Citi Up To $1,500 Personal Checking/Savings Bonus – Available Nationwide & Direct Deposit Not Required

Update 10/11/24: Deal is back until 1/7/25.

Update 7/9/24: Extended until 10/8/24

Update 1/10/24: Deal is back, $200 and $1,000 bonuses not available this time and $2,000 bonus is now $2,500. Churn period is now 365 days instead of 180.

Update 7/24/23: Deal is back and good through 1/9/24.

Update 4/10/23: Deal has been extended until 7/23/23. As there seems to be no return of the better bonuses and Citi churning clock resets every 180 days after account closing we will add this to the best bank bonuses.

Update 1/10/23: Extended until 4/4/23.

Offer at a glance

Maximum bonus amount: $2,000
Availability: Nationwide
Direct deposit required: No
Additional requirements: See below
Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
ChexSystems: Yes
Credit card funding: None
Monthly fees: $25-$30, avoidable
Early account termination fee: None
Household limit: None listed
Expiration date: ~~1/9/23 7/23/23~~ 7/8/24

The Offer

Direct link to offer

Citi is offering a sign up bonus of up to $2,000 when you open a new checking account in the Citi Account Package. The bonus you receive depends the amount you fund within 20 days of account opening and maintain that deposit for 60 days from the 21st day.
- ~~Earn $200 with a minimum deposit of $10,000+~~
- Earn $500 with a minimum deposit of $30,000+
- ~~Earn $1,000 with a minimum deposit of $75,000+~~
- Earn $1,500 with a minimum deposit of $200,000+
- ~~Earn $2,500 with a minimum deposit of $300,000+~~

The Fine Print

All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them

Avoiding Fees

Monthly Fees

Citi Basic Account Package has a $12 monthly fee, this is waived if you do any of the following:

Make one qualifying direct deposit per statement period and one qualifying bill payment per statement period or
Maintain a $1,500+ combined average monthly balance in eligible linked accounts
~~Fee also waived when first listed account owner is 62 or older.~~

Early Account Termination Fee

In the past, Citi has not charged any ETF, and none is mentioned for this offer.

Our Verdict

Ideally you’d deposit your funds in the account as close to the 20 day period as possible and then withdraw shortly after the 60th day. Realistically you’ll probably need the funds in there for a minimum of 65-70 days if not longer. Rates for citi vary from 0.05% – 0.15% APY depending on the account package opened.

You really need to think of this as a savings bonus and compared it to high yield savings rates. For example if you put $300,000 into a 1% account you’d earn $530+ in a 65 day period. But if it was in a 4% account you’d earn $2,120 (more than the bonus on offer). The bonus actually scales and gets worse as it gets bigger. Reader Mark E put together this APY table based on a 70 day hold period: