An Interesting Way To Qualify For Citi Gold Checking

There are a number of reasons as to why you might want a Citi Gold Checking account, one of the most obvious reasons is that Citi often offer higher bonuses on their credit cards to Citi Gold checking customers. For example you can get 60,000 ThankYou points on the Citi Prestige card and get a reduced fee of $350 per year (normally $450) if you have a Citi Gold Checking account (although a lot of clerks aren’t actually checking this).

The problem with the Citi Gold checking account is that it has a monthly fee of $30 and the requirements to keep this account fee free are quite high:

  • $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

Citi has another product called “CitiBusiness® Preferred Banking“. One of the benefits of this account is that you get the monthly fee on your personal Citi gold account waived. The downside is that this account has an even higher monthly fee of $40, but the requirements to keep it fee free are lower:

  • Average monthly balance of $15,000 or more

Citi Business

If you have a business, you might as well get this Preferred Banking account as you’ll need to keep less in it to keep your Citi Gold checking account fee free. Presumably you’d also be able to open the Citi Gold checking account when it was offering a bonus (current ones are listed below) and then use this account to keep it fee free.

Also keep in mind Citi will waive the first two months of fees for new accounts. Thanks to loudnotes from Flyertalk for making me aware of this account.

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V
V (@guest_259520)
May 17, 2016 00:01

Just a note that this option ended in mid-2015. As of now (mid-2016), only business accounts that keep an average balance of $1MM can waive fees on Citigold, and Citigold is going to require $200K to waive fees. The previous $50K average balance Citigold accounts will be rebranded (but apparently keep all its current benefits) as of Nov 1, 2016. So no good ways to waive the fees anymore.

Simon
Simon (@guest_94703)
March 27, 2015 18:33

I tried calling Citi this week to open up a business account. They said I can only sign up for a business account in branch. Closest branch to me is in San Fran, I live in Portland, Oregon. Might have to sit this one out or bite the bullet and pay the Citigold fee until the bonus posts.

m
m (@guest_77095)
February 16, 2015 11:56

Yeah noticed this not long ago. Question: anybody had luck opening a biz account by phone? Any method if no branch anywhere nearby?

Chris L
Chris L (@guest_70304)
February 4, 2015 01:25

I don’t think having a first mortgage with Citi will get you a waiver of the Citigold fee anymore. I’ve leveraged that in the past, but looking over checking account info now I don’t see that language in the CitiGold checking account T&C’s. It may be grandfathered in for current accounts, but I don’t see it as a waiver option for new accounts.

Frequent Miler
Frequent Miler (@guest_69651)
February 2, 2015 17:25

Nice find!