Citibank’s Capital One 360 Clone – 4.50% APY

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This is interesting – Citibank finally fully rolled out its e-Savings Account, which has no minimum balance requirement and currently pays 4.50% APY. Why not just call it CitiDirect? It’s not the highest rate for a no-minimums online saving account, but it’s still really good for a bank with such a wide physical branch network.

What’s the catch? “To open a Citibank e-Savings Account you must have or open a checking account in the Citibank EZ Checking, Citibank Account, Citibank Everything Counts Account or CitiGold Account relationship package.” The EZ Checking looks like the easiest option:

To avoid monthly fees, you need to use Direct Deposit, or make two monthly bill payments, or maintain a $1,500 combined average balance.

I would just set up an $1 auto-pay each month for any two recurring bills you have and you’ll be all set, with nothing extra to remember each month. Just pay your bills like normal otherwise, if you overpay it just carries over to the next month anyways.

The accounts have the standard features like free online banking and online billpay. They even have limited ATM reimbursements. For those with Citibank checking accounts, do they allow you to initiate transfers to outside banks using their “Inter Institution Transfers service”?

Bummer, they have no branches near me. If they did I would probably open an account, as having a high-interest savings account at a bank where I can walk in and deposit checks would be great. Note that Citibank does hard credit pulls for new bank accounts. Thanks to Devin for the tip.

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Comments

  1. Mixelflick says

    Any idea what offer code CS22 refers to?

  2. Nope. Maybe if we hold out they’ll offer some sort of bonus?

  3. For a citibank checking account, you can do ACH in for free and there is a $3 fee for outbound. I wonder if they will waive this fee for the e-savings account similiar to the way HSBC does for their online savings account.

  4. I read on their website that you can fund your account using a credit card, now is that taken as a purchase or a cash advance? Just thinking it wouldnt hurt to fund it with a credit card and pay it off next month earn a few extra bucks….

    10. How can I make deposits to my e-Savings account?
    Your initial deposit can be funded via a transfer from your current bank account, by using your credit card, or by mailing in a check. Once your account is open, you can deposit money into your e-Savings account at a Citibank ATM, by visiting a Financial Associate at a Citibank Financial Center, or by mail. You can also transfer money into your Citibank e-Savings account from an external (non-Citi) account using Citibank?s Inter Institution Transfers. For more information visit http://www.citibankonline.com.

  5. So the balance in the e-savings account counts towards the combined balance of the EZ checking account? The documentation isn’t very clear.

    If so, all you have to do is maintain $1500 to waive any EZ Checking fees.

  6. Have you checked out etrade bank they have 4.75 apy and with a min of $5000 ATM fees are refunded. I planning on opening an account there. Any experience with them ?

  7. Thanks for the helpful post. I, too, figured it would be a decent high-interest brick/mortar option.

  8. Rob – the e-Trade account is only a promotional 4.75% APY for a few months. After that the rate is not very good at all unless you have a very high balance.

  9. Sounds like a good deal since there are so many citibank B&M locations.

    I would steer clear of etrade. They tend to make a lost of mistakes with fees, and getting competent customer service is next to impossible.

  10. If you already have a citibank account, opening one of these online takes like 2 minutes. Links right up with your other accounts on myciti.com. Moving money in and out of linked accounts is instantaneous. Might as well keep your short term money here instead of a citi PMMA account which yields peanuts.

  11. justablogger – it should be combined into your “account” to avoid minimums. You can call to confirm, however.

    I have direct deposit, so that has never come up.

  12. I just tried to sign on. I’m a Citibank customer so it was very easy. But then I stopped and cancelled because I saw the section called “Promotion.” It was blank. I smell a promotion, maybe $25, maybe $50, sometime soon. The e-account just opened (today 3/29/06), so I think we should wait a bit for the promotion. Chuck Prince is a generous man after all. Let’s see what he gives.

  13. There is a bug in the sign-up process right now. You can’t add a joint owner to your e-savings account. This sucks big time. Means both of us (!) have to go into the bank (groan) to make this a joint account. If you want to make your account joint at creation make sure you call them during the sign-up process, otherwise you will have big hassles.

  14. Hi everyone.

    I have to say these yields are becoming quite attractive.

    I live in Canada so I thought you may find this interesting. If you are looking for high yields, you should consider income trusts. These entities were basically pioneered in Canada and have been spectacularly successful. So much so that S&P recently added them to its TSX index.

    You can buy an income trust in the oil and gas business or in real estate. There are also business income trusts butI would stay away from those. Too risky.

    You might think oil and gas trusts would also be risky. But not necessarily. Some of these trusts have been around forever and are very well established. You should consider Riocan which is one of the largest real estate income trusts in canada with a yield of about 7%. Enerplus which also trades on the NYSE as ERF with a yield of almost 9%. Antother solid income trust is Arc Energy with a similarly high yield.

    The last two are income trusts which have exposre to the Canadian Oil Sands. This is a booming area in Alberta where oil mixed with dirt is being practically dug out of the ground and refined to produce crude. So there is potential for continued growth. The price of oil would have to drop drmamtically for these trusts to reduce or be unable to pay their distributions.

    So riskier than an ING account a Certifiate of Deposit, but higher yields and relatively safe.

    I would be happy to answer any questions.

    Take care,
    Ali.

  15. I might hold out for a possible bonus. It’ll be good to have another high yield saving account at another large bank.

  16. Worst roll-out of a product ever!!! Citibank branches are clueless about this product as are telephone CS reps. I am a Citibank customer and I can’t stand the bank! If it wasn’t for the plethora of atm’s and the good website, I would be out in a heartbeat.

  17. HSBCDirect.com has an APY of 4.80% for some time. I’m an ex-INGer. Check it out.

  18. Citi-eSavings = 4.75%
    HSBC Direct = 4.65%
    Emigrant Direct = 4.50%
    ING Direct = 4.15%

  19. Tena Chase says

    Be careful with CitiBank. In order to open this account they will do a credit check. Remember each credit inquiry drops your credit score. I think this is ridiculous for a savings account.

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