Australian Bank Accounts
Jan 17th 2008, 1:36 pm
#1
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2007
Location: manchester
Posts: 13
Australian Bank Accounts
Can anyone please give me some tips on how to arrange an Australian bank account whilst living in the UK? We are looking to move to the Gold Coast towards the end of the year, and was wondering if we should start transferring some funds into an account now.
Jan 17th 2008, 2:29 pm
#2
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 3,514
Re: Australian Bank Accounts
check on the banks' websites - Westpac, ANZ provide such services. You can open an account remotely, but will have no access to the monies until after you arrive.
NJ
NJ
Jan 17th 2008, 9:34 pm
#4
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2008
Location: Sydney AUS - Leeds/Selby/York UK - Sydney AUS (April 2011)
Posts: 797
Re: Australian Bank Accounts
Try
www.commbank.com.au
or if the link in son correct then try the commonwealth bank in a search engine.
They are pretty good but in Australia most banks charge fees
www.commbank.com.au
or if the link in son correct then try the commonwealth bank in a search engine.
They are pretty good but in Australia most banks charge fees
Jan 18th 2008, 10:34 am
#5
Account Closed
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 134
Re: Australian Bank Accounts
I put this in another thread but will duplicate it here as this as a little more info:
Contact Commonwealth Bank Of Australia in London on 020 7710 3990 (or visit http://www.migrantbanking.co.uk/) and speak to their Migrant Banking Department (it's a dedicated UK based unit and the only Australian Bank based in the UK with such a unit, I believe the others are all based in Oz).
Anyway, they will send you forms which allows you to set you up a UK based "transfer" account with a UK Sort & Account code that is linked to an Australian based "Cash Investment Account". The way it works is this:
1 - they set you up the account and you make sure you ask them to hold the funds until further notice
2 - you then start transferring money into the holding account such as savings, refunds, house sale proceeds etc, etc
3 - when your ready (we were in Oz when our hose sale completed and the money was deposited into the transfer account) you call them up and ask your personal banker (you'll get a letter) to transfer the funds, if you transfer over £30k it costs nothing, under it's £15 per transfer (hence you ask them to hold funds). Plus you get commercial banking transfer rates which are higher than highstreet/tourist rates.
4 - you make an appointment to see the Migrant Banker in Australia (it's in your letter so remember to bring it with you) to pick up your Keycard open other accounts such as a day-to-day account (streamline) as well as an internet only savings account as this has a better interest rate than the Cash Investment account (6% as opposed to 1% - I believe these are correct) and stick all the money in this internet account which is what we did.
8 - you do have to use the internet to move funds from the savings account to the day to day account if you want to spend it but internet banking here is better than the UK, transfers are instant from one account to another (like your account to a friends) unlike the UK.
Oh, make sure you get the daily limit on your key card set to the max which is $2000 a day as unlike the UK, no matter how much you have in your account your limited by the amount your key card will let you spend. It's also worth applying for an Oz credit card whilst your in the bank as they can see the funds you have and the chances are you'll be accepted, within a week we had a joint credit card with a healthy limit (but nowhere near as much as the UK based cards
All this will be explained to you by the bank when you get to OZ you can of course open accounts with any bank you like and move the money out of the Commonwealth Bank - that's entirely up to you but it's a nice & simple way of getting your cash from A -> B.
Hope this Helps (maybe it needs to be a sticky ??)
Contact Commonwealth Bank Of Australia in London on 020 7710 3990 (or visit http://www.migrantbanking.co.uk/) and speak to their Migrant Banking Department (it's a dedicated UK based unit and the only Australian Bank based in the UK with such a unit, I believe the others are all based in Oz).
Anyway, they will send you forms which allows you to set you up a UK based "transfer" account with a UK Sort & Account code that is linked to an Australian based "Cash Investment Account". The way it works is this:
1 - they set you up the account and you make sure you ask them to hold the funds until further notice
2 - you then start transferring money into the holding account such as savings, refunds, house sale proceeds etc, etc
3 - when your ready (we were in Oz when our hose sale completed and the money was deposited into the transfer account) you call them up and ask your personal banker (you'll get a letter) to transfer the funds, if you transfer over £30k it costs nothing, under it's £15 per transfer (hence you ask them to hold funds). Plus you get commercial banking transfer rates which are higher than highstreet/tourist rates.
4 - you make an appointment to see the Migrant Banker in Australia (it's in your letter so remember to bring it with you) to pick up your Keycard open other accounts such as a day-to-day account (streamline) as well as an internet only savings account as this has a better interest rate than the Cash Investment account (6% as opposed to 1% - I believe these are correct) and stick all the money in this internet account which is what we did.
8 - you do have to use the internet to move funds from the savings account to the day to day account if you want to spend it but internet banking here is better than the UK, transfers are instant from one account to another (like your account to a friends) unlike the UK.
Oh, make sure you get the daily limit on your key card set to the max which is $2000 a day as unlike the UK, no matter how much you have in your account your limited by the amount your key card will let you spend. It's also worth applying for an Oz credit card whilst your in the bank as they can see the funds you have and the chances are you'll be accepted, within a week we had a joint credit card with a healthy limit (but nowhere near as much as the UK based cards
All this will be explained to you by the bank when you get to OZ you can of course open accounts with any bank you like and move the money out of the Commonwealth Bank - that's entirely up to you but it's a nice & simple way of getting your cash from A -> B.
Hope this Helps (maybe it needs to be a sticky ??)
Last edited by scrubbedexpat001; Jan 18th 2008 at 10:36 am.
Jan 18th 2008, 10:42 am
#6
Social Grenade Thrower
Joined: Jan 2008
Location: South Coast, NSW
Posts: 3,625
Re: Australian Bank Accounts
I put this in another thread but will duplicate it here as this as a little more info:
Contact Commonwealth Bank Of Australia in London on 020 7710 3990 (or visit http://www.migrantbanking.co.uk/) and speak to their Migrant Banking Department (it's a dedicated UK based unit and the only Australian Bank based in the UK with such a unit, I believe the others are all based in Oz).
Anyway, they will send you forms which allows you to set you up a UK based "transfer" account with a UK Sort & Account code that is linked to an Australian based "Cash Investment Account". The way it works is this:
1 - they set you up the account and you make sure you ask them to hold the funds until further notice
2 - you then start transferring money into the holding account such as savings, refunds, house sale proceeds etc, etc
3 - when your ready (we were in Oz when our hose sale completed and the money was deposited into the transfer account) you call them up and ask your personal banker (you'll get a letter) to transfer the funds, if you transfer over £30k it costs nothing, under it's £15 per transfer (hence you ask them to hold funds). Plus you get commercial banking transfer rates which are higher than highstreet/tourist rates.
4 - you make an appointment to see the Migrant Banker in Australia (it's in your letter so remember to bring it with you) to pick up your Keycard open other accounts such as a day-to-day account (streamline) as well as an internet only savings account as this has a better interest rate than the Cash Investment account (6% as opposed to 1% - I believe these are correct) and stick all the money in this internet account which is what we did.
8 - you do have to use the internet to move funds from the savings account to the day to day account if you want to spend it but internet banking here is better than the UK, transfers are instant from one account to another (like your account to a friends) unlike the UK.
Oh, make sure you get the daily limit on your key card set to the max which is $2000 a day as unlike the UK, no matter how much you have in your account your limited by the amount your key card will let you spend. It's also worth applying for an Oz credit card whilst your in the bank as they can see the funds you have and the chances are you'll be accepted, within a week we had a joint credit card with a healthy limit (but nowhere near as much as the UK based cards
All this will be explained to you by the bank when you get to OZ you can of course open accounts with any bank you like and move the money out of the Commonwealth Bank - that's entirely up to you but it's a nice & simple way of getting your cash from A -> B.
Hope this Helps (maybe it needs to be a sticky ??)
Contact Commonwealth Bank Of Australia in London on 020 7710 3990 (or visit http://www.migrantbanking.co.uk/) and speak to their Migrant Banking Department (it's a dedicated UK based unit and the only Australian Bank based in the UK with such a unit, I believe the others are all based in Oz).
