Citibank Online Service – One more reason why the Citi never sleeps!

Citibank Online Service

The world has become so fast paced that forget a Stop button, but even a simple Pause button in everyone’s life seems to have disappeared. Only the Play and the Fast-forward modes are now available, while a Rewind button may pop up just once in a while. There is so much to accomplish and such little time, that everyone is on the lookout for alternatives that save time. So that with the time they save, they can look out for opportunities that save even more time!

The point being, it has become imperative for every business to provide quick and easy services to their customers. Today, every business has an online platform for not only regular interaction but also daily business transactions. One such sector where a virtual presence is absolutely necessary is banking. Every bank now has an online banking service that allows the customers to conduct virtually every banking transaction online. Citibank’s online service is one of the most successful in the banking arena if one goes by the number of users of the service (Citibank has notably 15 million online banking users). Be it -

Managing your account
Account transfers
Balance inquiries
Bill payments
Stop payment requests
Money transfer
Managing investments
Applying for a loan or a credit card

the Citibank online service provides it all, and more.

Having said that, an analysis of the advantages and the disadvantages of their online banking indicates the following

Advantages

Citibank online services are extremely user friendly, setting a benchmark for the banking sector for the systems that they develop and the up-to-the-minute technology that they use. Here are some of the major advantages of using Citibank online services:

Online fraud protection – Citibank offers both preventive and corrective measures to protect against online fraud. The Citi Identity Monitor gives you access to monitor your credits on a timely basis and also gives you access to fraud and credit education specialists.

In the event of a faulty online transaction, your loss is fully covered by Citibank. So in case of an attempt of any kind of unauthorized withdrawal or money transfer from your account, contacting Citibank officials is a good idea. Citibank covers the interest charges, overdraft charges and also the returned cheque charges incurred by you.

In case of user id and password theft, the Citi Identity Theft Solutions team will alert track your credit record and issue alerts to credit reporting agencies. The Citi Identity Theft Solutions team promises the case closure within 10 working days.

Easy online bill payments – Timely payment of bills can be scheduled by setting a payment date even a year in advance. Multiple payments can be made through Express payments option. Even recurring payments can be scheduled to avoid monthly hassles of bill payments. Some of the special benefits of online bill payments with Citi are:
- Past and future payment records
- Tracking of cancelled and open payments
- A Payee Spending Report that helps track the amount spent on each payee in past years
- A paper cheque to payees even when you pay online!
Making planned investments – Whether you manage your income on your own or through a Citibank Personal Wealth Manager, your investment accounts can be managed with your regular accounts with Citibank Online!
Get rewards for banking – Citi Thank You rewards program pays you for all your payments and transactions through your Citi card. The Citi Thank you rewards program gives you points at every transaction if you have a checking account and a debit card linked to a savings account or your online bill payments. The points can be redeemed with amazing returns on offer.
Ease of loan application – If you want to apply for a Personal loan, you can apply online and find out in minutes whether you would be eligible for the same or not! Even mortgages, student loans home equity lines and loans can be availed through online banking facility in no time.

The advantages of Citibank online service are many. It is up to the customer to make the most of these services for optimum use.

Disadvantages

Though there are hardly any disadvantages of the Citibank online services, as a user one can come across the following

difficulties:

Complicated – For the uninitiated, the online banking platform could take time to get used to and may pose initial understanding difficulties. Because of layers of security measures, a user may get confused and even find it difficult to navigate through sections on the site. The helpline service eof the bank can come handy at such a point.
Need for a teller – Certain transactions cannot be virtually accomplished and demand a teller. For instance, if you have a 7 day CD savings account, transfer of money from checking to savings through the Internet or via the ATMs is difficult and requires a live teller. thus such transactions can take effect only during bank working hours.
Instant transactions – If you make your cheque request say two weeks in advance of the payment due, the bank may withdraw money from the account the day the request was made. This results in the loss of interest of that payment by two weeks.

Overview

There are several advantages and a few disadvantages of the online banking services of Citibank. But with such robust security measures, and highly user friendly interface, there is hardly a surprise that the Citibank website was awarded the Interactive Media Councils Outstanding Achievement Award for Financial Information.

With all the above mentioned services, Citibank truly makes your online experience amazingly easy and incredibly safe. And when most of these services come absolutely free of cost, it is like an icing on an already tempting cake! Surely, the Citi never sleeps.