Citi Ultimate Money Account 5% APY

xerty said: This is looking even better than the e-savings account as that one just dropped to 4.25% (down from 5% earlier this year). Then again, maybe I should consider a bank that doesn't require all this hassle for keeping a halfway decent rate lest we think this account will still be competitive in 6 months....

The e-savings dropped to 4.25% from 4.5% but the ultimate savings went up to 4.75% from 4.65%.

The ultimate money is the same at 5%.

Citi confuses me. I don't mind working for the interest rate as long as they keep it high.

timothy86 said: xerty said: This is looking even better than the e-savings account as that one just dropped to 4.25% (down from 5% earlier this year). Then again, maybe I should consider a bank that doesn't require all this hassle for keeping a halfway decent rate lest we think this account will still be competitive in 6 months....

The e-savings dropped to 4.25% from 4.5% but the ultimate savings went up to 4.75% from 4.65%.

The ultimate money is the same at 5%.

Citi confuses me. I don't mind working for the interest rate as long as they keep it high.

Timmy I closed my E-Savings and Ultimate Savings account last month when Citi changed the FMA program from treasury sweep to BDP tiered rate that pays 4.99%. I keep Utimate MMA just for TYP currently have 5 cents in the account. Figured who hells needs to deal with Citi games anymore now I am getting almost 5% on my SB checking account and my Citigold Checking account is still using the old Treasury sweep. So if T-bills rates go up I can switch back to Citigold checking account when T-Bills rates are down can switch back to FMA checking and always get granteed min rate of 4.99% in a checking account with no transactions limits at all.

Also with Citi now allowing people to buy into SB MMF which also pays 4.99% not sure why people even bother some times with Citi savings accounts and games as SBCXX is a market rate which should state right around 5% and wont require you to jump though hoops to get that rate or open a new account every couple of months.

Now this has a $50 Signup Bonus

Link

asarat said: Now this has a $50 Signup Bonus

Link
Excellent! Too bad this promo's terms are unambiguous about being for only new deposit customers:

Fine print:

‡ $50 Account opening bonus offer is only available for first-time Citibank deposit account customers, and will be paid only once to any individual. Persons who currently have or at any time have had a deposit account at Citibank (or any of its predecessor banks) are not eligible. To receive this offer you must open a new regular checking and Ultimate Money Account by 08/31/2007. $50 will be credited to your regular checking account within 120 days from the end of the statement period in which your account was opened. Account must be in good standing at the time of the $50 credit. The amount of any bonus payment will be reported to the IRS as interest earned in the year credited.

I have been able to add the account without any problem. Do you have too many Citi Accounts? Having too many accounts linked to your Citi account may require you to do a "setup" a second time to capture the remainder...

Oh - this problem I used to have, and then it went away. One of those incorrectly "titled" accounts is really a different account. It's all a mess. You basically have to guess which goes where.

My Citi Ultimate Money Account downloads into Quicken just fine except it shows up as a checking account. When I complained about that I was told it a Money Market account which is why it downloads as a checking account. So I asked if I could order checks to use with this account and was told this account does not allow checking writing. So I said shouldnt it be a savings account then as only difference between Money Market Account and savings account is a Money Market Account allows 3 checks to be written against it per month. CSR said she had no idea.

mickcris said: As of today UMA has a 5.10% APY per the Citibank website.

That's awesome, gotta love Citi. The Utlimate Savings went up to 4.75% about 1-2 months ago I was waiting for this one to rise!

maybe will drop after 9.18
mickcris said: As of today UMA has a 5.10% APY per the Citibank website.

icecube said: Very interesting considering Wall Street is expecting a 25bp rate cute from the FOMC on the 18th...even hoping it will be 50bp. FOMC has been pretty mum about it but has mentioned it doesn't want to bail out the stock market and all the housing/mortgage woes...

What is so interesting? BOA raised the rates no Defenders of Wildlife Money Market account 51 basis points over the last 2 weeks.. 25 basis points a week. All it means maybe is Banks are trying to attract deposit maybe because it is cheaper for them to pay you 5.10% vs paying the Fed 5.75% at the discount window. Also could just mean that banks are trying to horde cash right now in case the turn down in the mortgage really get bad.

