Citi Quick Cash (Citibank Personal Loan) Review 2024—Interest Rates, Calculator & Application

Citibank users rejoice because if you need some form of money, you can easily get it in the form of Citi Quick Cash.

It acts as a personal loan for when you’re in need of extra cash for emergency such as medical bills or urgent repayments. We’d like to remind you that you shouldn’t take out a personal loan if you want the extra cash to go on holiday or buy your next branded bag. Just save up for those instead of ending up paying more because of the interest. 

Let’s see what the Citi Quick Cash personal loan is about and if it’s worth taking.

 

Citi Quick Cash (Citibank Personal Loan)—Application criteria

Citi Quick Cash is a bit different from your run-of-the-mill personal loan. It is meant for people who:

1. Have a Citi Credit Card or Citi Ready Credit (a flexible line of credit) account
2. Have not used up all the money within their credit limit.

Citi Quick Cash lets you convert this available credit limit into cash at more favourable interest rates.

If you don’t already have a Citi Credit Card or Citibank Ready Credit, you will have to first get one or the other before you can access Citi Quick Cash. On the plus side, new customers often get to enjoy welcome promotions.

In addition, you need to satisfy the following annual income requirements to qualify for Citi Quick Cash:

• Singapore Citizens and PRs: $30,000
• Foreigners: $42,000

 

Citi Quick Cash (Citibank Personal Loan)—Before you apply

Before you apply, you can check your potential monthly repayments on the Citi Quick Cash Loan website.

Scroll down to “Get a Citi Quick Cash quote” for their loan calculator and input how much you need, how long you need to pay it back, and the reason you’re borrowing the money. Citibank offers 3 main reasons: home renovation, medical expenses, and education. (If you select “others” and really “branded luxury” or “vacation”, please do yourself a favour and forget about taking out the loan. These are not good reasons to take a personal loan.)

If you’re taking a personal loan to fund your education, you might also want to check out these education loans.

You can also use the MoneySmart personal loan comparison page to get a quotation and at the same time compare with other banks.

 

Citi Quick Cash (Citibank Personal Loan)—Application and approval time

To apply for Citi Quick Cash, existing Citibank customers can go through the Citi Mobile App or Citibank Online. Existing Citi Credit Card holders and Ready Credit Account Holders do not need to furnish any documents.

For new Citibank customers, you need to first sign up for a Citi credit card or Citi Ready Credit account—this can be approved pretty quickly, say less than a week, as long as you meet all the respective requirements. 

If you’re getting a Citibank credit card, I suggest you apply for your card on MoneySmart to take advantage of our promotions. Some of my recommendations for Citibank credit cards include the Citi Cash Back+ Card, which is one of my favourite unlimited cashback cards, and the Citi PremierMiles Card, which is fantastic for online hotel bookings with its 10 miles per dollar earn rate.

For those who are new to Citibank and are applying for a credit card or Ready Credit, you can apply with your Singpass. Those without Singpass can apply online with the following documents:

You are…	Documents required
Singaporean, salaried employee	A photocopy of the front and back of your NRIC Past 12 month’s CPF statement submitted via CPF website OR latest Income Tax Notice of Assessment & latest original computerised payslip
Singaporean, self-employed	A photocopy of the front and back of your NRIC Past 12 month’s CPF statement submitted via CPF website OR latest Income Tax Notice of Assessment & latest original computerised payslip
Foreigner	A photocopy of the front & back of your Passport/Employment Pass Latest Income Tax Notice of Assessment and latest computerized payslip

For existing Citibank customers submitting an application through the Citibank mobile app, approval is instant.

Once approved, Citibank will deposit the funds into your Citi account within the next working day. It pays to have a Citi account, because otherwise you can wait up to 5 working days with a non-Citi account.

 

Citi Quick Cash (Citibank Personal Loan)—Interest rates (2024)

At the time of writing, the 3.45% p.a (EIR 6.5% p.a.). However, this only applies to new Citi Credit Card or Citibank Ready Credit account holders. 

For existing Citibank members, the interest rate and EIR differs depending on your available credit limit on your card. Just from my own personal illustration, if I were to borrow $20,000, the interest rate is 4.33% p.a. (EIR 8%) at a repayment of 60 months (5 years). A lower amount and shorter loan tenure would have a higher interest rate. 

