Funding Citibank savings account with a credit card

I'm almost certain this has been posted before, but I couldn't find a previous thread on the topic.

I noticed Citibank has the following statement in their sign-up process for their savings accounts:

"Make your initial deposit from another account—just have a blank check handy. Or, use a credit or debit card."

Is there a catch to funding it with your credit card? If not, it sounds like a good idea: You open the savings account with a credit card. The money you would have used remains in its own account, so you don't lose interest-earning days during the transfer. You get the rewards tied to your credit card. And then you pay off your credit card with the money you would have originally used at the end of the month. Am I right about this?

On a side note, what the heck is up with all the Citibank savings accounts now? Ultimate Savings vs. E-Savings vs. Ultimate Money.

EDIT: Previous threads have been found. Please see below. Feel free to lock this post.

generally there is a limit on the amount you can fund via CC and it is taken as a Cash Advance so no rewards and often a worse interest rate. Call Citi to find out specifics.

Well, people have been opening Citi accounts with 20k+ deposits which post as purchases, and pocketing the rewards. It really has a net negative impact on FWF when you just guess the answer. Check the last couple of pages of this thread.

Oh, don't want to risk being charged as a CA? No problem, make the deposit much higher than your CA limit. Of course that's covered in the linked thread.

WalStMonky said: Well, people have been opening Citi accounts with 20k+ deposits which post as purchases, and pocketing the rewards. It really has a net negative impact on FWF when you just guess the answer. Check the last couple of pages of this thread.

Oh, don't want to risk being charged as a CA? No problem, make the deposit much higher than your CA limit. Of course that's covered in the linked thread.

I apologize for any incorrect information, but my experiences have been what I said. As I stated though, Calling Citi would provide the CORRECT answer.

ElectricSavant said: ohhh...absolutley....the CSR is NEVER wrong....lol


Freakazoid said: WalStMonky said: Well, people have been opening Citi accounts with 20k+ deposits which post as purchases, and pocketing the rewards. It really has a net negative impact on FWF when you just guess the answer. Check the last couple of pages of this thread.

Oh, don't want to risk being charged as a CA? No problem, make the deposit much higher than your CA limit. Of course that's covered in the linked thread.

I apologize for any incorrect information, but my experiences have been what I said. As I stated though, Calling Citi would provide the CORRECT answer.

So they may be wrong sometimes, but lets see here. Trust an employee of the company for which I have a question, OR some random person on the Internet who name is a cartoon character? hmmm....

WalStMonky said: It really is hard for some people to admit that they're wrong.

Whatever. I make a lot of money for not much effort by paying attention to the collective wisdom of the cartoon characters who post on FWF.

I guess it all boils down to your definition of "a lot of money".

ifyouhavetoask said: WalStMonky said: It really is hard for some people to admit that they're wrong.

Whatever. I make a lot of money for not much effort by paying attention to the collective wisdom of the cartoon characters who post on FWF.

I guess it all boils down to your definition of "a lot of money".

I define "a lot" as more money per hour of "work" then I make at my job. Usually the schemes here and my work income are both taxable so that's a wash.

Thanks for the links. I posted this question in the flame-free zone w/o any responses yet.

Clickable threads

thread1
thread2
thread3

I, too, I read the old threads and couldn't find a consensus answer. Did I miss a posting of which cards treat funding CITI as a purchase & which as a cash advance? Would individuals post their experinces with Discover, MC, VISA?

aidswater said: Citi doesn't accept Discover IIRC. Mine (MC) was treated as a purchase. I haven't heard of anyone personally report that it was processed as a cash advance.

Just fund for a greater amount than your cash advance limit if you're worried about it. If they try to process it that way, it will probably just get declined.

My funding got through after a little delay. Not much else to report.

Thanks a lot. I wish I could just find one person who funded with PenFed since they theoretically have no limit on a cash advance.... any one out there....

I think the coding of how the purchase is processed is ultimately up to card issuer and not the merchant. That is why I think it safest to fund Citi accounts using Citi own cards as they are less likely to re-code the transaction as a cash advance over say Chase, BOA, or any other card issuer as Citi might be handling the whole transaction inteneral and not even using Visa/Mastercard network so it really only costing them the lost interest + rewards. While other issuers might consider it a cash advanace and try to collect the extra processing fee's from Citibank for processing a cash advances as it cost the merchant more fee's and saves them giving the consumer rewards points on that transaction as well making it even more profitable for them.

WalStMonky said: So you have to believe that there is human intervention in order to believe that the transaction might be recoded. I'd think that very unlikely considering the number of transactions institutions like Chase and BofA process each day, and the consistency of processing I've observed. IMO once it's done it's done. Unless of course you call and point it out to a human being...

