Citibank: Great Online Banking, e-savings discontinued
Written: May 12 '05 (Updated Nov 08 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Online Banking and Bill Pay, Tools, Pricing Structure, Rewards Program (Thank You)
Cons: Customer service quality dependent on who answers, not consistent high rate savings/money market offering
The Bottom Line: I recommend the bank to people who meet the minimum average balance requirement for the account they choose to avoid fees. Customer service needs improvement.
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| ursulajo's Full Review: Citibank |
As I explored banking options, I considered if the services fit my needs which were top-notch free online banking and bill pay, minimize or eliminate fees (especially ATM) and have all records in one place.
I banked with Wachovia for 7 years and there were no branches close to the school I used to go to. In the school, there was a Bank of America ATM that I had to use. Wachovia charged me a Non Wachovia ATM fee and Bank of America charged me a fee. Also, Wachovia used to charge a fee for Bill Pay, and they only had that fee removed in 2004, 2 months before I decided to switch to Citibank. Before that I discontinued the service with them and paid billers through their own web sites. Citibank waived the monthly fee for employees for the checking package that requires $6000 in combined average balances (Citibank Account), but now I am above that threshold. Note that this account allows one to combine banking, savings, investments, IRAs and loans towards the balance. This is convenient to keep records. Wachovia did not allow a combination this broad, instead that bank wanted $5000 in savings and checking accounts earning little or no interest. I thought that was too much to ask.
I had some glitches when I switched to Citibank with customer service. My Social Security Number was entered incorrectly and that caused some problems with credit checks. This was in resolved in 2 weeks when I walked in a branch. I also had to correct an error regarding an IRA contribution, and that was done within 24 hours. However, sometimes the quality of service depends on who answers the phone, and I had some people that could not understand me and that I could not understand because of their accent. This makes problem resolution painful, as shown in previous reviews.
The online service is great and reliable. It allows to pay bills online for free and it has a bill payment promise to ensure payments are done timely and issues are resolved. The e-mail and wireless alerts are useful to track balances, check and payment clearing and CD maturity. The investments site, Cititrade includes research from Smith Barney and independent providers like Morningstar and S&P for stocks, and Lipper for mutual funds. The Planning and Tools section of the site is useful to people to start learning about finance and how it affects their life. Lastly, their new "Thank You" rewards program makes it easy to accumulate points by having a certain number of products in the bank, using a Citi debit card and certain Citi credit cards. The bank and credit card points can be combined and they can be redeemed for travel, electronics and even credit card statement credits. There is no annual fee for the program.
Overall, I will recommend Citibank provided you can meet the balance requirement for the specific accounts. Otherwise, you may incur too many fees unnecessarily.
Update 11/5/2005: E-savings account is not longer available as of October 18, 2005. I am opening an Emigrant Direct account instead, as it earns more interest and it also looks like a reliable, consistent high yield offering.
Citibank launched an e-savings account. This account has features comparable to ING Direct as follows:
3.25% APR
No minimum balance required
No Check writing ability
Ability to transfer money online to Citi checking or other non-Citi accounts. Note that to transfer to non-Citi accounts using Citi's website you will incur a $3 fee. If you use the other institution's site no fee is charged
Access through ATMs
Is eligible to provide overdraft protection for Citibank checking accounts
No funds availability delays, the money can be withdrawn immediate after deposited.
The account must be set up as part of a Citibank checking account package (EZ Checking, Citibank Account, Citibank Everything Counts and Citigold). Overall, the account may give people a way to meet the minimum balance requirements set by the packages by depositing the money in a higher rate account. The e-Savings account also counts as a service eligible to help build Thank You Point totals.
Account opening process was fast for me as an existing customer. The account showed up online the first day I opened it and I funded it by transferring money from my Citibank checking account.
Link for more info on Thank You follow. You may paste the url in your browser for more info:
Thank You Link
http://web.da-us.citibank.com/cgi-bin/citifi/scripts/prod_and_service/prod_serv_detail.jsp?BS_Id=CBNATYRNRewards&BV_UseBVCookie=yes
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
ursulajo
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Member: Ursula Auger
Location: United States
Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
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