CitiBank USD Current Account: a new cheaper way to avoid fees?

I am a bit of a bank account fiend, and recently I came across this CitiBank US dollar current account that seems to be a pretty good deal for all of us USC's in the UK.

I have a savings account with Citi in the UK, and when I was on the site one day I realised that they had some expat accounts that may be useful. After reading all the T's & C's and talking to the customer service reps, I realised that it really is an excellent deal. Basically what you get is a current account (just a normal UK current account with no fees or anything), and at the same time you can open a USD current account. The beauty is that you can transfer £'s to $'s fee-free, and they will tell you what rate they're using for the conversion so you can cancel if you don't like the rate. Then once the money is in your $ account, you can spend it while in the US with your debit card, or you can use your checks that clear through CitiBank NYC.

For me, I am interested in investing some money in the US, so I could transfer some £'s to my USD current account, then send a check to my US-based money market account. By doing this I avoid all wire transfer or other fees, effectively the only fee being 85p for a stamp to the US.

Here is a link: http://www.citibank.co.uk/personal/banking/international/eurocurrent.htm?merchant=citi

Both of the accounts are fee-free, so no monthly fees or minimum balances.

Have you compared the currency conversion rates against XE trade? I'm currently using that, as it seemed to offer the best rates, but it's probably more convenient when the entire end-to-end process is managed by one company.

My husband opened the same account with CitiBank. He waits until the exchange rate is really good and then transfers £'s to the dollar account. It is great to be able to use the debit card when we go back to the U.S. and to have the convenience of writing checks in dollars too.
Of course I was sure that there was some sneaky fees or taxes we would have to pay on the account, but it is legit.

Is this only a UK to US thing or can I open a CitiBank account here in the US and then add on the UK account later?

Is this only a UK to US thing or can I open a CitiBank account here in the US and then add on the UK account later?

It says 'You must be resident in the UK to open a Citibank Current or Deposit Account' so once you're here you will be able to open the accounts.

If you have a Citibank US account, it's even better as you're then able to transfer money from your UK$ account to your citibank US account. It's the only 'external' account you can do that with. The UK$ account is quite limited in that you get a debit card to use, but if you're looking to transfer money to a US savings account for instance, you will have to send a check to the bank's postal deposit service.

The Citibank US checking accounts charge monthly fees so I have stayed away. I'll be posting checks to my Ally account to then fund my US investments when the time comes.

My husband opened the same account with CitiBank. He waits until the exchange rate is really good and then transfers £'s to the dollar account.

That's right, the 'citibank exchange rate' is fixed for a period of time, I assume they buy dollars at a certain rate. I looked the other day, and the rate was better than the market rate that XE was quoting. I just looked now, and converting £100 will now get you £3 more with XE's rates, so it's all about timing. Of course the Citibank option is fee-free, so it's all about the rate.