Amazing that Citi is still stiffing people on these bonus offers. In the early 2000s there was a publicly advertised offer to earn a cash bonus for opening a new checking account. I signed up with the full intention of using it as my main account, but it took 6+ months plus multiple phone calls to receive the bonus. I was so put off by the whole experience. I remember thinking if they were to treat me like this for something simple, how would they treat me if a problem happened? I promptly closed the account. For the last 20+ years, I have probably received 100 mailers asking me to sign up for an account and receive either a cash bonus or miles. Not a chance.

All I can say is that this level of disfunction has to be intentional or part of their culture on the banking side. I get that banks have thin margins on their deposit accounts. But consistently giving people a hard time about getting these bonuses has to be backfiring for them. In my case, they basically lost a customer for life in addition to the bonus money they paid me.