The Offer
- Earn up to $500 in bonus interest with Citi, here’s how:
- Enroll in this promotion by speaking to one of our representatives and upgrade to The Citigold Account Package. If you already have one, you’re a step ahead!
- Fund a new or existing Citibank® Savings Plus Account with a minimum of $25,000 new-to-bank funds by 2/29/16
- Maintain a minimum balance of at least $25,000 throughout the next 3 monthly statement periods, and you can earn five times the interest on your savings for this bonus period: up to a $500 bonus.
What’s not very clear about this bonus is that you’re actually receiving 5x the normal interest up to a maximum $500 bonus. The interest rates that Citi offers on these accounts are exceptionally low (it’s very easy to find accounts giving a 1% APY and lots of rewards checking accounts and prepaid products offer up to 5% APYs). E.g Citi offers an APY of 0.08%-0.12% depending on which state you live in, even when you add this bonus offer you’re only receiving 0.4%-0.6%.
The Fine Print
- The cash bonus will be credited to your new Citibank Savings Plus account within 90 days from the end of the month in which you complete all offer requirements.
- This offer expires 2/29/16
- Mention code 43BWK6L7UU
Our Verdict
Citi has some fantastic offers (like their recent checking promotions for 50,000 AA miles or 50,000 TYP) but this offer really sucks and is quite misleading. I think a lot of us will be funding Citi Savings accounts with big amounts, it just won’t be for this promotion. The only reason I posted this was to make sure nobody actually signs up for it. I’m obviously not going to add it to our best bank bonus page and I’m not going to add it to our complete listing either because it’s such an awful deal.
I feel much better about helping people bend the rules and maximize their profits when financial institutions run promotions like this.
Hat tip to Will Run For Miles via Twitter
Yes, their wording quite misleading. I already not used Citi as my main bank account some time ago already.
Re: new offer ending 5/31/16: my first impression was the $500 is 2% on $25000 within 90 something days. Where am I going to get the “equivalent” of 8% annually on my $25000???
This is the deal with the citi gold 500 bonus. You apply on the phone. You wait til all material is mailed to you…..a debit card…..a pin…a telephone pin….a w-9 and account signature form they will email those, get their fax number. After 4 days call to verify if they got your w-9 and signature and talk to new account to do a 1 time transfer of the 50,000. Then you call web support to create a external link account. After 2-4 days they will send test deposits to your account…check it on line with your bank. Then you log into your citi account and get web support on line to assist you to enter the 2 test deposit amounts. Once you enter those 2 amounts you are ready to go. …..Now for the bottom line. 50,000 you lose about 31 days interest at a 1% account you took it from….thats $40….you go to external link and day 31 counting day 1 as the day after you put 50,000 in the account and transfer it back out to where it came from. On month 1-2 they do not charge a $30 fee. Month 3-4 you will be charged a total of $60. That brings you to a $440 bonus. Once in your account you external link it back to your 1% account. You will owe about $100 tax or less depending on your tax situation. My Net return is just $340 after tax. …………I know the author says you can get 5% at some online checking/debit accounts but I could not locate any. Brinks will give you 5% on your 1st 5000 but lots of hoops to jump thru and extremely poor customer service. The citi deal is still $340 net more money than our current 1.05%.
I’ve opened two savings accounts with them and funded both with credit cards. Any idea how many I can open without setting off some flags? I have the citigold checking plus the two savings which I’m going to be closing soon… or should I keep going?
Agree, that interest offered is pathetic. But if I already have the CitiGold Savings account; can I use a credit card to “Fund a new or existing Citibank Savings Plus Account with a minimum of $25,000 new-to-bank funds “?
You can only do it for the initial deposit, I forget how long you have after account opening.
You write:
“I think a lot of us will be funding Citi Savings accounts with big amounts, it just won’t be for this promotion.”
I assume you are talking about the advantage of CC funding — to get a lot of points or cash back. Yes?
Will the savings account have the same option you described last year for the Citigold checking — funding it with up to 100k (if a person has a card with credit limit that big)?
Also, will the CC funding be limited to exactly one card? (No way to take advantage of two 30k CL cards, for example.)
Yes you can fund these accounts with a credit card, same funding limits and no way to split payment.
You put .8% but I’m sure you meant .08%.
Updated, good catch.
Can I keep this Citibank® Savings Plus Account ( and earn 5*interest rates) even I downgraded to Citi gold for avoiding the monthly fee?
any idea of when the 50K AA or TYP checking offer will come back? heard rumors that it was supposed to come back in 2016 but never heard a timeline.