There are a few things you should be aware of that will be gone September 1st.
Contents
$400 Checking Bonus
Citi are currently offering a $400 checking bonus, it requires a deposit of $15,000 but no direct deposit. It’s one of the best bank account bonuses currently and will end at the end of today. It’s possible that this will be extended, but by no means a certainty. I’d grab it if you haven’t already.
Citi Prestige Benefits
Some of the benefits of the Citi Prestige are being removed on July 27th, 2017. As long as you apply for the card before September 1st, 2016 then you’ll receive access to the Admirals Club (as far as I know other benefits will continue to be available to new cardholders until July 27th, 2017).
Keep in mind Citi’s new rule, you won’t be eligible for this card if you’ve opened or closed any of the following cards in the past 24 months: ThankYou Preferred, ThankYou Premier or Citi Prestige cards. Best bonus on this card is currently 40,000 points after $4,000 in spend within three months as the 50,000 point in branch offer is no longer available (although you should still be able to get it with the reduced annual fee of $350).
[Read: Premium Cards Compared: Chase Sapphire Reserve, American Express Platinum & Citi Prestige]
Hilton 75,000 Bonus No Annual Fee
People with affiliate links have been told that this bonus will also end at the end of today. This is becoming a common offer, so no huge rush. It’s also possible that non afilliate or zombie links will continue for this 75,000 bonus. Keep in mind that Citi’s new rule also applies to this card: Bonus Hilton HHonors points are not available if you have had any Citi®Hilton HHonors™ card opened or closed in the past 24 months.
American Airlines 60,000 Executive Offer
Same as the Hilton offer, people with affiliate links have been told that the 60,000 American Airline executive offer is going away, we will see if this disappears or not. New rule also applies.
Our Verdict
I’ve put them in order of what I think is most important, I’m sure some of you will disagree but I really just wanted to give everybody a nice little reminder. The end and start of each month usually bring some new promotions, along with the old ones expiring so fingers crossed for some good stuff!
Hi Doc,
I spoke to a Citi banker today and he said they’re extending the promotion until Oct 31st.
Awesome, will update when it’s official.
I visited the branch today and was also told the same thing.
I’d like to know if anyone that applies after September 1st has the Admirals Club on the back of their Prestige card or not. I don’t trust there not to be issues with getting into lounges. I can see a memo now that reads “Select Citi Prestige Cards No Longer Allowed” and an explanation that is not read or understood/implemented properly for those who got in before 9/1. I called Citi and they assured me it would be fine and said to call them if there were issues. Right, cause I really want to have to bother with that. I know they don’t want me to be bothered…
It was an utter F’ing nightmare to close the citigold TYP account that was opened last fall. It JUST officially closed last month. Not only was the savings account frozen, but Citi couldn’t close the account without some uber special department to authorize it. I had confirmed twice that it was closed, once by SM and by phone that everything was taken care of. Fast forward over two months later and I receive a statement by mail for over $37 in fees.
Pissed off, I jumped back into the circus and it appears the savings account (that I couldn’t see nor had statements for) was still not closed! It then took another month to get that straightened out and several calls (a lot of holding). Was almost funny when the guy told me he can’t help me if I don’t have an account number. I flat out said look I don’t have it either, that’s the problem here. Had to get escalated to another department to finally handle it. They told me I’d receive a statement in 7-10 business days confirming it’s closed. About 20-25 business days later I finally received that statement.
I spent over 5 hours on the phone from beginning to end with this bonus. Not to mention over an hour (easily) with SM, satisfying requirements, etc. Some might say that if it’s 8 hours of time then $400 worth (at minimum) points is $50/hour. Maybe for some, but the mental CPU and stress dealing with something that had the potential to go to collections/chexsyem is just not worth it. Not even close.
Back to this post. Bottom line is this bonus just flat out isn’t worth $400 unless I know this bonus and process won’t be a convoluted process and absolute time suck. And I know I’m not alone with the “shitibank” albatross either. I’ve read countless data points about zombie accounts and no matter what you do you run into problems with an account.
TLDR: I wasted over 5 hours and close to half a year to FINALLY be done with the account closure. Be prepared for the strong possibility of major account issues and time commitment if you go after this bonus.
Another commenter said they spoke to Citi who said they would have a new $400 promo beginning Sept 1st in case you can’t grab it now.
Fingers crossed
I thought the $400 promo went through December previously; did they update?
No, always scheduled to expire on August 31st, maybe they will bring a new promo out.
Citi has officially screwed me over multiple times. The $400 for $15k deposit is the final nail in the coffin for me.
I tried multiple times for them to verify the promotion on the account, which was entered when I applied… They just act as if it never happened. Screenshot does no good, they don’t care one bit
Are you saying the bonus should have posted by now and did not?
I have $15 over there brewing.
File a CFPB complaint.
File a CFPB complaint.
If you got the citigold bonus earlier this year this 400 may push you over the 600 reporting threshold.
What to do?
If you are referring to the 50K AA miles or Thank You points, then I don’t think they are reported. But if you get the $400, I believe you’ll get 1099 for them alone.
I am hoping this promo is extended as 60 days have not passed for me since the Citi Gold account closure.
Are you sure? I thought you got a 1099 if you got more than $600 value out of the bonus. So the aa miles were getting a 1099 but the thank you points had dune wiggle room depending on how you redeemed them.
Are there any datapoints from last year? Though last year doesn’t probe much.
Yes,,, doesn’t really matter what the bonus is… I have opened quite a few bank accounts for these bonuses ranging from $100 to 500$. I have received a 1099 for every single one of them no matter what amount..
Hi Doc, did you go for the Citi $400 new checking account bonus?..you said you might two months ago.
I think that was Chuck that said he might, I didn’t go for it. I still had accounts open from previous deals.