shouldiuse.io

Report

Should I Use Citi?

citi.com·Analyzed 11 hours ago··Based on 12 sources

Depends

Depends

Citi suits travelers, high-balance customers, and anyone wanting one global bank with premium card rewards.

Full-service global bank: fine products, but 3.6/5 reviews, breach history, and fee traps. Compare online banks first.

Confidence: Medium

3.6/5

WalletHub rating

35,547 reviews

3.6/5

Glassdoor employee rating

36,920 reviews

$4.50/mo

Basic savings fee

waiver conditions apply

17.99%-28%+

Card APR

Citi Simplicity, per CFPB filing

Value for money3

Monthly fees lurk; card APRs standard

Ease of use3

Top-used mobile app; support friction reported

Feature depth4

Full suite: cards, banking, wealth, global

Support quality2

3.6/5 and complaint threads everywhere

Security posture2

Breaches in 2011 and 2024; NY lawsuit

Pros

  • Huge range: cards, checking, savings, mortgages, investing, private wealth
  • Citi Priority tier has no monthly service fee⁸
  • Citi Shop: free browser rewards at 5,000+ online stores
  • Free FICO score access for cardholders
  • Mobile app ranked among top three most-used banking apps (2018)

Cons

  • Mediocre 3.6/5 user rating across 35,547 WalletHub reviews¹
  • Customer service complaints recur on Trustpilot and Reddit²
  • 2024 breach prompted a New York lawsuit12
  • Employees rate it just 3.6/5 on Glassdoor³

Gotchas

  • high$4.50/month service fee on basic savings; verify waiver conditions before opening⁶
  • high2011 breach exposed ~350,000 customer records via weak web-app authentication11
  • highReddit users report accounts taken over and info changed via support phone calls⁵
  • lowOld 2010 mobile-app CVE once exposed sensitive data; dated but shows app-security stumbles10

Best for

  • Travel-rewards card users (Strata Elite)
  • High-balance customers wanting Citigold/Priority perks
  • Global, multi-country banking needs

Not for

  • Fee-averse users wanting simple, cheap checking
  • Anyone expecting fast, friendly customer service
  • Fraud-wary users needing responsive account protection
  • Small businesses wanting no-frills banking without fee mazes

Pricing

Checking / Citi Priority

$0 monthly fee

  • No monthly service fee on Priority tier
  • Waiver conditions apply on basic accounts

Savings

$4.50/mo

  • Monthly service fee on basic savings
  • Can be waived under conditions

Credit cards

17.99%+ APR

  • Citi Simplicity APR filed at 17.99% to 28% range
  • Pricing tables published quarterly

Security

Recurring breach history: 2011 exposure of ~350K records, 2024 breach with New York lawsuit; no new findings in this review.

  • 2011 Citigroup data breachHackers acquired over 350,000 customer records by exploiting weak authentication in Citi's web application.11
  • 2024 Citibank data breachNew York sued Citi following a 2024 breach; state agencies issued security notices to Citibank cardholders.12
  • CVE-2010-2913Citi Mobile iOS app before 2.0.3 stored sensitive information insecurely; old and long patched.10

What users say

Tens of thousands of ratings average 3.6/5, with customer service, fraud handling, and fee surprises the loudest complaints.

“Is Citi a terrible bank or am I just unfortunate with my experience?”
— Reddit, r/CreditCards
“Is Citibank as bad as people say?”
— Reddit, r/citibank

Alternatives

Compare Citi with each alternative.

Local credit unions

Lower fees, human service, community focus

Full analysis

Based on ~30 public sources; many review snippets were truncated.

Sources

  1. Citibank Reviews: 35,547 User Ratings - WalletHubwallethub.com
    review
  2. Citi Reviews - Trustpilottrustpilot.com
    review
  3. Citi Reviews - Glassdoorglassdoor.com
    review
  4. Is Citi a terrible bank? - Redditreddit.com
    review
  5. Citi account hacked via support phone call - Redditreddit.com
    review
  6. Citibank Review - U.S. Newsusnews.com
    review
  7. Citi Savings Accountciti.com
    official
  8. Citi Priorityciti.com
    official
  9. Citi Simplicity Pricing Information Table - CFPBfiles.consumerfinance.gov
    official
  10. CVE-2010-2913 - NVDnvd.nist.gov
    security
  11. Throwback: Citigroup Data Breach of 2011 - Proofpointproofpoint.com
    security
  12. Citibank Data Breach - Twingatetwingate.com
    security

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