Citibank Offers $100 in Gift Cards and Triple Thank You Points When You Open a Checking Account

Citibank has a new offer for opening a checking account. Open an account online, via the phone, or through a branch, do a few qualifying activities and receive 16,000 Thank You Points redeemable for $150 in gift cards and triple points for the next year.

To get your 16,000 points, you need to:

1. Open a Citibank® Account, Citibank Everything Counts® or Citigold® account relationship package by 8/31/08 and deposit at least $1,000 in account between account opening date and 9/30/08.

2. Enroll your account in the Thank You Network. This is Citibank's debit card reward program.

3. Complete one direct deposit per month, two electronic bill payments or five signature debit card transactions and continue for three consecutive months.

To get the triple points, you need to open one of the account mentioned above, enroll in the Thank You Network, and keep an active account by perfomring at least one debit or credit transaction per each statement cycle.

Is It Worth It?

Well, first you get 16,000 points which can be used to get some decent gifts. The Audiovox Portable DVD player is only 14,400 points, meaning you could pick it up for free.

There are some other gits that look pretty good also. You have to do the qualifying activities but they don't look overly onerous for someone who is pays their bills online or regularly uses a debit card.

And the triple points don't sound bad either. For every 8,000 points, according to the rewards site, you can receive a $50 check. You receive a point for every $2 spent on your debit card. That means your redemption percent is ,31%. That's pretty low, although remember this is a debit card, not a credit card. But if you triple the points you receive, the redemptino percent goes up to .93% for the next 12 months. That's close to 1% and isn't bad at all, even compared to credit card reward programs.