Hi,

I received an email from moneysupermarket.com recommending the best rates for your savings. The top rate was Citibank so I applied online and then received my savings card and you were to call a freephone number to activate your account and to transfer your money......AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I have tried and tried and better tried to get through to this number and my record for holding on was 1hr 40 mins and I still didnt get anywhere. What is the point in recommending a savings account if you can never get your money into the account! I tried emailing asking for alternative ways to open the account and after another week still no reply. So I give UP and will now try to open up with the next "better rate" Alliance & Leicester - hopefully I will have better luck with this one.

Has anyone else had this problem with Citibank?

Cheers

lighty2,

Thanks for the feedback. I'll let Citibank (and our savings team) know about the problems with getting through on the phone - 1hr 40 mins is far, far too long!

Out of interest, how did you get on with the A&L application?

Thank you for responding and hopefully they can sort our their problems with their phones.

Anyway it hasnt put me off your recommendations as I did successfully change my current account to A & L (with £100 cashback etc.) which was fab and hopefully it will be a smooth enough to open a savings account with them with already having the current account (only drawback is I need £1000 to open it and wont have this until the end of this month) - I will let you know if I experience any problems but hopefully not.

Thanks again.

lighty2

No prob, lighty2 - I'm sure it'll go smoothly but keep us informed - it's good to hear of experiences both good and bad.

I banked with Citibank for years and have noticed the increased time it takes to get a call answered recently. This maybe something to do with having one of the top-paying savings accounts now, but have you tried entering *0 while they are giving you the long list of options? This takes you through to a personal banker(?) and they should be able to deal a little quicker with your request if you tell them how long you have been waiting.

Just noticed you have decided to go with A & L now, it's a shame that banks still let customers suffer long delays and poor customer service through a lack of staff. I opened accounts in the US last year and they were glad to get their hands on my wonga with the accounts opened within 30 minutes at 2 banks and a stockbroker. The customer service seems a lot better out there, maybe our legendary lot of dinosaurs should learn from them (even though Citi are an American Bank!)

Thank you for your comments. I thought I would give your suggestion a try but when you enter "0" it just takes you back to the beginning of the gentleman telling you the options. Thank you anyway - it was worth a try.

Regards

lighty2

I opened an account with City bank, as one of the best savings accounts on the market today.

Tried to call them too and was on hold for good 40 mins, activated my card, and was told I could transfer the money from the linked account and start saving. As my other savings accounts allowed me to do transfers on line from their own website, I did the same on City bank, and ended up being charged £25 for the standing order. I called and asked what the £25 was for, and they explained, that I actually made a mistake and transfered money from their acc to my current acc. They said they would take the charge off as I have not used the bank before, and they did/

After reading negetive comments about this bank, I m tempted to open an acc with INg, however, I m worried if my money is not covered by British safety net, and I can lose it all together.

Does anyone know, how easy it is to transfer all the money from city bank (50k) without needing to send them a letter in post etc? is it doable on line in a simple way?

Thanks

You can transfer up to £10k per day with Citibank via an online bank transfer very easily and with no charge if it is being transferred to a UK Bank a/c.

If you need to do the whole £50k in one hit then you need to ring them and ask for a CHAPS transfer which if I remember rightly costs around £20 (this may have increased).

It is sad that Citibank are letting their UK Customers down now, but I also have accounts with Citibank in USA, Singapore and Philippines and they have tremendous customer service. Because of that I will stick with them (and for the free Global Transfers of course)

Thank you ATM, I ll remember to do that, which will mean in 5 days I should get my 50k from them- without the need to call them.

would you know how is it if I wanted to close the account all together? If I can transfer all my money elsewhere, and leave 0 balance, can it be the way?

thank you

Hi glo,

Sorry but I have not closed any bank account since 1992 when I went into a Lloyds branch to sort that one out.

It would be best to check the account terms on Citibank's website to see if there is a minimum balance. If you are going to move all the money out, you may as well send them a secure message through their website and they may accept that as a way of closing the account, alternatively they may ask you to put your request in writing.

Cheers

ATM

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! YES INDEED!!!

I am glad I am not the olny one. I also set up an account with these ****** and what hassle!!!! Firstly, they send me my passwords but they only send an e-PIN, not a actual pin or T-PIN. I then ring them up and am kept waiting for an hr and 1/2. When I finally get through, I cannot understand a blinkin' word cause their English is so poor, and they say they can't speak to me cause they need my T-PIN number!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I then explain I was never sent one, and they were really rude so i just put the phone down.

