Larger Checking Account Fees at Citi, But Bonuses Continue

Like other megabanks, Citibank is increasing its fees and making it more difficult to avoid. These changes take effect in December. For the Basic Banking Package, the monthly fee is going up from $8 to $10. This can be waived with qualifying transactions, but the number of qualifying transactions are being reduced. Debit card purchases, checks paid and ACH payments are some that will no longer qualify. Customers will also be able to have this fee waived with a $1,500 combined average balance.

For the Citibank Account Package, a minimum combined average balance of $15,000 will be required to avoid a $20 monthly fee. That minimum balance is currently $6,000.

The full details of these fee changes are described in this Citi disclosure.

Citi is also making changes to its ThankYou Rewards Program. These will take effect December 9, 2011. The details are listed in the Citi ThankYou Rewards Program Changes.

Checking Account Bonuses Continue

If you're not a Citi checking account customer and the fees don't scare you away, this new Citi checking account promotion may be of interest to you. It's similar to one I posted on last year. You can earn up to 40,000 ThankYou Points. This can be redeemed for up to $400 in gift cards. However, earning 40,000 ThankYou Points requires opening the Citigold Account which requires very high balances to avoid a $30 monthly fee. You can earn 20,000 ThankYou Points for opening The Citibank Account. This has a smaller balance requirement of $6,000 to avoid the monthly fee. However, as I mentioned above, this is going up to $15,000 in December.

Here's the link to the Citibank promotion. The steps required steps to qualify for the bonus are below:

1. Open a new Citibank checking account in the Citigold or Citibank Account Package by 10/31/2011.
2. Enroll the new checking account in Citi ThankYou Rewards.
3. Within 45 days after account opening, initiate one direct deposit AND complete one electronic bill payment for two consecutive months.

For the full details of the checking account features and fees, please refer to this Citi Compare Checking Accounts page.

It should be noted that many readers have reported problems in getting Citibank to pay out its bonuses, and many have had problems with Citibank's customer service.

Other Bank and Credit Union Bonuses

We have a new bank promotions page with a table of all of the active bank and credit union promotions. You can filter the table based on the type of promotion and based on your state. I have more details about how to use this page in this blog post.