Citibank Personal Loans: 2024 Review

Citibank provides unsecured personal loans that can be used for almost any purpose, but may be most ideal for existing Citibank customers planning a small home remodel or large purchase.

Citibank’s loans come with consumer-friendly features, like no fees and multiple rate discounts. However, the lender caps loan amounts at $30,000, and starting rates are high compared to other personal loans.

Borrowers with good or excellent credit (690 credit score or higher) may find more affordable or more flexible options elsewhere.

» MORE: Best bank loans

Table of Contents

Citibank personal loans at a glance

Where Citibank personal loans stand out and fall short

How to use Citibank personal loans

Citibank personal loan customer reviews

Do you qualify for a Citibank personal loan?

How to apply for a Citibank personal loan

Compare Citibank to other lenders

How we rate Citibank personal loans

Citibank personal loans at a glance

• Disclosure from Citibank

  Rates as of 8-01-2024. Your APR may be as low as 11.49% or as high as 20.49% for the term of your loan. The lowest rate quoted assumes excellent credit and a loan term of 24 or 36 months. Your APR will depend on a variety of factors including your creditworthiness, term of loan, and existing relationship with Citi. Citi offers personal loans with a period of repayment between 12 and 60-month terms. For example, if you borrow $10,000 for 36 months at 15.99% APR, to repay your loan you will have to make 36 monthly payments of approximately $351.52. There is a 0.5% APR discount if you enroll in automatic payments at loan origination. Additionally, existing Citigold and Citi Priority customers will receive a 0.25% discount to the APR. If you are in default, your APR may increase by 2.00%. Rates subject to change without notice. To check for offers you may qualify for, Citi conducts a soft credit inquiry. If you are presented with an offer and choose to proceed with the application process, Citi will conduct a hard credit inquiry which may have an impact on your credit score. Citi® Personal Loan proceeds cannot be used to pay for post-secondary education expenses or for business purposes. Credit cards issued by Citibank, N.A. or its affiliates, as well as Checking Plus and Ready Credit accounts, are not eligible for debt consolidation, and Citibank will not issue payoff checks for these accounts. If you are unsure of the issuer on the account, please visit https://www.citi.com/affiliatesproducts for a list of Citi products and affiliates. If you are approved for a personal loan with Citi, you can get your funds the same day with a Citi deposit account, or up to 2 business days for a non-Citi account when using direct deposit. Or, you can select to receive a check by mail in approximately 5 business days. Terms, conditions, and fees for accounts, products, programs and services are subject to change at any time. You must be at least 18 years of age (21 years of age in Puerto Rico). Co-applicants are not permitted. If you apply online, you must agree to receive the loan note and all other account disclosures provided with your loan origination in an electronic format and provide your signature electronically. Personal loans are made available by Citibank, N.A., Equal Housing lender

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Where Citibank personal loans stand out

Multiple rate discounts: Citibank offers multiple opportunities to get a discounted annual percentage rate. Borrowers who set up automatic payments at the loan’s origination will receive a 0.50-percentage-point rate discount. Existing Citigold, Citi Private Client and Citi Priority customers get an additional 0.25-percentage-point discount.

Borrowers also receive a rate reduction of one percentage point for choosing a one- or four-year loan term, and a reduction of two percentage points for choosing a two- or three-year loan term.

No fees: Citibank doesn’t charge any fees for its personal loan, including no origination fee, late fee or prepayment fee. Though it’s common for banks not to charge an origination or prepayment fee, it’s much harder to find a lender — bank or otherwise — that doesn’t charge a late fee for missed payments.

Fast funding: Customers with a Citi deposit account can get their funds the same day they’re approved. Borrowers without a Citi deposit account may need to wait up to two business days to receive funds through direct deposit.

Soft credit check to pre-qualify: Both Citi customers and non-customers can pre-qualify for a personal loan on Citi’s website. This process lets borrowers preview their potential loan amount, rate and repayment term to help with their decision to borrow. Because the process only involves a soft credit pull, borrowers can check their rates with multiple lenders to find the most competitive offer.

