Citi is out with a new offer where you can score as many as 60,000 AAdvantage Miles when opening a new checking account. These seem to be targeted through both e-mail and regular mail, although a few folks have reported finding the offer when just logging into their Citi account. (h/t: Frequent Miler Insiders)
The title of the e-mail includes “enjoy all the benefits of being a Citi Cardmember, plus earn up to 60,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles.” (h/t: Tom, FMI)
The Deal
- Citi is sending targeted mailers and e-mails for AAdvantage miles bonuses when opening a new eligible checking account.
- Within 60 days of account opening, make debit card purchases in the specified amounts (see chart below) and make two or more enhanced direct deposits totaling $1,000 or more..
- Your AAdvantage Bonus Miles will be credited to your open, eligible AAdvantage account within 90 calendar days from the date you complete all Required Activities.
What is an “enhanced direct deposit?”
I had to look it up myself, here’s Citi’s definition:
An Enhanced Direct Deposit is an electronic deposit through the Automated Clearing House (“ACH”) Network of payroll, pension, social security, government benefits and other payments to your checking, savings or MMA account. An Enhanced Direct Deposit also includes all deposits via Zelle and other P2P payments when made via ACH using providers such as Venmo or PayPal. Teller deposits, cash deposits, check deposits, wire transfers, transfers between Citibank accounts, ATM transfers and deposits, mobile check deposits, and P2P payments using a debit card do not qualify as a Direct Deposit.
Pretty simple.
Terms and Conditions
- You can not have owned a Citi checking account in the last 180 days.
- You must be a primary Citi credit cardmember.
- You must have received the offer directly from Citi to be eligible to participate in this promotion.
- Unless expressly prohibited, Eligible Customers can participate in other Citibank AAdvantage American Airlines promotions, which award miles; however, no Eligible Customer can be awarded more than 120,000 AAdvantage miles total (multiple awards allowed) within any 365-day period.
Quick Thoughts
If you’re targeted, this seems like a terrific deal. In the past, the top bonuses in these Citi offers have been based on opening accounts that have significant balance requirements (or charge fees). The most basic account eligible here only requires a $1500 minimum balance or it assesses $30/month in fees. The differentiation in bonus is between different levels of debit card spend, with the 60K bonus reached at only $1,000 over 90 days.
On the surface, the “Enhanced Direct Deposit” requirements seems very simple as well, since it includes all deposits via Zelle and also person-to-person payments made via ACH when using Venmo or PayPal. That’s about as easy as it gets.
If you’ve been targeted for this, it’s worth taking a good look at it; this is one of the lower-effort, higher-reward bank account bonuses that I’ve seen for awhile. The e-mail went to the junk folder for many folks, so it’s worth taking a look there by seaching for “Citi Checking” or “enjoy all the benefits of being a Citi Cardmember, plus earn up to 60,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles,” even if you don’t think you received it.
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Has anyone closed their account after receiving the AA points – Is Citi going to claw points back should you close account after receiving miles?
i am wondering the same thing… just got my points ready to close.
i’m wondering the same thing
5/13/23: account opened
5/22/23: 2600 pushed from Fidelity
5/24/23: 15 pushed from Fidelity
5/25/23: $1001 in 2 debit card transactions (1 amazon, 1 in store)
8/25/23: 60,000 points in AA account
Excellent!
Happy to report – 110 days after day of opening account both my wife and I received yesterday the 60K each in our AA account – I’m sure it took us about 2-3 weeks to complete deposits/spends – So 90 days from completion is just about right.
Hi! How did you do the deposits? I am hoping zelle qualifies as an enhanced direct deposit
Does anyone know when the account can be closed? I’m not interested in making Citi my new bank. It’s been 60 days since I received my bonus miles.
Haven’t received miles after 90 + days, even though all requirements met in 30 days. Now being told my qualifying deposits were not the right type even though i called them to verify prior to wasting my time. They now have to do an investigation after my hours on the phone. The first service rep hung up on me when i asked to speak to a supervisor. I am reporting Citibank to the American Marketing Association as a bait and switch fraud scheme, as well as the FTC and banking regulators. This seemed like an easy 60K miles, which has turned out to be a pain. Will make sure Citibank gets all the press three deserve on social media.
So how did you reach them?
Same thing happened to me. I met all of the requirements and I never received the miles. And now they say they’ve never heard of heard of the promotion. I’m also reporting Citibank to the American marketing Assn., the FTC and banking regulators.
I finally received my 60K bonus miles – 90 days after opening the account; nearly 60 days after meeting all of the requirements. I spent several very frustrating hours with support arguing that miles should be awarded 30 days after meeting the requirements; but they just kept telling me that the account had to be open at least 90 days. So, if you’re inside the 90-day window – I’d recommend just waiting it out and avoiding the hassle of support calls.
Same here!
Thanks so much for this! I was debating making the phone call, haha
Has anyone gotten the promo after 60 days? We forgot about it, and wondering if they’ll still honor it if we do it.
Did anyone have good or bad luck with getting the bonus miles lately?
I have encountered lots of issues with Citibank since I opened my checking acct due to their over-reacting fraud protection system. I never had any issues with Citibank credit cards before.
I finally got my miles posted to my account this morning from this bonus. I met the requirements at the end of April. It’s annoying because the email clearly states, “YOUR AAdvantage® bonus miles will be credited to your AAdvantage® account within 30 calendar days from the date you complete all required activities”. I’ve been waiting so long that the number of miles I needed for my trip have gone up 10k. The agents always gave me different answers. Now that I have my bonus, I have to find out if there is claw back period if close my account
Amanda. Thanks for the update. According to the T&C, the acct needs to stay open till the miles are awarded. So I’d think you can close it now without any penalty. But you better check with Citi. Good luck.
