Originally Posted by
akr1970akr
I get CG from leaving some ETFs in a SDBA at CPWM, where I pay no fees. In return I get
* free safe deposit box
BofA/ML and Chase offers too. I do not need it.
* one card fee waived per year (up to $100, used to be 2)
I only keep the Citi Premier now. $95 AF. I do not care about fee waiver.
* 30k typ per year from doing various random banking stuff, paying a bill, putting $20 into savings etc
* don't really use ATMs, but all fees waived for those
* maybe once in a blue moon need an in/out wire, no fees again
* can order physical foreign currency w/o fees, but again probably getting jacked on the fx conversion rate
* cg lounges / culture stuff, which i used to use when living in NYC, now its worthless
Never used.
* special help line for problems, which if I call from wifes phone M-F 9-5 or so, gets me a South Dakota or Missouri based high skilled rep. Doesn't work from my phone most of the time.
* so far, generally can find branches near me, but they are shrinking their footprint
None even close to me.
All the banks suck in their own special ways. And I have lots of other inst. to compare to, that I also use, but the value prop is pretty decent.
Schwabby is decent too, but some core banking functions, they can't handle. e.g. they don't open bank a/c for minors. one would have to open a custodial brokerage a/c. and for a variety of reasons those don't work exactly the same when you have to make in/out payments.
See my comments in
RED.
To me, the good things for having Citi Gold or Priority are:
Some TYP for the banking relationship
Possible fee waiver. Mostly for grandfathered customers. Not sure if still true for new customers
Occasionally outgoing wire. I use it once in a couple of years.
Now the bad things:
Citi's overseas call center
Complete lack of branch access
Citi broken communication between different divisions, bank, credit card and investment etc.
Phone system is not working properly. When you have bank with Citi, your phone is linked to your ATM card. But its phone has trouble recognizes your ATM. So Citi bank accounts adds an extra hurdle to phone access. After I closed bank account, this hurdle has been removed.
The worst thing about Citigold is its Wealth Management division (investment). It is in the same class as Chase's YouInvest system. It limits the investment products clients can do and this is not even stated or disclosed.
At one time, I had premium banking with all the large banks, BofA/ML, Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo. Also a bunch of secondary banks. I've since consolidated them. It is too much work to notice all the limits, balance, fees etc. Not worth the efforts.
Wells Fargo offers more products and offers more account types. Its PMA has much lower balance requirement. Many years ago, I had the 100 free trades per year. That was the best one before BofA/ML offered the numbers of free trades with its preferred reward program.