My everyday banking has been with Citibank for several years now. I like their Ready Credit card, which is like a debit card, cheque account, personal loan and Visa card rolled into one.
I have a linked transaction account, into which my wages are paid and from which several direct debits are made.
I also have a linked high-interest savings account. Both Ready Credit and the transaction account have a cheque book facility.
I have appreciated the fact I don’t pay any monthly fees and ATM withdrawals are free from any bank’s automatic teller machine. That’s about to change.
According to an email I received from Citibank today:
Following a review by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), from 3 March 2009 ATM Direct Charging will be introduced at all ATMs across Australia.
ATM Direct Charging will now mean the fee charged for using an ATM will be displayed and charged by the ATM owner at the time of completing a transaction at their ATM. This ATM Direct Charge will then be displayed as a separate item on your account statement.
Whereas currently Citi pays the fee for our customers to use another bank’s ATM in Australia, from 3 March 2009 the ATM owner may charge you.
It sounds like the Reserve Bank had good intent in wanting transaction fees to be transparent, however a possibly unintended consequence is that banks which paid other banks for the service, and their customers, have been left exposed.
Citibank has come up with this solution:
Citi has entered into a partnership with Westpac, which will continue to give you access to over 1700 fee-free ATMs Australia wide. When using a Westpac-branded ATM no ATM Direct Charge will be displayed on the screen. All Citi ATMs will also be fee-free.
And, contrary to many banks in Australia Citi also maintains our commitment to not charge our customers any additional “other bank’s” ATM processing fees when using another bank’s ATM.
I don’t quite get the last bit. Westpac ATMs won’t display the surcharge. Other banks will, but Citibank won’t charge for them?
But further down it sounds like Citibank customers will be charged for using non-Westpac ATMs: “Citi recognises that you will be charged directly by ATM owners for using non-Citi and non-Westpac-branded ATMs and so these transactions will not count towards your allocated number of fee-free withdrawals per month.”
The universal fee-free flexibility of Citibank cards was a key attraction, but I’m happy enough to use Westpac machines.
It’s interesting the deal has been struck with Westpac. I am able to deposit cheques to my Citibank accounts via the National Australia Bank, so it would have made more sense for the arrangements to have been worked out with NAB.
I guess they didn’t want to play along at the right price.
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Guess I am with the wrong bank. Savings & Loans where I only have one account, I am charged for every transaction and every direct debit, of which there are many, plus every time I visit an ATM, I am smacked in the face with another fee.
Pretty soon it won’t be worth visiting the bank. All the fees & charges will soon swallow any funds that should have been your account balance.
My mattress is looking like a good place to keep my stash.
Hi
I’m on the same boat – I’ve a Citibank plus account with a saving, ready credit & credit card all linked into one login; and have been enjoying 100% fee free banking with extra convenience to use any ATM. That was the main reason why I switched from CBA more than 2 years ago. It’s now disappointing to hear about the new RBA policy about direct ATM charging.
Having been with Citibank Plus Account for more than 2 years, I obviously would like to continue with Citibank as I think their Internet banking interface is good and secure – I like the feature of email/sms notification and approval for all 3rd party payment setup; so even in the unlikely event of someone stealing my login details (very unlikely), they won’t be able to transfer out any fund to their account without me approving.
Recently I stumbled upon the Bankwest Zero Transaction Account which seems to offer the use of any ATMs for fee free and would even waive any Direct Charged ATM fees by the ATM owner!! – see at the links below:
http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/10225
http://www.ozbargain.com.au/wiki/fee_free_atms
I’ve actually wrote to Citibank bank to consider waiving the other ATM owner’s fees just like Bankwest for their Zero Transaction Account and am yet to hear from them.
On average I only do five ATM withdrawals per month so I won’t cost the bank too much. Not sure if Citi would do this; perhaps they could offer customers limited (say 10) any bank ATM withdrawals per month. Having to use any bank’s ATM is so good and it’s very difficult to give up.
Regards
Gary