Update 7/8/25: Deal is back through September 30, tiers seem to be different this time.
Update 1/19/25: Deal is back until July 7th 2025.
Update 7/11/24: Deal is back until 1/7/2025. Funds only need to be maintained for 45 days. Hat tip to Erik
Update 6/24/24: Valid until July 8
Update 11/22/23:Still have to open in branch, just lets you input information online Deal is now available online. Hat tip to Adam D
Update 10/5/23: Extended until January 9, 2024.
Update 7/13/23: Deal is back and valid until October 4, 2023.
Update 1/5/23: Extended until 7/12/2023. Can try this direct link.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $2,000
- Availability: Must open in branch [Branch locator]
- Direct deposit required: No
- Additional requirements: Deposit up to $200,000
- Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
- ChexSystems: Unknown
- Credit card funding: None
- Monthly fees: $15, avoidable
- Early account termination fee: None
- Household limit: None listed
- Expiration date:
December 31st, 2019June 30, 2021
Contents
The Offer
No direct link, being offered in branch
- Citibank Business is offering a bonus of up to $2,000 when you open a new business checking account. The bonus you receive depends on how much you deposit, balance must be maintained for 60 calendar days after deposit.
- Receive a $200 bonus with a $5,000 deposit
- Receive a $500 bonus with a $15,000 deposit
- Receive a $700 bonus with a $25,000 deposit
- Receive a $1,000 bonus with a $50,000 deposit
- Receive a $1,500 bonus with a $100,000 deposit
- Receive a $2,000 bonus with a $200,000 deposit
The Fine Print
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
The easiest account to keep fee free is the CitiBusiness®Streamlined Checking Account, this has a monthly fee of $15 and is waived have an average monthly balance of $5,000 or more.
Early Account Termination Fee
There is no early account termination fee to worry about.
Our Verdict
Reader Jay was able to get this offer just by going into a branch and asking if they had any current promotions for opening a new account. Entirely possible it won’t be available in all/most branches, but feel free to share your data points in the comments below. Similar to a previous targeted bonus, with higher tiers available as well. The return gets worse as the bonus increases as unfortunately.
Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:
- A Beginners Guide To Bank Account Bonuses
- Bank Account Quick Reference Table (Spreadsheet) (very useful for sorting bonuses by different parameters)
- PSA: Don’t Call The Bank
- Introduction To ChexSystems
- Banks & Credit Unions That Are ChexSystems Inquiry Sensitive
- What Banks & Credit Unions Do/Don’t Pull ChexSystems?
- How To Use Our Direct Deposit Page For Bank Bonuses Page
- Common Bank Bonus Misconceptions + Why You Should Give Them A Go
- How Many Bank Accounts Can I Safely Open Within A Year For Bank Bonus Purposes?
- Affiliate Links & Bank Bonuses – We Won’t Be Using Them
- Complete List Of Ways To Close Bank Accounts At Each Bank
- Banks That Allow/Don’t Allow Out Of State Checking Applications
- Bank Bonus Posting Times
Post history:
- Update 7/6/22: Extended until January 4, 2023.
- Update 1/21/22: There is now a direct link for the offer.
- Update 1/5/22: Extended through 7/5.
- Update 10/4/21: Extended through 1/3/22.
- Update 7/2/21: Extended until 9/30/21.
- Update 4/30/21: There is now a direct link for this offer.
- Update 4/8/21: Deal has been extended until June 30, 2021. Hat tip to reader EW
- Update 1/28/21: Deal is back and valid until 3/31/21. Hat tip to reader EW
- Update 9/23/20: Deal is back and valid until 1/5/2021. Hat tip to reader KJ Z
- Update 1/10/2020: Deal has been extended to March 31st, 2020 as per reader B
NY tried to go in branch but they wanted articles of incorporation and a filing receipt despite sole proprietor. Will try to find another branch or maybe it was just that banker. Haven’t needed those before.
For folks who’ve done this Citi business offer and ACH’ed larger sums (>$100k), mind sharing what banks you used for the transfer? Maybe
Ricki or others?
