Hi everyone

I am flying to Oz tomorrow!

One of the first things I want to do is open up a bank account with online banking. Can anyone recommend a particular bank with the least charges?

Will I be able to open one straight away?

thank you

HSBC wins easily but both my wife and I have had trouble with our eftpos cards not always being read by the swipe machines. We are not alone in having this trouble apparently.

Which Bank? Not the Commonwealth Bank!

(sorry, the COmmonwealth use "Which Bank?" in their advertising)

Many recommend HSBC.

Was it just with the Mobil petrol stations that you had those problems, or other outlets aswell ?

We use credit cards for 99% of purchases, so we don't get to experience that problem, although have heard about it before.

I did have a problem once though, but I kept selecting the "chq" option on the machine, instead of "savings". My HSBC account has a cheque book, so I assumed it was a cheque account, but it isn't, it's a savings account

We use HSBC and havingthe same problems with eftpos. It can be really frustrating at times, especially when they don't take the card and you have to use the nearest ATM to get cash... and then get charged for using the ATM! But, we've stuck with them because the interest rates are so good. HSBC have said they are working to resolve the issues.

C&V

We have still kept the Commonwealth account, which our Family Tax Benefit goes in to as a reserve. We have to use this card as a back up for when the HSBC one doesn't work.

I was unable to use the HSBC one last night at the bottle shop.

Sounds like the problem is getting worse, not better.

where you are heading to makes a difference too. if you are heading to queensland i'd suggest suncorp

Citibank

Yes

Suncorp has many branches in Queensland, so it's great for convenience especially almost every branch has ATM facility. Their website lists the so many different types of accounts and their rates. The only account that pays interest at 5.4%pa is Everyday Options Sub-account. There is also a monthly account keeping fee of $4.50 if your balance is less than $2000.
Is there any other information I'm missing out on?

Thanks everyone for the advice. Sounds as though I need to open 2 accounts!

Can I get a credit card straight away?