Actually for citigold, you need 100K in assets, but I think this includes home equity lines of credit, retirement accounts, etc. It also allows for brokerage transactions. The fee used to be $125, but they have just reduced it to $95 - a first, a fee actually being lowered. The checking account has a higher interest rate than regular checking but I don't know how it would compare to the one you have. You can get an Aadvantage card with the fee waived (I actually have a visa, and 3 MC), and a DC card (and secondary cards are free as well instead of the $35 per card), so it is certainly worth the fee to get these cards free. But with DC, I did the 12K bonus and paid the fee, did 1 renewal (at the time 1000 points for 5 months) and THEN got the fee waived. I figured buying 12K miles for $85 (the fee is now $95 I think) was worth it. If you don't have a DC card now, there is a referral code, and the referrer gets some miles. Let me know and I'll find the code.

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Ms.DtG