Citibank changing terms for checking accounts

[xiuxiuejar]

I try and steer away from the "Big Four" (Chase, BoA, Citi, and Wells Fargo)- at least when it comes to banking products. Their credit cards are a whole different story- at least for Chase and Bank of America; I find Wells and Citi's credit card offerings to be underwhelming. These big banks all want everyone to make them their "one-stop shop"; but your rates are not competitive? I mean all of the Big Four pay pathetic rates on savings accounts. I just read a review of Capitol One's Savings Account where the author lamented that their saving account only pays 4.30 APY when others are paying close to (or more than) 5%. How much are our friends at BoA and Chase paying in their savings account? 0.01%.  And then you turn on the news every other day and read a story about one of the four closing down someone's accounts for "suspected fraud", not giving them any information, and finally giving the person their money back after 2 months. "Relationship banking"? More like abusive relationship banking...

There are too many other decent alternatives to large banks out there. You have credit unions. I bank with NFCU because there's one right near my house, I qualify, and of course; their credit cards give out amazing limits. Their deposit products aren't great, but I can get by without having to spend anything. I also bank with Fidelity and Schwab- never pay a penny for anything and get reimbursed for every ATM withdrawal and I get close to 5% APY on my money. And then there are places like Chime, SoFi , etc. Why would anyone bank with a traditional brick and mortar anymore? They are so out of touch with 21st century needs. You might as well do your banking at the Walnut Grove Merchantile and sell your eggs to Mrs. Olsen telling her to put the egg money towards store credit...

[ptatohed]

@SouthJamaica warned me (thank you!).  I snoozed.    My lowly $100 checking account balance at citi was charged a whopping $30 monthly maintenance fee on March 1.  I started a chat, got the $30 reversed and now I am taking my money (checking and savings) and running.  

[SouthJamaica]

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@ptatohed wrote:

@SouthJamaica warned me (thank you!).  I snoozed.    My lowly $100 checking account balance at citi was charged a whopping $30 monthly maintenance fee on March 1.  I started a chat, got the $30 reversed and now I am taking my money (checking and savings) and running.  

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Oh my goodness @ptatohed 

Sorry to hear that.

In our experience, they also made it a bit laborious to close the account.

[ptatohed]

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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@ptatohed wrote:

@SouthJamaica warned me (thank you!).  I snoozed.    My lowly $100 checking account balance at citi was charged a whopping $30 monthly maintenance fee on March 1.  I started a chat, got the $30 reversed and now I am taking my money (checking and savings) and running.  

---

Oh my goodness @ptatohed 

Sorry to hear that.

In our experience, they also made it a bit laborious to close the account.

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Thanks SJ.  I was wondering about that.  Can I just empty the account(s) (at least the checking - savings did not have a fee that I saw) and that constitutes account closure, or not that easy?

[Horseshoez]

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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@ptatohed wrote:

@SouthJamaica warned me (thank you!).  I snoozed.    My lowly $100 checking account balance at citi was charged a whopping $30 monthly maintenance fee on March 1.  I started a chat, got the $30 reversed and now I am taking my money (checking and savings) and running.  

---

Oh my goodness @ptatohed 

Sorry to hear that.

In our experience, they also made it a bit laborious to close the account.

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Interesting, I recently closed both of my Chase deposit accounts and they made it super easy; I transferred my money out, called them, and everything was completed in less than 10 minutes.  I would really have been annoyed if I'd had your experience with Citi.

[SouthJamaica]

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@ptatohed wrote:

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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@ptatohed wrote:

@SouthJamaica warned me (thank you!).  I snoozed.    My lowly $100 checking account balance at citi was charged a whopping $30 monthly maintenance fee on March 1.  I started a chat, got the $30 reversed and now I am taking my money (checking and savings) and running.  

---

Oh my goodness @ptatohed 

Sorry to hear that.

In our experience, they also made it a bit laborious to close the account.

---

Thanks SJ.  I was wondering about that.  Can I just empty the account(s) (at least the checking - savings did not have a fee that I saw) and that constitutes account closure, or not that easy?

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For us they made it very difficult. Forced a visit to the branch.

Then had to do it over again with telephone call.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Horseshoez wrote:

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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@ptatohed wrote:

@SouthJamaica warned me (thank you!).  I snoozed.    My lowly $100 checking account balance at citi was charged a whopping $30 monthly maintenance fee on March 1.  I started a chat, got the $30 reversed and now I am taking my money (checking and savings) and running.  

---

Oh my goodness @ptatohed 

Sorry to hear that.

In our experience, they also made it a bit laborious to close the account.

---

Interesting, I recently closed both of my Chase deposit accounts and they made it super easy; I transferred my money out, called them, and everything was completed in less than 10 minutes.  I would really have been annoyed if I'd had your experience with Citi.

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I have never had a problem with Chase's customer service.

[Horseshoez]

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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@Horseshoez wrote:

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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@ptatohed wrote:

@SouthJamaica warned me (thank you!).  I snoozed.    My lowly $100 checking account balance at citi was charged a whopping $30 monthly maintenance fee on March 1.  I started a chat, got the $30 reversed and now I am taking my money (checking and savings) and running.  

---

Oh my goodness @ptatohed 

Sorry to hear that.

In our experience, they also made it a bit laborious to close the account.

---

Interesting, I recently closed both of my Chase deposit accounts and they made it super easy; I transferred my money out, called them, and everything was completed in less than 10 minutes.  I would really have been annoyed if I'd had your experience with Citi.

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I have never had a problem with Chase's customer service.

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When I closed down my BofA accounts in 2020 (after they refused me a secured card following my Chapter 13 discharge), they forced me to go into a branch, start the process with a teller, then have an interview with the manager, then go back to the teller to get my money.  Talk about annoying.

[ptatohed]

Ok, so I just transferred the last $100 in citi checking, into citi savings (only had like $101.XX in savings).  I guess next I'll transfer the total $201 out to my external Chase and zero out both my citi accounts.  Will this constitute closure or should I chat and/or call after I zero them out to officially close them?  

[SouthJamaica]

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@ptatohed wrote:

Ok, so I just transferred the last $100 in citi checking, into citi savings (only had like $101.XX in savings).  I guess next I'll transfer the total $201 out to my external Chase and zero out both my citi accounts.  Will this constitute closure or should I chat and/or call after I zero them out to officially close them?  

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I would not rely on it constituting closure.  I would not risk the assessment of more maintenance fees. I doubt you'll be able to do anything with chat. You should be able, and might be able, to do it with a phone call; but as I said, in my case they forced us to visit the branch.