Nic938

Hi everyone

We have opened up an account with Westpac over the phone and they have given us our BSB and account nos.

Probably being a bit think, but how do we deposit money into it, do we have to sign up for internet banking? Also, if I transfer money across (only a couple of hundred) to put in the savings account, do we get charged?

Thanks in advance

Nic

louie

Do you mean from the UK?

No, you don't get charged. The only charge is on the current account, $5 per month unless your balance is over $3,000 (and if it is, you'd probably earn more interest if you put it in your deposit account and paid the fee).

petensue

to deposit into your westpac account from the uk you will need to do and international transfer from your uk bank in aus$.your bank in the uk will charge you for this.we were charged £15 per transfer by alliance &leicester.once the money is in your account in australia westpac will send you a statement and from then on charge you $5 a month fee if you have less than $3500 in your account

GinaUK

Or, you can transfer it from your UK bank with a foreign exchange broker. That way it costs nothing AND you'll get a better exchange rate.

For small amounts, use Tranzfers (fee £7). For larger amounts HiFX or OzForex (no fees).

http://www.tranzfers.com
http://www.hifx.co.uk
http://www.ozforex.com

Gina

I_Will_Freckle

I just got all my paperwork from Westpac today and as of April 2007, they charge a 10 AUD fee to receive money from a transfer account!

louie

That's odd. I made a transfer a couple of weeks ago (through HiFX) and wasn't charged by Westpac.

I_Will_Freckle

Hang on - I'll dig out the letter.

I_Will_Freckle

I'm not sure exactly what that bit means "if your payment is to a Westpac account". Surely, it will be???

Nic938

Hi, thank for all the infor and letter. Can I be cheeky and ask how long agao you opened up your account? I haven't received anything and it was about 3 weeks ago!

Nic

I_Will_Freckle

I faxed all the paperwork through to them on the 5th September.

I think you should be chasing it up now.

GinaUK

No, there are no charges!

So far I've made two transfers from the UK to Westpac: Both after May 2007. One (small) one with Tranzfers and one (large) one with HiFX. I wasn't charged by Westpac for either.

In fact, both Tranzfers and HiFX guarantee you that there will be no receiving bank charges (it's in their terms & conditions).

Gina

I_Will_Freckle

What does that letter mean then?

GinaUK

It means what it says! Westpac will charge $10. But if you transfer money with HiFX or Tranzfers/Ozforex you, the customer, will pay nothing because HiFX and Tranzfers/Ozforex say so in their terms & conditions (i.e. the bear the $10 charge just as they bear the UK bank charge for the transfers).

There may well be other foreign exchange companies where you pay no bank charges/fess for transfers. But I've so far only dealt with HiFX and Tranzfers/Ozforex. And with them there are absolutely, definitely no bank charges to pay .

Gina