citibank usa linked w/ citibank vn for banking needs?

jaytaylor84 wrote:

For a retired American (or anyone for that matter) wishing to reside in VN for quite some time would opening a citibank us checking acct linked to citibank vn be the easiest solution to remedy my banking needs?

Yes, except for Brits and Australians there are other alternatives.  Posters here have mentioned HSBC and Commonwealth Bank in particular.

jaytaylor84 wrote:

I will be having my us pension deposited into the american branch and use their global transfer system to transfer what I need to my vn branch which I will set up for both vn or usd.

Exactly, and the beauty is that it is free.

jaytaylor84 wrote:

if the bank happens to offer a bad exchange I could just take it to an exhange with a more favorable rate...

I would suggest that you do the Global Transfer US$ to US$ not US$ to VND.  Make the exchange between the two VN accounts after the money arrives.  For some reason this way yields a better rate.  My guess is that making the exchange with the transfer gives you the rate for VND in New York and not the rate in Saigon or Hanoi.  You can take out $$ and exchange them at a gold shop but unless you live downtown, that involves a trip in traffic and also a small fee at the teller.  CItiVN has few ATMs but has cooperative zero fee agreements with a long list of local banks.  You can make the exchange online and take out VND using ATM's anywhere in the country.

jaytaylor84 wrote:

and since I'll be transferring only what I need I wont have any issues getting the money back out of the country, as I've been told there is some issue with that here.

Correct again.

jaytaylor84 wrote:

Does this sound like a viable solution for me?

It does but, by using future tenses, you implied that you have not yet set up the VN account.  If so, you may find that a little difficult if you have only a tourist visa.  I know that they did not let my wife and I have a joint account until we were legally married and I had a 5 year VEC.  I am not sure exactly what the criteria are today and they may be more lenient now.  I think the problem is bank policy and not legal.  I suspect they do not want a lot of inactive accounts being set up by people who will not be in the country for long.  They also started a 165,000 VND a month service fee about a year ago, likely to discourage inactive accounts.  You can avoid the fee with a large deposit.  I have forgotten the amount required but their interest rates are so poor, it seems better to pay the fee.

@THIGV thanks so much for taking the time to help me alleviate my concerns

I really only have two questions more for you if you have time...

1. I'm of the understanding that with even the basic checking account and maintaining the minimum deposit of $1500 I wont incur any fees with just *basic* banking needs...

so all I'm curious about is how much they might take me for with *their* exchange rate if I choose to withdraw cash from citibank VN converting usd to dong

citibank gold gives a "preferred" exchange rate also so that might be of interest to those in a similiar situation as myself

...but ive yet to find out how much better this "preferred" exchange rate is

2. THIGV do you think I'll have much issue with opening a Citi VN account if I have a 1 year business visa, apartment/condo address which I'll be renting, and documented proof of my govt pension, and citibank us acct?

will that help?

1)   I was referring to fees on the VN side.  You can avoid US fees easily with direct deposit of your pension/SS check.  As far as exchange rates, they are pretty much take it or leave it on the VN side.  I wouldn't worry too much about rates as you will save a bundle by having the free transfers.  If you mean taking money directly from your CitiGold account at a CITI VN ATM, you can but you will get hit with pretty nasty fees.  Maybe a CitiGold account will rebate those but that is up to the US side.  Better to check with them.

2)  If you have a business visa rather than tourist and your landlord registers you with the local police (discussed extensively in other threads) you should be able to open an account but my word on that and 100,000 VND will buy you a coffee at the very expensive shop in the front of the Sunwah Tower.  I don't think they will care about the US accounts.  They certainly did not in my case.  One thing to remember is that CITI VN is not a branch of CITI US.  I don't know the actual legal structure but it is affiliated and likely only partially owned.

thanks a ton for the info my man!!

Citi Bank here and the US are not one in the same. That is you can not go to the bank here and access your account there, or something like that. I checked into it long ago. But is was no workaround that I could see.

It looks Like THIGV is more up on the current situation than me. So heed his advice...sorry...I should have read deeper into the thread, my bad.

@THIGV could you confirm that it is possible to perform funds transfers from home country citibank to VN citibank with no problems on the VN side?

I'm getting a lot of naysers telling me it cant be done but then again I believe they have no real firsthand experience

It doesn't matter where you are physically.  You log in to your CITI US online account and make the transfer.  That's how the internet works.     Think of it as pushing the money from the New York bank, not pulling it from the VN bank.  The money is usually in your VN account the next business day.  I used a VPN for part but not all of my time in Vietnam.  However as I made regular monthly transfers during my first months in VN, I am certain that I made them without the VPN which I used later.  Once I was employed, I made fewer transfers, but did make them occasionally for big ticket items.

