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[ChotoHen]

Hi. This question is for anybody who has set up a Citibank account in their home country before moving out to Japan. Did you find it fair in the exchange rate (i.e. you set up a checking account and then when you went to withdrawl Japanese yen you found...)? Also, have you been satisfied with Citibank in Japan? Thanks.

[moot point]

Why would you want to open a checking account? Cheques aren't used in Japan. You'd be better off opening a regular savings account and get a debit card with the "Star" or "Cirrus" mark on the back allowing you to make withdrawls at any post office in Japan. Rates are good (they take one point for the service = roughly 1% changing from US$ to Yen) and service charges are minimal. I use my card for oversea trips all the time. Their exchange rates are hard to beat in most instances.

As an aside, my Citibank account is based in Japan. I find their Internet banking to be of great convenience since all the information is available in both English and Japanese. I mainly use it to invest in foreign currency time deposit and as a vehicle to move my savings to offshore accounts.

Be forewarned, however, that if you open an account in Japan you'll need to maintain a minimum balance of 500,000yen in order to avoid costly monthly service charges of three or four thousand yen.

[Gordon]

[moot point]

My apololgies to Chotohen, but I am about to hijack this post by posing a reponse to Gordon.

How do you deal with taxes back home if you keep a bank account open there? Do you file a tax return each year? I was advised by our family accountant to close all my bank accounts back home. The reason being that if I earned even a dollar in interest over the year I'd have to go through the lengthly process of filling in a tax form.

BTW, I don't think Citibank charges 2-3% per transaction. If I recall it worked out to be about 400 or 500yen each time I took out money from an ATM while travelling abroad.

As for avoiding the monthly service costs, another option is to hold 200,000yen worth of foreign currency. This is the route I opted after recently being stuck (unaware) with a 4000yen service charge when my balance dipped below 500,000yen.

[Gordon]