Citi Back To Their Old Tricks With Savings Bonuses

Quick Note: I realize this offer has expired, but I think it’s worth posting regardless as Citi generally offers this as an ongoing “bonus” with different dates.

Citi frequently sends out targeted (and public) promotions for earning up to $500 with a qualifying deposit on their savings accounts. The issue I have with these bonuses is that they are somewhat confusing, let’s take a look at the most recent version of this offer:

A lot of people will read this advertisement and incorrectly assume that you’ll receive a bonus of $500 for depositing a minimum of $25,000 and maintaining that balance for 90 consecutive days. That’s a pretty great deal (2% return over 90 days). What you’re actually getting is 10x the normal interest rate that Citi offers. That sounds pretty good as well, doesn’t it? Let’s just check the interest rate Citi offers first on that Citibank Savings Plus account.

Best case scenario you get the 0.03% APY rate, 10x that is 0.3% APY. That’s still an awful rate, Citi! Over those 90 days people would earn under $20 in interest. I really hate these campaigns from Citi and I always do my best to warn readers about them, I think Citi should improve the wording and clearly display the abysmal rates they actually offer. As always you can view better savings accounts here & better savings bonuses here.