Citibank Business Account Review
Is It Right For You? (Pros, Cons & More)
Last Updated: By TRUiC Team
Are you looking to open a business bank account, but you’re holding out for the right combo of convenience and features? So many banks offer business checking and savings accounts these days that it can be tricky to discern which is the best fit for your company.
As a supplement to your own research, my team and I invested many hours poring over the details of every major bank for business. Our goal is to provide you with the information you need to make a fully informed decision for your business.
In this Citibank business banking review, we’ll discuss some pros and cons, pricing, features, customer reviews and more. Read on to discover if they’re right for you!
Citibank Pros & Cons
Pros of Citibank
- From small startups to large companies, Citibank has options. Their business checking customers choose from one of four basic account packages tailored to specific needs.
- Their footprint on the business banking world is massive with 34,000 ATMs and over 1,000 branches in the US alone.
- Business checking customers can also add on CitiBusiness credit cards, which have some great rewards like office supplies, travel or even cash.
- If you meet their conditions, like maintaining a minimum balance for example, most of their business checking accounts can have fees waived.
- Their mobile app is optimized for small business banking, and gets great reviews from iPhone and Android users.
Cons of Citibank
- If you also want a savings account that will be an asset for your company, you might want to look elsewhere. Citibank’s savings accounts have an APY of just 0.01% for account balances below $10,000, and even if you have over $1 million in your account that rate only grows to 0.08%.
Citibank Business Account Alternative
Capital One's lack of fees, minimums, and their digital banking platform make it quite convenient. Read Review
Citibank Pricing & Features
Citibank has four business checking packages: Interest, Streamlined, Flexible and CitiBusiness. Take a look at the way they summarize each one.
Streamlined Checking
What It Includes: 250 monthly transactions, $15 monthly fee waived with a $5k minimum balance, variable currency deposits.
Who It’s Right For: Entrepreneurs operating a small business who want some room for growth should be interested in the Streamlined package.
Flexible Checking
What It Includes: 500 monthly transactions, variable fee waived with $10k minimum balance, $20k monthly currency deposits.
Who It’s Right For: Mid-sized companies that need relaxed restrictions to facilitate business operations on a larger scale.
CitiBusiness Checking
What It Includes: Monthly earnings credit offsets monthly fees and limits, unlimited check writing, no withdrawal fees, cash management solutions.
Who It’s Right For: Larger businesses that need the freedom of unlimited features and maintain a relatively high balance to qualify for earnings credits.
Interest Checking
What It Includes: 0.01% interest rate, 25 monthly transactions, variable fees waived with $10k minimum balance, variable currency deposits.
Who It’s Right For: I don’t see any reason to take a 25 transaction limit just to get a 0.01% interest rate on my balance.
Recommended Package
I think the Flexible package really lives up to its name. It includes plenty of transactions for most small businesses and it leaves some room for your company to grow.
Keep in mind that if you link a business credit card to your checking account, you can take advantage of some valuable rewards ranging from routine business supplies to air travel to cash. They also have a credit card specifically tailored to business owners who are Costco members.
Savings Accounts
Unfortunately, Citibank’s business savings accounts are underwhelming. With interest rates so low they might as well just be zeros, there’s no reason to sign up for these accounts other than to keep all finances under one business bank.
- <$10,000: 0.01%
- $10,000-$24,999: 0.03%
- $25,000-$99,999: 0.04%
- $100,000-$499,999: 0.06%
- $500,000+: 0.08%
Customer Reviews
In my opinion, banking app reviews are the largest collections of genuine online customer reviews for major financial institutions like Citibank.
They hold down identical average scores of 4.1 out of 5 on both Google Play and iTunes, with over a hundred thousand reviews. While that’s already a respectable score, iTunes also displays average scores for different release versions of the same app, and the current Citibank app has an excellent 4.7 average.
Customer Reviews Last Updated 8-17-17
- Google Play: 4.1/5 out of 65,346 reviews
- iTunes (current version of app): 4.7/5 out of 272 reviews
- iTunes (all versions of app): 4.1/5 out of 52,243 reviews
Conclusion: The rising scores that accompany their reviews indicate that Citibank is constantly listening to its customers to refine their banking practices. Customer feedback is definitely a point in their favor.
How Citibank Compares
Considering how many hours I’ve spent researching the best business banks, I’ve figured out that some of them simply offer better banking solutions for businesses than others. Of course, the goal here is still to determine which one has the features and convenience you need.
Citibank is a good bank for business because of their brand power and the way they integrate customer feedback into their products. Still, it’s always smart to keep an eye on the competition, so let’s see how they stack up to my favorite business bank, Spark Business by Capital One.
Pricing: Spark Business has no fees or minimums for their business bank accounts.
Features: Spark Business gives you access to 40,000 ATMs but it’s a fully digital product so there aren’t any physical branches. Citibank has 34,000 ATMs and 1,000+ branch locations nationwide. As for savings accounts, Citibank has APY of 0.01-0.08%, whereas with Spark Business you can earn 0.40-1.00%.
Customer Support: When you’re dealing with institutions this big, they’re obviously going to have large support networks. As is usually the case in these situations, customer service can get a bit hit or miss, and some unsatisfied customers fall through the cracks. In general though, in my personal experience Spark Business and Citibank have friendly, knowledgeable service reps.
Experience: Citi is the 4th largest bank in the United States, having opened way back in 1812. Capital One formed in 1988 and is the 8th biggest American bank.
HERE’S A QUICK VISUAL
Capital One
Service Fee Starts at $0
In Business Since 1988
Perfect for: Anyone looking for a startup-friendly, cost-effective business checking account
Citibank
Service Fee Starts at $15/month
In Business Since 1812
Perfect for: Anyone looking for flexible business banking solutions for growing businesses
Frequently Asked Questions
How Easy Is It to Get Set Up?
You can either visit a Citibank branch, or simply fill out their online Small Business Financing Worksheet. It couldn’t be much simpler and only takes a few minutes once you have your information ready.
What Perks Come with Checking Accounts?
Aside from that 0.01% APY on the Interest Checking account, there aren’t any bonuses tied directly to their business checking. However, if you add a credit card, they offer great perks through partners like Costco and American Airlines.
How Are Deposits Made?
You can go to a brick and mortar Citibank branch, make a deposit at an ATM or use the CitiBusiness online platform.
Should You Use Citibank?
I’ll give Citibank a score of 3.8/5. They have strong brand power and I like the way they’re always refining their products to meet customer demands. That being said, if this doesn’t sound like you perfect fit, check out our Best Business Bank Accounts.