Anyone use Citibank? An international payments question...

[Deleted User]

OK, here's a question - hopefully someone can clear it up for me because nobody at Citi seems to have a clue.

I'm going to be recieving fortnightly payments by bank transfer, from the USA, in Dollars.

If I have these transfers paid into my Lloyds TSB £ Current Account direct, Lloyds want £10 off me for each one.

However, does this sound right:

I open a Citibank US Dollar current account. This would be free.

I then get the company in America to transfer the dollars to this account. This wouldn't cost me anything, because it's supposedly free to recieve Dollar payments electronically.

Then, I write myself a cheque for those dollars, pay it into my Lloyds TSB account (which should be free), and Lloyds TSB then convert it at that day's exchange rate, into £s, which goes into my UK£ current account there.

Does that make sense? Am I missing something big here? Or have I actually worked out a good way to avoid all the international money transfer fees?

Voyager2002

Not quite.

Assuming that your benefactor in the USA does not deduct the cost of the wire transfers from your remittances, you get Citibank to convert the funds into sterling and hold them for you as sterling. You then ask them to transfer them electronically as pounds to your Lloyds account. You can do all of this on-line, and it is all free.

NatWest offer a similar service using their dollar account, but the exchange rate for the dollar-pound conversion is not quite as good as Citibank.

[Deleted User]

Voyager2002 wrote: »

you get Citibank to convert the funds into sterling and hold them for you as sterling

So I need to have a Sterling Citibank account too?

Does that mean the money goes:

a) Other person -> Citibank Dollar account -> Citibank Sterling account -> Lloyds Sterling account

or

b) Other person -> Citibank Sterling account -> Lloyds Sterling account?

Thanks for your help

maninthestreet

I've just received a wire transfer into my bank account, from the US, from a subsiduary of Citi, and they dont charge a wire transfer fee if they do the Dollars -> Sterling conversion before sending the money. However, they charge $25 if they don't do the conversion to Sterling and send Dollars.

[Deleted User]

It's such a shame the banks cant just make these things clear in some kind of literature...

inmypocketnottheirs

I have citibank $ and £ accounts and receive payments in dollars. I then transfer the funds into my sterling account at the day rate and there are no additional charges. An extra benefit is the visa debit card that is issued by citibank can be switched between either account in real time (i.e. immediately) by a freephone call.

To me it is an extremely efficient and cost effective method of transferring funds.

I pay £10 a month fee across all the relationships I have (also € current account) and receive a few benefits that have some value, i.e. travel insurance and an interest free £500 overdraft.

HTH