[Expired] [Targeted] Citibank 30,000 American Airline Miles Business Checking Bonus

Deal has ended, view more bank account bonuses by clicking here.

Update 8/22/20: Deal is back and valid through September 30th, 2020.

Update 8/8/19: Deal available again and valid through September 30th, 2019. Hat tip to reader Lo

Offer at a glance

  • Maximum bonus amount: 30,000 American Airline miles
  • Availability: In branch only [Branch locator]
  • Direct deposit required: None
  • Additional requirements: Deposit $5,000 and maintain for 60 days
  • Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
  • ChexSystems: Unknown
  • Credit card funding: None
  • Monthly fees: $15, avoidable
  • Early account termination fee: None
  • Household limit: None
  • Expiration date: June 30th, 2019

The Offer

No direct link to offer, sent out in the mail

  • Citi is offering a bonus of 30,000 American Airline miles when you open a new CitiBusiness checking account and complete the following requirements:
    • Deposit $5,000 in new to citibank funds and maintain for 60 consecutive days

 

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

The easiest account to keep fee free is the CitiBusiness®Streamlined Checking Account, this has a monthly fee of $15 and is waived have an average monthly balance of $5,000 or more.

Early Account Termination Fee

There is no early account termination fee to worry about.

Our Verdict

Rare to see a business checking bonus from Citi, they last offered one in late 2017. This offer is easy to meet the requirements for, basically just deposit $5,000 and maintain it for 60 days. That’s also enough to keep the account fee free as well. Should be possible to close the account as soon as the bonus posts, but double check the fine print on your offer. It’s a shame this is targeted as if it wasn’t I’d be adding this to the best business checking bonuses.

Hat tip to 521928

Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:
    William Charles
  • On August 22, 2020, 10:00

View Comments (30)

  • I've not received the 30K AA miles after spending $1K and have tried to contact them on several occasions. They said they needed the promo code but the physical mailer doesn't have a code. Does anyone have this code? This was for Aug 10-Oct 31, 2020. The only other option is to go to CFPB, getting tired of the run around.

  • I keep getting these mailers and normal checking mailers after AA had shut down my account....

  • interesting my email says 30,000 miles for opening a new citibank biz checking account by october 31st AND SPEND $1000 on the new citibiz debit card within 60 days after account opening.

    • Hi There,

      I went back my email and realized its qualifying purchases in the fine print "Qualifying purchases are signature- or PIN-based debit card transactions. ATM withdrawals, cash back, bill payments and person-to-person money transfers do not constitute qualifying purchases."

      I planed to use Plastiq to pay for my loan to hit $1000 spend but now I am hesitate. If you have done this one? Did Plastiq work for you? How did you hit $1000 spend on its debit card?

      Appreciate your advice/tips

    • same. email subject line "Earn 30,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles" 1. OPEN a new Citibank business checking account between August 10, 2020 and October 31, 2020; 2. SPEND at least $1,000 on qualifying purchases using your new CitiBusiness® Debit Card within 60 days after account opening.

  • As mentioned by others here is my experience:

    1) They do NOT waive the fee in the first month. So if you put in just $5000 they will charge $15 and then you will violate the terms of keeping $5000 for 60 days.

    2) They expect you to keep the credit card open for the bonus to be paid out. This is not a requirement listed in the offer letter. This I was told when I enquired why the SUB had not been paid out.

    I filed CFPB compalints for each of the two issues above. #1 was resoved correctly. I am still fighting #2.

    FYI for people that do this in the future.

  • I received this offer because of the AA business card. But you have to go to a branch to open any CitiBusiness bank account. But Cith has closed so many local branches and the closest branch is about one hour drive.

    Not worth it.

  • I went into the branch (I was not targeted so I just asked for it). They said they only had a bonus offer of $200 for a $5k deposit. Bigger cash bonuses for bigger deposits. The guy said he couldn't find an AA points offer.

    • BEWARE, I regret doing this. A $5,000 deposit won't work - they don't waive the first month's fee and they calculate the balance on the first day of the month that you opened your account (even if it's before you opened your account). Even though they'll refund the $15 fee if you beg them, it invalidates the offer. Awful.

      • And they're going to report the miles as 1099 income. So figure you're buying 30k AA miles for ~$90 (assuming 1 cpp reported). Doesn't seem great even if you do get the miles.

        • No, the whole point is they will not award the 30k points because the $15 fee brought the balance below $5k. Unbelievably awful way to erode customer goodwill.

  • Received a mailer for this offer today. Good through 9/30/19.

    Edit to add: Seems like they targeted AA biz cardholders. Small print near the middle of the page references mine.

  • Opened in branch and confirmed eligibility. It's been 70 days since the deposit cleared and still no bonus yet...

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