In this review of Citibank we will look at the best checking accounts and savings accounts that they have to offer. We will also briefly look at their money market and cd accounts as well as give some background information on the bank itself to help you make an informed decision on where to invest your time and your money.

Background

Citibank is actually a bank with a long history in the United States. It was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York with Samuel Osgood as its first elected president. In 1968 City Bank of New York gained the parent company of First Nation City Corporation. In the United States Citibank is traded on the New York Stock exchange under the symbol “C”. Citibank boasts a customer base of 200 million in over 100 countries. In addition to personal banking products they offer credit cards, home loans, lines of credit, investing services, and business banking products.

Online Banking

Citibank may still be thought of as a traditional brick and mortar bank but they do have some innovative offerings in the area of online banking services. The newest online service is called “pop money”. Pop money allows you to send funds from your Citibank account to others who have an e-mail address. You can also send money to individuals who have accounts with Citibank if you have account information for them. Honestly, having someone’s e-mail is a lot more likely! Citibank also offers free online bill pay, mobile banking, and text banking.

Personal checking accounts

Citibank has several options available when it comes to online checking accounts, four to be exact. Citigold, Basic checking, The Citibank account, and the Citibank Student Account. If this many choices seems overwhelming the first question to ask yourself is are you a student of an accredited college as an undergraduate or a graduate student?

Citibank Student Account

If the answer is yes to the previous question, then you may want to consider Citibank’s student account. You do need to be 18 years of age or older and the college or university that you are attending needs to be registered with Citibank. Once you graduate or are no longer enrolled in the accredited university your Citibank Student checking account will be converted to a different type of account. The initial minimum deposit is $100. There are no monthly fees for this account and unlimited check writing. If you use Citibank specific ATMs there are no fees involved. When you use another bank’s ATM you will  not be charged a fee by Citibank but you may be charged a fee by the bank who’s machine you are using. You can also apply for overdraft protection on this account. If you are not a student currently the next question to ask yourself is how much money you are considering transferring to Citibank.

Citigold

A Citigold account has the best interest rate but requires the largest investment. The minimum opening deposit is $500 and if you would like to maintain the account with no monthly fee then after the first two months when you have no service fee you must have one of the following

• $50,000+ in all your linked deposit and retirement accounts
• $100,000+ in all your linked accounts, excluding a first mortgage with Citibank
• $250,000 or more if your Citibank first mortgage is included in the total relationship calculations

By fulfilling these requirements you do receive the highest interest rate offered on your checking account balance(10 times higher in fact than the regular rate), your unlimited savings account, and the highest rate for a 5 year CD account. If the balance requirements for this account do not fit your current portfolio then you may want to consider The Citibank Account.

The Citibank Account

This account only requires a $100 initial deposit and maintenance of $6,000 in any of the following accounts: checking, Citibank credit cards, loans and credit lines, mortgages, retirement accounts, and deposit accounts. If this is not manageable then the monthly service fee of $20 applies. Due to the steepness of this fine if you are unsure about the balance requirements you may want to consider the Basic checking account offered by Citibank.

Basic Checking

The Basic checking account offered by Citibank has no minimum opening deposit requirement. The monthly fee of $8 is waived if you have at least five of the following transactions  happen on a monthly basis:

• Direct Deposit
• Debit Card Purchase
• Bill payments (this does not include check payments)
• Auto deductions
• Checks Paid
• Cash withdrawals at any ATM
• ACH payments

This account does come with unlimited check writing and all the usual perks of mobile banking, online bill payment, online banking, etc.

Citibank Savings

The three choices for savings are Day-to-Day Savings Account, Citibank Savings Plus Account, and the Ultimate Savings Account. Both the Day-to-Day and the Savings Plus require an opening deposit of $100. With the Day–to-Day account you are not required to have a checking account with Citibank but you do have to maintain a $500 balance to avoid a monthly fee. The Citibank Savings Plus account has a tiered interest rate which means that the more than you deposit the higher the interest rate you will earn. The interest rewards do cap out at the $50,000 level so there is not additional benefits after that point. Again there is no checking account required with either Day-to-Day or the Savings plus account but to get the best savings account rate you would need a checking account attached to the Savings Plus Account. If you have a large amount to deposit, by large we mean $25,000 or more, you can open an Ultimate savings account which also does not require you to have a checking account. The Ultimate Savings account has no monthly service fee. The interest rate for this account is tiered with the best interest rate earned when the account balance is $500,000 or more.

Other Deposit Accounts from Citibank

The other options for deposit accounts include a money market account and certificates of deposit.

With the money market account you must have a checking account with Citibank. Your APY rate depends upon whether or not you qualify for Citibank’s best rate. Their website will give you the impression that your balance makes a difference but according to their charts the amount of money in your account does not affect your APY rate. To qualify for the accelerated rate you need to have a certain amount of activity (ie direct deposit, debit card, and bill payments) in your linked checking account. The minimum opening deposit for this money market account is $1,000. If you are interested in certificates of deposit then the minimum deposit is $500 if you open the cd online. You can opt to have your interest paid out monthly. The terms available run from 3 months to 5 years.

Conclusion

Citibank does offer a huge amount of services and we have only touched on the main ones in this review. Citibank also offers business accounts, loans, credit cards, and other investment accounts. While the offerings seem to be akin to a smorgasbord of options the interest rates are not the best and the fees for some of the accounts are pretty steep if you cannot qualify for the fee waiver. The qualifications for the highest interest rates do not seem too hard to meet but one has to ask why the added qualifications are there. As we always suggest on Bank Truth please research a bank before you open an account. Everyone has different items on their shopping list when they are looking for a bank and you know what is most important to you. Please feel free to compare Citibank’s rate with our best rates available.

Citibank Review, 3.0 out of 5 based on 2 ratings