Citibank Plus - No Fee No Overseas Transaction Fee Account

Also had my card suspended when in Thailand once. Took about half an hour on the phone at a branch calling back to Australia to get it fixed.

But otherwise no big problems using it overseas. Great exchange rates. Thailand, Malaysia, US......
 
trippin_the_rift said:
Citibank ATMs don't work too well for plus card in Hong Kong. Citi know this and as such you can use ANY atm with no fees and no fx fees.

I've been doing it for 7 months now.
Click to expand...

I think that's also because in HK there are 2 ATM alliances: (1) HSBC/Hang Seng; and (2) JetCo - which is every other bank in HK which isn't HSBC or Hang Seng. Citibank is part of the Jetco network, so HK-issued Citibank cards get free withdrawals at all Jetco ATMs. You can even take a HK Citi card to, say, a Bank of China ATM and change your pin number and do other administrative things like activate overseas withdrawals on it.
 
So after a few weeks of messing around I finally have my new account & I'm well happy with it.

Did a EUR transfer today to an account in Europe via Internet banking. Cost me AUD $489 - exchange rate used was only 0.02c from the spot rate. I checked my CBA account to see what it would have cost - $530 (including the $22 trans fee)!!! So Citi was $41 cheaper. CBA are fleecing people!!
 
Mr_Orange said:
Ha, ha, tell us something we don't know. That's why CBA's share price is north of $80.
Click to expand...

They clearly rely on people not comparing the market. I refinanced my mortgage away from CBA at the start of the year - got an interest rate 0.52% lower - saving me about $200 a month... If people woke up, they'd be toast (or actually need to be competitive).
 
Dr_Fliptop said:
They clearly rely on people not comparing the market. I refinanced my mortgage away from CBA at the start of the year - got an interest rate 0.52% lower - saving me about $200 a month... If people woke up, they'd be toast (or actually need to be competitive).
Click to expand...

Don't get me wrong but so what! This is true across virtually all industries, business are in business to make money funnily enough. The comment about competitiveness is true of supermarkets, car companies, telcos, retail outlets, wine retailers. in fact I can't really think of an industry it's not true about. And yes, if people woke up they'd be out of business. But of course we don't. But realistically I'd have to suggest the answer does lie in us doing exactly that, if I was in business why would I seriously look to cut my own margins if I don't have to, businesses are not charities.
 
Although isn't the exchange rate on Citibank Global Transfers still inferior to what you get on a foreign ATM withdrawal at the Visa rate?
 
I dont think so , last I checked it was a much better rate than visa, only eclipsed by foreign trading companies, which appear to work on very small margins.
I use both, citibank and traders, citibank I can transfer money to/from my US citibank account instantly, traders give me a better rate
 
Got a quote just now and the ATM withdrawal rates on the Citibank ATM card is definitely better than an online transfer to another Citi account.

For example: AUDHKD is currently at 6.14782. Citi Global Transfer through online banking quotes 5.95767 - which is a 3.1% difference.
 
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Another experiment with Citi ATMs in HKG today.

Maximum withdrawal in one go is HK$4,000 - if you want more, you have to do another transaction. So I did 2 withdrawals in a row, (so barely a minute or so between them, from the same ATM, but got quite different exchange rates):

Monday
HK$4k - AUD $651.36 --> e/r 6.140997
HK$2k - AUD$328.95 --> e/r 6.07995136

Tuesday
HK$4k - AUD $654.03 --> e/r 6.115927
HK$2k - AUD$330.30--> e/r 6.035101
 
Isochronous said:
Another experiment with Citi ATMs in HKG today.

Maximum withdrawal in one go is HK$4,000 - if you want more, you have to do another transaction. So I did 2 withdrawals in a row, (so barely a minute or so between them, from the same ATM, but got quite different exchange rates):

Monday
HK$4k - AUD $651.36 --> e/r 6.140997
HK$2k - AUD$328.95 --> e/r 6.07995136

Tuesday
HK$4k - AUD $654.03 --> e/r 6.115927
HK$2k - AUD$330.30--> e/r 6.035101
Click to expand...

That's wierd; about 1% to 1.3% (adverse) difference both times for the smaller withdrawal.
Given the brief time gap between transactions, you wouldn't think that it was caused by market movement. So, are there any theories as to the reason?
Could it be some sort of 'volume' effect (i.e. as the value of the transaction rises the rate moves closer towards 'spot'). That seems a little unlikely given the relatively low dollar amounts involved.
Is the moral to the story: Withdraw to the max allowed at ATMs to get the best available rate?
 
Has anyone used this card as a "contactless card" on the London Tube?

If it works it may be better to use than buying an Oyster Card
 
You can register the card on contactless.tfl.gov.uk to track journey history etc. Might be worth trying to do that to see if it accepts it?
 
I can confirm first hand:
The card does work for a couple days but then it ceases to work as it'll identify the card as an overseas card.

You simply then need to register the card on the tfl website and it'll keep working.

Also when you register you get the benefit of seeing the history and payment details. Where you tapped on/off etc.
 

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