Citi Bank - Chicago, IL Review

The news in the winter of February 2007 was dismal: the savings rate in America is now at an all time and depressing low of negative one percent!  My wife and I, in an effort to buck the trend, cling to the axiom "Pay Yourself First."  For us that means we sock away a percentage of our monthly net in various investment vehicles one of which is a Money Market Account (MMSA).  Until recently the account had been languishing at a Credit Union with a dismal rate of return, so we decided to shop around for a higher return on our Money Market investment. 

While perusing the Internet one day my wife noticed that Citibank was offering a new type of saving/MMSA account called and e-Saving account offering an incredible 5.00% (adjustable) annual interest.  The catch: a checking account had to be opened at the same time.  But there would be no annual fee associated with either account and no minimum balance, except an opening balance in the checking account of $5.00.  Sounded like a no brainer, certainly given the local presence of the bank, and the fact that we could get an ATM/Visa Card with the account and use it to deposit and withdraw funds.  And so our affiliation with Citibank banking services began. 

Access to our new Citibank Money Market e-Saving account is through the Internet at a secure website.  From the site we can of course view account balances, transfer money both internally and externally, view and download e-statements, and download account balances to Intuit's Quicken. 

Our interaction with customer service has been pleasant for the most part.  The wait time was acceptable (less than five minutes), but the (foreign) customer service representative was largely clueless and quoted me wrong information concerning the interest postings to the account. 

The free-standing Citibank branch is not too far from my home is well staffed, and had plenty of (touch screen) ATM machines; four drive-up and two in the lobby, but the branch closes at 5:00 p.m.   The bank tellers proved to be more knowledgeable than the phone representative I spoke with and it nice to have a brick and mortar establishment to go to when needed; e.g. to make deposits, and withdrawals. 

So far our experience with Citibank banking services has been a positive one.