the end of Citibank Plus accounts?

Lballofspam on 16/08/2017 - 06:59
Last edited 24/08/2017 - 06:27 by 1 other user

*** the official word is: The product will remain open, there was an apology email sent advising there was a mistake ***

Hi All,

Could this really be the end of one of Ozbargains favourite products?! :O
Basically, i got an email saying that "Transaction and Savings (no longer offered" which then linked me to https://www.citibank.com.au/global_docs/pdf/NotforSaleTermsa…

But I don't see anything on the website, or other coms about it. Anyone else get this?

Update:
in my initial email, the header of the document is: Notice of changes to the Transaction and Savings (no longer offered) Terms and Conditions Booklet effective 2 October 2017.
Greenpossum, had a second email with a different T&C's which is: Notice of changes to the Transaction and Savings Accounts Terms and Conditions effective 2 October 2017

The second header is more passive in terms of wording, indicating no new accounts but if you have one it will remain open.

Update 2
Toni Yellow points out that there is a section listing various accounts that will be discontinued, and the Plus account is not one of them.

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Comments

  • Heracles26 on 16/08/2017 - 07:17
    +1

    I got this too but didn't read the PDF. I logged onto my account and it all seemed fine. I swear the first page of my PDF download had effective as of March 2017 not October

    • ballofspam on 16/08/2017 - 08:07

      yes, there is a section that states there were effective changes in March 2017

  • djkelly69 on 16/08/2017 - 07:29
    +1

    I read it as they have updated the terms and conditions on my Plus account, which is no longer offered to new customers.

    • ballofspam on 16/08/2017 - 08:10

      well I'm an "old", but I think this shows the writing is on the wall

    • Heracles26 on 16/08/2017 - 09:12
      +1

      Let's hope this is the case! Going O/S in about a month and need my account!

  • [Deactivated] on 16/08/2017 - 07:41

    Anyone tried opening a business account with them? Seems to be impossible to get someone to return you call… no way to do it online.

  • iamw0man on 16/08/2017 - 08:20

    Got the same email today after opening 2 new Plus accounts last month.

  • c64 on 16/08/2017 - 08:28
    +1

    the plus account is still advertised on the website https://www.citibank.com.au/aus/banking/everyday_banking/cit…

  • Lordgarlic on 16/08/2017 - 08:47

    So it is still available??? I have been unable to to locate in the PDF that citibank plus is one of the products affected???

  • toniyellow on 16/08/2017 - 08:56
    +1

    That pdf says

    Citicash Account, Citicheque Account, Citibank Investment Account, Business Cheque Account, Overdraft Account, Interest Bearing Trust Account, Citibank Relationship Banking Account, Portfolio Management Account, Personal Banking Account and Citibank Traveller Account (together referred to as “Accounts”) are issued by Citigroup Pty Limited (“Citibank”) and are closed to new applications

    Doesn't mention the Plus account.

    I think because their terms and conditions doc covers a lot of different products, when they make changes to any of the wording they have to send the new doc to everyone, even if the wording that relates to your type of account hasn't changed.

    I'm not a professional, just guessing.

    • tomsco on 16/08/2017 - 09:03
      +3

      I'm not a professional

      Well you've been on OzB since 2008, so yeh, you are.

      • toniyellow on 16/08/2017 - 09:14
        +5

        wow that long? perhaps when I hit 10 years i should add it as a dot point on my resume and see what happens.

  • retiredfeline on 16/08/2017 - 09:11

    I got two emails 30 minutes apart. The first called the product "Transaction and Savings (no longer offered)…" and linked to March 2017 changes. The second email called the product "Transaction and Savings…" and linked to a different PDF: https://www.citibank.com.au/global_docs/pdf/AUD_Terms_Condit… which lists changes effective 2 Oct 2017.

    So it looks like somebody has been sloppy composing emails and sent out blurb and links pertaining to an older version of the product then sent the right one. However the file still has Jan_2014 in the name. Superficially it looks like they keep updating one file per product. Sloppy document management. A proper system would have version control.

    • SimbaGirl on 16/08/2017 - 13:35

      I got the same two emails as well, only mine were the other way around - the one with the product "Transaction and Savings (no longer offered) …" was the second email I received, about 40 minutes after the first one.

      • retiredfeline on 16/08/2017 - 14:25

        If you know how to, look at the headers of the emails, which will tell you in which order they were sent and take delivery delays out of the story. For mine they were:

        Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2017 02:05:11 -0600 (first)
        Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2017 02:35:22 -0600 (second)

        I doubt if somebody was working at 2 in the morning on the West Coast of the USA. More likely it was sent from one of their outsourced offices but going through corporate servers in the US.

        I think Citibank is staffed by silly buggers. Or these were sent by a work experience person.

        • SimbaGirl on 16/08/2017 - 15:36

          Mine were :
          Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2017 01:35:12 -0600 (first)
          Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2017 02:03:51 -0600 (second)

          so the order I received them in was the order in which they were sent, so go figure!

        • retiredfeline on 16/08/2017 - 15:38

          @SimbaGirl: Yours looks like an earlier batch. Maybe they got it right at first, then sent the wrong one after that in your case. Morons.

  • ranma on 16/08/2017 - 10:56

    Yes this confuses me - my girlfriend is travelling overseas soon so we wanted to sign her up - I will try later on tonight hopefully it still goes through. Does this mean that they'll continue offering this account to current holders with the same benefits and then maybe introduce a new one with fees or something? Or does that mean in October we're all going to switch over to the new one?

  • rickb on 16/08/2017 - 14:20
    +6

    Citibank Plus accounts are NOT affected. I repeat Citibank Plus accounts are NOT affected.

    Now let's close this thread before the panic reaches new levels.

    • Heracles26 on 16/08/2017 - 14:50

      Too late I'm panicking!!! :P

  • Make it so on 16/08/2017 - 17:03

    I got those emails. Read them twice, and still didn't get it. I then figured "surely someone smarter than me on Ozbargain will be able to digest this better". And sure enough, I am not disappointed.

    I am disappointed in Citibank's communication, however.

    Also, I thought they were going to change it from a Visa Debit to a Mastercard Debit. But that hasn't happened yet.

  • demiurge on 16/08/2017 - 22:39

    It simply means the changes also apply to some accounts which are no longer offered.

  • jimbobaus on 22/08/2017 - 10:36
    +1

    Email today said:

    You may have recently received emails titled 'Important information - Changes to your Terms and Conditions'. We realise that some of these emails may have contained variation notices to Terms and Conditions for products that you do not hold.

    We would like to sincerely apologise for this error and assure you that all your personal data is safe and secure.

    The variation notice to your current 'Transaction and Savings Accounts Terms and Conditions booklet' is located 'here' and includes the following changes:

    • Functionality to apply for and manage a Term Deposit through Citibank Online has been introduced.

    • Addition of the impartial customer advocate, to assist customers in reaching fair outcomes during the dispute process.

    • Updates to contact details and communication methods such as removal of references to fax.

    • Changes to the reasons why we collect your personal information.

    We ask that you read this document and retain a copy for your records.

    • rickb on 22/08/2017 - 11:02
      +1

      Very poor form from the 3rd largest bank in the U.S. Makes you wonder.

  • DaTa on 22/08/2017 - 19:17

    So is it being terminated or not? What is the offical word?

    • ballofspam on 24/08/2017 - 06:25

      the official word is: Not, the product will remain open, there was an apology email sent advising there was a mistake

  • AndyRates on 25/08/2017 - 06:34

    Is mastercard or visa exchange rate better?

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