The last time I churned this offer, Amex wouldn’t let me link Citi. And my Alliant is limited at $25k/day outgoing. Ally allows large transfers, but has finite slots for external banks, so I’d prefer to not one up for just a simple task. I eventually just dropped off a check at the Citibank branch to get it deposited in time.
I’m thinking of using Discover. Fidelity seems to be back to normal, with fewer stringent holds… Live Oak quickly handles large sums without issue, but might need a statement that I don’t quite have with a new account
Thanks
I wire the funds.
Primis Bank charges a $5 outgoing wire fee. When you receive an incoming wire, Primis reimburses the other bank’s outgoing wire fee and pays you a $10 bonus for having the incoming wire.
Heed footnote 1 in the T&C of the Citibank business checking offer:
Funds must be deposited and “available” … within such 45-day period.
CIT bank
The $700 bonus for $25000 is not there anymore…
it is
I went to a branch in San Francisco and the bonus doc they gave me has only these tiers:
When you deposit Cash Bonus
$5,000 – $19,999 $300
$20,000 – $49,999 $500
$50,000 – $99,999 $1,000
$100,000 – $199,999 $1,500
$200,000 + $2,000
I went to the citi bank in Milpitas and got the flyer and it shows $700. I wonder why the offer you got at sf is different than in Milpitas. But I’m doing the 1500 offer anyways.
I opened the account on the 19th of july
My nyc zip code is also not showing that anymore
The hold time is 60 days. Would it make sense to do the 200k/2000$ bonus if there were no available offers in that 60 day period?
I would be keeping the money in IMMA account while earning the bonus. Since it’s 4%,thrse are the total apy + bonus.
Bonus Deposit Bonus APY Total APY (4% + Bonus)
$200 $5,000 24.33% 28.33%
$500 $15,000 20.28% 24.28%
$700 $25,000 17.03% 21.03%
$1,000 $50,000 12.17% 16.17%
$1,500 $100,000 9.13% 13.13%
$2,000 $200,000 6.08% 10.08%
can I pull money to Citi Biz account from within the Citi portal? I can’t find it, and the source bank have monthly withdraw limit so I can not push into Citi
Hi, I don’t have a business . Have people opened business accounts for sole prop (online seller etc).
I started the application but paused once I saw they are asking for business revenue / employees etc.
Can someone share their experience of opening account in a similar situation?
From
Ricki:
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/az-fl-il-ks-mo-mn-wi-bmo-harris-200-500-business-checking-bonus/#comment-2059562
Only if they allow you to use your ss# as a sole prop. Otherwise you will need at least an LLC. Give them a call.
You don’t need the bank’s permission to use your SSN for your sole prop. The bank is legally obligated to use whatever TIN you certify on IRS Form W-9 is your correct TIN. That TIN could be your SSN or an EIN.
I was able to start in person with sole prop online seller (ebay). It was kind of a hassle, they didnt seem to quite know what they were doing, and it took close to 1.5 hours, then they sent it away to some other corporate office and I heard the next week I had been approved.
So far so good.
Then you had to wait for a business debit card to come by mail to be able to register your online account and THEN you can fund the account online. I didnt want to go back to the location since it was rather far for me.
Can one earn Citigold status with this account if holding over $200k in a linked investment account? Or can Citigold be earned only with a personal checking account?
Citi also has a in branch money market (IMMA) offer of 4.05% which can be combined with this checking offer.
Indeed. That was there before too.
How, pls?
I think I saw they extended that offer to October when I was in the branch today for something else. May need to call them or wait for someone else to confirm.
FYI: Here’s a direct link to the offer: https://banking.citi.com/cbol/small-business/checking-offer
Yes, you still have to open in branch but it contains the terms.
The link does not work.
That link works for me. I just tried it. It prompted me for my ZIP code and displayed a contact form.
The top of the contact form displays the following:
Citibank Business Checking
Earn up to $2,000* to give your business an edgeNew Citibank business checking customers may earn a cash bonus of $300 to $2,000 by opening a new eligible checking account between July 8, 2025, and October 6, 2025, and completing required activities.
The bottom of the form displays the T&C of the offer.
To be eligible for this offer, you cannot have had a Citibank business checking account within the 180 days immediately preceding the date you open a new eligible CitiBusiness checking account to participate in this offer.