20,000 American Airlines miles for a Citibank checking account

[pgary]

Originally Posted by Schutzee

From the Citibank website "fund your account" page:

1. Your credit card issuer may regard this transaction as a cash advance or a purchase and impose a fee. Check your cardholder agreement for details.
2. The charge to your credit or debit card won't occur until we receive the signed authorization form.

I have read Chase will regard as a cash advance. YMMV

Has anyone actually initially funded a Citibank account with a Chase credit card? Was it charged as a purchase or cash advance? I am specifically interested if I can earn miles this way on my United Airlines card, and would be interested if anyone has actually earned UAL miles this way.

Thanks.

[deniah]

Since a cash advance limit is typically 1/10 --> 1/4th of your purchasing credit limit, why not just request a high $$$ transfer. If it is processed as a cash advance itll pop due to limit, else its a success

[Schutzee]

Originally Posted by pgary

Has anyone actually initially funded a Citibank account with a Chase credit card? Was it charged as a purchase or cash advance? I am specifically interested if I can earn miles this way on my United Airlines card, and would be interested if anyone has actually earned UAL miles this way.

Thanks.

I found this on Fat Wallet:

FYI, I did this with a Chase card and ended up getting slammed with thousands in fees and interest. Citi can code however they want, but Chase can and will reclassify at will.

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/fina...0367/?start=80

[AAerSTL]

I tried to fund a checking account with the 20k promotion back in Novembervwith my Citi AA business MC for $10,000 and it did indeed hit the account as a cash advance. This was particularly frustrating as I had spoken to multiple CSRs at both Citi bank and Credit cards (they are seperate).

I got them to close the account and hae the CC division waie the fees and interest. I advise anyone who does this to research it with their credit card company first.

[terockwo]

Originally Posted by AAerSTL

I tried to fund a checking account with the 20k promotion back in Novembervwith my Citi AA business MC for $10,000 and it did indeed hit the account as a cash advance. This was particularly frustrating as I had spoken to multiple CSRs at both Citi bank and Credit cards (they are seperate).

I got them to close the account and hae the CC division waie the fees and interest. I advise anyone who does this to research it with their credit card company first.

Really??? Let me get this straight. You funded a Citi checking account with a Citi Credit Card (Business MC)and were slammed with cash advance fees? I don't think Ive ever heard of that. I have completed this maneuver 3 times myself, & never had any cash advance fees of any sort.

Sorry to hear about your unfortunate hassle, but it sounds like other than the time spent on the phone with Citi Reps there was no other costs for you in the end. Must have been one hell of a phone battle with Citi...

[SeeYa]

I have to say I am less than impressed with Citibank reps (deposit accounts).
I faxed the requisite forms on thursday, and called on Fri to make sure the fax was received. I was told it would be processed on Monday. When I expressed surprise that the office would be open, the India based rep excused himself to say he was not aware of the American banking holiday, but that the staff were definately working on Saturday & that I should check on Tuesday.
Today (Tuesday), I'm told they received my paperwork not on Thurs, but Friday & that it would be 3 business days from Friday.
So I ask to at least have my AAdvantage acct number associated with the new checking account, & the rep officiously advises me that it is all done automatically.
It took extensive questioning, about how could they possibly know my AAdvantage acct number if the form does not request it, & a 7 minute wait on hold while she checked with somebody else, before the rep grudgingly took down the info. I'm not holding my breath that she actually did anything with it.
And overall, I am annoyed with myself for not realizing how incompetent their backoffice is, & starting this process much sooner. I had no idea, that to charge a cc would take close to 4 business days. Everyone else in the world manages to process a cc transaction the same day.

[deniah]

Originally Posted by SeeYa

I have to say I am less than impressed with Citibank reps (deposit accounts).
I faxed the requisite forms on thursday, and called on Fri to make sure the fax was received. I was told it would be processed on Monday. When I expressed surprise that the office would be open, the India based rep excused himself to say he was not aware of the American banking holiday, but that the staff were definately working on Saturday & that I should check on Tuesday.
Today (Tuesday), I'm told they received my paperwork not on Thurs, but Friday & that it would be 3 business days from Friday.
So I ask to at least have my AAdvantage acct number associated with the new checking account, & the rep officiously advises me that it is all done automatically.
It took extensive questioning, about how could they possibly know my AAdvantage acct number if the form does not request it, & a 7 minute wait on hold while she checked with somebody else, before the rep grudgingly took down the info. I'm not holding my breath that she actually did anything with it.
And overall, I am annoyed with myself for not realizing how incompetent their backoffice is, & starting this process much sooner. I had no idea, that to charge a cc would take close to 4 business days. Everyone else in the world manages to process a cc transaction the same day.

I just got put on hold about 5 seperate times by an agent while he "verified" the offer.

