Free round-trip ticket (20K TYP) w/ $25K Citi MM+ deposit

cameron2003 said: I'm starting to wonder if 40,000 thank you points are even worth moving money into these accounts.

There is no requirement you keep any money in this account. The only catch to the promo is that you must maintain at a minimum a "The Citibank Checking Account" which requires a min combined balance of $6k between all linked accounts. Citi will even count your Citibank credit card balances towards that balance requirement.

So for anyone currently carrying a balance on Citi card at 0% it will cost you nothing to earn either 40K(new Citibank bank customer) or 20k(current Citi Customers).

Even if you do not have a balance lets think about the real cost of the promo compared to best rate you could get ok?

You would be forced to maintain $6k between all combined Citi accounts to waive the checking account monthly fee.

So you would open "The Citibank Checking Account", "Money Market Plus" and "Ultimate Money Account" on day 1.

You deposit $25k into Money Market Plus account + $1k in Citibank Checking account on day 1 for a total of $26k. Going to assume the banks put a 10 day business hold on those deposits so your going to earn only 2.25% on $25k and 0% on $1k after that point you can move out all the money from Citibank except $6k which you put into UMA at 2.7%. Having the UMA should not be an issue as thank you point promo requires making direct deposit or paying 2 bill anyway. Your TYP will post to your account with in 30 days of completing the promo which takes at least 2 months but more than likely 3 months if your timing is off. So lets just say you have bad luck and your timing is off and it takes you 3 months to fulfill the requirements so you get your points with in 120 days of opening.

Lost interest on $25k for 10 days is $25.68 and that is assuming $41.09(if you earned 6.01% in rewards checking account) vs $15.41 you earn in Money Market Plus account at 2.25%.
Lost interest on $6k for 110 days is $59.85 and that is assuming $108.67(if you earned 6.01% in rewards checking account) vs $48.82 you earn in UMA at 2.7%.

And most Reward checking accounts are down to 5.01% with some as low as 4.01% making the difference even smaller but I am going to assume you live in a place were you have a local bank still offering 6.01%.

So it is costing you $85.83 in lost interest to get 40k TYP which can be redeemed for 2 coach tickets or $400 in gift cards. If you know of a place to get $400 in GC or $800 in Airlines tickets for $85.83 please enlightened us as I would love to be able to buy them risk free at those prices all day long as Gift Cards on eBay tend to sell between 95-100 cents on the dollar and buying via eBay always carries the risk that the Gift Cards will be bogus.

cameron2003 said: Thanks, I was getting discouraged. I am looking at the gas gift card, which I can redeem for $325 worth of gas. I know its not maxing out the value of the points, but I dont want to travel to Kalamazoo or buy some crap at Pier One. And I didn't fund with a credit card. So my after tax gain is more like $525 Cyberkost, which is less than the 6% checking. I wouldn't do that anyway, I would more likely use WAMU savings. I think its around 3%, which would be $225? So I come out $300 ahead anyway. Thank you Dolmar, opening up the Ultimate account is a good idea too, it will increase my return that much more.

You do understand even Money Market Plus account pays some interest. So there is no way the difference on $6k or even $25k over 120 days(worse case scenario) is $225 if you are comparing Citi promo to WAMU Savings account as it only pays 3.30% so the spread between Citi and WAMU is either 1.25% if you keep your money in Money Market Plus or 0.60% if you keep your money in UMA.

On $25k over 120 days the difference is $102.73 if you keep the money in Money Market Plus and $51.42 if you keep the money in UMA. You keep forgetting you are only required to keep $6k between all accounts to waive the monthly checking account service fee. So if you just maintain that amount the difference is $24.65 between WAMU and Money Market Plus account and $11.83 if you keep the money in UMA.

So for $25 bucks where can you get $325 in Gas GC risk free?

tolamapS said: cyberkost said: What is there to wonder? It's a matter of a (fairly simple) calculation. Exact valuations and timelines are different situation-to-situation, but here's an example assuming:
$400 = 40K TYP (tax free)
$260 = from funding with a 1% rewards CC (tax free)
$197 = 2.25% APY on $25K for 6 mo - 30% tax
------------
$857 after tax gain

One of the most viable (risk-free) alternatives is sticking $26K in a 6.01% reward checking account, which results in $547 after tax gain.

