katdan28

Hi,

We're looking to open an Oz bank account ready for us when we arrive and most banks appear to do this. Just wondering if anyone has any advice on the best banks over there i.e most accessible etc. Choices appear to be ANZ, Westpack, NAB. Commonwealth is also an option but they charge monthly fees. Is it better to wait until we get there to shop around for a credit card? or does anyone recommend a product for this too? Thanks!

Sherlock Holmes

This one comes up a lot. I think you'll find that, like shipping companies, you'll hear good and bad about all of them.

I'm with the Commonwealth Bank and they do charge monthly fees but if you have more than $50,000 with them, there aren't fees. This being Australia though, you'll have to point this out to them.

NAB are quite good and do free banking.

They all have internet access.

You can open an account in the UK with Commonwealth and NAB and probably all the others. Do a google search on the bank name and add UK in the search.

However, when it comes to transfers, don't use the bank. They will charge you and the rate will be poor.

Get the account opened, put a few bob in it and then when the time comes, use a company like www.tranzfers.com to move sterling from your UK pounds account to your Aus dollars account.

Hope this helps.

A.

Dave.McLeod

We opened an account with NAB from the UK, took 20 mins. Recevied letter from them soon afterwards with account details and as Alistair stated we're about to use Tranzfers to get our cash across. Spoken with the same person at Tranzfers serveral times and they so far seem very helpful. You get two free transfers when you open an account with them...I got another free transfer on my birthday.

In Exile

I'm with Bankwest, and they are not bad.

Be prepared for a bit of change from UK to Australian banks. Its only in the last year or two here that the concept of not charging for using another banks ATM has taken off. There are plenty of accounts with monthly fees, and generally fees for all manner of things, which had apparently been long phased out in Europe/ROW.

You can get some good savings accounts. e.g. uBank (part of NAB) offer a 6.5% savings account. HOWEVER its important to note that this lovely interest figure does not include tax and you will have to declare any interest earned as taxable income at the end of the financial year (mandatory tax returns). I learned the hard way after having a 180k sat in an account for a year whilst trying to buy a house.

shussel

We're also with Bankwest and would recommend them, we have their zero transaction account so no account fees, and you can use quite a few ATMs without charges (e.g. Bankwest and Commonwealth Bank ATMs)

We waited until we got here to set up the account because we wanted to avoid fees and thought we'd have access to better products once we got here.

Whilst you get set up and decide how to transfer your money you should be able to use your UK debit card to get cash at ATMs and pay for stuff. That's what we did.

katdan28

Thanks for the information!

spottydog

I'm with Commbank and as long as at least $2k is paid in a month I don't get charged account fees the same as most the other big banks