Free transfers using Citibank Global Transfers

[srowndedbyh2o]

Anyone have experience with using Citibank Global Transfers for moving funds free of charge from a U.S. Citibank account to a Thailand Citibank account?

[Khan417]

I wouldn't recommend using it, after using Citibank Global Transfers a couple times, both Citibank Thailand and Citibank US closed my accounts. No official reason was given other than that I did not comply with their criteria, but I expect it had something to do with this.

 

If you're able to, I would get a Charles Schwab debit card in the US and use it to withdraw Baht from ATMs in Thailand. The exchange rate is very good, and Schwab refunds the ATM fees back to you at the end of the month.

[EricTh]

On 12/15/2020 at 3:42 AM, srowndedbyh2o said:

Anyone have experience with using Citibank Global Transfers for moving funds free of charge from a U.S. Citibank account to a Thailand Citibank account?

It's not just the service charge that you have to take into account. You also need to check the exchange rate. 

 

Bank withdrawals usually give  a poor exchange rate which more than offset the 'free service charge'.

 

Do try other means like Transferwise which give much better rate. 

Edited December 21, 2020 by EricTh

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Last time I checked, Citibank TH also has a pretty high minimum balance requirement to open an account with them, some millions of baht, if memory serves.

 

How often does the OP envision needing to do the transfers?  Every month, or just on a periodic basis...  There are various methods for sending funds from the U.S. to TH, depending on the circumstances...

 

For example, whether just for general use, or needing to satisfy Immigration's monthly foreign funds transfer requirement, which requires that the incoming transfers get coded a certain way.

 

[srowndedbyh2o]

19 hours ago, Khan417 said:

I wouldn't recommend using it, after using Citibank Global Transfers a couple times, both Citibank Thailand and Citibank US closed my accounts. No official reason was given other than that I did not comply with their criteria, but I expect it had something to do with this.

 

If you're able to, I would get a Charles Schwab debit card in the US and use it to withdraw Baht from ATMs in Thailand. The exchange rate is very good, and Schwab refunds the ATM fees back to you at the end of the month.

Thanks for the heads-up on Citibank.

I do have a Charles Schwab account, but…

I know of someone that had a CS account and made the mistake of sending them a change of physical address to Thailand and they closed his U.S. account.

I know that some banks are very strict about being a U.S. resident in order to keep an account open. That’s why I’m always on the look-out for other options. Just in case.

[srowndedbyh2o]

19 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Last time I checked, Citibank TH also has a pretty high minimum balance requirement to open an account with them, some millions of baht, if memory serves.

According to Citibank Thailand website they require 1m to open account. I figured I need to park 800K in the bank for retirement anyway, so 1m would not be a problem.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

12 minutes ago, srowndedbyh2o said:

According to Citibank Thailand website they require 1m to open account. I figured I need to park 800K in the bank for retirement anyway, so 1m would not be a problem.

 

That's interesting... I was quoted a MUCH higher figure a couple years back their staff at the BKK Asoke branch, and recall that they had even raised the opening amount requirement from what it had been previously.  You might check with them directly, to make sure their website info isn't out of date.

 

[srowndedbyh2o]

6 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

That's interesting... I was quoted a MUCH higher figure a couple years back their staff at the BKK Asoke branch, and recall that they had even raised the opening amount requirement from what it had been previously.  You might check with them directly, to make sure their website info isn't out of date.

 

Thanks.

Since my original post, someone has informed me that I cannot use Citibank in Thailand to keep my funds for retirement because they are a non-Thai owned bank and funds have to be kept in a Thai owned bank.

Another thing I liked about the U.S. Citibank account I was looking at is that, like CS, they reimburse all ATM fees worldwide. After several phone calls to them I discovered that while they do indeed reimburse all ATM fees, they also charge a 3% foreign transaction fee whenever the card is used outside the U.S., even for ATM withdrawals.  That pretty much kills that.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Yep, Citibank US has always charged that 3% FCF on card use outside the U.S., with the exception I think of some very high end  Citi Gold type accounts.

 

[Thailand J]

7 hours ago, srowndedbyh2o said:

Thanks for the heads-up on Citibank.

I do have a Charles Schwab account, but…

I know of someone that had a CS account and made the mistake of sending them a change of physical address to Thailand and they closed his U.S. account.

I know that some banks are very strict about being a U.S. resident in order to keep an account open. That’s why I’m always on the look-out for other options. Just in case.

what you need is a Schwab international brokerage account . You can open one with your thai address and phone number.