CITI deal beats next "mainstream" competitor by $310 over 6 months! This is not to mention that:
1) with CC funding you can time it appropriately and float $26K for almost 2 months
2) you can still get the bonus by keeping only $6k in, while moving $20K to a better place
3) 40K TYP can be worth up to $800 if redeemed for airfare.

Or you could be more aggressive and push more than $26K, like $50K into each account. Also, what if you fund w/ 2,3, or even a 5% credit card?

If you had the available credit and the right cards, you could make $3-5K just in CC points.

Did we ever get an answer about funding with the 5% citi rebate card?

I thought someone was trying to do it, but I haven't read the entire thread.

Here is another DUMB question:

This is fatwallet where we do AORs and pay some BT fees, when we BT.

So why don't we just fund new CITI bank accounts with the cards that charge a BT fee? We could get FREE CASH + Rewards + usage!

I'm working on a way to run several 100K per month thru my cards, just to get the good usage on my accounts. This should get me higher limits in the future and make EVERYONE happy.

But having 20 or 30 citi checking accounts could work also, I open new accounts with my credit reports frozen. So no need to worry about INQs.

win333 said: Here is another DUMB question:

This is fatwallet where we do AORs and pay some BT fees, when we BT.

So why don't we just fund new CITI bank accounts with the cards that charge a BT fee? We could get FREE CASH + Rewards + usage!

I'm working on a way to run several 100K per month thru my cards, just to get the good usage on my accounts. This should get me higher limits in the future and make EVERYONE happy.

But having 20 or 30 citi checking accounts could work also, I open new accounts with my credit reports frozen. So no need to worry about INQs.

I think someone reported getting problems after funding 3rd CITI deposit account w/ credit card.

You could probably have many CITI accounts. It's just that after a while they will stop taking CC as a funding source.

I just opened the new checking account using the absolute savings/ checking promotion found here

did the 25k deposit and 1k deposit. lets see how long the points take.

anyone know how long you have to leave the money in the account(s) to get the points? can you move the 1k from checking to savings? does paypal deposit count as direct deposit or does citi's inter-institution transfer count as direct deposit?

Is anyone making the 26000 deposit to the ultimate savings account, then transferring 1000 from ultimate savings to checking account? I am afraid of funding the 1000 by cc, since 1000 is below my cash advance limit, and they might consider the 1000 as a cash advance even if they consider the 25000 as a purchasae.

Or nothing to worry about?

mrlandlord said: Is anyone making the 26000 deposit to the ultimate savings account, then transferring 1000 from ultimate savings to checking account? I am afraid of funding the 1000 by cc, since 1000 is below my cash advance limit, and they might consider the 1000 as a cash advance even if they consider the 25000 as a purchasae.

Or nothing to worry about?

If you have two cards, use one for each account. My wife did $50K to Ultimate savings and $19.5K to checking. As soon as its available, transfer to savings. You have the float on the credit card to take advantage of. If not, use another checking account to fund the $1000.

canhelp said: I already have a saving account. When I try to open a checking account, I choose use the existing login in user name and pwd, it do not have any option of funding with credit card. Only has fund from citi account or external account. How can I fund with CC?

Over the phone.

tolamapS said: I think someone reported getting problems after funding 3rd CITI deposit account w/ credit card.

I have funded a third account with a credit card three times now, for myself, my father and my son. I think the best combination is regular checking, Ultimate Savings and Ultimate Money. As soon as possible, put as much as you can into Ultimate Money, which pays the best rate. Or, take all but $6000 out if you have better options. I guess I feel a need to show Citi a little love by keeping some of the money with them.

prem1 said: I am an existing customer and was resisiting this offer till late but last week i went to a branch and asked a rep. They told me that an existing customer could get 40 K with a new checking and ultimate MM - but I needed some kind of code. Anyone has any recent code?
Also they mentioned that I needed to maintain 25K for atleast 6 months - is this true OR is there some different offer online?

