Travel finances - best cards and accounts

[timster]

Thanks everyone for your advice. In the end I have gone with the Citibank Plus account as originally planned, for all the obvious reasons. The application process was pretty painless (although rather primitive in parts). Expecting the cards soon and will report back on any service issues people might be interested in.

If you're not carrying your usual phone/SIM while away the Citibank "one-time PIN" is a colossal PITA IMHO. You basically can't do anything on the web account interface without entering the PIN they will have text-ed to your usual mobile number each time you try to do something.

I found that out last trip when I wanted to transfer some money and couldn't, since I had a local SIM in my phone as I wasn't on roaming. I complained when I got back and their response was basically "stiff cheese .. that's the way we do things".

They did say I could ring their Sydney number from each country I visited to register the local number I wanted to use for their PIN texts ... since of course you can't get into the web interface to change your number online ... without entering the PIN that has been sent to the phone/SIM you don't have. Catch 22.

In fact I couldn't even have the above conversation with them via their web messaging system while I was away, as you can't access the messaging system either without entering the PIN they have sent to the phone/SIM you don't have.

But with that proviso ... I use 28 Degrees for non-ATM transactions and Citibank Plus VISA Debit for ATM transactions, both pre-loaded with funds prior to departure. And as soon as someone comes up with an ATM fee-free card without a phone PIN, I'll be switching.

In the meantime I will try their new mobile app on the next trip, but given its reported issues with manual time zone changes (which I often have to do) I'm not confident ...
Citibank Plus Transaction Account for Overseas Travel

 

[aaflyer]

If you're not carrying your usual phone/SIM while away the Citibank "one-time PIN" is a colossal PITA IMHO. You basically can't do anything on the web account interface without entering the PIN they will have text-ed to your usual mobile number each time you try to do something.

I found that out last trip when I wanted to transfer some money and couldn't, since I had a local SIM in my phone as I wasn't on roaming. I complained when I got back and their response was basically "stiff cheese .. that's the way we do things".

They did say I could ring their Sydney number from each country I visited to register the local number I wanted to use for their PIN texts ... since of course you can't get into the web interface to change your number online ... without entering the PIN that has been sent to the phone/SIM you don't have. Catch 22.

In fact I couldn't even have the above conversation with them via their web messaging system while I was away, as you can't access the messaging system either without entering the PIN they have sent to the phone/SIM you don't have.

But with that proviso ... I use 28 Degrees for non-ATM transactions and Citibank Plus VISA Debit for ATM transactions, both pre-loaded with funds prior to departure. And as soon as someone comes up with an ATM fee-free card without a phone PIN, I'll be switching.

In the meantime I will try their new mobile app on the next trip, but given its reported issues with manual time zone changes (which I often have to do) I'm not confident ...
Citibank Plus Transaction Account for Overseas Travel

If you have an iPhone, the citbank app allows you to generate an OTP without the need for text (you'll need a data/wifi connection though). I use it regularly overseas and it's very handy.

*edit* as mentioned below, you shouldn't even need a data connection, this should function the same as a regular hardware token).

 

[badrastafari]

If you're not carrying your usual phone/SIM while away the Citibank "one-time PIN" is a colossal PITA IMHO. You basically can't do anything on the web account interface without entering the PIN they will have text-ed to your usual mobile number each time you try to do something.

I believe you can also ring up and obtain a hard token like the old days. Although the FAQ mentions that its only compatible with the web browser and not the mobile apps.

-Andrew

 

[Whipster]

I trialled the offline OTP yesterday arvo. With my phone (Android) completely offline from the network and with wifi disabled I was able to generate a OTP for use on the website online banking. Worked fine. Only thing I'm not sure of is the manual time zone change thing that some have mentioned.

 

[aaflyer]

I trialled the offline OTP yesterday arvo. With my phone (Android) completely offline from the network and with wifi disabled I was able to generate a OTP for use on the website online banking. Worked fine. Only thing I'm not sure of is the manual time zone change thing that some have mentioned.

If it's like other tokenised technologies, you're right it shouldn't need any data (the app has the same seed file for token code generation as their authentication server has, so it'll work regardless).

Time Zone should not affect it. Tokens aren't tied to a time zone typically (they can go out of sync and require re-sync but that's typically a server end issue).

 

[Whipster]

Yeah, my phone already has time zone manually changed even when I'm home (for some reason it won't auto-select Perth correctly - sigh), and there weren't any problems. I only mentioned it because the Whirlpool thread linked above makes a big deal out of not changing the time zone manually. So today if I get time I'll muck about with changing the time zone a bunch of times while I'm home and see what happens! If all good, then we are in business!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

re the OTP - Citi told me provided you have a data connection to set it up initially, you don't need a data connection at a later stage. Once your device is set up it will happily generate a OTP off-line.

Problem is my ipad doesn't have data to set it up in the first place.

However - when overseas, you can still log in to find the balance of the account (but nothing else), and transferring money is easy, you can just send it from your regular bank by bpay.