CITIBANK, Foreign & Phil accounts

[Paul_QLD]

Trying to find an answer and by being confused reading the jargon on the Citibank website decided someone here may have an idea if not already doing it. Is it possible to have a Citibank a/c at home (In this case Aust) and then transfer money into a local Philippine Citibank a/c without incurring too many exorbitant fees?

Sorta seems to simple, guessing there will be a catch somewhere .

[Jack Peterson]

14 minutes ago, Paul_QLD said:

Sorta seems to simple, guessing there will be a catch somewhere .

 Quite agree, I can't speak for that specific bank but most others are the same, take Mine, PNB whist I had an account in Madrid (Spain) It could not be linked to Manila although wholly owned  by PNB. like many banks can not do direct business because of a lack what is called, Consumer Credit Acts ie they are only dealing within the PI. you will notice the so very small Account Guarantee for one thing on collapse of the Bank. I had to close my Account in Spain have a Cashier's Check sent to me to Deposit in Dumaguete where I chose to have my Account here. Nothing seems simple here but it is what it is .........................

[scott h]

2 hours ago, Paul_QLD said:

Is it possible to have a Citibank a/c at home

Yes. When we first moved here and were building our house 5 years ago, our main account was city bank USA. At that time we transferred large amounts electronically with out fees. Having said that, my wife and I are not that computer literate and we encountered pass word problems. After that we just deposited hard checks and waited for them to clear. Since I was bank to bank it only took ten days. Hope this helps

[Gentleman.Jack.Darby]

On 7/16/2017 at 3:11 AM, Paul_QLD said:

Trying to find an answer and by being confused reading the jargon on the Citibank website decided someone here may have an idea if not already doing it. Is it possible to have a Citibank a/c at home (In this case Aust) and then transfer money into a local Philippine Citibank a/c without incurring too many exorbitant fees?

Sorta seems to simple, guessing there will be a catch somewhere .

I'm an American with a Citibank U.S. account, so I'm most familiar with that "flavor" - I did check the Citibank Australia site briefly.

Yes, with Citibank Global Transfers, one can transfer from an account in Australia to a Citibank Philippines account via the Citibank website for free.

The only thing that one should consider with a Citibank Philippines account is that the "Total Relationship Balance" (total of all balance across all Citi Philippines accounts) to avoid the monthly fee of PHP 500 (USD 10) is PHP 1,000,000 (USD 20,000).

The PHP 500 is not material when compared to the cost of a wire transfer or the poor exchange rates give by money transfer services, but PHP 1,000,000 is above the amount covered by the PDIC (Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation). Probably not much of an issue considering that it's Citibank.

[Queenie O.]

On 7/16/2017 at 3:32 PM, Jack Peterson said:

 Quite agree, I can't speak for that specific bank but most others are the same, take Mine, PNB whist I had an account in Madrid (Spain) It could not be linked to Manila although wholly owned  by PNB. like many banks can not do direct business because of a lack what is called, Consumer Credit Acts ie they are only dealing within the PI. you will notice the so very small Account Guarantee for one thing on collapse of the Bank. I had to close my Account in Spain have a Cashier's Check sent to me to Deposit in Dumaguete where I chose to have my Account here. Nothing seems simple here but it is what it is .........................

Agree--same with the PNB in NYC Jack!

[jpbago]

7 hours ago, Gentleman.Jack.Darby said:

The only thing that one should consider with a Citibank Philippines account is that the "Total Relationship Balance" (total of all balance across all Citi Philippines accounts) to avoid the monthly fee of PHP 500 (USD 10) is PHP 1,000,000 (USD 20,000).

The PHP 500 is not material when compared to the cost of a wire transfer or the poor exchange rates give by money transfer services, but PHP 1,000,000 is above the amount covered by the PDIC (Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation). Probably not much of an issue considering that it's Citibank.

The PDIC is PHP 500,000 per account. You could have 3 accounts at each branch, a joint and a his and a hers. Maybe even two joints, one with "and" and one with "or".

Filipinos don't seem to worry about the PDIC. In the recent news, the Comelec chair is alleged to have one billion pesos net worth. Must have a book shelf of pass books.

[Dave Hounddriver]

1 hour ago, jpbago said:

The PDIC is PHP 500,000 per account.. You could have 3 accounts at each branch, a joint and a his and a hers. Maybe even two joints, one with "and" and one with "or".

If you research that further, (unless things have drastically changed), you will find that the PDIC is per individual and includes all related banks owned by the same group.

Thus when about 10 Rural Banks failed, in 2009, the PDIC adjudicated that several of them were actually owned by the same person and customers with multiple accounts in any and all of those banks were entitled to 250,00 (the cap at that time) from one account and half of that amount from any one joint account.  In addition, the PDIC judged that any interest already earned and withdrawn was a part of the maximum you were entitled to so that people who had already withdrawn 250K in interest from their bank accounts received nothing.

[jpbago]

8 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

If you research that further, (unless things have drastically changed), you will find that the PDIC is per individual and includes all related banks owned by the same group.

Yes you are right about the PDIC. Without researching, I had assumed that it would be similar to Canada (silly me):

Separate Protection

CDIC covers eligible deposits in the following categories, each to a limit of $100,000. These include:

deposits held in one name;

deposits held in more than one name (joint deposits);

deposits held in trust for another person;

deposits held in registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs);

deposits held in registered retirement income funds (RRIFs);

deposits held in tax-free savings accounts (TFSAs);

deposits held for paying realty taxes on mortgaged properties.

http://www.cdic.ca/en/financial-community/Pages/protecting-your-deposits.aspx

[Gentleman.Jack.Darby]

15 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

If you research that further, (unless things have drastically changed), you will find that the PDIC is per individual and includes all related banks owned by the same group.

Thus when about 10 Rural Banks failed, in 2009, the PDIC adjudicated that several of them were actually owned by the same person and customers with multiple accounts in any and all of those banks were entitled to 250,00 (the cap at that time) from one account and half of that amount from any one joint account.  In addition, the PDIC judged that any interest already earned and withdrawn was a part of the maximum you were entitled to so that people who had already withdrawn 250K in interest from their bank accounts received nothing.

Appreciate the additional information.

I mentioned the PDIC limit simply because I thought many people, especially Americans, likely sleep better knowing that their deposits are insured.

I should have also pointed out a couple of other things about which some folks may be concerned regarding Citi Philippines somewhat higher minimum balance (TRB) to avoid the monthly maintenance fee - USD 20,000 might be out of reach for some folks and even for those who have it and are willing to essentially park that amount of money, they may have well founded concerns about what might happen if they needed to leave the PI, quickly or otherwise.

It would not surprise me to find out that there might be rules on the book, enforced or not,  that might delay one's ability to transfer FROM the PI, especially in times of a national or banking "emergency", even using Global Transfers; the Citibank websites I've reviewed in detail (U.S., Philippines, and Thailand) make no mention of THAT aspect of Global Transfers, but I suppose there's something buried somewhere in the fine print.