Citibank Plus - No Fee No Overseas Transaction Fee Account

Just applied and been accepted for this account/card for use in New Zealand/USA and Europe in the coming months.
What are peoples experiences ensuring they don't get hit with any instore transaction fees?
 
jackthomas said:
Just applied and been accepted for this account/card for use in New Zealand/USA and Europe in the coming months.
What are peoples experiences ensuring they don't get hit with any instore transaction fees?
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Just make sure you avoid DCC and you will be fine. I.e. always pay in the local currency, not in AUD.
 
About to head to Italy, then Paris thru Oct & Nov - so is the best card re ATM withdrawals still thought to be the Citibank, compared to the 28 Degrees?
& what is the official name of this Citi card? - their website seem to have different titles ...
 
jimg1111 said:
& what is the official name of this Citi card? - their website seem to have different titles ...
Click to expand...
As per the title of the thread it is called 'Citibank Plus'. Under 'Banking -> Everyday Accounts' on the Citibank website.
 
jimg1111 said:
About to head to Italy, then Paris thru Oct & Nov - so is the best card re ATM withdrawals still thought to be the Citibank, compared to the 28 Degrees?
& what is the official name of this Citi card? - their website seem to have different titles ...
Click to expand...

Citibank Plus Transaction Account.
 
I did not experience any fees and virtually got the exact amount when you asked google (ie 200 CNY to AUD) for transactions in China, Singapore and Sri Lanka recently.

Only issue I had is the absurd amount of time Citibank holds funds after the hotel has VOID the authorisation or transaction. On many occasions it was two weeks after the VOID transaction that the funds were released to available balance. Even calling Citibank they said a VOID has no purpose and the merchant has to call them to release it.... serious?
 
muppet said:
I did not experience any fees and virtually got the exact amount when you asked google (ie 200 CNY to AUD) for transactions in China, Singapore and Sri Lanka recently.

Only issue I had is the absurd amount of time Citibank holds funds after the hotel has VOID the authorisation or transaction. On many occasions it was two weeks after the VOID transaction that the funds were released to available balance. Even calling Citibank they said a VOID has no purpose and the merchant has to call them to release it.... serious?
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Never ever use a debit card for a hotel or rental car hold! Best bet for this is a credit card with a $500 or $1000 limit, so that if worst case something happens they can only ever max it out. If you use a debit card they could empty it of all your cash.
 
muppet said:
Only issue I had is the absurd amount of time Citibank holds funds after the hotel has VOID the authorisation or transaction. On many occasions it was two weeks after the VOID transaction that the funds were released to available balance. Even calling Citibank they said a VOID has no purpose and the merchant has to call them to release it.... serious?
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I mistakenly handed over a Debit Card at check in at IC in NKG a few months back - I know exactly what you mean.

On another note have lodged complaint with FOS this morn re Citibank charging me the security deposit on Prestige for a stay in PVG last Dec - they have debited / credited / debited / credited A$408.38 like a dozen times - and are now claiming it is a bona fide transaction - you do need to watch them.
 
Does anyone have any reports of use in Laos? I've read there are ATM fees there (regardless of the card you use), but if anyone knows of any workarounds let me know!
 
travelislife said:
Never ever use a debit card for a hotel or rental car hold! Best bet for this is a credit card with a $500 or $1000 limit, so that if worst case something happens they can only ever max it out. If you use a debit card they could empty it of all your cash.
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Why not use a debit card that only has a small amount of cash in the attached bank account, eg $250 or whatever the hotel/car company wants to pre-authorise? Plenty of banks (including Citi) allow instant online transfers between accounts held by the same person at the given bank so you can set this up at the time of your hotel checkin or car rental commencement.

Keep a second debit card, attached to a different account containing your main travel funds, for cash withdrawals. Some banks with more sophisticated online banking customer interfaces (I don't think this includes Citi) give you live online visibility of the pre-authorisation amounts so you always know where you stand.

Finally, some banks (once again I don't think Citi) allow customers to go online and temporarily deactivate their credit or debit cards. Customers can then instantly reactivate online when perhaps a danger period has passed. However, I presume that a temporary deactivation would not stop a preauthorisation from proceeding to an actual charge.
 
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SIA1A said:
Why not use a debit card that only has a small amount of cash in the attached bank account, eg $250 or whatever the hotel/car company wants to pre-authorise?
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Why would you want to use a debit card, and let the hotel have your $250 as free cash flow?

The whole point of using a credit card for this is you are not having your own cash locked by the hotel.
 
Chicken said:
Why would you want to use a debit card, and let the hotel have your $250 as free cash flow?

The whole point of using a credit card for this is you are not having your own cash locked by the hotel.
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Huh? A pre-authorisation doesn't transfer any funds to the hotel and certainly doesn't provide the hotel with cash flow. It merely stops you using the funds for other purposes - until the pre-auth clears. If the funds are in an interest-bearing bank account, you continue to get interest in the interim.

The original proposition was that using a debit card exposes the user to an unauthorised raid of the user's bank account by the hotel. I've simply described sensible precautions that minimise this risk.
 
I think the main point of Chicken's comment was that using a debit card for a hotel's pre-auth is letting them hold one's own money, as opposed to using a credit card, where its only holding available credit.

From experiences recounted on AFF, it also takes much longer for debit card funds to come back.

Rather than taking a extra debit card, I take an extra credit card (emergency back up one) for all my hotel pre-auths.
 
RooFlyer said:
I think the main point of Chicken's comment was that using a debit card for a hotel's pre-auth is letting them hold one's own money, as opposed to using a credit card, where its only holding available credit.
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That may be so, but Chicken's claim that the hotel was using the money as free cash flow is utterly incorrect. The hotel does not get any of the money in a pre-auth - the money does not even leave your account.
 
Well, I think the bottom line is that for all kinds of reasons it's worth travelling with a range of credit and debit cards with varying characteristics.

Obviously, the circumstances of each individual traveller combined with the circumstances of each transaction are often unique so having the facilities to tailor the card to the transaction is a wise approach.

Out of abundant caution coupled with substantial real-world experience I typically carry a range of credit and debit cards, issued by a wide variety of different financial institutions, for this exact reason.
 
RooFlyer said:
Use of Citibank debit plus in South American ATMs.
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In January I finished 15 months of travelling in Latin America and this card was my rock. I was lucky to get it in time as my 28 degrees was enhanced right before I left. I was without it for a bit as it expired (it only had 1 year validity) but Citi were good enough to post me a new one while I was in Mexico without any extra fee. In addition to your list above I was able to get money without a fee at Banco Estado and Scotiabank in Chile, Scotibank in Peru and another in Brazil, maybe Banco do Brasil. In Mexico and Uruguay I always had to pay $2 - $3 USD unfortunately.
 
I wonder what would be the best way to hold a master list? That way it saves having to search the whole thread to get the info required?
 

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