For the purpose of this article, we’ll only cover the rates for new customers.

New customers can loan up to 4x your monthly income. If your annual income is $120,000 and above, you can loan up to 8x your monthly income. 

The interest rates are also pretty stable—they don’t fluctuate too much based on the tenure. Here’s a quick overview: 

Tenure (months)	12	24	36	48	60
Nominal Interest Rates (per annum)	3.56%	3.46%	3.45%	3.46%	3.48%
Effective Interest Rates (per annum)	6.50%	6.50%	6.50%	6.50%	6.50%

You may have noticed that there are 2 interest rates in the table above—nominal interest rates and effective interest rates, the latter of which is 6.5% for all loan tenures. Pay more attention to the effective interest rates—here’s why.

A good thing about the Citi Quick Cash is that there’s no processing fee at all! However, there are other fees you may incur if you cancel the loan early or if you pay a repayment late:

• Cancellation fee: $100 or 3% of the outstanding loan amount, whichever is higher.
• Late payment penalty: Any unpaid portion of your current or previous billed monthly instalment will be subject to daily interest at $3 per month or at the prevailing interest rate as set out in the statement of account, whichever is greater. As of 24 Jul 2023, this interest rate was 27.9% p.a.. Definitely something you want to avoid!

Make sure you pay the amount on your credit card statement as well as your Quick Cash monthly instalment to ensure you don’t incur any extra charges.

To check how much you’ll be paying in interest and monthly instalments, you can use the Citibank calculator on its website.

When it comes to loan repayments, here are some things you need to take note of:

• Monthly repayments: These are the monthly instalments you must pay every month.
• Total amount repayable: Subtract the amount you’re borrowing from this figure and you’ll get the total cost of the interest payments you’ll be making over the tenure of the loan.
• Applied / Effective Interest Rate (EIR): This is the “real” per annum interest rate you’ll be paying when all fees are taken into account.

When it comes to repaying, your instalments are billed to your Citi credit card or Ready Credit account like a regular purchase you’d make. 

 

Citibank personal loan vs DBS/POSB, OCBC, UOB, Standard Chartered personal loan interest rates

For the purposes of comparing the Citibank loan with those from 4 popular local banks, let’s use the hypothetical example of someone who’s taking out a $10,000 loan, to be repaid over 3 years.

Assuming this person is a Singaporean or PR who is earning $2,500 per month, here’s what the interest rates could look like:

	Interest rate	EIR	Monthly instalment	Total amount payable
Citibank	3.45%	6.5%	$306	$11,003
DBS/POSB	2.88%	5.79%	$302	$10,864
UOB	2.88%	5.43%	$302	$10,864
Standard Chartered	2.88%	5.84%	$302	$10,864
OCBC	5.43%	11.47%	$323	$11,629

As you can see, in this particular example, Citi Quick Cash is actually quite competitive compared to the three local banks. UOB, Standard Chartered and DBS/POSB are slightly cheaper—you’ll save about $4 per month with them.

Check out our full review of the 8 Best Personal Loans in Singapore.

 

Be cautious with personal loans

When it comes to personal loans, don’t let bank ads lure you — personal loans aren’t a cure-all for your spending desires. While they can be helpful in a pinch, they shouldn’t finance every vacation or shopping spree.

Think of personal loans as a financial tool best reserved for true needs, not wants. Consider them only if you absolutely must spend the money and the alternative is piling on high-interest credit card debt. 

A need can be things like an unexpected medical bills, including for your furkid, an important business expense or urgent home repair. For anything less urgent or non-essential, saving up is your best bet. Build your emergency fund so that you can reach your goals without getting caught in a debt cycle while still being able to indulge on your wants without worry.

Still not sure if a personal loan is right for you? Ask yourself these 7 questions.

 

Still urgently looking for a personal loan? We’ve compared all the best personal loans in Singapore here for you!

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About the author

Audrey Ng is a bargain hunter who tries to sniff out the best deals possible whether it’s food, shopping or travel. She will out auntie the auntiest of aunties.

 

 

 

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