Update: It appears that Citibank has dropped this offer down to a $50 bonus instead of a $100 bonus. Everything else in this post still applies, however.
A few months ago, Citibank offered a $100 bonus for opening an “Ultimate Savings Account” with them. I snapped at the offer, even though the accounts 4.75% APY is slightly lower than many online savings accounts. And now, Citibank is handing out this $100 bonus offer once again.
If you interested in an easy $100 like I was, you might be interested in what I learned from my experience:
~ You need to have never held a bank account with Citi before in order to qualify for the bonus. As far as I know, this refers to checking and savings account, but not credit cards.
~ The account is pretty standard as far as online savings accounts go. There is no minimum balance required and no monthly fees. I used $1 as my opening deposit and just left it there.
~ They ask for an awful lot of information when you’re opening your account. It’s been a few months, but I seem to remember having to run out of the room to track down paperwork and look things up. Also, they will do a hard credit pull (a credit check that will slightly lower your credit score for about a year).
~ The offer says the bonus may take as long as 90 days to appear in your account. I recommend marking your calendar three months from the day you open it, and if you don’t receive the bonus by then, to start writing some emails or making some phone calls. My $100 took 45 days to appear in my account.
~ The current offer expires on 8/31/07, so if you’re planning to take advantage of the offer, be sure to apply for your account before that deadline (probably at least several days before, just to be sure).
Now that my $100 bonus is finally in my account, I’m going to buy a Wii! Just kidding. I’m probably going to let it sit in the account for as long as I can, let it earn a little interest, and then throw it at my debt. Yep, I’m boring and practical like that.
[Hat tip to Jonathon at My Money Blog for pointing out Citibank renewing their $100 bonus offer.]
I like free money, but I don’t like managing a bajillion accounts. How long are you obligated to keep the account with them?
Pete,
There’s no word on that – technically it seems you don’t have to keep it after you get the bonus. Once the bonus credits, you’re free to transfer it into your checking account. I don’t plan on closing mine, so I haven’t hunted around for this.
Hmm… suspicious, yet tempting.
So I gave in and sent away my $1. Man, that’s a 10000% return on investment! Ca-ching!
Do they really require you to fax your signature and hang around the phone to confirm your identity? Or are those just scare tactics? Craziness.
Hahaha… good job.
They mailed me a signature card with a postage paid envelope to send it back. They never called me, either. So unless they’ve severely changed their practices in the last few months…
Just opened my account, thanks!
What are they looking for with their “hard credit pull”. If you have really bad credit, like with a bankruptcy, can you still open an account?
kidnextdoor,
I don’t have a solid answer for this. It’s been said that they do this in order to sell you their other products (credit cards, mortgages, and loans), but since I haven’t received any solicitation from them for any such products, I don’t think this is true. It’s possible if your credit is REALLY, REALLY bad they might deny you, but a bankruptcy might not even be bad enough.
Again, this is a total guess on my part and I have no proof to back it up. My best guess is that they check your credit history to ensure you’ve never had an account with them before.
http://img339.imageshack.us/my.php?image=citiy2kgj3.jpg
City direct is not Y2K compliant!
Arizona driver’s licenses don’t expire until our 65th birthday (mine being 2033). See the pic to see how Citi thinks that’s “in the past” due to crappy date handling.
I’ll pass if their system is this screwed up!
Thanks for the information! Just out of curiosity, how do you know that they do a hard pull? How can you tell when that will happen? I was under the impression that when you open a bank account, it’s usually a soft pull. Given that this one is a hard pull, do you have any idea what the difference (on your credit score) between opening this savings account and opening a credit card with a similar offer would be? Thanks!!
Jessie,
Hard and soft pulls show up on your credit report, as well as your credit score. The three different agencies (TransUnion, etc) have different names for the two categories of “credit inquires,” but it’s pretty easy to tell which are the hard pulls and which are the soft pulls.
Because I’ve only seen my credit report recently, and not my credit score, I can’t tell you what the mathematical difference is. However, what I do know is that from this, your score will, after a year or so, recover however much it drops. The addition of a credit card can have dramatic changes on your credit score, past the small “hard pull” drop.
it says its only a $50.00 offer… got a link to the $100.00 offer?
ambellamy,
Sorry, but it looks as though Citi got too many people signing up, and dropped the offer down to $50 now. Luck of the draw, I guess.
If anyone hunts down a link offering the $100 bonus, please let me know!
There is a disclaimer saying that you can only sign up if you received an offer in the mail. Has anyone else seen this? I don’t want to go through the trouble only to lose the money.
Nick,
I can’t find that disclaimer anywhere on the offer page – where did you see it? Also, you wouldn’t lose money – this is a no fee savings account that can be opened with a one dollar deposit – the worst that could happen is you lose control of $1 for a few months.
Hi Stephanie, thanks for the response. I followed the link on your post that was up last night, then click on the apply button. It gives me a notice like this: “You have entered offer code
CSLN
By clicking to continue the application below, you acknowledge and agree that this bonus offer is not transferable. If you did not receive the offer code listed above in a promotion directly from the United States Postal Service and Citibank you are not eligible for this bonus offer. ”
Thanks for the quick response!
-N
Nick,
Good catch – I hadn’t bothered to click the “apply” button (since I already have the account), I was just reading the fine print on page one. I have no idea if the bonus would still credit if you continued on with that application. I guess it’s a gamble – the thing to be lost really is a few points off your credit score for a short time. I guess everyone will have to evaluate for themselves if that’s worth $100 or not.
I just opened an account. Thanks for the heads up.
I do have one question though:
It says they will be sending me a checkbook and card to access my account. This sounds like a checking account and not a savings account. Did they do this with you???
http://payingforplaying.blogspot.com/
PayingForPlaying,
I didn’t get a checkbook, but they did send me an ATM card an several deposit slips. When you log into your account, does it list itself as the “Ultimate Savings Account” or as some type of checking account?