Citibank Plus - No Fee No Overseas Transaction Fee Account

[MEL_Traveller]

I gotta give a shout out to Citibank Plus.

Needed to pay for some Christmas presents in Europe but the retailer only took local 'iDeal' payments (credit card not possible).

Contacted the retailer who kindly drew up an invoice with IBAN number etc for me to transfer funds.

Used the Citiplus account to make the payment... on €65 I was charged a total of $108.30... a rate of .60 against the official interbank rate of .613. (Apparently for international transfers they use their buy/sell rates instead of the usual interbank rate for normal transactions.)

Compared that to Westpac... they wanted $112 for the €65, a rate of .58 plus they levy a $10 charge, total of $122.

bottom line: Citi $108.30, Westpac $122.

(ING's page says 'you are unable to transfer money internationally from your ING accounts, you will need to use a third party service.)

 

[Flashback]

I had similar experience many years ago trying to pay a tour operator in Peru in USD. Never had any fees or ForEx put on top of it, even though there should have been a SWIFT payment fee. Happy days.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I had similar experience many years ago trying to pay a tour operator in Peru in USD. Never had any fees or ForEx put on top of it, even though there should have been a SWIFT payment fee. Happy days.

It was a bit confusing... I had an IBAN number, but they also wanted the SWIFT code. They said fees may be charged by the receiving bank... but I dunno who’s going to cover those if there are any.

 

[Chicken]

They said fees may be charged by the receiving bank... but I dunno who’s going to cover those if there are any.

Always the receiver. Some of the money submitted by your bank could be taken by the receiving bank, or any intermediary bank. There is basically no way of controlling that, since you won't really know how is the money going to route until the money landed on the other end.

Which is why I also like to use companies like Currency Fair and Transfer Wise, as they effectively do local bank transfers instead of cross border for most popular countries, so they completely avoid any fees associated with cross border settlements.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Will be interesting to see how it goes. Obviously if there’s a $25 fee or whatever the company will come back to me for more money And i’ll be paying the fee twice with the second transfer! But I guess Westoac would have been the same.

 

[Chicken]

Will be interesting to see how it goes. Obviously if there’s a $25 fee or whatever the company will come back to me for more money And i’ll be paying the fee twice with the second transfer! But I guess Westoac would have been the same.

I worked at an organization where nearly all customers were outside of Australia, and this happened all the time, we would just write off and balance their accounts out. It is very difficult for the customer to predict how much would be lost during the process, and for something like 25 € , like as if, you are not even going to bother with chasing or following up, it's not worth the effort; but that was international trade, so the dollar value was much higher.

Having said that, you sent to the Netherlands, surely Citi would have local settlement in the Netherlands, won't need to go via intermediary bank? Let's start praying!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I worked at an organization where nearly all customers were outside of Australia, and this happened all the time, we would just write off and balance their accounts out. It is very difficult for the customer to predict how much would be lost during the process, and for something like 25 € , like as if, you are not even going to bother with chasing or following up, it's not worth the effort; but that was international trade, so the dollar value was much higher.

Having said that, you sent to the Netherlands, surely Citi would have local settlement in the Netherlands, won't need to go via intermediary bank? Let's start praying!

The only problem is that a €20 fee on a €60 purchase would be substantial!

I'll update once I know once the company comes back to confirm payment.

 

[Flashback]

Would Revolut have been any better? I think they're in Australia now so you can open an account. Allows you to convert in app to EUR and then pay from a EUR account IIRC.

 

[Chicken]

Would Revolut have been any better? I think they're in Australia now so you can open an account. Allows you to convert in app to EUR and then pay from a EUR account IIRC.

Haven't heard of them nor used them, maybe off topic for this, but could ask in a separate thread?

 

[albyd]

I’ve used Revolut & it works very well for foreign transfers directly to bank account. UK transfers take only hours to show up which I was impressed with. The FX rate is the spot rate (I compared against the live spot rate when I was doing my conversion) so I’m pretty happy with the service.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Just to update that my IBAN transaction went through perfectly. If there were fees at the receiving bank the company didn't mention them to me!

 

[Mattg]

I recently returned from an overseas trip where I used my Citibank Plus card extensively to withdraw money at ATMs. This card still works relatively well.

I was able to find fee-free ATMs in each of the European countries I visited, although Slovenia was challenging - the only bank I found that didn't add an ATM operator fee in Slovenia was UniCredit Bank.

I could not find any ATM operators in Canada that wouldn't charge a withdrawal fee. I ended up taking cash out from a Desjardins ATM because they seemed to have the lowest fee at CAD2. That was the only ATM fee I paid on the entire 4+ month trip.

 

[PLANT]

I thought Citi reimburse fees... I don't remember fees charged in Canada either west or east coast when there 2014?

 

[Flashback]

I thought Citi reimburse fees... I don't remember fees charged in Canada either west or east coast when there 2014?

Fee free ATMs are few and far between in Canada, I was able to find 1 when I was there I think but that was about 4 or so years ago.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I thought Citi reimburse fees... I don't remember fees charged in Canada either west or east coast when there 2014?

I think it’s ING that routinely reimburses fees? There are some places where Citi is not free, or very hard to find free… like thailand where there are only two or three Citi ATMs in the whole country… if you don’t use those you have to pay the tourist tax.

 

[EestiTiger]

On tour at the moment and it still seems to be holding up. The covid blessing is most places are more than happy to use contactless payment so not the usual need for cash. Well, in Euroland anyway

 

[OZDUCK]

On tour at the moment and it still seems to be holding up. The covid blessing is most places are more than happy to use contactless payment so not the usual need for cash. Well, in Euroland anyway

We will be in Germany & the Czech Republic in August/September and were wondering about just this thing. Though I do recall someone on here recently saying that in Austria & southern(?) Germany cash still seems to be king. I wonder if the smaller supermarkets REWE, SPAR etc will accept 'normal' cards these days or just the locally issued card?

 

[Mattg]

I wonder if the smaller supermarkets REWE, SPAR etc will accept 'normal' cards these days or just the locally issued card?

Nope, still just local EC/debit cards

 

[Mattg]

No new applications for this account after 20 May 2023.

 

[imipenam]

No new applications for this account after 20 May 2023.

View attachment 316495

Wow I hope NAB will still honour the T&Cs