

This benefit was provided via a partnership with Tock, the high-end reservations platform. American Express has since acquired Tock, so I suppose its not too surprising that this is ending. However, in our continuing conversation about the complexity and overwhelming nature of coupon book credit cards and card-linked offers, Chase Dining has (soon to be had) the problem that few people used or even knew about the benefit.

Sure, 10x points sounds amazing, but:

Did you know about it?
Did you ever use it?
Are there restaurants near you that use Tock?

My quick research tells me that there are approximately 750,000 restaurants in the United States. Of these some ~65,000 take reservations. Tock has 4,400 restaurants (or 7% of the reservation market; 0.6% of the total restaurant market). Tock is smaller than other reservation platforms like OpenTable (46%, and now with a big Visa collaboration), Yelp (14%) and Resy (12%).

Not a useful feature, not sure anyone will miss it. Let me know in the comments if you will!

CardsFTW

CardsFTW, released weekly on Wednesdays, offers insights and analysis on new credit and debit card industry products for consumers and providers. CardsFTW is authored and published by Matthew Goldman and the team at Totavi, a boutique consulting firm specializing in fintech product management & marketing. We bring real operational experience that varies from the earliest days of a startup to high-growth phases and public company leadership. Visit www.totavi.com to learn more.

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