[Expired] Citi Gold $400 Checking Bonus

Unfortunately this offer has now expired. You can view the bonuses that we recommend here.

Offer at a glance

• Maximum bonus amount: $400
• Availability: Nationwide 
• Direct deposit required: No
• Additional requirements: Deposit $50,000 and maintain for at least 15 days 
• Hard/soft pull: Soft
• Credit card funding: Up to $50,000, although people have reported issues in the past.
• Monthly fees: $30, can be waived. 
• Early account termination fee: None
• Expiration date: February 28th, 2015

The Offer

Direct link to offer

• Make a deposit of $50,000 or more with funds that are new to Citibank within 30 days of account opening and maintain that balance for at least 15 days and you’ll receive a $400 cash bonus from Citibank.

The Fine Print

• Account must be opened before February 28th, 2015
• Bonus will be added to your checking account within 90 days from end of month you complete all the requirements.
• Offer details are different for those living in Texas, call 1-800-336-2484 to find out the differences
• Offer available for new checking customers only.
• All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them

Avoiding Fees

Citigold Account Package $30 Monthly Fee

To avoid the $30 monthly fee you need to complete one of the following:

• $50,000 in combined link deposit or retirement accounts
• $100,000 in all linked deposit, retirement, credit or investment accounts (excluding a first mortgage with citibank)
• $250,000 including linked Citibank mortgages

Early Account Termination Fee $0

We couldn’t find any mention of any EATF in the product disclosures and haven’t heard of anybody being hit with a fee. Your account does need to be open for the bonus to post though.

Our Verdict

The interest rate that Citi offers is a puny 0.05% for the checking account and 0.15% on the savings account if you have a balance of $25,000-$99,999.99. There are lots of checking accounts that offer at least 1% interest, you need to have $50,000 deposited for 15 days to qualify for this bonus which means you’d be missing out on about $17.5 in interest.

You would also likely need to pay at least one month of $30 in fees. This leaves you with a bonus of around $350, although keep in mind you’d need to pay taxes on this as well. In the past Citi has offered a $500 bonus on this account, although this had slightly higher to complete requirements.

At the moment Citi also offers two offer bonuses on their Citi Gold checking account:

• 30,000 American Airline Miles and
• 40,000 ThankYou points

I think either of these options are better, because you’re getting points/miles and not cash you shouldn’t receive a 1099 tax form and shouldn’t have to pay taxes on these bonuses. Both of these bonuses also don’t have the $50,000 deposit requirement.

You can exchange ThankYou points for gift cards at a rate of 1 point = 1¢. You should be able to find gift cards that you can resell for 90% of face value, meaning that bonus would be worth $360 and you wouldn’t have to pay taxes on it.

I’d recommend either of those offers over this one because of the tax differences and the fact you don’t need to deposit $50,000. As always, this offer has been added to our checking promotions page. It hasn’t made our best of list due to the above mentioned issues.

Direct link to offer | Screenshot of offer

Hat tip to stormdog123 from Fatwallet