Thx

Go to citibank.com. Click on the graphic that shows an airplane flying and/or two tickets. It should give you more than enough information. If you read through the thread there is some debate as to whether the 25k needs to be maintained.

Note:
Already a checking account customer?
How to make it happen.

1. Open a Citibank Ultimate Savings Account, link it to your existing checking account and complete qualifying banking activities.*
2. Deposit $25,000 or more into your Citibank Ultimate Savings Account, and enroll your eligible checking account in ThankYou Network.
3. Get your round-trip ticket to anywhere in the continental U.S. (up to a $400 value) by redeeming your 20,000 ThankYou Points.

Apply Now >
To apply by phone, call 1-866-535-3904
and mention code: CP76

HappyGuy said: prem1 said: I am an existing customer and was resisiting this offer till late but last week i went to a branch and asked a rep. They told me that an existing customer could get 40 K with a new checking and ultimate MM - but I needed some kind of code. Anyone has any recent code?
Also they mentioned that I needed to maintain 25K for atleast 6 months - is this true OR is there some different offer online?

Thx

8 posts before yours has the link to the offer with the code in it.
Given Citi's own wording, the 40K isn't a sure thing for existing customers:

Already a customer? Sign in and you can still be rewarded if you have:

Ultimate Savings Account
Checking
Ultimate Savings Account + Checking

Clicking on each of these options shows 40K TYP only on the first option. The other two options show only 20K TYP. Considering the "accuracy" of Citibank CSRs, I'm inclined to believe what this says, not what a CSR tells me, unless they can clearly document it. Of course, you can still go for it, but I wouldn't expect 40K TYP under conditions other than what Citi has stated in their links.

deleted

Hi,
Anyone can clarify if citi will do a hard pull or soft pull if I open this checking/saving/MM account? Is there anyway to not be hit by the hard pull?

Thanks.

I have two questions:

(1) I received two check books that I didn't order. Are they for free? And I believe there is a fee around $1 for writing a check for The Citi Account checking. But if I keep above $6k balance on it, that fee will be waived, right?

(2) I opened the savings and checking online and funded it with my citi cc. But citi cc is citi affiliated, so it doesn't count into the 25k. Can I make several transfers (not one time, don't have enough money in a single account) from ING and FIDO just before 5/31(which seems to be their deadline for remote funding) and qualify for the promotion?

Thanks.

peteypablo said:
I think the answer to both questions is yes, but would you like me to call Citi for you to make sure and then let you know?

Sure go ahead. I was even surprised that you offered to call citi for me. Thanks and look forward to your feedback.

kgkg said: If I open the account online, can I fund the accounts using credit cards at a retail banking center? Thanks!

I don't think so. but you can try calling the citiphone to fund it while you fax the funding form.

That is what I did, though I am going to have to wait and see if I get TY points.

How do we quickly get the 25000 out of ultimate mm? I see a restriction on outgoing transfers of 2K/day, 10K/month?

Just wanted to share/provide data points on my experience, which was basically identical to juggler's on the previous page.

- 04/30 -> Opened account around 1 or 2 AM.
- 04/30 -> Fund with a CC deposit to both RC and Ult. S accounts. I provided a fax cover sheet AND CC deposit form clearly stating the two different account #s and dollar amounts to fund.
- 05/02 -> Called customer service to ask why my deposits weren't processed yet and she said the back office takes a few days to process.
- 05/05 -> Happy Cinco de Mayo
- 05/06 -> Logged onto my Citi CC online account and saw my CashReturn's total CL reduced by $26k (sweet!), but also a red warning message flashes telling me to call in to verify the transaction.

I called the banking section's customer service again last night about why my Reg. Checking not being funded and they were absolutely worthless. It's safe to assume that the 'back office' doesn't read much into what people write so two deposit forms is the way to go. I just faxed mine again for the Regular Checking deposit....