This is a repost of edashrewards's post on FW: Now that Citi Bank provides free incoming/outgoing ACH transfers, I am starting a new thread to discuss the features of Citi bank Checking Account and e-Savings Account bundle, which looks to be very competitive and attractive comparing with current leading accounts (as of August 1st, 2006), IMHO.
The major features of Citi Checking and e-Savings Bundle seem to be:
Pros:
(1) Free ACH transfer: incoming AND outgoing both - good for rate chasers to initiate ACH transfers back and forth between citi e-Savings and other high yield savings/MM accounts, such as Emigrant, Amboy ... (ACH transfers between checking accounts actually cause interest lost).
(2) Easily add UNLIMITED external checking/savings/brokerage accounts with NO check required (through cashedge).
(3) No-fee EZ checking account if you have ONE of: two billpays, or DD, or $1500. (it is noted that ACH push in, at ING/Paypal/VirutalBank/Emigrant/CapitalOne/etc, is considered as DD by citi, per FWers).
(4) unlimited check writing as a checking account.
(5) First box of duplicate checks: free.
(6) ATM rebates for surcharges from other ATM owners (not available in certain states, refer to Citi ATM fees).
(7) Free billpay and easily scheduled payment and transfers.
(8) Opening bonus up to $200 (or iPod, air ticktets, etc), YMMV.
(9) High APY for e-Savings account, 5.0% APY as of Aug 1, 2006.
(10) No fees or minimals for e-Savings.
(11) All citi accounts (including Citi/ATT cc accounts) linked in a single online account for instant/real-time internal transfers and cc payments - easily account management (ATM pin can be changed online too), electronic statement option with check images.
(12) Instantly open CD accounts and e-savings accounts online (after you first opened your checking account).
(13) Earn the thankyou points for just banking with citi. (Upgrade Citibank Account checking for more thankyou points, up to 800 pts per month, or downgrade for less combined balance requirements) - Thankyou pts can be combined with the pts earned in citi cc accounts.
(14) Open two or more e-savings accounts to avoid the six withdrawal limit (Regulation D) - up to 12 or more withdrawals from multi e-savings (advantage of no-fee accounts).
(15) With the checking plus as overdraft protection, deposited checks are available immediately (you can also choose one of your e-savings acocunt as overdraft protection, aka citi Safety Check).
Cons:
(1) the daily limit for next-day ACH transfer out is just $1k (as of Aug 1, 2006) - too low, comparing with GMAC MM, Capital one HY MM, Fidelity Brokerage Account ... (the HSBC-style three-day ACH transfers will have interests lost).
(2) Hefty fees for wire transfer, even fees for incoming wire transfers. (WaMu free checking - free domestic and foreign wire transfer, pretty cool).
(3) No postage-paid deposit envelops provided for mail-in deposits, which usually save your trips in depositing small $$ checks.
(4) there are fees for overdraft protection, both Checking plus ($5 annual fee plus high interests) and e-Savings as Safety check ($5 each). (UFB Direct has no fees for overdraft protection when using HY MM account as overdraft, also provides postage-paid envelops and ATM rebates).
(5) the e-Savings account cannot be directly used for paying cc bills at non-citi cc accounts such as MBNA-BoA, Chase, AMEX, etc. - you have to first transfer funds to citi Checking account and then use Checking account to do so. - it is also bad to fund a big non-citi CD account or open a new non-citi account that needs a big deposit (GMAC and Fidelity accounts seem much better for this).
(6) hard pull for opening new accounts at citi, citi customer services seem to be bad?
Links at Citibank:
Citi e-savings
Citi thankyou for banking
Citi rates (vs. Fed rate)
Citi fee schedule
source: fatwallet.com/t/52/638993/