Exactly same issue here. I completed all activities on June 30. The promo clearly states bonus miles are to be credited into my mileage account “within 30 calendar days from the date you complete all required activities.” Spent all day on the phone and at a branch I’m now told to expect miles sometime on October! Never going to give Citibank another chance.
So how long after u completed ur requirements did they finally give you ur points? I’m in the same boat. Completed the requirements at end of May and still waiting for my points. Have called them multiple times about this and all they say is that they put in an investigation. Needing these points for my honeymoon. So frustrating!
Hi Joan, I FINALLY got my miles today. My account has been open for 99 days. Now I’m trying to figure out if I can close the account without losing the miles because I’ve not had a great experience!
Here is a link the T&C. Fingers crossed CITI applies the points. Seems easy enough… https://banking.citi.com/cbol/23/Q2/r2c/AA/miles/checking/OOBTA/default.htm
Thanks for sharing. It’s always a good idea to capture sucn info because it may not be available later. I’ve saved it on my C drive.
The agent I chatted with yesterday let me know the only purchases that count to this bonus are transactions where a PIN was entered. Anyone else have this experience? Having a hard time finding places to spend that require me to put in my PIN.
I just finished talking with an agent. He insisted that purchases without a PIN still count toward the bonus requirement.
I never used a debit card before. I assume the transaction form printed by some merchants do not have a PIN field. What about online purchases? Do you have to enter a PIN for them?
The rep told me that paying utility bills is not considered a purchase.
The purchases need to be within 90 days from the day I opened the account. It took me 10 days to just get my card and get my checking account number. After I transferred money from an external account to this account, it will take 4 more days for the funds to be available. Additionally, I will be vacationing abroad for two weeks in August. I can’t use this debit card because there is a 3%’s foreign transaction fee.
I am not a big spender. I will have to buy things I don’t need in order to make $1000’s purchase in such a short period.
By the way, will Citibank report the miles to IRS? I read that bonus miles that require purchases are not taxable.
Thanks for your input. I just chatted with another Citi rep and they instantly said I already met all the requirements. Still no miles though, so we’ll see. I don’t think the miles count as income because they are spend based.
I have just called Citi and I was told the miles should be on my account no longer than 90 days after opening my account if the qualifying activities were completed within that timeframe.
Each time I’ve tried to sign up via the email link I received, it takes me to where I put in my info, but them next it blocks me and gives me an error code? Anyone else experience this? maybe it’s a sign to not sign up for this.
Do money order purchases count as debit card spend??
From T&C: “Qualifying purchases are signature or PIN based debit card transactions. ATM withdrawals, cash back and bill payments do not qualify”.
A money order purchases is similar to an ATM withdraw to me. But it’s solely Citibank’s discretion. I wouldn’t count on it. If you are serious about the miles, try other purchases.
I fulfilled my requirements on 5/23 of this year and it’s now 6/29 and I still don’t have my miles. I’ve reached out three times now. Now they say they will get back to me in 5 business days. It definitely says you will be awarded on the 30th day it says nothing about being awarded on the 90th day as someone mentioned below. To those who received it, you don’t need Citi gold for the 60,000, right? And how long did it take to get the miles?
please keep updating I have met requirements on may 31 and there is no sign of bonus terms specifically say 30 days
I was told the same thing, “you have met all the requirements and the points would be elgible on 6/30”. now July 11th and I called back and was told again, yes i have met all the requirements and they are not sure why the points wont post to my AA account. Told me they have now started a rewards point dispute and was given a claim number and told to wait 5 days for resolution. really frustrating getting the run around with this.
I received a letter that they concluded the investigation and the answer was to just keep waiting. Ugh
Update: after about 75 days, multiple calls the points finally showed up. Not impressed with how long it took. Closing the checking account now because of the complexity and difficulty of this free promo.
Don’t do it! I got my miles 95 days after opening the account. Despite the fact that the email says 30 days, the bonus came exactly 90 days after I completed the requirements.
I qualified 75 days ago and still don’t have my miles! I’ve checked with an agent that I did qualify, they all just keep telling me to wait….
After 99 days of my account being open I finally got my miles!
Before I waste my time – anyone see this? it’s in their PDF fine print .
https://offer.citibank.com/cbol/checking/rewards/offers/files/tc_aa.pdf
looks like you have to open citigold to get the 60k
Citigold® 60,000 $1,000 And 1 or more for 2 consecutive calendar months
Citi Priority 50,000 $750 And 1 or more for 2 consecutive calendar months Citibank® 30,000 $500 And 1 or more for 2 consecutive calendar months
Basic Banking 5,000 $125 And 1 or more for 2 consecutive calendar months
Pdf linked is an offer from last year–this year is much more accessible
I asked a few agent about the requirements. They all told me that my ‘Access Checkless Checking’ can get 60,000 miles. By the way, it is great that you printed it. I did not print it and now I can’t see the requirements because the offer is no longer available to me (I already signed up).
Direct deposit requirements completed on May 24 (push from Fidelity brokerage), and debit card transactions completed on May 25. I sm with Citi to confirm I met the requirements. Now we wait on the points…
Any update on miles being put into your AA account. IM assuming that it is 30 days after the statement period which is at end of month usually.
no miles for me yet. My statement cut on June 13
I believe the account has to be active for 90 days. Then sometime after that the points will be awarded.
I read it 5 times at least and it says you just have to make the purchases and the deposits within 90 days of opening!! Nothing about waiting 90 days
I done the zelle method from my BOA bank to this one. You think that consider the enhanced direct deposit?
I…guess? 🙂 It seems pretty generic. I did a push from Fidelity.