Citibank rant

Lfredblogs on 02/07/2014 - 12:43
Last edited 06/07/2014 - 19:19

So I got this Citibank Signature card with the intention of using it to replace my NAB Gold card (which has just changed to Platinum for some reason, but still has no rewards). But I can't, because:

1) Citibank don't offer BPay View. I rely on this to pay bills.

2) Citibank's website sends an SMS for every damn thing. Check balance? Need an SMS. Check for statements? SMS. Send an email query about the account? SMS. Imagine being overseas for that.

3) Speaking of email, better not use punctuation. "You have invalid characters in your email". Sorry for the apostrophe, Citibank, and thanks for making me guess which character was the invalid one.

4) Takes 3 days for transactions to show up in the statement.

Also I've just looked at the rewards they offer. A Samsung Galaxy S5 is 186,400 pts which is a spend of $124,266. The phone is worth around $650, which is about 0.5% of the spend. Seems like it's not worth the hassle, so I might just stop using this card.

Financial

Related Stores

Citibank Australia
Citibank Australia

Comments

  • evol on 02/07/2014 - 12:51

    Totally agree on point 2 and how Citibanks "security" implementation is way over the top and annoying. When I was overseas (with different sim card) and needed to transfer money or even just my check account balance I had to wait til I was back in my hotel to change sim cards and get the new code.

    Another annoying thing is how the statement PDF's are all password protected and I don't know what I changed my password to :(

    • aec on 04/07/2014 - 15:38

      i thought this "issue" could be solved. when i was overseas, my virgin sim was not usable. i could not check the account balance.

  • quaddie on 02/07/2014 - 13:08
    +5

    You can use the Citibank app on iOS or Android to generate a code, negating the need for an SMS

    • fredblogs on 04/07/2014 - 13:59

      Thanks. I've installed the app, which means at least I can use it overseas, although it's still freaking annoying.

  • tko6070 on 02/07/2014 - 13:09

    I wish there was an opt out option. Instead of SMS, I use the one time pin on the Citibank app for my phone. doesn't need an active connection once its setup which is useful overseas.

    • evol on 02/07/2014 - 13:16

      I found about this when I was overseas and promptly installed the app…only to find out (un)surprisingly that it required a SMS code to activate the one time pin option in the app. Foiled again by Citibank :D

  • ohsnap on 02/07/2014 - 16:04

    Point 2 drives me bonkers as well!!

  • tko6070 on 02/07/2014 - 16:16

    Pending transactions take ages to disappear from my account also, so annoying for hotel deposits…took weeks to get my money back! next time I use a credit card for deposits.

  • ethereal88 on 02/07/2014 - 16:30

    No point going to a foreign bank. I've switched entirely over to Westpac, savings in RAMS (which technically IS Westpac). Withdrawing from Westpac ATMs has been broken for the past week, if not 2 (the Plus account). I give up. Full branch support too, not just in the major cities. Meh, you really do get what you pay for.

  • danield on 02/07/2014 - 17:15
    +1

    Yeah, I gotta let of some steam here too. I love the advantages of using the transaction account overseas, and I really do like the features with the Platnium card I got, Insurance, Rewards no annual fee….

    BUT…

    I absolutely can't stand doing anything at all on the website, no flexibility about how you want the security to work and it is just ridiculous the amount of verifications SMS you get, and its forced upon you. I was overseas recently, and yeah as mentioned above, just had to leave it til I got home, cause really who can be bothered jumping through hoops just to see my balance.

    As for the password protected statement, yeah this is quite frankly a nightmare, if you change your password or forget it, well then your locked out of all your previous statements, so archiving them becomes a stressful chore making sure you can actually access them.

    As for the App, well I'm getting used to it now, but if I mess it up its a nightmare to configure and get your device approved and such, this is especially a pain cause I use pocketbook to sync the accounts, and its the only account that requires some manual intervention generating codes for it to sync..

    Im going to stick it out, as generally Banks I can set and forget.. so hoping that this all becomes less of an issue as I use them more. But yeah wouldn't be able to use them for my day to day banking, just way to tedious to get anything done.

  • c64 on 02/07/2014 - 19:41
    +2

    i'm using the citibank app and you can generate a code offline for use with internet banking.

  • Loveshk on 02/07/2014 - 21:58
    +1

    I'm using the citibank app but the only thing pisses me off is it takes 3 days to show up in the statement of what someone bought.. on Commbank it showed up instant, Asked citibank staff, they had no clue on what i was talking abt.

    • c64 on 03/07/2014 - 10:44

      yeah, that's annoying. many other places separately show the visa authorisations on the card instantly. how hard could that be?

      their internet banking in general is a p.o.s.

      • twister292 on 16/03/2015 - 23:26

        CBA and NAB show them instantly as authorisations before they're cleared, while ANZ, Westpac and Citi don't show up credit transactions (anything where you press CR) until they're fully settled.

    • fredblogs on 04/07/2014 - 13:55

      I should add that as point 4…

  • fredblogs on 16/03/2015 - 22:12

    5) No email notification when they mail you within Citibank

    6) Can only see or download 4 months of transaction history (this is only relevant to those who want to import the data to another system like Excel or Quicken). You can see 12 months of PDF statements.

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