Relationship fee - Citibank

savingsguy

Hi,

I've been paying Citibank a relationship fee for their Citibank Plus account.

This costs £10/month and for this I get these benefits, which at first glance seem quite good value for a tenner a month.

* Worldwide holiday travel insurance
* Identity theft protection
* Card protection
* Mobile phone insurance

However, I'm now re-evaluting the charge. The only product that I am really interetsed in is Identity Theft protection - the others I'm not too bothered about.

If I decided not to accept this "improved" account and sometime in the future I do become a victim of identity theft and someone steals money from my account, would this then mean that Citibank have NO liability to refund me at all?

My friend has a Nationwide account and as been a victim of identity fraud through forged cheques. Nationwide refunded him the money which was stolen from him - no need for 3rd party identity theft insurance. Assuming something similar happened with Citibank, I'm wondering if they would claim no liability, because you decided to opt out of their dubious "relationship" package?

Any advice would be most appreciated!
Kind regards
savingsguy

97trophy

I dont like these types of account at all. I would recommend you save the £10 per month.

simax

97trophy wrote: »

I dont like these types of account at all. I would recommend you save the £10 per month.

Nothing wrong with packaged accounts at all. Lloyds TSB probably offer the best ones around, starting at £7.95 a month, with Mobile cover, Travel Insurance, AA cover and card cover.

With Orange, their Care insurance is £6 a month alone!!

Extant

savingsguy wrote: »

My friend has a Nationwide account and as been a victim of identity fraud through forged cheques. Nationwide refunded him the money which was stolen from him - no need for 3rd party identity theft insurance. Assuming something similar happened with Citibank, I'm wondering if they would claim no liability, because you decided to opt out of their dubious "relationship" package?

Forged cheques alone are not identity fraud, by the by.

Also, identity theft protection is essentially pointless - there's nothing to show that it "works" and will prevent it from happening, nor do they provide significant assistance in the event that your identity is stolen. You're already protected against losses by law and the banking code. It's still rare enough of an event to just be pure profit, basically.

Extant

simax wrote: »

Nothing wrong with packaged accounts at all. Lloyds TSB probably offer the best ones around, starting at £7.95 a month, with Mobile cover, Travel Insurance, AA cover and card cover.

With Orange, their Care insurance is £6 a month alone!!

That's fantastically misleading; do you work for them? The £7.95 is an introductory amount for the first two months, rising to £12 there after.

simax

BarclaysManager wrote: »

That's fantastically misleading; do you work for them? The £7.95 is an introductory amount for the first two months, rising to £12 there after.

Errr... wrong! I work for Orange actually!

The Silver Lloyds TSB account is £3 a month for 2 months, the £7.95 a month!

http://www.lloydstsb.com/current_accounts/added_value_accounts/silver_current_account.asp

Please get your facts right. Oh, and I don't have a Silver account either.

Extant

simax wrote: »

Please get your facts right. Oh, and I don't have a Silver account either.

Considering you said "starting at £7.95" and their page lists an account that has a two month introductory charge of £7.95, I don't think this is an unreasonable assumption to have made at all.

apt

If you look at the benefits for the Lloyds Silver Account most can be gained for little or nothing. Eg. you can get European Travel Insurance free with Alliance and Leicester. The basic level of breakdown insurance costs less than £20 per year if you go via a cashback site or use Tesco vouchers. Most packaged bank accounts are not good value for most customers.

Extant

Package accounts are fantastic as convenience items for those that can afford to purchase them and do not care to spend their time on cash back sites etc.

will-in-estoril

BarclaysManager wrote: »

Package accounts are fantastic as convenience items for those that can afford to purchase them and do not care to spend their time on cash back sites etc.

What rot!

They are a nice little earner for the rip off banks, often foisted on naive or gullible customers, who are persuaded that they are so wonderfully fantastic that life without them would be simply unbearable.

simax

will-in-estoril wrote: »

What rot!

They are a nice little earner for the rip off banks, often foisted on naive or gullible customers, who are persuaded that they are so wonderfully fantastic that life without them would be simply unbearable.

FWIW, I am not naive nor gullible, and have had the Silver account before, and it worked out better value for me at the time. For the next few months the Classic account is better for me so have moved, but will go back to Silver in a few months time.