Bizkut

Hi,

looked around and didn't find a thread regarding this subject.

Having received a visa (subclass 189), I will be flying to Sydney to validate it, and will be staying straight away. I have seen online that some banks allow the opening of accounts before arriving, even offering incentives (for example Westpac waives the 5$ monthly service fee for one year).

I've done some research but feel I know little about the banking "habits" in Australia (for example, hidden/surprise fees, limitations in withdrawals, etc.). Can anyone give some pointers?

roaringmouse

If you want a branch network, NAB don't charge a monthly fee - no minimum deposit required.

If you don't care about having a branch network, then there's ING Direct to consider - but to avoid ATM fees, you need to either get cash out in a store that offers it (e.g. supermarkets) or withdraw at least $200 from an ATM.

jackieh23

Each Bank is different. You say you have done some research - then choose one that appears to suit your needs and go for it. The Banks are quite heavily regulated here so any hidden surprises are a big No No and will come back to bite them on the a* (eventually).

Daily cash out limit for EFTPOS debit cards is $1,000 for most banks. When you shop with the “savings” or “cheque” buttons on EFTPOS, or get cash out at an ATM, everything that comes out of your account goes towards your daily limit. Once you’ve reached your daily limit, they block your card until the next day. The limit is on the card, not the account so if there are two of you shopping on the same day, you both have $1k to play with.

Fees and charges are outlined for each account on the relevant financial institution web site.

The biggest ATM network in Australia is Commonwealth Bank but CUA is not far behind. You probably haven't found CUA when doing your research so here is the link
http://www.cua.com.au/forms-and-calc...our-money/atms
Banks do charge for withdrawals from ATMs that aren't their own or they aren't affiliated with.

brits1

You can open a Commonwealth Bank Account while in the UK and your bank card will be waiting (they might post it out to you in the UK nowadays) for you in Aus. Most banks do charge for everything ie withdrawls, teller usage, direct debits etc but if would just open my account first and then when you get to Aus have a good look around, some backs (before we left Aus) were dropping a lot of their charges and letting you have free ATM withdrawls. Good luck

OzTennis

Yes, you can open an account and do a lot more before you move with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Probably has the biggest network of branches and ATM's as said and you can do online banking as with all the other major banks. We bank with CBA and haven't had any problems FWIW.

https://www.commbank.com.au/personal...australia.html

old.sparkles

Westpac has a branch in London, where you can open an account and do security checks. You need to show your visa, and other ID such as passport, but you can have your bank cards and banking info before you leave the UK.

commonwealth

It's easy to open account when you arrive. I use Bankwest cos they are part of the Commbank group (largest ATM network) and you earn interest on the ATM / debit card account (hero transaction account) unlike most other transaction accounts.

I use UBank (online branch of NAB) for my savings as they have high interest rate and no strict conditions to earn high interest other than a $200 monthly automatic savings plan.

I also have a Citibank ATM account which I only top up when I go overseas.

Alfresco

We went with Commonwealth Bank. Cards were here when we arrived. Internet banking and the Kaching phone app is truly awesome.

spottydog

Not necessarily our CommBank account (EFTPOS only) has an $800 per day limit on the account so if my OH takes out $800 I can't take anything out for the rest of the day

jackieh23

I was aware of this but is not applicable for new users.

"Keycards issued before 28 July 2008 have a limit of A$800 and those issued after have a limit of A$1000 unless you have changed it since."

From the CBA web site.

goingau

citi bank also have a branch in london and allow free foreign tranactions subject to there exchange rate

CosmicBertie

Get used to hearing 'Cheque, savings, or credit?' and having a heart attack when your card is declined. Savings is basically your current account. Credit, for me, is because my debit card can be accepted as a credit card, and that bypasses the limit, but gives you the protection of shopping with a credit card.

Card limits can be changed. Mine was originally $1000, but I've upped it to $3000. If you do hit your limit, try pressing 'credit' next time.

We walked into a Commonwealth Bank branch on the day we arrived. Took less than an hour to have both savings and current accounts setup. Cards arrived a few days later.