Citi® Review: Checking Options and No Required Minimums

GOBankingRates Score

Citibank National Association

4.7

SCORE

GOBankingRates Best Banks 2023 scores and rankings are objectively determined by our research/editorial team. Our scoring formula weighs several factors that differ from category to category depending on what consumers want from varying products and banks.

Quick Take: Citi® is a national bank that offers a range of banking products, including six checking accounts with the opportunity for cash bonuses and no minimums to open a checking or savings account. It also has a mobile and digital banking network that rivals others banks in its league.

• Checking Account
  4.8
• Savings Account
  4.5
• CD Account 4.7
  4.7
• Banking Experience
  4.7

How did we calculate this?

Citi Overview

City Bank of New York was created over two centuries ago in 1812 as one of the first rival banks outside of Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore. Throughout the years, the financial institution has seen the creation of the Panama Canal, World War I and World War II. It has truly stood the test of time.

Today, Citi®, Member FDIC, an advertising partner, which offers a full suite of banking products, has over 680 branches in the U.S. The bank offers a full suite of banking products. GOBankingRates has ranked Citi as among one of the Best Banks and one of the Best Checking Accounts of 2023. If you’re curious about opening an account with Citi, consider how its bank accounts and investment options can support and grow your money.

Citi Checking Accounts

Citi has a wide range of checking account options to fit a variety of needs. Each account offers standard banking features, such as online banking, mobile check deposit and a large fee-free ATM network. Citi’s Basic Banking Account made GOBankingRates’ list of Best Checking Accounts for 2023. However, three of the account options are for everyday banking purposes, and the other three are for banking and wealth management.

Basic Banking

• No minimum deposit required
• Unlimited check writing

Access Account

• No overdraft fees because transactions that exceed your balance will not be approved 
• No paper checks 

The Citibank^® Account

• Option to write checks
• If you maintain a monthly balance of at least $10,000 across linked retirement, investment and deposit accounts, Citi will waive the $2.50 non-Citi ATM fee. This fee generally applies each time you use an ATM outside its network. Note that the financial institution operating the ATM may still charge a fee.

Citi Priority Account

• Combines banking services with world-class wealth management
• No Citi fees for using an out-of-network ATM
• Preferred pricing and rates on some of the bank’s products and services 
• Access to travel and global benefits, on-demand financial advice from Citi Priority advisors and guidance from Citi Personal Wealth Management
• This account qualifies account holders for relationship mortgage pricing

Citigold^® Account

• Includes all of the features of the Citi Priority Account
• Unlimited reimbursement of non-Citi ATM fees
• Complimentary financial planning services
• Access to both Citigold® Concierge and the Citi Personal Wealth Management investment platform 
• $200 in rebates for membership streaming services you purchase online such as Netflix or Hulu 
• Must maintain a combined monthly average of $200,000 across linked eligible accounts to meet account requirements

Citigold^® Private Client

• Includes all the features of Citi Priority and Citigold® Accounts
• This account is for higher-wealth individuals because you must maintain an average monthly account balance of at least $1 million across all eligible linked accounts
• Access to Premier banking services and Premier investing services
• Access to dedicated wealth team and wealth specialists, advanced wealth planning and premium benefits via Mastercard Travel & Lifestyle Services

Citi Savings Accounts

Each of the Citi banking relationship tiers includes a Citi savings account. Depending on the tier you select, your savings account may be eligible to earn higher interest rates as you save.

The accounts also allow you to link to Citi or non-Citi accounts and make transfers with AutoSave, which makes saving something you don’t have to worry about. Additionally, all relationship tiers but the Access Account allow for check writing, which may or may not matter to you.

As far as fees, there are options for waiving them. See website for details on monthly fees.

For other account relationship tiers, the same requirements that apply to waiving checking monthly service fees also apply to your unlinked savings balance.

Citi CD Accounts

Citi offers the following three types of certificates of deposit: Fixed Rate CD, Step-Up CD and No Penalty CD, which is a nice change from banks that only offer standard CDs.

• The Fixed Rate CD: Offers three-month to five-year terms with rates ranging from APY to APY. You can also opt to use a CD laddering strategy with this CD type, which involves splitting deposits between CDs with various terms and rates for greater financial benefits.
• The Step-Up CD: Requires a $500 minimum opening balance. It offers a 30-month term, and the interest rate increases every 10 months.
• The No Penalty CD: 12-month CD, also requires a minimum opening balance of $500. The advantage of this type of CD is that you can withdraw your full balance and interest with no penalty any time after the first six days after you deposit the funds.

Even though Citi offers a variety of CD types, you may be able to find a higher APY at another bank, so consider shopping around.

Citi Banking Experience

Citi earned an overall score of 4.7 from GOBankingRates for such features based on many factors.

