Citibank gets the job done, but isn't excited about it
Written: Nov 20 '99 (Updated Nov 20 '99)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: stability, security, reliability, customization
Cons: doesn't mirror the way people think about banking.
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| sgordon's Full Review: Citibank |
While the site is stable and gives the impression of very high security, it doesn't act like a cohesive banking tool. It appears they chose not to build the site around common use cases. The interface and features do not reflect the way online consumers think about banking. Even though I have no insider knowledge of this bank, I imagine they serve up a big bit of business with their online banking. Since the bank can operate as it's own business unit and serves a distinct set of customers, this section is deserving of special attention. They haven't made any substantial interface updates to it in over 2 years. It's getting stale and dated.
It's a bit tricky to find the online banking portion of the site. To login to my account, I take the following steps:
1) Roll over the 'online financial solutions' sections
2) Select 'Online Banking'
3) From the pop-up window that just appears, look for United States (it's the 25th item on the list
4) From the 5 choices, choose 'Direct Access'
5) Login
Even though the system has little personality and requires a very task based understanding of banking, it lets you take care of business. There just hasn't been much attention paid to the details. . If you chose to use this service, spend some time exploring the depth of features offered, because they are there. You just need to familiarize yourself with the system and learn the conventions.
To their credit, Citibank does allow you to peform some basic customization of the site. You can order the tasks that appear in the drop down menus, as well as select a default homepage. These are handy features, but I am still disappointed that the default configuration is more intuitive.
If Citibank wants me to think of their site as a one stop shop for all my financial needs, they should provide a consolidated 'banking homepage' that provides my basic account information (balances, recent transactions), as well as a set of commonly used tools. But, on this system, retrieving any piece of information requires digging down to it, then back tracking to start a new task.
Bill payment, which is really the only reason I use the service, is easy to setup and is always prompt sending out checks. I know that the check will be sent out on time and make it the recipient in a few days. And, to save me and time and ensure accuracy, some of the more common creditors are pre-populated, such as utilities/phone, credit card companies, and popular retailers.
But, there is one very substantial problem - not with the site - but with the presentation of the checks drafted by Citibank. They arrive in very non-descript envelopes that make them look like junk mail to those that aren't on the lookout. My landlord has thrown away over $3000 dollars worth. Perhaps they could offer a feature where the system sends e-mail notification to recipients that says, 'hey, check is in the mail - look for it'.
Transferring cash between Citibank accounts is an easy task to complete. It's a quick process and there are no gratuitous steps. Not that it should be complicated, but I have seen other online banks botch this simple process.
These are just a few comments on key pieces of the site. Overall, it does the job, just not with much enthusiasm (very traditional bank style). There are other online banks out there that have much better interfaces and create a better user experience, but they aren't backed by the credibility and stability of the Citi.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
sgordon
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Member: Seth Gordon
Location: Bethesda, MD
Reviews written: 10
Trusted by: 5 members
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