Citibank dollar account

rainbow_carnage

This is more of a rant, but maybe it'll help someone.

I recently opened a dollar account at Citibank. The T&C weren't terribly clear, so I called their customer service to check if I understood them correctly. I had two main concerns. I was looking for an account where I could deposit USD cheques and withdraw USD cash in London free of charge. I wanted a UK-based account, not an American one. I already have a US HSBC account that lets me deposit USD cheques for free, but I've yet to find a way to withdraw dollars in cash in London without paying fees.

Citi's customer service agent assured me that there are no fees for depositing cheques or withdrawing cash, as long as I do it at a Citibank branch. She also said that it's a UK-based account. Great.

I filled in the online application, posted the tax forms, and schlepped down to Oxford Circus in the rain on the busiest shopping day of the year. When I got there, I was told that there is a £5 fee for each cheque deposited. Moreover, the cheques are sent to New York, so would take a minimum of 14 working days to clear. So much for it being a UK-based account. I couldn't wait three weeks, so the teller suggested that I do an electronic transfer, which would be quicker.

Since the cheques go through New York, I thought I could do a standard bank-to-bank transfer from my American account. HSBC charges $3 for that service. No problem. But, of course, it's not a US account. HSBC says I have to do a SWIFT wire transfer (a misnomer for something that takes days). That costs $30.

So I've opened an account where every time I want to deposit money into it, I have to either pay £5 and wait three weeks, or pay $30 and wait a few days.

NFH

rainbow_carnage wrote: »

I thought I could do a standard bank-to-bank transfer from my American account. HSBC charges $3 for that service.

How do you instruct such a transfer? I can't see any option in their online banking to do this. All they offer is Bill Pay, which prompts HSBC to put a cheque in the post to the payee, unless the payee is recognised by HSBC, in which case an ACH payment is sent.

jonesMUFCforever

It is a UK based account but there is no clearing system for USD cheques in Uk so it is standard practise for all USD cheques to be sent to USA.
You have chosen to open a foreign currency account in UK but expect everything for free - sorry this is not going to happen?

NFH

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

You have chosen to open a foreign currency account in UK but expect everything for free - sorry this is not going to happen?

The OP does not expect "everything for free". All he expects is that when he deposits a USD cheque into a Citibank UK USD account, there will be no charge. After all, Citi's rates and charges document states clearly "USD cheques deposited into any account - no fee". Is the OP asking too much that Citi adheres to its published charges?

rainbow_carnage

NFH wrote: »

How do you instruct such a transfer? I can't see any option in their online banking to do this. All they offer is Bill Pay, which prompts HSBC to put a cheque in the post to the payee, unless the payee is recognised by HSBC, in which case an ACH payment is sent.

I have a standard checking account. When I log in, there's an option on the left that says 'Bank to Bank Transfers', right above 'Pay Bills'. It's free to transfer to another HSBC account, or $3 to transfer to another US bank account. There's also a 'Transfers' option, which lets you do a SWIFT wire transfer. I think they call you to confirm before that can go through.

For bank to bank transfers, they instruct you to enter the recipient's account number. There's a picture of an American-style cheque with the account number highlighted. The Citibank cheques look like American cheques with the numbers on the bottom. There's a New York address in the top left corner. But apparently the numbers don't mean what they mean on American cheques? I've spoken to several people at Citibank and HSBC, none of whom could tell me what they mean.

NFH wrote: »

The OP does not expect "everything for free". All he expects is that when he deposits a USD cheque into a Citibank UK USD account, there will be no charge. After all, Citi's rates and charges document states clearly "USD cheques deposited into any account - no fee". Is the OP asking too much that Citi adheres to its published charges?

That's it, exactly. How else would you interpret that?

I get that not everything is free. I'm used to paying fees to withdraw or transfer funds, but I've never had to pay to deposit money into my own account, in the same currency as the account.

System

It clearly states that a £5 charge applies to non-GBP (Pound) cheques unless you have CitiGold or is that the case?

The account is a UK based account denominated in USD. It has the added bonus of checks that can be issued/cleared via the US banking system. It was never advertised to me as being part of the US clearing system nor having a US routing number etc

rainbow_carnage wrote: »

I have a standard checking account. When I log in, there's an option on the left that says 'Bank to Bank Transfers', right above 'Pay Bills'. It's free to transfer to another HSBC account, or $3 to transfer to another US bank account. There's also a 'Transfers' option, which lets you do a SWIFT wire transfer. I think they call you to confirm before that can go through.