There was a brief period, I think it was about three months in 2012, when CITI VN was ineligible for the free Citibank Global Transfer.   A Citi US employee told me it was because of some accounting failures in VN.  Another later told me that was not true, so I naturally believe the first story.     During that period, I used the regular international transfer method which had a cost of $30/transfer.  Each time my fee was rebated at the end of the month.   However, I was told that the refund was not guaranteed.  Fortunately they worked out whatever the problem was.

thx for that!!

You can certainly make a wire transfer. I make them often. But they are not cheap in my opinion. But I think your going to find that Citi Bank here is not your Citi Bank in America.
I was going to go that route for the same reasons you want to and it was not what one would think it was. But I wire from my US bank to various banks in VN and it is not a big issue. But certainly not a seamless transaction as it is in America. It may have changed. That maybe why you hearing naysayers. Just try it out and see how it turns out I guess.
  You may notice too that THIGV speaks in the past tense. He too seems to have experienced some of what I did. I can assure you there have been a lot of controls put on banking institutions when it comes to transferring funds out of country, because of the terrorist networks I was told by my bank. After reading what THIGV has said I am fairly certain it is not going to work as you think.
Keep us posted, as this has always been a fluid situation. It may very well be that will need to subscribe to a VPN provider to mask your IP address here as he stated. You might want to try my bank Charles Schwab. That have been just superb and so far (nock on wood no problems with internet access. And you can reach them 24/7. Perhaps the best bank I have ever done business with. Of course, if your into the stock market you can have a brokerage account with them to which most will not allow outside the country. Again good luck with all this. I know what your going through. The move can make one apprehensive.

ive decided to just avoid all the headache and use citibank from usa while in vn...loosing my card was my only real concern..and it appears if that happens its only about 3 days to replace by picking up at any citi vn bank..

i just read your post about charles swabb.. how do they compare in your opinion?

thx!

I think Schwab is the only way to go. But get set upm with an account before you leave the USA. You are going to get frustrated with CitiBank very quickly I am afraid. But give it a go. You can always fly back to America and set something else up. My cards are FedEx'ed here when a new one is issues in the blink of an eye, at no charge to me. Most other banks charge the shipping fee. Again good luck on your move. This will all be history soon and you too will be giving advice to newbies!!! The world is not coming to end no matter what happens with your move. Once your on the ground is when the learning process really takes place.

my SE Asian crash course started with bangkok and I didn't know anything about it really other than I like the islands and muay thai... boy was that a shock.. so I'm fairly well prepared for vietnam

could you elaborate just a wee bit on why citibank is so frustrating and why charles swabb is preferred.. in your opinion Diazo

***my biggest concern in regards to choosing a us based bank for traveling and living overseas is a hidden fee that most people overlook

the CURRENCY CONVERSION cost which is a percentage of the transaction..

sure charles swabb reumburses for all ATM fees overseas and sure they dont have a currency exchange fee but what most dont realize is that you're still being charged a conversion fee which from my findings, with swabb, based on anecdotal information, tends to be in the .25-.30% range

now if i can just find citibanks conversion fee i will know which one would be more appropriate for overseas living

i did the math on citibanks conversion fee using their conversion calculator and compared that with the current interbank rate,

by transferring 100 dollars to thai baht and comparing that figure with what I would have received based on the interbank transfer..

i lost 2.68% of the $100 total

****

Interbank rate can not be used in your situation I do not think. That is the rate in which banks lend to each other. I am not sure how that could be used to calculate anything you might be doing. Am I missing something?

And I just checked my latest statement and have no additional charges. As I recall they did tell me there was not a conversion charge. But it has been so long ago, don't quote me. Now with my other banking institution you are correct on both the fees, and it too reflects on my statement as such.
Your correct, using 2.68% would be quite costly. It has never cost me that much with either of my banks. Of course, the dong is pegged to the dollar whereas the baht is not. One can really get raped in countries such as that. Especially if your on a fixed income and rent a place for $500 a month and before you know it it is $800 a month.

Jay, I think you are trying to fine tune this a little too much.  Reread my first couple of posts.  I said the rates are not the best but you can improve a little depending on which way you do the transaction.  Convenience has a price and the net cost using CITI is certainly less than alternatives like Western Union.