I then go to my current bank and see if they can help, but they say I need an account number, but all i have is a card with a card number and sort code and we can't work out an account number, so they said they cannot help. They did say however, i need to be aware I may be charged by making this transaction - great!!!!

I then try ringing Citi bank again, and after waiting 45mins to get through, I explain the situation and say I am having trouble getting money into this account. Again, I can barely understand the person on the other end of the phone and he really is quite rude and says if i have anything that important to ask, why don't I email!!!!!!!!!?????? I have done this, but still no reply. I just about make out he says I can't transfer money over the internet - i need to go into my bank and write myself a cheque but I can't work out what my account no. is and really don't trust this bank as I can't get through to an articulate person and feel very uneasy, so I too give up with this.

At least I am not the only one - i feel very reassured it was not me being stupid!!

I set up an account for my wife without any hassle.

As soon as I received the relevant pins and card, I went online and activated her account within minutes. I didn't have to call their customer services to do this.

Good Luck to others who would like to earn better rate of interest on their savings.

I've applied to Citibank too. They're asking for a certified copy of my passport (which no other account I've opened has asked for - must be a sign of the times!). This is quite a hassle - anyone know how I can go about getting this done?

Cheers!

paulsbeck:

Is it really worth it? Do you trust them to keep it safe? In the UK?

If you have an established credit reference agency identity history there is no need for this. So either you haven't, in which case perhaps you would be better sorting that if you can or you have in which case I would consider their process to be inept and to be avoided.

Maybe you should ask them why they haven't relied on a CRA identity check.

Unlike most online savings accounts.

Hi Lighty

Yes indeed, AAAAAAAARGH (or something more heated) was exactly what I was shouting when I put the phone down to Citibank on Friday.

Knowing that funds from a house sale would be in my Barclays bank account last week (earning diddly squat in interest, as it is an ordinary current account), I was very organised and planned well in advance, researching how best to distribute my money when it arrived.

I had decided to transfer a significant sum of money into the Citibank savings account for ease of access and all the other benefits cited on this comparisons website. Again, being organised, I applied for the account in advance and had all my passwords at the ready so that no time would be wasted once the funds were available.

Along with the passwords that Citibank had provided me with, was a 'Citibank card' (what use it is I am like someone else here, still trying to work out!) with their sort code on it and a long number (which confusingly is not the same as the account number). When I peeled it off the paper it was stuck to, the message underneath read "IMPORTANT! You need to call us on......with your card number to activate your account ....bla bla...Transfer funds to your account at the same time with any UK Debit Card".

Having tried a few days previously to activate my account (I gave up, as I was kept waiting too long!), I rang on Friday once funds were in my Barclays account. Well, WHAT a disaster! Like others on this forum, I ended up going round and round the automated system, ending up speaking to staff overseas, whom I just could not understand (English was very poor and they spoke very quickly - I asked them to slow down but could still barely comprehend).

I explained that I had activated my account and now wished to transfer funds from Barclays using my debit card. I was told that this was not possible. I referred again and again to the instructions I had received in my welcome letter. Like a robot, the operative kept repeating something along the lines of "yes madam, as I have said, we no longer deal with debit cards you can have a BACS or CHAPS transfer....bla bla £20...bla bla...3 working days....bla bla....".

Eventually I gave up trying to pay money into my new account, and decided to seek alternative bank accounts. I remember seeing that ING were offering a good deal recently, however when I did a comparison check it no longer seemed to come up near the top of the list as it did a few weeks ago.

I therefore went into my Barclays branch in person the following day, and transferred the funds from that end. Again, more hassle as they were looking for an 8 digit account number and there were so many zeros at the start of the citibank account number that this confused the staff.

So far, I have found Citibank to be very poor and I am a disgruntled customer. I have dumped the money in the account for now, but if I experience any further hassle I will be moving on. I do not recommend this bank to anyone else - the rate seems good but the 'hassle factor' makes them frustrating to deal with.

I dread having to phone them with any further queries. Not only were the staff difficult to understand, but were also surly ('Sam' in particular....that is if he gave me the right name, as when I asked for it, I am sure he understood that I did not require it to send in a 'thank you' letter!)

Like others, I seek a) protection of the funds b) a decent rate of interest and c) ease of access to the funds. Oh, and preferably polite customer service staff we can understand!