All like something from the 1970s I'm afraid. The ANZ tends to get the most awards and so on for customer service, but I'm with them and they are not what you might expect on moving here. It's worth checking out the smaller ones like Bendigo - that seems to be one of the best on customer service. I also have savings with BankWest (www.abetterdeal.com.au) which is great for online savings. Commonwealth is good for ATMS but AWFUL for service. WestPac - not sure.

Better to wait until you arrive: also, HSBC in England knows nothing about accounts abroad unless you contact their overseas banking department. Each country is managed as an entity and there's no reason why they *should* know about the others.

I saw a great sticker today:

Which bank? Doesn't matter, they're all b*****ds.

Avoid Commonwealth Bank, we initially used it to get our money over here, but have switched to avoid $5 fee, $1 fee for every cheque written (Which they told me didn't incur charges until the account fees were added at the end of the month) and the 50c charge for every transaction you make after the first free 15!!

Last month we accidentally wrote and sent off two cheques unsigned, totalling $200. Both cheques were cashed??? How did that happen?? Commonwealth initially suggested I took it up with the branch that cashed it, I told them that I thought it was unlikely that Vic Police were going to be telling me things like that. Only when I requested the persons name and the Banking ombudsman's address did they indicated that they would follow up my complaint!!!

Steer very clear. As other people have suggested there are banks here that do not charge. I changed to ANZ, but had I realised which banks did not charge a fee I would have moved to them.

Commonwealth are horrible ... only thing going for them is that they are consistently horrible. They used to be a Government owned bank - enough said - and half the population still thinks they are!

Accounts totally without fees are hard to find - usually you need a reasonably large balance to ward them off -and some of the taxes are laughable, like the "BAD" tax which I think is a tax you pay on money you put into an account!


A couple of reference :

Infochoice - compares virtually all bank accounts - costs, returns etc., - great site

http://www.infochoice.com.au/banking/default.asp

Exfin - gives details of opening up accounts from overseas with both Commonwealth and Westpac. I've found Westpac to be a good bank, if a bit too conservative at times.

http://www.exfin.com/banking-migrants.php

Wasn't that the Financial Instutitions Duty (FID)? - abolished back in 2001.

Bank Accounts Debits (BAD) tax ought to have been abolished now in all states and territories - NSW hasn't had it since 2002.


Jeremy

You're right ... but I think it stayed around in Victoria, if I remember my statements, until mid this year. I thought they were all supposed to go with GST but the States (surprisingly) dragged their feet. It stuck in my mind because I couldn't belive that anyone, even a politician, could impose a tax with the acronym of "BAD".

However, "BAD" has largely been supplanted by bank account fees "BAF" so I don't think anyone has really benefitted ...

Cheers