Euro Sterling Current Account Fx Rate

inmypocketnottheirs

RetiredInThailand wrote: »

For small sums I just use a credit/debit card with zero weighting.

Which debit card?

RetiredInThailand

I have a Santander one (which may no longer be available to new applicants) and a Metro one.

I havent used the Santander one for some time as I am unsure as to whether it still has no weighting; they keep changing product names and terms every few months which makes it very difficult to follow.

inmypocketnottheirs

RetiredInThailand wrote: »

I havent used the Santander one for some time as I am unsure as to whether it still has no weighting; they keep changing product names and terms every few months which makes it very difficult to follow.

That is true!

I will look at Metro, I had considered this before. I seem to recall that it's only possible to open an account in a branch.

I am all for saving money! I don't transfer large amounts, maximum a couple of k a month across € & $. Pre booking isn't really an option, and I don't want a level of service any less than I am getting.

I quite like spending and withdrawing in dollars, so it suits me to have currency accounts, but if it would be a better deal to spend in sterling with a card with no weighting then that is my next avenue.

Thanks for your help.

gglaze

inmypocketnottheirs wrote: »

There are a few citi knockers around here but how many actually use them and can speak from first hand experience?

Hi guys, very interesting thread here.

I've been using Citi, XE.com, and other sites to do regular (monthly) transfers in a variety of currencies, so I have a good deal of experience with this.

Just did a quick check across several currencies to see how rates currently look.

GBP->EUR (10k GBP)
Citi = 12148.70 = 2.69% spread from mid-market rate (i.e. 1.21487 vs 1.24847 as of right now)
XE = 12399.30 = 0.68% spread; (add £13.61 wire fee) = 0.82% spread

This was all done by actually getting a transfer set up on either site, and going all the way to just before clicking confirm - so these are the actual rates the services would give me.

So, in summary across currencies here's what I got:

GBP=>EUR : Citi 2.69% vs XE 0.82%
GBP=>USD : Citi 2.54% vs XE 0.78%
GBP=>SEK : Citi 2.73% vs XE 0.95%
GBP=>PLN : Citi 4.38% vs XE 1.12%

The PLN quote was done using my Citibank Handlowy account in Poland, all the others are from Citibank UK.

So, a few notes:

* Yes in general XE can make a huge difference - the difference between 2.69% and 0.82% on a 10k transfer resulted in an extra 234 EUR, not huge, but also not an insignificant amount relative to the total 12k euros this transfer is worth;

* This also has to do with economies of scale - when you have the wire fee on XE, you have to balance that against the total amount. So if I were talking about smaller amounts, for example 1k GBP, the spreads would be 2.69% and 2.02%, so as you can see, for smaller amounts, if you have a wire transfer fee (which I usually do with XE.com), the Citi deal gets much closer and for a very small amount could actually be cheaper!

* Ultimately this is a tradeoff between time/convenience, and absolute most efficient cost; so I have learned to transfer bigger amounts, and be more diligent in leaving a couple days time, and not needing to just transfer something at the last minute - if you can do all this, so that a couple days delay isn't a problem, then XE.com is invariably the much better deal.

* But of course it's great to have the Citi instant transfer option for emergencies! So I think of the extra cost involved in a Citi transfer as a premium for that instant service.

* I have noticed that these spreads are not constant, and all fluctuate in a less-than-transparent way to us as the customer. For example, if I have a rather large transfer to do to PLN (5k GBP or more for example), sometimes I can actually call the bank and they will temporarily give me a much better rate for that one transfer, that will actually beat the XE rate by a lot. But of course this is much less convenient, so I tend to just use XE unless I really need to do a massive amount. But XE will also negotiate a better rate on rather large transfers. Once or twice I have had to bargain shop by calling back and forth until I got the best rate between the two. So I wouldn't be surprised if this is also possible with Citi UK.

* XE also used to have me on a much worse spread, presumably the "beginner's rate" as opposed to the "frequent flyer's rate" or something. After I called and complained enough times, it seems they have put me in a different bracket so I always get a great rate, and now I use the service a lot more. But I remember a time when Citi was actually giving me a better rate than XE.

* I believe Citi's rates have deteriorated a bit over the last couple years - I'm sure they were more competitive with XE a few years ago, or maybe my introductory XE rates were just that bad.

In summary, why can't they just make it simple?!

Hope that helps someone.

basicblue2k

I have been a customer of Citi for 2 years enjoying the multi currency account feature for no monthly charge.

Now that they are going to introduce monthly charges, I don't think it is viable for me to maintain £2000 worth of money in each of the accounts.

Planning to close Citi and open with some other bank which gives free Euro account with debit card. Any options/suggestions?

Note: I travel a lot to Euro zone and having a Euro debit card handy to withdraw in Euro ATMs and spend in Euros with the debit card would be a necessity. This is something provided by Citi today.