Is Citi Plus still the best option for overseas cash?

[bernardblack]

Is Citi Plus still the best option for overseas cash? Obviously I haven't done a lot of international travel since 2019.

If I have to open some other account it might be time to get started, since we depart in five weeks.

(I'm set for FX-fee-free purchases, with a US Amex Gold backed with a Coles Rewards Mastercard and a Bundll account which charges to my Dragon Visa.)

 

[mel-world]

So how did that actually work? As per the comment above, I thought Citi allowed fee free ATM withdrawals at associated machines but didn’t rebate.

No sure really. I asked for 200 EUR, the ATM said fee of 8 EUR. I really needed the funds so accepted. The Citi statement said International Transaction Fee of 0 AUD and converted to 331 AUD. That looked okay.

I usually don't worry too much about conversion rates as long as it looks reasonable. The cost of travelling for me.

 

[SYD]

No sure really. I asked for 200 EUR, the ATM said fee of 8 EUR. I really needed the funds so accepted. The Citi statement said International Transaction Fee of 0 AUD and converted to 331 AUD. That looked okay.

I usually don't worry too much about conversion rates as long as it looks reasonable. The cost of travelling for me.

Ah, so it’s possibly / probably waived the ATM fee at the time.

I posted here a recent experiment with FX rates. With the exception of Westpac, there wasn’t much difference between Citi and the usual suspects as a Debit card.

Best card with no forex fees

I bank with ING and off to the US in August with the family. Will just use my ING based on the rebate fees on international trx. Seems like the easiest option for us without having to apply somewhere else just for this trip....or transfer money onto our QF FF card like we did last OS holiday

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[mel-world]

You don't need much cash these days in Western Europe, of course. Except for small purchases where it seems silly to use a credit card. Call me old fashioned. Tips, toilet charges and baggage storage etc. still need a bit of cash.

 

[SYD]

You don't need much cash these days in Western Europe, of course. Except for small purchases where it seems silly to use a credit card. Call me old fashioned. Tips, toilet charges and baggage storage etc. still need a bit of cash.

Started a new thread on the topic the other day.

Cash or Card? Countries where you still need cash.

Using debit and CCs overseas (preferably ones that are international transaction fee free!) is becoming a lot easier - pushed along by you know what, but I thought a seperate thread to provide actual current experiences on the need for cash (irrespective of one’s preference for cash v card)...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[TheRealTMA]

You don't need much cash these days in Western Europe, of course. Except for small purchases where it seems silly to use a credit card. Call me old fashioned. Tips, toilet charges and baggage storage etc. still need a bit of cash.

Don’t tip in europe and spread the American disease. Staff in europe get wages, plus there’s often a service charge.

You only need small amounts of cash for europe. Maybe 50€ at most for the whole trip. Get some from Australia Post before you leave,

 

[SYD]

You only need small amounts of cash for europe. Maybe 50€ at most for the whole trip. Get some from Australia Post before you leave,

It’s not too hard to find free ATMs in most of Europe. I still make a point of keeping a few Euros after each trip ready for the next.

 

[ChrisFlyer]

With the Citi card, I find that the foreign currency amount that shows in the app and statement for the withdrawal is always just the cash withdrawal amount itself. But the AUD amount deducted from the account includes both the base cash and the withdrawal fee, which you only see on the ATM receipt itself. I guess there may be rare cases where the fee gets waived in the background, but I've always found the AUD amount to roughly equal the cash plus fee, rather than cash alone.

 

[FL360]

Just went to UK, France and USA, Citi works perfectly without ATM fees in the UK and the USA (Citi ATMs were kind of everywhere).

In France everywhere is cashless, so no need to take cash out at all, even Metro counters take credit cards only.

 

[Pete98765432]

I’ve done some testing of the Westpac Global card. I only have AU$ loaded on the card so according to the PDS the Mastercard rate should be used for conversion.

I withdrew SG$20 at a partner ATM at Changi airport. The exchange rate was 1.1694515. The Mastercard rate for the same day was 1.1310093.

Yesterday I made 2 identical transactions of £3.15 at a Waitrose supermarket in London, one with the Westpac Global card and the other with my Citibank debit card. The Westpac card converted to $6.12 and Citibank to $5.94.

In both cases, the difference is 3%. This seems contrary to the PDS which states there is nil currency conversion fee.

I had another look at the PDS before deciding whether to contact Westpac and noticed something I missed before:

• We need to calculate the Australian dollar amount of a transaction for any purpose contemplated by these Terms and Conditions. - Westpac exchange rate will be used

I guess the use of “for any purpose” overrides the earlier condition about the MasterCard rate.

 

[SYD]

I had another look at the PDS before deciding whether to contact Westpac and noticed something I missed before:

• We need to calculate the Australian dollar amount of a transaction for any purpose contemplated by these Terms and Conditions. - Westpac exchange rate will be used

I guess the use of “for any purpose” overrides the earlier condition about the MasterCard rate.