Anyway, they will send you forms which allows you to set you up a UK based "transfer" account with a UK Sort & Account code that is linked to an Australian based "Cash Investment Account". The way it works is this:
1 - they set you up the account and you make sure you ask them to hold the funds until further notice
2 - you then start transferring money into the holding account such as savings, refunds, house sale proceeds etc, etc
3 - when your ready (we were in Oz when our hose sale completed and the money was deposited into the transfer account) you call them up and ask your personal banker (you'll get a letter) to transfer the funds, if you transfer over £30k it costs nothing, under it's £15 per transfer (hence you ask them to hold funds). Plus you get commercial banking transfer rates which are higher than highstreet/tourist rates.
4 - you make an appointment to see the Migrant Banker in Australia (it's in your letter so remember to bring it with you) to pick up your Keycard open other accounts such as a day-to-day account (streamline) as well as an internet only savings account as this has a better interest rate than the Cash Investment account (6% as opposed to 1% - I believe these are correct) and stick all the money in this internet account which is what we did.
8 - you do have to use the internet to move funds from the savings account to the day to day account if you want to spend it but internet banking here is better than the UK, transfers are instant from one account to another (like your account to a friends) unlike the UK.
Oh, make sure you get the daily limit on your key card set to the max which is $2000 a day as unlike the UK, no matter how much you have in your account your limited by the amount your key card will let you spend. It's also worth applying for an Oz credit card whilst your in the bank as they can see the funds you have and the chances are you'll be accepted, within a week we had a joint credit card with a healthy limit (but nowhere near as much as the UK based cards
All this will be explained to you by the bank when you get to OZ you can of course open accounts with any bank you like and move the money out of the Commonwealth Bank - that's entirely up to you but it's a nice & simple way of getting your cash from A -> B.
Hope this Helps (maybe it needs to be a sticky ??)
My problem will be when I am in Oz, I will still need to make regular payments to my UK account to pay my mortgage and other commitments. I am trying to find the easiest, cheapest and quickest way to do that. May have to go down the Ozforex or Travelex route, both offer a regular payment scheme where they fix the rate (easiest for monthly budgeting then) but not sure what the costs involved are yet.
Any advice from those in similar situations gladly taken!
Jan 18th 2008, 10:55 am
#7
Account Closed
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 134
Re: Australian Bank Accounts
I know CBA's internet banking lets you make payments back to a UK based account from your Australian bank account and as far as I know it's just a regular overseas payment maybe that's an option to investigate as you can do it from the comfort of our own home.
Jan 18th 2008, 12:12 pm
#8
Social Grenade Thrower
Joined: Jan 2008
Location: South Coast, NSW
Posts: 3,625
Re: Australian Bank Accounts
Sorry, being thick here...CBA??? Is it to their own branch in UK or to any bank in UK?
Jan 20th 2008, 9:04 am
#9
Forum Regular
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 160
Re: Australian Bank Accounts
It is SO easy to open it when there. I opened my account with CBA (commonwealth bank of australia) on the 1st day I landed. All I had to do was show the passport and tell them my base address at that time.
Jan 20th 2008, 2:41 pm
#10
Just Joined
Joined: May 2007
Location: Bournemouth
Posts: 8
Re: Australian Bank Accounts
We've used CBA and so far so good. opening the account via the guys in London was a easy as can be.
I've used them before when we lived in Melbourne a few years ago and thought that the level of service compared to most UK high st banks was excellent.
I've used them before when we lived in Melbourne a few years ago and thought that the level of service compared to most UK high st banks was excellent.
Jan 21st 2008, 12:52 am
#11
Account Closed
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 134
Re: Australian Bank Accounts
It's their own branch based in the UK, you get your own personal banker regardless of how much or how little you have in the transfer account and any deposits in £'s are covered by UK FSA riles ($'s are kept off shore in Australia).
Correct, with enough "points" (passport, address etc) it is easy to open an account in Oz, but doing it this way you have an account before you get there and it's easy to transfer money to the UK "holding account" from ANY UK bank. Plus it's easier than bringing large amounts of cash /travellers cheques into the country which is handy considering most people to a stop over somewhere in Asia.