Seven-day customer service: Citi says personal loan customers can reach customer service representatives every day of the week between 9 a.m. and 11 p.m. ET. Citi’s hours are much longer than other lenders’.

» COMPARE: Fast personal loans with quick funding

Where Citibank personal loans fall short

No large loan amounts: Citibank’s maximum personal loan amount is $30,000, which may be enough for some borrowers. But if you’re looking to fund a large expense, like a home improvement project, other lenders offer personal loans as high as $50,000 or $100,000.

No co-sign or joint loan options: Citibank doesn’t offer joint or co-signed loans. Both types of loans allow you to add another borrower to your application, which can help you get approved or qualify for a larger loan amount.

» MORE: Compare co-sign and joint loans

No option to choose or change your payment date: Borrowers are given a payment date when they accept a Citibank loan, and that date can't be changed. The option to change your payment date, which is offered by some other lenders, is useful if you get a new payday or want to balance the loan with other monthly obligations.

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How to use Citibank personal loans

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Citibank personal loan customer reviews

J.D. Power ranked Citibank third in overall customer satisfaction for personal loans in its 2024 Consumer Lending Satisfaction Study. The study was conducted with over 4,000 participants who weighed in on various factors such as the experience obtaining a loan and the ease of doing business with the lender. As of September 2024, Citibank’s mobile app has a 4.7-star rating across over 1 million reviews on Google Play and a 4.9-star rating across nearly 4 million reviews on the Apple App Store.

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Do you qualify for a Citibank personal loan?

Borrowers must be at least 18 years old to apply for a Citibank personal loan, and co-applicants are not permitted.

Citibank doesn't publicly disclose many of its borrower requirements, but the majority of borrowers who get a personal, small business or other type of loan have FICO scores of 660 or higher, according to a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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How to apply for a Citibank personal loan

Here are the steps to apply for a Citibank loan.

1. Pre-qualify on Citibank’s website. Citibank offers pre-qualification, so you'll fill out a short application, which will ask for your personal information and the purpose of the loan. You can then preview loan offers, including loan amount, rate, repayment terms and monthly payments. There’s no hard credit pull at this stage.

2. Formally apply. After viewing your loan options, you can submit a formal personal loan application. Citibank will inform you if it requires additional documentation to process your application. The lender conducts a hard credit check when you apply, so your credit score could temporarily dip.

3. Stay on top of your loan payments. Citibank reports payments to the three main credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion), so on-time payments will help build your credit score, but missed payments will hurt it. Setting up automatic payments and keeping an eye on your budget are two ways to manage your loan payments.

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Compare Citibank to other lenders

Personal loan lenders offer different rates, loan amounts and special features, so it pays to weigh other options. The best personal loan is usually the one with the lowest APR.

Similar to Citibank, LightStream and SoFi offer personal loans with no fees and fast funding.

LightStream

» MORE: Read our review of LightStream

SoFi

» MORE: Read our review of SoFi

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How we rate Citibank personal loans

NerdWallet writers rate lenders against a rubric that changes each year based on how personal loan products evolve. Here’s what we prioritized this year:

• Category definitions

  Affordability (30%)

  An affordable loan has low rates and fees compared to other similar loans and may offer rate discounts.

  Underwriting and eligibility (25%)

  A lender reviews borrowers' credit reports and credit history, and tries to understand their ability to repay a loan, before making a final application decision.

  Loan flexibility (20%)

  A flexible loan is one that lets users customize terms and payments. That means offering a wide range of repayment term options, allowing the borrower to change their payment date, offering loans in most states and funding it quickly.

  Customer experience (15%)

  A good customer experience can include a fully online application process, financial education on the lender’s website and a customer service team that’s available most of the time and can be reached multiple ways.

  Transparency (10%)

  A transparent lender makes information about the loan easy to find on its website, including rates, terms and loan amounts. Transparency also means allowing users to pre-qualify online to preview potential loan offers and reporting payment information with the major credit bureaus.

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