• Minimum Opening Deposits: Citi doesn’t require any for its savings or checking accounts, you can open an account and fund it another day if it’s more convenient for you.
• Range of Checking Products: There are six checking accounts to choose from, all with different banking features for account holders, ranging from basic needs to top-tier services geared to those with high levels of wealth. The variety of checking options also gives account holders who are growing their wealth the opportunity to stay loyal to the bank and not have to look elsewhere for accounts and services that meet their needs.
• Bonus Opportunities: Cash bonuses for opening certain accounts and meeting requirements. While bonus offers may change throughout the year, Citi often offers different levels of cash bonuses. Be prepared to part with a substantial amount of cash for a few months if you want to earn one of these bonuses. Qualifying deposits often are from $10,000 to $300,000.

Mobile and Digital Banking Network

Citi offers an award-winning website and mobile app, which make it easy to manage your accounts from anywhere. Citi’s website allows you to complete a variety of banking tasks at your convenience, such as view statements, transfer funds, make credit card and bill payments and find routing and account numbers.

Plus, the app was certified by J.D. Power for providing customers with a mobile banking experience that’s outstanding due to features like voice technology, text messaging, location assistance, digital pay and secure identification methods.

Citi’s mobile app has a ranking of 4.9 stars on the App Store and 4.8 stars on Google Play which indicates that it is not only highly rated but also user-friendly.

Citi vs. Competitors

Before opening an account at Citi, it can help to compare the bank to competing banks. Here are some factors to consider.

Citi vs. Chase

Chase trumps Citi with over 5,300 branch locations — thousands more than Citi’s 700 or so. However, Chase has high monthly maintenance fees; Chase’s highest fee is $35.

Citi vs. Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo has more branch locations than Citi: 4,900 versus Citi’s 700 or so. But Citi has a network of over 70,000 ATMs, while Wells Fargo has only about 12,000 in its network.

Citi vs. Bank of America

Bank of America, Member FDIC, has reasonable monthly maintenance fees, with its highest fees at $25. However, Citi’s overdraft fees are slightly lower at $34, compared to Bank of America’s $35 fee, which could save you a few dollars a month, depending on if — and how often — you have overdrafts.

Final Take

Citi is best for those looking for a bank with a solid reputation and who want to stay with the same bank as they grow their finances. While its fees may not be the lowest overall, they are in line with what other big banks charge. Citi also allows account holders the opportunity for fee waivers. The range of checking account options Citi offers means there’s an account for everyone and is one of the reasons GOBankingRates named it one of the Top Banks and Best Checking Accounts for 2023.

More on Citi Bank

• Citi Bank Promotions
• How to Open a Citi Bank Account
• Citi Bank Routing Number
• Citi Bank Fees
• Citi Bank ATM Withdrawal and Deposit Limits

See All Best Banks

Cynthia Measom contributed to the reporting for this article.

To discover the Top Banks, GOBankingRates looked at the top national institutions (excluding credit unions) with over $100 billion in total assets. To determine rankings, GOBankingRates looked at the following factors: (1) checking product minimum deposit; (2) monthly checking fee ratio (percentage based on the minimum to avoid the fee compared to the monthly fee itself); (3) savings product minimum deposit; (4) savings product APY; (5) Bauer rating (out of 5 stars); (6) products/services offered (auto loans, mortgage loans, credit cards, investment services and insurance); and (7) the average mobile app rating between the Android and Apple app stores. All factors were then scored and combined, with the lowest score being best. Factors (1) and (3) were weighted 0.5 times, factor (4) was weighted 2.5 times, and factor (6) was weighted 1.5 times.

To determine rankings for the Best Checking Accounts, GOBankingRates looked at the following factors from all banks (excluding credit unions): (1) total assets as sourced from the FDIC; (2) number of branch locations as sourced from the FDIC; (3) minimum deposit to open an account; (4) monthly checking fee ratio (percentage based on the minimum to avoid the fee compared to the monthly fee itself); (5) APY on the checking account; (6) overdraft fee amount; and (7) the average mobile app rating between the Android and Apple app stores. All factors were then scored and combined, with the lowest score being best. Factors (1), (2 and (5) were weighted 0.5 times, and factor (4) was weighted 1.5 times.

Rates are subject to change; unless otherwise noted, rates are updated periodically. All other information on accounts is accurate as of Dec. 5, 2022.

Is this your bank?

Yes No

Stay Up to Date on the Latest From Your Bank

Keep a good thing going with top financial tips and advice from GOBankingRates.

Sign Up Now

Please enter an email.

Please enter a valid email address.

There was an unknown error. Please try again later.

Thank You For Signing Up!

Get ready to receive top financial tips from the experts at GOBankingRates.

Take Advantage of our Best Offer(s)

Share This Article: