Citibank Plus Transaction Account Moving to NAB Branded Account

littlesoldier on 16/08/2023 - 14:59
Last edited 16/08/2023 - 15:01

Just received an email today
Citi Plus was one of the best travelling card, free international transaction fee, free atm fee overseas

Now being moved to NAB, looks like these nice features no longer exist
From the email, the account transition will be happening in March 2024

Here's the email:

In June 2022, we, National Australia Bank Limited (NAB), informed our customers that we had acquired the Australian consumer banking business of Citigroup Pty Limited (“Citi”). As part of the next phase of the journey, your Citibank Plus Transaction Account will be moved to a similar NAB branded account. This is expected to occur by March 2024, however there are actions you will need to take now and in the lead up to this time to ensure you can access and manage your NAB branded account.

As part of the changes, you will receive a notice of changes, your NAB branded account details, and a NAB debit card for each Citi branded account you have that currently has a Citi branded debit card. We will give you notice before we move your funds to your NAB branded account.

While there will be some changes to your Citibank Plus Transaction Account, the essential features, including interest rates and product fees and charges, will remain the same.

To make sure you have flexibility and sufficient time to familiarise yourself with your NAB branded account, we will be opening your NAB branded account before closing your Citi branded account. Once you receive your NAB branded account details, you will be able to complete the set up of your NAB branded account and start using it.

Please note that if you hold other Citi branded accounts, including a deposit, savings and/or offset account, home loan, investment, credit card or personal loan, you will
receive separate communications about changes ahead of time. If you have a Relationship Manager, they will continue to be available to answer any questions you may have.

You can visit our dedicated support page citibank.com.au/nab-transactions-savings.

Financial

Related Stores

Citibank Australia
Citibank Australia
National Australia Bank Group (NAB)
National Australia Bank Group (NAB)

Comments

  • fantombloo on 16/08/2023 - 15:03
    +7

    Hopefully

    product fees and charges, will remain the same

    means what it says.

    • littlesoldier on 16/08/2023 - 15:04
      +2

      Looking into NAB debit card
      the one that has 0% international transaction fee has a $10 monthly fee
      https://www.nab.com.au/personal/accounts/debit-cards

      The free one has 3% fee

        • RQNinja on 18/08/2023 - 01:01

          But I want a wise mastercard and not visa card. I don't want to go to bet in their lottery?

          • FirstWizard on 18/08/2023 - 17:08
            +1

            @RQNinja: I think Macquarie Bank is the next best.
            * Mastercard (especially for those who love going to Japan)
            * 0% OS txn fees, and no OS ATM fees
            * No withdrawal limits
            * Local ATM operator fee rebates with no hoops

            Wise is infinitesimally better with exchange rates than Master card rates though. But too much effort to manage their ATM limits.

            • [Deactivated] on 21/08/2023 - 11:02

              @FirstWizard: Is that the Macquarie Transaction Account ?

              • FirstWizard on 21/08/2023 - 11:55

                @[Deactivated]: Yup.

                I think I should rephrase one of the lines above to,
                * No special limits for fee free withdrawals.

        • Eeples on 18/08/2023 - 14:10

          Wise card is not free for OS atm charges and it has its own atm fees above an OS atm withdrawal limit.

    • rickb on 16/08/2023 - 15:12
      +5

      There are numerous alternatives if NAB don't replicate Citi's fee structure. I'm using a few of them now. My only concern is what they are planning to do with the "free for life" Premier credit card.

      • littlesoldier on 16/08/2023 - 15:16
        +1

        I think credit card are still "safe" at the moment, but no one knows
        I also got the premier free for life (signature)
        Transaction for credit card is much harder I believe as features per card are very different between Citi and NAB

        from FAQ https://www1.citibank.com.au/nab/transactions-savings?cid=EM…

        What changes are happening to my Citi branded credit card?

        At this stage, there is no impact to your Citi branded credit card and you can continue to use your card as normal. We will notify you as required of any changes to your Citi branded credit card ahead of time.

        • rickb on 16/08/2023 - 15:39
          +3

          Words such as "At this stage" don't fill me with confidence, but I get what you mean about feature differences.

          • Pcoder on 17/08/2023 - 17:36

            @rickb: I'd say the only good thing was citi was a very large credit card provider in Australia (I think they were 5th largest), so they may be triming the smaller business units, but I could imagine they would be a lot more careful around the credit card business (besides Diner's) as with millions of customers, you do risk startling them and making them look for other options.

      • dbun1 on 18/08/2023 - 12:12
        +1

        Yes, waiting to see what happens with this too.

        Got the Signature fee free for life some years ago.

    • mbck on 16/08/2023 - 19:53
      +2

      Reading the email for the 2nd time, im not convinced with the "essential features".

      I have a feeling they'll neuter the card.

      • drfuzzy on 18/08/2023 - 21:03

        essential = profitable

  • Gdsamp on 16/08/2023 - 15:04
    +1

    Godspeed

  • jv on 16/08/2023 - 15:06
    +1

    😲

  • burningrage on 16/08/2023 - 15:27
    +6

    They are silly if they choose to rebrand an international brand into local brand for the credit card. Imho

    • littlesoldier on 16/08/2023 - 15:36

      agree, and Citi is also one of the biggest bank in Australia issuing custom-branded credit cards, so its not as easy as moving all to NAB branded
      eg. Coles, Qantas Money, Kogan Money, Virgin Money, Bank of Queensland etc.

      • spaceflight on 19/08/2023 - 11:05

        so its not as easy as moving all to NAB branded
        eg. Coles, Qantas Money, Kogan Money, Virgin Money, Bank of Queensland etc.

        That's not what is happening.

        Citi has decided to leave the consumer marker and stop offering direct.

        Branded cards will still exist, so will Citi branded corporate cards.

        It is only Citi branded consumer cards being impacted.

    • Gdsamp on 16/08/2023 - 16:05
      -4

      me hwhen

      me hwhen i rebrand one of the worlds largest social media platforms

    • redforever on 16/08/2023 - 16:24
      +2

      I presume there is a limit on how long they can continue using the citi brand?

      • mike6969 on 16/08/2023 - 20:25
        -8

        NAB bought Citibank Oz last year - it's theirs forever if they want it

        • fantombloo on 16/08/2023 - 20:38
          +4

          This was a deal between lawyered up corps, not an everyday purchase from a retailer. Who knows what conditions are attached to the sale.

        • bigmudcake on 17/08/2023 - 09:54
          +18

          @mike6969 Please don't post comments that are clearly wrong. Several reasons its wrong 1. Citi Inc. (the american company) would never sell just their brands to other companies like this, unless they are selling their whole company. Normally an American company would licence their brand to other separate overseas companies such as Citibank Australia which is a different entity from the American company. Think Burger King licencing their product brands to Hungry Jacks, or Chevron licencing the brand "Caltex" to Caltex Australia (Now called Ampol Australia). Almost always these licensing terms have limitations on them, and are rarely "forever". Just see the issues Caltex Australia had after Chevron wanted their brand back. Or when Burger King tried to come into Australia and go against the licencing terms they have with Hungry Jacks. 2. Also it clearly states on the citibank.com.au website in the footer "Citi", "Citibank", "Citigroup", the Arc design and all similar trade marks and derivations thereof are used temporarily under licence by NAB from Citigroup Inc and related group entities.

          • StingyBritches on 17/08/2023 - 12:06
            +1

            @bigmudcake: Bigmudcake, stop it! Stop now!

            We refuse to listen to reasoned, logical statements on such matters.

          • mike6969 on 18/08/2023 - 08:24
            -6

            @bigmudcake: My statement is not wrong. NAB did purchase Citibank Australia consumer business. It's not a franchise or licence. It's a sale.
            There may be a time period in the contract that states they can't use the Citi branding after x years, but the business and all its assets are now owned by NAB.. FOREVER!

            • drfuzzy on 18/08/2023 - 21:06
              +3

              @mike6969: just say "I was wrong".

            • bigmudcake on 20/08/2023 - 10:02
              +2

              @mike6969: You should have went to Specsavers. Re-read the question and re-read your answer. You are clearly wrong. I will repeat original question with bold areas to help you.

              I presume there is a limit on how long they can continue using the citi brand?

              The question was about the citi brand used under "licence" not any assets that Citibank Australia actually owned.

              I suspect even the financial software platform that the products are sitting on are also licenced which would be why NAB is eventually shifting all users onto their platform into comparable products. Its rare for software to be sold, its more common to be licenced. For example, when you buy an iPhone, you own the physical phone but not the software (ios16) than runs on the phone. You only have a licence to use it, and "agree" to that licence when you first setup the phone.

              Again I suspect NAB was really only interested in the user base for a "fair" sale price.

              But I could be wrong :)

        • prisonerzero on 17/08/2023 - 19:35
          -2

          They are only licensing the brand. I could not find if there is an end date that is public knowledge, but they have said all home loans and deposit customers by March 24 will be across to NAB. You can't apply for Citi credit cards anymore so they will presumably be moved across as well.

          • ascorbic on 17/08/2023 - 23:52

            @prisonerzero: Citi CCs are still being advertised and open for applications.

            • bigmudcake on 20/08/2023 - 11:31

              @ascorbic: Citi credit cards are the elephant in the room, which is why it will be alot longer before there is any changes.

              But based on the language NAB and Citi are using regarding the sale, or more specifically the failure to mention that credit cards are a special exempt case, tells me that they will be shifting also.

              I don't believe NAB would be stupid enough to keep the existing Citi credit card products they now operate being dependent on someone else's licenced system permanently. Caltex Australia (now Ampol) was stupid enough to do this with the Caltex brand and look what happened to them.

              Because Citibank Australia's credit card business is a complex beast, as it also whitelabels out to other brands like Coles credit card, I suspect NAB is busy building out their own financial platform to accommodate this, i.e. having their NAB online banking system also hosting other brands like Coles and even newly issued Citibank branded credit card account, which could explain why they are still excepting new customers and Citibank credit card advertising. There may be terms under the agreement where NAB is allowed to onsell Citibank credit cards under their own platform as well as others like Coles.

              One thing that is almost certain, we will be issued with new credit cards having a new card number, which will be a pain. More likely being NAB branded so as to keep any customers paired transaction account and credit card account together. They may be allowed to keep issuing Citi credit cards after this time as a separate account and login from NAB accounts, similar to having a Coles credit card on the same platform but separate.

              But this is all pure speculation based on the facts I see so far. Time will tell.

          • lachsmiles on 18/08/2023 - 14:05

            @prisonerzero: I think its a 2 year period

        • mike6969 on 21/08/2023 - 17:55
          +1

          Ok I did misread the question
          Appologies..

      • factor on 18/08/2023 - 16:24
        +1

        "Temporarily under license" for the citibank brand.
        https://www.nab.com.au/about-us/citi-sale-notice

    • cnrmlj on 17/08/2023 - 18:00

      Not necessarily. Might not be legally able to use the citi brand after a period of time. When ANZ bought out the ING JV they had a year or 2 to get off the ING brand. Also significant cost savings in only having one brand and product suite to maintain.

    • argamond on 18/08/2023 - 21:37

      They didn't sell their international brand to NAB.

  • richmond12 on 16/08/2023 - 15:49

    bugger i got this email too. such a shame - i reckon they will nerf the card.

    this page will be to be updated too:
    https://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/citibank_plus_transaction_acco…

  • cashless on 16/08/2023 - 16:15
    +5

    Citibank Plus is useful because it is free and it allows you to withdraw cash overseas, mostly fee-free (depending on the country).
    If NAB can match that with their "alternative product" I will be very surprised.

    • dcep on 16/08/2023 - 16:36
      +2

      withdraw cash overseas, mostly fee-free (depending on the country).

      I think there are quite a few of other free cards that offer fee free cash withdrawal, but still not covering local ATM fees like ING.

      The good thing about Citi was using their own ATM network assuring no fee cash withdrawal, but they have sold out their retail consumer products globally not just Australia, hence many Citi ATMs worldwide are no more.

      Citi no longer a global player that offer international network banking solution.

      • MITM on 18/08/2023 - 11:55
        +1

        Went looking for the one and only local Citi ATM listed on their website when in Athens a few years back - totally gone. Wished they'd kept there website current - I had planned on withdrawing Euros from my Citi account.

        • Eeples on 18/08/2023 - 14:15

          I got fee free atm withdrawals at one atm in Greece with my Citi card in February.

          I can not remember which one.

    • Pcoder on 17/08/2023 - 17:44
      +2

      It's actually very annoying as years ago, NAB did offer a similar product called Gold Banking, which had no Forex. I'd imagine why they don't really offer a forex free account is they probably know NAB has an older customer base, so you can charge more fees. I'd imagine Ubank is what they would consider their younger market product, so that is why they offer a forex free product through them.

    • xdigger on 18/08/2023 - 11:54
      +1

      Any thoughts on the Wise debit card or HSBC EveryDay Global debit card as an alternative travel card?

      • MITM on 18/08/2023 - 11:58

        Wise has $350 per month ATM cash withdrawl limit before charging fees. No hoops to jump through though like ING. No experience with HSBC

        • Thenarrator on 21/08/2023 - 18:53

          HSBC only has 10 select currencies which allows this. Outside of these 10, it doesnt work. and you need to deposit 2000 every month

      • YesPleaseThankYou on 05/09/2023 - 16:12

        Wise is not part of the Australian Financial Claims Scheme.

        If it goes under, you will very likely lose your money.

  • mbck on 16/08/2023 - 16:24
    +7

    Macquarie transaction isn't bad. Much better app experience.

    Ubank isn't bad too.

    Some people uses HSBC but I'm happy with one poor banking app experience tyvm

    • littlesoldier on 16/08/2023 - 17:13

      thanks. probably will look into macquarie transaction account

      • Mugsy on 17/08/2023 - 07:47
        +8

        I second Macquarie as a good travel debit card option. No international transaction fees and good security options that are travel friendly. They don't charge ATM withdrawal fees (they rebate domestic ones)… you're only at the whim of the overseas ATM operators.

        Tip: I would open two transaction accounts. Lock the card for the second one and keep it in your luggage as a back up card in case the first one gets stolen. You can also keep most of your cash on this second account and move to your main account as you need it (just to limit the amount on your main card if it gets stolen). Don't open up a savings account as they have a good intro rate… you wanna save that for when you have a sizeable amount of cash to sit somewhere for 4 months.

        • RMBC on 17/08/2023 - 08:14

          Agree with the Macquarie recommendations

        • unhuman on 18/08/2023 - 07:24

          How about coversion rate and conversion fees. Citi uses current forex rate. And no fees for conversion.

          • Thenarrator on 21/08/2023 - 18:54
            -2

            @unhuman: macquarie uses mastercard curency rates which are typically worse by 4-6%

            • greatlamp on 19/09/2023 - 14:09
              +1

              @Thenarrator: They both use the same MasterCard rates.

              The rates are NOT worse than forex by that much, and the best you will get on a consumer product

        • kiwimex on 18/08/2023 - 07:29
          +1

          This is how I used my Citi cards…all funds in one account not attached to the debit card then transfer as required while travelling.

      • c64 on 19/08/2023 - 13:58

        the macquarie transaction account actually pays 4.5% interest on balances up to $250k

  • tinx on 16/08/2023 - 18:51

    I used UP and macquarie in indonesia to withdraw cash.
    Up have slightly better rate and instant notification of the transaction. Macquarie takes way longer.

    I still have citibank plus but i think i should just close it before they move it to nab..

    • Ryk on 16/08/2023 - 20:21
      +1

      I used UP and macquarie in indonesia to withdraw cash.
      Up have slightly better rate and instant notification of the transaction. Macquarie takes way longer.

      With Macq I receive the notification before the ATM starts picking the cash, so instantly Macq are authorising the withdraw.

      • Paul Atreides on 16/08/2023 - 22:13
        +1

        ditto here, macq are instant for me

      • tinx on 16/08/2023 - 23:31

        My mistake, notif was instant but the transaction doesn’t show in my app until a day later and the balance also not updated. Is it the same?

    • dcep on 16/08/2023 - 20:32

      Do you need to go into NAB branch in-person, just to close it ?

    • [Deactivated] on 21/08/2023 - 10:59

      Are you referring to the Macquarie Platinum transaction account?

    • YesPleaseThankYou on 05/09/2023 - 16:13

      The rate used by Up is the same rate as everyone else.

  • poisongodmachine on 16/08/2023 - 19:32
    +5

    Bye bye Citibank… I'm not getting another Big Four account. No way José.

    Can anyone recommend a good alternative, with no international transaction fees? Even a good prepaid travel card will do.

    • Ryk on 16/08/2023 - 20:24
      +3

      a good alternative

      up, ubank, Suncorp, me bank, Macquarie,…

      a good prepaid travel card

      no such beast.

      • Daabido on 18/08/2023 - 16:14
        -1

        NAB is buying Suncorp.

        • Baysew on 18/08/2023 - 16:28

          Do you mean ANZ is buying Suncorp?

          • ol mate on 18/08/2023 - 21:51

            @Baysew: Maybe, maybe not

            • Baysew on 19/08/2023 - 10:09

              @ol mate: There is no maybe about NAB.

              If the ACCC is blocking at the moment the smallest on the big four, it's certainly not going to allow the third biggest to purchase Suncorp.

    • xdigger on 18/08/2023 - 11:54

      Any thoughts on the Wise debit card or HSBC EveryDay Global debit card as an alternative travel card?

  • HardQuiz on 16/08/2023 - 19:33
    +11

    nab will butcher the features of Citibank plus accounts one by one.

    • mike6969 on 16/08/2023 - 20:21
      +12

      You can bank on that

      • bdl on 16/08/2023 - 20:30
        +1

        I citi what you did there…

        • mike6969 on 16/08/2023 - 20:31
          +1

          Nice portrait btw it's simple yet expressive

          • bdl on 16/08/2023 - 21:31
            +1

            @mike6969: Thanks, it's an excerpt of a mspaint crash diagram I did many years ago

    • Roney on 17/08/2023 - 20:01
      +1

      NAB's conversion rate is dreadful

  • MadeIt on 16/08/2023 - 22:42
    +2

    Assuming NAB will remove the international atm benefits, Any recommendations for an alternative?

    I solely used my Citi Bank account & card for the purpose of travel and another big 4 for daily transactions.

    • Mugsy on 17/08/2023 - 07:53
      +1

      Not much in terms of options for free international ATM withdrawals these days.

      ING don't cover international withdrawals.

      The next best thing was to target the international bank brands such as Citi and HSBC for the countries they have a greater ATM presence in.

      After that, make sure your have another debit card that has no international transaction fees and they themselves don't charge an overseas ATM withdrawal fee… you're just at the whim of the overseas ATM operator then as far as fees go. Some won't charge you a fee so a bit of research on your destination/s and a bit of luck helps.

  • potm on 17/08/2023 - 00:20
    +6

    Sad to lose this. Even though there's other options for fee free foreign exchange debit cards, Citibank has ATMs in a lot of countries which guaranteed fee free withdrawals and gave a better rate than Mastercard. Citi is closing up in a lot of countries though, not just Australia.
    With the loss of ING atm withdrawal refunds as well, it may be time to go back to good old cash when traveling to some countries.

  • danield on 17/08/2023 - 10:06
    +1

    Just found out about this NAB acquisition, and I guess it explains a bit about the weird Credit Card renewals the last year or so.I to have the Premier Credit Card lifetime and Ill hate to lose it's perks. Last year (2022) when our renewal cards arrived it was only for 1year which was very short and sux cause I need to update all the automatic payments again. So we recenlty got our renewal cards which are now MasterCard, so I figured that was the reason for the short 1 year cards to cover a tansition from Visa to MasterCard, the new cards are 5years (2028) so with this news Im going to assume that this is most likley going to be last card using the Citi Premier Card, as the next replacement is going to be NAB and all the lack of features that come with it.

  • JOHNNO2013 on 17/08/2023 - 10:38
    -1

    I had been exploring using the worldwide wallet as a replacement. https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/775837
    The travelcard has ATM fee free withdrawal and I had been testing depositing aussie dollar in the card and use the "Mastercard" scheme FX rate on the day rather than letting Westpac rip me off with their margins by converting with them. The conversion rate I am getting is definitely better than Wetpac's rate and seems to be slightly better than paypal. However, it is no longer as good as it was a few years ago with 28 degree and I am suspending that the banks are somehow adding their margin on top of the mastercard scheme rate as i had also noticed that 28 degree is no longer giving heaps better converison rate than paypal. Maybe paypal had reduced their margins due to competition or the fatcats are trying to squeeze the last drop.

  • dfg555 on 17/08/2023 - 14:53
    +3

    lol from the citi global currency down to citi plus down to nab xD.

  • [Deactivated] on 17/08/2023 - 16:53
    +1

    My Citibank didn't work overseas, It accepted my pin but when I went to withdraw money it said transaction error. When I rang the bank they claimed they couldn't even see that I'd logged into the ATM!

    My friend has the same card and it worked at the same ATM, so I imagine my card must have been scratched or damaged.

    The card worked, just not to take out cash from ATMs.

    If they change the benefits, then I switch to another card that has benefits and hopefully free.

    • Gaz1 on 18/08/2023 - 15:58

      I had the same issue & called Citi when I got home & they said my card had been locked because I hadn't withdrawn from it for a while.
      I think they did something & said I had to go to a local ATM (check balance I think) to reactivate it.

  • AsSeenOnTv on 17/08/2023 - 20:52
    +1

    I received an email today saying the diners card linked to my premier card is being discontinued also. Seems like they are beginning the decommissioning of the citi products more broadly.

    Maybe we need a database showing the best credit cards available for when we all lose our citi cards completely.

    • rickb on 17/08/2023 - 21:25

      So did I but I don't have a Diners lmao

    • xdigger on 18/08/2023 - 11:50

      What did you use the Diners card for? I have a linked citi prestige Diners card but not sure what to use it on… I'm travelling to Japan next month though.

      • MITM on 18/08/2023 - 12:08
        +3

        Free wine at restaurants when paying with Citi card. Not sure how it worked because you'd have to order the wine before paying when leaving so you'd have to discuss with waiter/ess firstly. "Hey Garcon, fetch my bottle of Citi-grog si vous plait"

        • xdigger on 18/08/2023 - 12:17

          Cheers mate

        • ghostkkz on 19/08/2023 - 19:54

          I thought the free wine benefit was removed 1.5 years ago?

          • nickj on 20/08/2023 - 11:36

            @ghostkkz: It was. Citibank dining (ie at selected restaurants get a free bottle of wine, usually when spending more than $50 and paying with a citibank card) stopped after the 2021 lockdowns (roughly end of 2021).

      • MrGarciaA on 22/08/2023 - 10:33
        +1

        Online shopping and subscriptions via Paypal. Was perfect to avoid the absolute money grab of a 3.4% Citi forex fee just from having a merchant process its payments OS despite charging in AUD and having an Aus prescence. Heaps of things like Airbnb, Google, Spotify, Booking.com, Playstation, ebay + many more all process their payments OS while displaying and charging AUD. Add to that many airlines like Delta also process OS so imagine thinking you're paying $2k+ AUD for a nice holiday to the USA only then be slapped an extra $70 forex fees with no way of knowing beforehand. The Linked Diners gave peace of mind cos they charged no forex fee

        • xdigger on 22/08/2023 - 12:56

          Thanks, is your Diners card linked to Citi too? I heard Citi is discontinuing their linked Diners which is what mine is.

    • FirstWizard on 18/08/2023 - 17:12

      Hmm, I have a standalone Diners card, but no announcements yet. I'm due to pay the annual fee this month :S

      When did they say they are pulling the plug on that?

      • MrGarciaA on 22/08/2023 - 10:28

        If you're getting value from it, keep it open till they announce its inevitable shut down

        • FirstWizard on 22/08/2023 - 12:53

          Haha yeah, unlimited priority pass lounge access for a measly $95/yr.

          • MrGarciaA on 22/08/2023 - 15:59

            @FirstWizard: Out of curiosity, does Diners issued charge cards still offer lounge access? I heard from several forums that apparently the lounge access has been watered down/removed….

            • FirstWizard on 23/08/2023 - 18:12

              @MrGarciaA: It still does. I used it just the other month in Seoul, and my app still shows that I am entitled to unlimited visits.

              They have the full priority pass Catalogue including airport dining credits which are excluded for AMEX issued priority pass memberships.

  • burningrage on 17/08/2023 - 21:26
    +1

    I would start seriously redeeming all of my points.

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