Citibank Plus - No Fee No Overseas Transaction Fee Account

[ferni]

A good idea. So far, I have only used Citi ATMs (HKG and SIN) or HSBC in HKG. Neither charged operator fees.

I could probably go back and check my statements but from memory

Las Vegas charged $4-5 from memory (no option)
Thailand charged a couple of $
Bali didn't charge me
Osaka didn't
Guam didn't

In the end I just use whatever because the $ i save on FX and would get charged the operator fee regardless of what card I was using...

 

[moa999]

Agree you will probably get hit with the local fee whatever card you use, so still better using the Citibank card.

My experience:

US - Generally charge card fees (anywhere from $1-5) - Solution use Citibank machines
(bank machines/ in-chemist supermarket machines normally have the lowest fees)

Thailand - Charge for all foreign-issued cards - THB150/180 depending on machine (even at the few Citi machines I understand)
Cambodia - Common to charge for foreign-issued cards - normally US$3

And Aus - Generally charge card fee - Solution use Westpac machines (global partnership with Citi)

 

[markis10]

Agree you will probably get hit with the local fee whatever card you use, so still better using the Citibank card.

My experience:

US - Generally charge card fees (anywhere from $1-5) - Solution use Citibank machines
(bank machines/ in-chemist supermarket machines normally have the lowest fees)

Thailand - Charge for all foreign-issued cards - THB150/180 depending on machine (even at the few Citi machines I understand)
Cambodia - Common to charge for foreign-issued cards - normally US$3

And Aus - Generally charge card fee - Solution use Westpac machines (global partnership with Citi)

In Thailand you will not get a fee using the two Citibank ATMs in Bangkok, if you are happy to find them, also any AEON ATM which are often in the small supermarkets/7 11 type shops.

 

[moa999]

Good to know re citi. I thought aeon was now charging the surcharge

 

[markis10]

Good to know re citi. I thought aeon was now charging the surcharge

Thats a possibility, my experience in Jan was no but things can change.

 

[There'sOnlyOneJimmy]

Thanks for all contributions so far.
To summarise, when using a CitiBank Plus card in a non-CitiBank Foreign ATM:

Country/Locality	Provider	Fee	Notes
Cambodia	Generally	US$3
Guam	Unknown	Free
Indonesia/Bali	Unknown	Free
Japan/Osaka	Unknown	Free
Thailand	Generally	Baht150-180	CitiBank included! But not in Bangkok
Thailand/Bangkok	CitiBank	Free
Thailand	AEON	Baht150	Often in small 7/11 style supermarkets
USA	Generally	$1-5	Bank, Chemist & Supermarket ATMs have lowest fees
USA/Las Vegas	Unknown	$4-5
New Zealand	Westpac	Free
Hong Kong	HSBC	Free
Philipines	Generally	Charge	Charge not specified
Turkey/Istanbul	AKBANK	Free
France	Generally	Free
Switzerland	Generally	Free

Where a fee is charged by the local provider, (unless you hold some other ATM card that has some other fee-free options) then whatever fee is charged it’s most likely going to be the same for all other cards.

And, as most would know, Fee-Free ATMs in OZ are:
CitiBank, Westpac, St. George, Bank of Melbourne & BankSA.

I’ll update the table as more information comes in (unless a Moderator would like to take over… ;-)

 

[moa999]

This lengthy thread suggests that AEON started charging in Feb-14, much to the chagrin of a bunch of folks living in Thailand.
Aeon Bank now charge 150 B ATM fee - Jobs, economy, banking, business, investments - Thailand Forum

Appears some avoid the fee by doing an OTC transaction of THB 30k+ (which you can't do at a machine - most have caps of 20-30k)

 

[markis10]

This lengthy thread suggests that AEON started charging in Feb-14, much to the chagrin of a bunch of folks living in Thailand.
Aeon Bank now charge 150 B ATM fee - Jobs, economy, banking, business, investments - Thailand Forum

Appears some avoid the fee by doing an OTC transaction of THB 30k+ (which you can't do at a machine - most have caps of 20-30k)

To quote Toyota - bugger

 

[tim374]

Westpac in New Zealand didn't charge anything when I was there last year.