I plan to check out Schwab too.  I have a TD Ameritrade account and they appear to have similar ATM policies although I have not used their card.  I really appreciated that I was able to set up a joint account from Vietnam as well.  My wife didn't yet have a SS# then but she got an ITIN which worked for them.

I did not mean to suggest one could not open a US Bank account from here. I have not tried it. I was trying to say it would be best in my opinion to open it before you leave the USA. But I do agree you might be scrubbing this to death. Understandably your concerned. But there is somewhat of a tax in many ways to live here in Vietnam as an expat or a foreigner. Money fees are one, visa renewal fees another, increased round eyed price when you go to the market, coffee money for this and for that. But in many ways the cost of living makes up for it. Try to relax, it will all work out. Good to see your planning though.

I should sat that I was told by my banks that whomever' s banner is on your ATM card charges an international conversion rate. But it is embedded in the amount deducted form you account. I once looked up the rate on Visa (which is what my cards are). You can find it online.
But like has been said here in different ways, don't try to squeeze ever tenth of a cent out of it. There are cost to life. If you think that is bad, wait until you get here and go to a restaurant and they offer you a wet wipe and in shows up on your bill!!!!!  :

I use Wells's Fargo to transfer up to $3000 for a flat fee of $7, which was previously free with minimum checking balance.  It is transferred to a local bank on their network and my relatives in Tay Ninh pay no fee to receive it.

I just transferred US$2000 to my gf's bank account. Every international transfer costs $30, but that is the only fee.  It get converted at the Visa interbank rate or a few hundredths away.

I've been depositing my SSA, Army retirement etc. in a small local American bank for 20 years. about 10 years ago I set up a VietinBank bank account for me to do the international transfers to. Works fine. Carol, at the bank, even set up a custom macro for my account. When ever I need money sent, all I do is make a VOIP phone call to the small local bank in America and it is in my VietinBank account in about 36 hours.

Note, the VietinBank branch where I set this up is in Phan Thiet. Due to my wife's medical issues we are now living in Saigon near her hospital. There is no issue with my withdrawing my money from any branch of VietinBank anywhere in Vietnam.

So, I can make one free VOIP phone call and my money will be available anywhere in Vietnam that I happen to be, at the nearest VietinBank branch in about 36 hours.

What benefit is there to Chase, or any other Forign bank?

How much does your bank charge for the transfer?
Mine charges  $30 for any amount.

70 years old wrote:

When ever I need money sent I do a VOIP phone call to the small local bank and it is in my VietinBank account in about 36 hours.....What benefit is there to Chase, or any other Forign bank?

Are your transfers free or does your bank charge a fee?  If you have no fee on the US end then you are fortunate.  In banking, often smaller is better.

Mine gets hit for $30.00 twice as it goes through 2 US banks. But, I normally withdraw around $3,000.00 and the simplicity and ease is worth a lot. The VN bank also hits me for about $4.00.

That is a hair over 2% but it constrains you to take larger amounts.  If you took only $1000, it would be 6.4% which is probably more than most people would be happy to pay.  The gold shop route that many Viet Kieu use is a flat $3 per 100 any amount but you have to have a live person on each end.

Sort of, but, you can leave the unneeded money in the bank until you do need it. I normally try to keep $6000.00 to $9,000.00 in my VietinBank account incase something unexpected comes up. It is much less expensive than either AMEX or MasterCard. Note, this is a USD account. So you don't have to worry about exchanging Vietnamese money for USD should you wish to carry your money out of the country.

Reading this, I think I will set up a bank account and do it in USD.
Thanks

There is not real connection between any US bank and any bank here. They license the name is what I was told. You could not take your Citi Bank checks from the US and write a check on any amount you have deposited here. About all you can do is xfer money....then at a fee. I had Well Fargo in South America and BofA in Europe. But there was no advantage I could see. I no longer do any of them and just withdraw from the ATM fro my US bank accounts. All of them rebate me my ATM fees. But not international transactions fees which is a Visa issue. But I realize we all have different needs.

Diazo wrote:

There is not real connection between any US bank and any bank here. They license the name is what I was told. You could not take your Citi Bank checks from the US and write a check on any amount you have deposited here. About all you can do is xfer money....then at a fee. I had Well Fargo in South America and BofA in Europe. But there was no advantage I could see. I no longer do any of them and just withdraw from the ATM fro my US bank accounts. All of them rebate me my ATM fees. But not international transactions fees which is a Visa issue. But I realize we all have different needs.