For bank to bank transfers, they instruct you to enter the recipient's account number. There's a picture of an American-style cheque with the account number highlighted. The Citibank cheques look like American cheques with the numbers on the bottom. There's a New York address in the top left corner. But apparently the numbers don't mean what they mean on American cheques? I've spoken to several people at Citibank and HSBC, none of whom could tell me what they mean.



That's it, exactly. How else would you interpret that?

I get that not everything is free. I'm used to paying fees to withdraw or transfer funds, but I've never had to pay to deposit money into my own account, in the same currency as the account.

NFH

rainbow_carnage wrote: »

I have a standard checking account. When I log in, there's an option on the left that says 'Bank to Bank Transfers', right above 'Pay Bills'. It's free to transfer to another HSBC account, or $3 to transfer to another US bank account.

Yes, I've seen that option before but it says "Bank to Bank Transfers allow you to move your money between your HSBC accounts and those you own at other U.S. financial institutions, including banks, credit unions and brokerage accounts!" Obviously that's fine in your case, but I always want to pay to third parties. Have you managed to use it to pay third parties?

rainbow_carnage

Heng_Leng wrote: »

It clearly states that a £5 charge applies to non-GBP (Pound) cheques unless you have CitiGold or is that the case?

The account is a UK based account denominated in USD. It has the added bonus of checks that can be issued/cleared via the US banking system. It was never advertised to me as being part of the US clearing system nor having a US routing number etc

It's confusing because it says:

'USD cheques deposited into any account - not fee'

Just below that it says:

'Foreign currency cheque deposited into any account - £5'

It's not exactly clear. Which is why I called to ask about it. I specifically said that I would be depositing USD cheques from my American account. The person I spoke to confirmed that it's free. There was no mention of Citigold.

NFH wrote: »

Yes, I've seen that option before but it says "Bank to Bank Transfers allow you to move your money between your HSBC accounts and those you own at other U.S. financial institutions, including banks, credit unions and brokerage accounts!" Obviously that's fine in your case, but I always want to pay to third parties. Have you managed to use it to pay third parties?

I haven't tried. The person I spoke to about it at HSBC didn't ask whose account I wanted to transfer the money to. I just said that it was a Citibank account. Maybe she assumed it was mine?

Hazzanet

rainbow_carnage wrote: »

The Citibank cheques look like American cheques with the numbers on the bottom. There's a New York address in the top left corner. But apparently the numbers don't mean what they mean on American cheques? I've spoken to several people at Citibank and HSBC, none of whom could tell me what they mean.

The UK Dollar account doesn't accept US automatic payments in. The cheques are drawn on a Citibank account in New York. One number is the ARN(?) which is the US equivalent of our sort code, one is the account number which is a large Citibank clearing account. The cheque number is loooooooong because it is made up of *part* of your UK Citibank account number and the cheque number.

For example if your UK account number is 81234567, cheque 1 would normally be something like 234560001 where 23456 is part of the account number, and 0001 is the cheque number.

They use the cheque number to reconcile the payments out from the clearing account that services all of the UK Dollar accounts and apply the payments to the individual UK accounts.

You cannot use the numbers from the cheque book for automatic payments in/out.

rainbow_carnage

Hazzanet wrote: »

The UK Dollar account doesn't accept US automatic payments in. The cheques are drawn on a Citibank account in New York. One number is the ARN(?) which is the US equivalent of our sort code, one is the account number which is a large Citibank clearing account. The cheque number is loooooooong because it is made up of *part* of your UK Citibank account number and the cheque number.

For example if your UK account number is 81234567, cheque 1 would normally be something like 234560001 where 23456 is part of the account number, and 0001 is the cheque number.

They use the cheque number to reconcile the payments out from the clearing account that services all of the UK Dollar accounts and apply the payments to the individual UK accounts.

You cannot use the numbers from the cheque book for automatic payments in/out.

Thanks for this. When I asked the Citibank man, he said that he has never actually seen a USD cheque and doesn't know what the number means.