I’m going to cancel my WBC account/card when I get around to it. Whilst WBC has partner ATMs that don’t charge you directly, WBC still charge you 3% Int tx fee for withdrawals. And yep, the WGC also charged me 3% on a trial debit (see comment above), whereas my ING, UBank, NAB debit and Citi are fee free…

 

[theblank]

I had another look at the PDS before deciding whether to contact Westpac and noticed something I missed before:

• We need to calculate the Australian dollar amount of a transaction for any purpose contemplated by these Terms and Conditions. - Westpac exchange rate will be used

I guess the use of “for any purpose” overrides the earlier condition about the MasterCard rate.

no "travel card' issued by any bank is anything but. You will 'pay' about 4% commission on the exchange rate conversions.
There is nothing good about these products, they are just as costly as travellers cheques were.

 

[SYD]

no "travel card' issued by any bank is anything but. You will 'pay' about 4% commission on the exchange rate conversions.
There is nothing good about these products, they are just as costly as travellers cheques were.

The weasel words in the WBC product suggest that there is a sweet spot (just loading AUD and accessing ATMs / debit fee free at the MC rate) which is different to the other generally coughpy Travel Cards but as pointed out above (and in my own experiment), that is not the case. They still get their 3% at the WBC rate.

The guy at my local WBC branch said as much, *after* I’d gone through the application process for the 55+ account and WGC. I questioned it but he assured me that was the case (contrary to reading the Ts&Cs). So I wasn’t expecting much when I tested it in the UK a few weeks ago…

 

[Pete98765432]

I’m going to cancel my WBC account/card when I get around to it. Whilst WBC has partner ATMs that don’t charge you directly, WBC still charge you 3% Int tx fee for withdrawals. And yep, the WGC also charged me 3% on a trial debit (see comment above), whereas my ING, UBank, NAB debit and Citi are fee free…

I will probably close my account too. I recently closed my ING account after many years. I'm happy to get the slightly lower interest rate at Ubank without going through ING's hoops. When asked why I was closing my account, I told them that they were no longer competitive.

 

[Pete98765432]

I’ve received an email from Citibank advising that my Citibank Plus account will be transitioned to an NAB account by March 2024. They say that while some changes will be made to the account, the essential features, including fees and charges, will remain the same.

As part of the changes, you will receive a notice of changes, your NAB branded account details, and a NAB debit card for each Citi branded account you have that currently has a Citi branded debit card. We will give you notice before we move your funds to your NAB branded account.

As part of the changes, you will receive a notice of changes, your NAB branded account details, and a NAB debit card for each Citi branded account you have that currently has a Citi branded debit card. We will give you notice before we move your funds to your NAB branded account.

More information at:
Our move to NAB Transaction and savings accounts

 

[mel-world]

Bi Bi Citi. We used to be friends but another account with the big four - no thanks.

Citibank has offered fee free ATM withdrawals and mostly good exchange rates. They have even waived foreign bank ATM imposed fees so have been an excellent product. I cannot imagine NAB doing this in the long term.

It will be a pain moving some direct debits while ensuring payments into the account are changed but I only need to do that once.

 

[oz_mark]

Bi Bi Citi. We used to be friends but another account with the big four - no thanks.

Citibank has offered fee free ATM withdrawals and mostly good exchange rates. They have even waived foreign bank ATM imposed fees so have been an excellent product. I cannot imagine NAB doing this in the long term.

It will be a pain moving some direct debits while ensuring payments into the account are changed but I only need to do that once.

You have to do it whether you stay with NAB or not....

 

[Lynda2475]

Yes just got same email, I'm currently overseas and whilst I have not needed to withdraw any cash yet this trip, it has been nice when walking past citi ATMs knowing any such would be fee free.

I also cannot imagine that a NAB debit will have any partnership to waive atm fees, looks like may need to look at HSBC seems to be only debit card where there may be foreign branded ATM's.

But will need to read PDS when NAB provide details.

 

[SYD]

I also cannot imagine that a NAB debit will have any partnership to waive atm fees, looks like may need to look at HSBC seems to be only debit card where there may be foreign branded ATM's.

NAB don’t currently have any reciprocal arrangements AFAIK and I have been a NAB Private Banking client for 20+ years. They even appear to have removed fee free international ATM withdrawals from most debit cards (although I still get int fee free purchase using my Plat debit card - not that I use that). Mainly 28° and ING.

At least NABs low cost offshoot (UBank) doesn’t charge international ATM fees.

 

[FL360]

Sad news indeed, just wait and see how they are going to migrate the Citi-branded credit cards, I guess this is the most complicated part for the NAB transition team.

Without free international ATM withdrawals with good rates, NAB's debit card product is useless, might as well just skip sending the plastic card to me for the environment.

 

[SYD]

Sad news indeed, just wait and see how they are going to migrate the Citi-branded credit cards, I guess this is the most complicated part for the NAB transition team.

Without free international ATM withdrawals with good rates, NAB's debit card product is useless, might as well just skip sending the plastic card to me for the environment.

As a mentioned above, take a look at UBank. Int fee fee ATM withdrawals at VISA rate (no limit and also no fee on debit purchases). Identical to ING (without the monthly hoops and jumps to get the ING $5 ATM fee waived).