He insisted I had to enroll in either the "basic" or "gold" package at 25$/65$ annual fee that earns either 1mi/1$ or 1mi/2$. I insisted there is no such thing as the "basic" or "gold" package mentioned in the terms. And further, Citi does not know what my AA account is, anyway

I had to give him my AA account, and after some clarification (to him) on my part (reading off the citi website) he agreed that yes I would receive the miles after completing the terms (120 days); I would need to call in and then they would deposit the miles

[pgary]

Originally Posted by terockwo

Really??? Let me get this straight. You funded a Citi checking account with a Citi Credit Card (Business MC)and were slammed with cash advance fees? I don't think Ive ever heard of that. I have completed this maneuver 3 times myself, & never had any cash advance fees of any sort.

Sorry to hear about your unfortunate hassle, but it sounds like other than the time spent on the phone with Citi Reps there was no other costs for you in the end. Must have been one hell of a phone battle with Citi...

Did you do this with a Citi AA business account?

Thanks.

[thehawk75]

Originally Posted by terockwo

I don't understand why anyone would want to do this with a CD? Where/why does a CD enter this discussion? Why not just fund an "Ultimate Money Account" for $80K or whatever amount possible for everyone? That way the money is completely liquid & you can do with it what you want, heck move it into an external account (Just as an example, I have a GMAC Online Savings Account that currently offers 3.25% interest... & I'm sure there's better out there).

But I don't understand what good locking you money into a CD does for you in this scenario...?

Here's a question. If you're already an account holder at Citi, is the funding with CC option still available?

I have gone through the process and opened a new account under this 20K AAdvantage mile offer, have gotten to the forms that need to be filled in for the CC funding that have to be faxed in (as an aside, the form is stupid, it has fields for your CC number, but, no fields to fill in that identify 'WHAT' the CC Charge is going to fund -- i.e. your new bank account number, I'm going to have to send them a cover sheet giving them that, I guess).

At some point though, I'm going to want to 1) open an ultimate savings account to link to this checking account, and 2) do this same process on another citi card to initially fund the ultimate savings account. I know you can open a new Ultimate savings account while logged in (bypassing a lot of the application in the process)...SO... Will the option to fund this secondary account by CC also be available at that point? Or would I be better off to open the ultimate savings account by itself while NOT logged in (thus filling out the entire application), then funding it with CC, and then LINKING the checking and savings accounts together after the funding takes place?

I only ask you as you said you have done this a few times, and I'm very interested how you did the repeats?

[ss]

Originally Posted by thehawk75

Or would I be better off to open the ultimate savings account by itself while NOT logged in (thus filling out the entire application), then funding it with CC, and then LINKING the checking and savings accounts together after the funding takes place?

To avoid the monthly fees you need a "stand-alone" Ultimate Savings account. Does "stand-alone" mean you're not supposed to link it to any other account, including this new checking account? If not, what exactly does "stand-alone" mean?

[terockwo]

Originally Posted by pgary

Did you do this with a Citi AA business account?

Thanks.

YES. Over the summer I Applied & was approved for a CitiBusiness VISA with a small credit limit (<$5K). I "initially funded" an Ultimate Savings Account which I believe was linked to an "EZ-Checking Account". It was only to the tune of $3K, but it covered the $750 spending requirement for the CitiBusiness VISA, thus for that first months statement I got like 28,000 AA Miles, 25K in Bonus & 3K for the initial funding charge.

I honestly dont remember all of the nitty gritty specifics, but I was never charged any Balance Transfer Fees or any Monthly charges...

[jimbaum]

I called them for the 20,000 miles offer and was rejected. They told me that my account did not qualify - I have a Citi AA Gold.

They did ask me how I received this offer. I told them by email. They asked me when I received it. I answered about 2 weeks ago...

Not sure that I got rejected because of the Citi AA Gold, or if they knew that I did not get this offer by email, or if it was because I recently closed a checking and a savings account with them that I got 20,000 miles for opening last year

They told me that they have a promotion that would give me 5000 miles if I spend $20,000 on my card between February and September. I didn't pursue this since I only have a credit line of $6k. And to raise it to 15k, they told me that they would have to do a hard pull of my credit, which I declined.

Perhaps I can call them back and apply for the Citi AA Amex card at the same time as the credit increase and have one credit pull - 5,000 bonus for the Amex card. And the plan is to open a savings account funded by my new credit line account from Gold AA, to get 15,000 miles, plus 5,000 miles bonus for completing the $20k spend by Sept as mentioned above.

Anybody have any comments as to if this may be a good deal for me?

[Schutzee]

My statement for my Citibusiness AAdvantage card cut overnight. It indicates "standard purchase" for Citibank Online for funding my Citibank account. NO fees, no interest.

[thehawk75]

Does Citi do a 'Hard Pull' on your credit for each bank account and/or CD that is opened?

As I have confirmed that if you want to fund via a credit card you have to open via the new account process (i.e. do not open through the link that says 'Already a customer?', as you will be asked to log in, and NOT be given the option to fund from a credit card, only from a citi account or an ACH transfer). Aggravating, especially if they have to 'hard pull' each time you open a CD -- considering that nowhere in a CD product could you ever be extended credit.

[Schutzee]

Originally Posted by thehawk75

Does Citi do a 'Hard Pull' on your credit for each bank account and/or CD that is opened?

I have opened a CD and Ultimate savings account in the past month with NO hard pulls. Both opened as a new customer and funded with a Citi Aadvantage card.