Mr White questioned Citibank’s logic in its move and said: Interestingly, they are also introducing the free Citibank Access Account. Surely it would be fairer and more logical to transfer customers to this account and allow them to choose to upgrade to the new fee-paying packaged account if they feel it would be beneficial.
Furthermore, Mr White claimed that both the Citibank Access and the Citibank Plus current accounts offer an in-credit interest rate of just 0.1% AER, which is not competitive compared to other free and packaged current accounts available.
However, on a more positive note, he did state that customers have the option to opt out and that Citibank is also offering a three-month free trial as part of the transfers process.
The fee is expected to be implemented with effect from May 1, 2007, following the three-month free trial, and customers will receive letters over the next couple of months explaining the new terms and conditions.
With one million UK customers across all products, Citibank does not have a large share of the current account market, Mr White added. Regardless of the number of people affected, the introduction of this type of practice is bad news for the consumer. It reiterates our message that people need to remain one step ahead of the banks as this is one of many pre-emptive moves we will see the banking industry make prior to the Office of Fair Trading’s impending current account investigation.