Yes I believe for charges over X amount there must be human intervention unless that is your normal charge pattern. I know for example Citibank fraud department called me up to verify I authorized Citibank to charge my Citi AA Visa card $50K. I said I yes. I know in the past when I used my Citi AA Visa card at Frys for large purchase they declined my charges and person at Frys has to get a manager to call and get over phone authorization which Citibank asked to speak to me to verify it was me using the card at Frys and yet Citi will authorize a $40K water bill without calling me because they know I put that charge on my AA Visa card month after month now for last 4 years.

So basically if you funding your account with a small amount your correct no human may see it but if you try to fund your Citibank account with large amount not sure if that amount is $10K, $20K, $30K, or $50K but more than likely some human will see the transaction regardless if you call or not.

Fair enough. But I'm very comfortable that if the transaction is coded and processed as a purchase, that it won't be subsequently recoded. I also doubt the fraud department cares about anything other than whether the cardholder authorized the transaction. But in the off chance that I'm wrong, the transaction hasn't been processed when in their hands. Were they to recode it after being on the phone with me, the transaction would fail because it exceeds the CA limit, or uses the entire limit sans CA fee.

BTW, the success stories have been in the 10s of thousands. My recent account funding was for 15k. I'll bet you can guess the credit limit on that particular account.

Were they to recode it after being on the phone with me, the transaction would fail because it exceeds the CA limit, or uses the entire limit sans CA fee.

You keep saying this but this hasn't been the experience of other people. The transaction can be accepted because it is within accepted purchase limits. A week or more later it can be recoded regardless of limits. The transaction has already been completed with the merchant and that is not within question.

Unless you have evidence that a recoding cannot exceed transaction limits, I'm little skeptical that you are just wishful thinking of what you want it to be.

Puff puff, you took my statement out of context, then acted as if it said something other than what it did.

I'd sure like to see some of these first hand accounts of recoding. I've seen plenty o' third hand accounts of it happening to 'other people'. Anyway, you guys believe whatever you like.

I called citi banking twice, told them I would be funding the account with CC, both reps said it will be treated as a cash advance.
I also have citi credit cards. Called them up couple of days ago, 1/3 reps said it will be treated as a purchase. But even she wasn't 100% sure.
Anyone had better luck?

hithesh123 said: I called citi banking twice, told them I would be funding the account with CC, both reps said it will be treated as a cash advance.
I also have citi credit cards. Called them up couple of days ago, 1/3 reps said it will be treated as a purchase. But even she wasn't 100% sure.
Anyone had better luck?

I too called them and they told me that it would be a cash advance. Does anyone have any success with funding with a Citibank credit card??

WalStMonky said: Were they to recode it after being on the phone with me, the transaction would fail because it exceeds the CA limit, or uses the entire limit sans CA fee.

Oh really?

Who's to say your CC company doesn't choose to change the code to cash advance after the
transaction posted anyways? They can then assess a CA fee, and interest from the date of
the advance, which is more profitable for the CC company than treating the transaction
as a mere purchase.

And if you exceeded a limit they have imposed upon you by making this advance, they might choose to charge an over-the-CA-limit type of fee.

If their internal policies today are that they "don't do this," then they may change that
policy tomorrow or next month, and they don't even have to tell you anything.

They may determine people are getting away with free cash advances, by funding accounts with
a CC, they may already have determined that, and be in the process of revising internal
policy as we speak.

Unless you have it in writing from your CC that funding a bank account with the card is
a purchase and not considered cash advance, then I would not necessarily rely upon past
experiences or verbal word of some random CSR to show that things will definitely happen
a certain way -- there's a risk that something has changed since the successes.

Bank of America says you can do the same thing; I got in an online chat with the CSR and he swore up and down that it goes down as a purchase and will show up on the card as a purchase. He was absolutely certain after being repeatedly pressed, and after me telling him, look, I don't want to think I'm getting points and wind up getting hit with a fee and no points. He was adamant.

I was nevertheless scared, so only funded with $1000 off of a Citi HHonors card, so we'll see what happens. If that one screws up, I can make that amount of money back cashing a couple credit protector checks. The BOA procedure does differ from Citibank's in that they do NOT make you sign and fax back a form telling you it could be a purchase, it could be a cash advance. So obviously if it screws up, you have a better claim against BOA than you do against Citibank, who can say, well, we TOLD you this could happen, that's your signature, right?

I am aware of the advice that it is the issuer that ultimately decides, and am very suspicious myself, that's why I only started with $1000. If it goes in OK, I'll try to do it some more with additional accounts.

Just to add another data point I opened a citi ultimate savings at the begining of the month with 11k from my USAA mastercard mailed in the form and it posted about a week later as a purchase. On the question about AMEX starwood if I think the form says Visa/Mastercard only but it was a couple of weeks ago when I filled the form out.