 

[Mr_Orange]

Westpac in New Zealand didn't charge anything when I was there last year.

That makes sense as Citi are teamed up with Westpac.

 

[Mr_Orange]

Thanks for all contributions so far.
To summarise, when using a CitiBank Plus card in a non-CitiBank Foreign ATM:

Country/Locality	Provider	Fee	Notes
Cambodia	Generally	US$3
Guam	Unknown	Free
Indonesia/Bali	Unknown	Free
Japan/Osaka	Unknown	Free
Thailand	Generally	Baht150-180	CitiBank included! But not in Bangkok
Thailand/Bangkok	CitiBank	Free
Thailand	AEON	Baht150	Often in small 7/11 style supermarkets
USA	Generally	$1-5	Bank, Chemist & Supermarket ATMs have lowest fees
USA/Las Vegas	Unknown	$4-5
New Zealand	Westpac	Free

Where a fee is charged by the local provider, (unless you hold some other ATM card that has some other fee-free options) then whatever fee is charged it’s most likely going to be the same for all other cards.

And, as most would know, Fee-Free ATMs in OZ are:
CitiBank, Westpac, St. George, Bank of Melbourne & BankSA.

I’ll update the table as more information comes in (unless a Moderator would like to take over… ;-)

You missed HSBC in Hong Kong which is fee free: http://www.australianfrequentflyer....bank-plus-no-fee-no-34155-11.html#post1136532.

 

[Inver]

Philippines followed Thailand and started charging overseas cards in the last 5 years. Saying that I use the Citbank atm's in Manila and Cebu.

 

[RooFlyer]

Great idea and thanks for the compilation.

I think I posted well up thread about my experience with the Citi plus in Europe, particularly eastern Europe. Started off hunting for Citi ATMs until I was somewhere where they don't exist, so had to use random ATM - to discover no fees! Then used with abandon, and virtually none I went to charged a fee, even in Russia. Will try to dig out the paperwork to see if I can name banks concerned.

Annoyingly, Canada, where I spend most of my time o/s, doesn't have any Citi ATMs!

 

[Duffa]

No fees in Istanbul.
Tried two ATMs but only remember the name of one - AKBANK - with machines everywhere.

 

[Major]

No fees in France

 

[anat0l]

I haven't been charged a fee for use in Switzerland, but since there are more banks than you can poke a stick at (and correspondingly bancomats), I'm not going to verify all of them are fee free, and even more so now that I get paid in the local currency. Nevertheless, for the time I was here using the Citibank Plus, I've used my card at various ATMs as well as debit transactions at stores/supermarkets/restaurants etc. with no fee imposed by the bank owning the facility.

 

[cove]

I lent my card to a friend as her card application was too late for her UK travel. Using a PIN is all you need to get the card to work at ATMs. The fee free ATM over the road at South Quay DLR in London always works and the exchange rates are brilliant.

 

[thehound]

Just went to Thailand and Siam Bank (which is everywhere) charged 180Baht fee (more than $6!). Unfortunately no Citi ATMs at the airport that I could find!

 

[There'sOnlyOneJimmy]

It appears as if we're re-inventing the wheel on this topic to some extent.
I just stumbled upon a similar thread on the Whirlpool forum, that gives a fairly comprehensive (and occasionally humorous) overview of just about all you would ever want to know about the CitiBank Plus product.

Refer to Citibank Plus Transaction Account for Overseas Travel

 

[jlien]

Received a new card in the mail last night. Was unexpected. The new one looks MUCH better than the old one, arguably looks a lot nicer than my citi signature card :S

Edit : i didn't request the replacement card, did other people receive one?