Right. Use Vietnamese Banks like VietinBank in Vietnam and American Banks in America and do your own wire transfer through the American Bank to the Vietnamese bank. This has worked fine for me for over 10 years. Getting a few thousand USD when I need it doesn't work very well through an ATM. Dropping into any branch of a Vietnamese bank anywhere in Vietnam and withdrawing it works fine.

Agree. My US ban allows me to withdraw as much as I want if I tell them in advance . But that does require MANY ATM withdrawal if I want to get $10,000 out. But I do not have a VNese bank account. My wife does, but that do not prove to be such a good thing for herself  hubby!! Like I said, I know everyone has there only needs. My only real point is the US bank name on a bank here is not a US bank. Trump does the same thing and many others do as well. You get to use the name for a fee.

Diazo wrote:

Agree. My US ban allows me to withdraw as much as I want if I tell them in advance . But that does require MANY ATM withdrawal if I want to get $10,000 out. But I do not have a VNese bank account. My wife does, but that do not prove to be such a good thing for herself  hubby!! Like I said, I know everyone has there only needs. My only real point is the US bank name on a bank here is not a US bank. Trump does the same thing and many others do as well. You get to use the name for a fee.

I agree. Why would anyone have a Vietnamese bank with only one branch just because they bought the right to use Chase's name, when there are so many other good Vietnamese Banks with many branch offices?

While I did add my wife to my VN Bank account ten years ago, and it was a real pain to do, she has never once in ten years used that access. Unless things have changed in the last 10 years, your wife does not have access to your bank account unless you fill out specific paperwork to give her that right.

Joint accounts have the advantage of avoiding probate.  If one spouse dies the other can simply continue the account.  All my US bank accounts, including my modest brokerage account, are joint.  My wife's Citibank VN account is joint but I am not sure if the same rules apply in VN.  At any rate, it is unlikely that I will outlast her.

I agree that the one branch aspect could be inconvenient for those who live outside of HCMC or Ha Noi but the long list of cooperating ATM's mean easy access to money anywhere in the country.

THIGV wrote:

Joint accounts have the advantage of avoiding probate.  If one spouse dies the other can simply continue the account.  All my US bank accounts, including my modest brokerage account, are joint.  My wife's Citibank VN account is joint but I am not sure if the same rules apply in VN.  At any rate, it is unlikely that I will outlast her.

I agree that the one branch aspect could be inconvenient for those who live outside of HCMC or Ha Noi but the long list of cooperating ATM's mean easy access to money anywhere in the country.

Agreed, all of my accounts including the VietinBank account are joint. But, different marriages may work better if separate accounts are used. It was really a major paperwork headache to make my VietinBank account joint. As to which one of us outlives the other, due to my wife's health issues, it is a pretty good bet that I will.

70 years old wrote:

As to which one of us outlives the other, due to my wife's health issues, it is a pretty good bet that I will.

I was thinking of that as I wrote but left it for you to say.  All the more important to have only joint accounts in Vietnam.  Can you imagine what it would take for a foreign spouse to gain access to funds in bank accounts held solely by a deceased Vietnamese spouse?  Unless it was a true fortune, which is unlikely for most of us, the legal costs and bribes to officials would likely eat up most of it.

Note, real-estate should also, in most cases, be joint for the same reasons that you mention.

This is why I said everyone's situation is different. I can not trust my wife to even go to the market and not pinch most of the money. It is very unfortunate. And I realize healthy relationships are not that way.

The question is why?

Loyalty can be a very complex subject in Vietnam. The title of my wife's book, "For Two Cows I Ain't half Bad." goes rather deeply into the conflicting loyalties she had. Do note, we are looking at a 1970's Vietnam.

One one hand, in her mind, my wife was my bought and paid for property to do with as I wished. On the other hand she was her "Family's Savior," whose duty was to preserve the lives of as many people in her family that she could. No matter what. No matter how dishonorable she had to be in order to preserve her families lives.

But, I completely understood her situation and was prepared to live with it. I admired her loyalty and suspected that that I could earn that loyalty in return for helping her keep her family alive.

Indeed. Very different cultures and my mind still spins trying to figure it out. In my culture we have immediate family and extended family. And the primary loyalty lies with the immediate family. Here, I do not sense that at all. All decision in our immediate family are deferred to someone in the extended family to make the decisions . Then they come back to the ATM for the money. Heck , I could not even invite anyone to my wedding. I feel like nothing in a relationship here, but money.
  I need to get a copy of your wife's book. Maybe I could learn more about the culture here. You would think a persons spouse would try to educate their better half on the culture. But my wife hates it when I even learn a Vietnamese word. And she sure is not going to teach me Vietnamese.