We’re used to airline and hotel elite status, but just about all of the major banks also have their own elite tiers of sorts, for those who maintain a minimum balance of assets with the bank. In this post, I’d like to talk briefly about Citi’s elite program of sorts, known as Citigold, especially in light of the renewed interest in the Citi ThankYou program.
Long story short, Citigold can save you money on Citi annual fees, and unlock some additional perks. Let me start with a bit of background, because I think some disclaimers are important.
My general philosophy on bank “elite status”
Banks like Chase and Citi have special programs for those who maintain a certain balance of assets with them. Obviously the general goal with these programs is for banks to be able to establish closer relationships with customers, and to get you to invest your money with one of their advisors, as the banks charge fees for this management.
However, generally speaking, all assets you hold with a bank count toward the minimum required for status. This includes if you do your own investing through their tools, or even if you move your retirement account to one of these banks.
I’m of course not a financial planner, or anything, but I’ll share my thoughts and approach:
- You absolutely shouldn’t keep cash in a checking account with a low interest rate simply to qualify for one of these tiers, and you also shouldn’t invest with one of their advisors simply to unlock these perks, unless you otherwise see value in this
- Personally, I’m a pretty conservative investor, and I mostly just like to buy total market index funds, and then sometimes do my own investing for things I feel confident about
- Since my investments aren’t “managed,” I have the flexibility to move them around to whatever bank I’d like to, so I try to see what benefits I can squeeze out of that
- Note that sometimes banks offer cash bonuses if you transfer a certain amount of assets to them, so some people might find that to be worthwhile, but I also like just having an account that offers me long term value, without moving things around
Along those lines, I recently moved some of my retirement investments over to Citi, and unlocked the Citigold tier. Let me explain why others who are into miles & points might want to consider doing the same.
Citigold & Citigold Private Client perks & benefits
Citigold has a few different tiers of membership, but I want to focus specifically on two tiers:
- Citigold is the most common elite tier, which requires having $200,000 in assets with the bank
- Citigold Private Client is the more exclusive elite tier, which requires having $1,000,000 in assets with the bank
Those amounts are based on eligible linked deposit, retirement, and investment accounts, regardless of whether they’re independent or managed by Citi. Citi often has significant cash bonuses for those who move assets to the bank, so keep an eye out for those, and they can make it even more lucrative to get a Citigold account.
What Citi most widely tries to promote about this is all the fee waivers you receive with Citigold, ranging from fee-free ATMs, to no monthly service fees, to zero overdraft fees, to waived fees for checkbook orders, etc.
However, for those of us into credit cards, there are two particular perks that I want to call out…
Citigold $145 credit card annual fee rebate
Citigold clients receive a $145 banking relationship annual credit. This applies specifically to Citi’s most premium, high annual fee cards, including the Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (review), Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Legend Mastercard® (review), and (discontinued) Citi Prestige Card.
The way this works, if you’re a Citigold client and the primary cardmember on one of these cards, you receive a $145 annual credit toward your annual fee. The key things to know are that you must have Citigold status on the date your annual fee is charged. Furthermore, it can take up to three billing cycles after the annual fee is charged for the credit to post.
So if you have one or more cards, that offers some consistent savings, and can potentially make the math on some credit cards work much better. Let me emphasize that this only works on the above three cards, so you couldn’t use these credits for lower annual fee cards.
Citigold $200 subscription rebate credit
Citigold clients receive an additional “good as cash” rebate, which is also worth calling out. Specifically, this is a subscription rebate credit, and it’s $200 annually for Citigold members, and $400 annually for Citigold Private Client members.
You have to enroll for this, and then you just need to use your Citibank debit card as the payment method with your preferred merchant. Eligible merchants include Amazon Prime, Costco, Global Entry, Hulu, Spotify Premium, and TSA PreCheck.
Technically, the subscription rebate credit can only be used toward full priced memberships or subscriptions purchased online, except for Costco (where purchases can also be made by phone or in store), and TSA PreCheck (where purchases at enrollment centers qualify). Anecdotally, I’ve also heard of some non-subscriptions crediting, but that’s not something you can count on.
Bottom line
Citigold is Citi’s special banking tier for those who have at least $200,000 in assets with the bank. The good thing is that this can include retirement accounts, self invest accounts, etc. While Citi often highlights how this offers waived banking fees and access to a dedicated advisor, there are other perks worth keeping in mind.
Citigold customers can receive a $145 rebate on select premium Citi cards, and also receive a $200 annual subscription rebate credit, valid for things like Amazon Prime and Costco memberships.
This isn’t some incredible program that’s going to change your life, but it’s at least nice to get some value from parking your investments with one bank over another. At least that’s my opinion.
Are there any other Citigold customers, and if so, what has your experience been like? Are there any other awesome hidden perks I’m missing with other banks?
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