Link



Get your money rockin’ n rollin’ with Citibank ® EZ Checking account today. Just follow these 3 easy steps, it will only take a few minutes.

1. Simply apply for a Regular Checking account with the Citibank® EZ Checking pricing package – it’s FREE with Direct Deposit.***

2. Fund your account with $2,500.

3 Pay 2 bills online each month for 12 consecutive calendar months at citibankonline.com. You will receive your iPod® Mini.* after you pay your first 2 bills online at citibankonline.com. Remember Online Bill Payment is FREE at Citibank.

**OFFER DETAILS: This Offer is not available at Citibank Financial Centers. To receive this Offer, you must: (1) open and fund a Regular Checking account online with the Citibank® EZ Checking account package with an initial deposit of at least $2,500 by 12/31/2004; and (2) pay two bills online at www.citibankonline.com beginning no later than the first full calendar month after the account is opened and during each of the following eleven consecutive calendar months. To "pay" a bill online means that funds are debited from your account during the applicable time period. The Apple iPod® mini will be shipped to you within 90 days of the end of the statement period in which the first two bill payments appear. Account must be in good standing at the time the iPod® mini is shipped. The Apple iPod® mini provided by Citibank will be available in two colors (silver and blue.) Citibank reserves the right to ship the Apple iPod® mini in a color of it’s choosing.

$2500, 12 months, if you put it in ING you will have around $55 in return. In citibank you will probably have $26 as interest. However, this deal only requires an opening balance, didn't say anything about keeping the money in the account. That would be something nice to try.

BTW, comparing to that $200 offer, which is better?

I believe it requires a $1,500 average combined balance across all of your CitiBank accounts (CDs, savings, checking, etc) to avoid a monthly fee. So you can pull out $1000 of that right away, but not the rest.

EZ Checking Details

The problem is if you only have $1500 in the bank, you don't have the money to pay for the online bill.

Online bill pay can be to anyone, you can set it up to your parents, $1 for each person each month.

You can setup a direct deposit into the account and get away from the minimum 1500 balance.

so is it possible to pay only $24 (24 $1 payments) for online bills.



Is this possible?
scenaro,

deposit 2500, make 2 $1 payments to parents/relatives.

withdrawl $976 from account
--------------------------------------
$1522 left in account

and use $22 for the remaining 22 online bills ($1 x 22 payments)

Waddle I don't see anthing on Citi's website aboit the Mini Offer. Maybe they pullked it. Check you link....

people... this deal is so NOT hot!!!

By next year, this IPOD will not be even half its value. Today you can buy this IPOD for $250 so the rate of return might sound very good ($250 return on the investment of $1500 and dilligent bill paying for one year). By next year, this will be a terrible deal. If you are willing to go through the hassle, I would recommend getting the $200 deal posted here instead.

ps: Even the $200 deal is way too much hassle and WARM at best IMHO.

I completely disagree. This is an easy thing to do, if you have $2500 available temporarily and $1500 long term. Whether you do $200 cash, or $250 value in an iPod mini, you still are getting an excellent guaranteed return on your money. This is a much higher rate of return than you could get out of ING or anything like that.

I would also weigh in on the side of a good deal. You have to look at what the price is now, when you get the item and use it. Otherwise, you never purchase any electronic item, as it will alsways be much cheaper in a year. But then you've gone without. How do you put a value on that??

wheel

You will not be getting the ipod untill after one year.. so by the time you get the ipod, it will be worth a lot less. not a hot deal.

Incorrect:



and this isn't the hot deal forum anyway. this is a very solid Finance deal.

I am sorry you are right.
good deal.

Also, i was told a CD counts as a "linked account". So you could fund it with $2500, immediately move $1500 to a 1-year CD, and then setup auto-billpay for those payments. So pay $1 to two people every month, that means you need $24 left in checking to cover that. So for $1524 (+ a little cushion) you could earn interest and get your ipod mini. Not bad at all, I say. Currently the rate is 2.1% on a 1-year CD. So if you're willing to keep $1524 tied up for a year, earning 2% interest anyway, this is an even better deal.

A question: Say that I have 2 checking accounts in 2 different banks. Could I pay $1 to each of those accounts (my own accounts in other banks) every month.

Yep, that's fine. Or just pay $1 to two of your credit cards every month.

hr_king,

link works fine



usually deals like this are open only to new customers..anyone see any noneligibility for current customers?

I already appled for this free IPod Mini deal.
I also got pin number and check card.
However, I check my bank account, it shows that money has not beed transferred to Citibank checking account
I still can't use online banking for my EZ checking a/c because I don't have account number.

Do you think is there any problem?
How can I check my balance for my EZ cehcking a/c?
Or I have to wait for Welcome Kit?

Did you send the signature card ?

Once you send the signature card, they will send you the 50 checks and then you can start using your account as for now they do some background check and till then the account is disabled.

I hope this helps

Thank you for your fast response
I sent a signature card to them about a week ago.
Oh ... they do a background check?
interesting.
I use my friend's home phone number since I have only cell phone.
Do you think it will cause a problem?

That will surely create a problem. In my case I had to send them a copy of my Utility bill / Credit Card Bill for address verification although I gave them my home tel num but somehow they could not verify it. Try calling them up and they will ask you to send these things by fax I believe.

lol!! I came into the thread thinking hmmm! this sounds like a good deal.. But if i had $2500.00 laying around i wouldnt go through this i would just go down and buy the thing lol! but thanx op!! for those that have the money and the patiences this might be a good deal..but not for me!

As previously discussed, they had to do a background check on me before they unlock the account. I submitted the signature before 12/31/04, but the problem is that the account was not unlocked until after 12/31/04, which is the deadline to open an ezchecking. Does it mean that I missed the deadline and I wouldn't be getting the ipod??

Offer code CD19 expires 4/30/05

Need to have direct deposit or minimum balance (no idea what) plus pay two bills per month.

Has anyone who did this received their Ipod mini yet? Curious.

Just got mine in the mail tonight. It is the 4GB version. Sealed and delivered 2nd day Air UPS. Nice package and oh yeah, it's free! Thanks.

Does it have the improved battery life?

wheel

i have done other citibank deals before like the palm ones and $100 ones. can i do this again?

Close your citi bank account, wait for 3 to 9 months, and see what deals you will have then.