I was just curious...i recently opened the ez checking with the ultimate money account (i just have these two accounts with Citi)...i'm waiting for the arrival of my debit/atm card....but was just curious, are you able to access both the checking and this savings on a non-citi atm?

I know some of you here have more than one savings account with them, so naturally, at the non-citi atms you would only be able to access the savings that you designated as your "primary" account....but does anyone here have just these two accounts, or has the Ultimate Money as their primary savings and can access it at the non-citi atms? (i would assume at citi atms, all savings accounts should show)...

thanks timothy86! appreciate the quick and helpful response!

That's good to hear....although i wouldn't be making a withdrawal from my citi accounts at non-citi atms (i have my fidelity card for that) as i know they would charge the $1.50 fee...as i understand it, they don't charge when you just do a balance inquiry or transfer at a non-citi atm, and sometimes i may want to be able to do that...so looks like i wil be able to

You can do free withdrawals at 7-11 stores, of course...and publix supermarkets in florida also, using the Citi card...and as i understand it, within the next few months, it will actually be possible to make citibank DEPOSITS at the 7-11 atms as well! so that is pretty cool

well, not all 7-11s yet have the "VCOM" terminals...from what i understand, about 1800 of the roughly 5000 7-11s across the country already have them, but ALL locations are slated to get them....

The VCOMS already do nifty stuff like check cashing, sell money orders, Western Union money transfers, and bill payments..all atms at 7-11 including the new VCOMS are Citibank "branded" and before the end of the year, the VCOMS will begin to accept Citibank deposits....

They have built in "check scanners" which will send the image right to Citi's processing center...so it should be similar to make a "teller deposit" of a check! It's not one of those deals where the deposit envelopes have to be be "sent" to them...

So eventually, all 7-11s will be capable of accepting Citibank deposits...thus adding many additional locations, aside from the branches, where you will be able to do this...

Pretty cool...right?

link

You can read about the VCOM on the 7-11 site...they are not enabled for deposits yet, but from what i read, should be before the end of the year...(see link above)

I just figured out how to do the link (lol) see above post i edited...As far as hold, i am not sure how that will work...the check will be physically "scanned" it's not like one of those off-site atms where they have to actually take out the envelopes and ship them over to the processing center, so that should speed up availability, i would think....Not sure if it will take cash deposits, but definately will do check deposits....

I am curious...i had accounts with Citibank years ago, and they had a feature that gives you immediate availability on your check deposits to Checking at a Citibank ATM...do they still do that? what is it called? (if they do) and how does that work?

timothy86 said: Now, to get instant check cashing I believe you have to have 2 things:

1) A relationship with Citibank (meaning that you have a few months banking with them and all your checks, banking has been good)
2) You have backup for large deposits. (I have checking plus and then the primary savings is also backup) What that means is that if I have 1k Checking plus and 1k in my primary savings, that means I can cash up to 2k in checks and they be instantly available.

I believe Citi looks at balances held with Smith Barney too not only balances held at Citibank.

It is now back to 5.00%. I am suprised that they only dropped it 0.1%.

anyone know if the montly-maintenance fees are waived if you already have EZ checking? (ie. not opening EZ checking in tandem with the UMA?)

yes, if you keep >$1,500, have dd or make 2 payment each month. first you should link uma to your checking, just open uma after you log in.

jamesfatwallet said: anyone know if the montly-maintenance fees are waived if you already have EZ checking? (ie. not opening EZ checking in tandem with the UMA?)

This really sucks. Time to move my money elsewhere I guess. Good thing I still have a 7 month 5.35% CD with Citibank. Just wish I put more money in it now

mickcris said: They lowered all their rates today I guess. This dropped to 4.5%.

Ouch!!

It was still at 5% this morning. I guess the change happened sometime in the evening.

I was planning use it for an upcoming AOR (have checking as well; Citi is my primary bank) but now I may have to consider someplace else. I already have accounts at ING and FNBO. What's a good HYS account to park at least $10K and have quick xfers back to Citi's checking for bill payments?