Citibank To Reduce Fees On Checking Accounts

Bloomberg reports on checking account fee changes at Citibank. It's a step in the right direction, but Citibank still has a long way to go.

The change on their basic checking account package will likely be noticed the most:

[Citigroup] plans to eliminate fees on its lowest-level “Basic Banking” accounts, as long as customers perform transactions such as direct-deposit of paychecks or debit-card purchases at least five times a month, according to the statement. Basic customers who don’t meet that quota must pay $8 a month.

This looks a lot like what Chase offers.

Citi is also reducing the balance required to avoid monthly charges for Citigold accounts, but it's still a high balance requirement of $50K.

This FW thread has a good overview of other changes Citibank is making to several of its accounts.

Many of Citi savings accounts are being converted into Citibank Ultimate Savings Account and a couple of other savings and money market accounts.

ATM fee reimbursements will be discontinued for Citibank EZ Checking and a few other checking accounts.

I've added a link to the Citi's documentation on the changes in the quick summary above.