Which Australian Bank can people recommend? I've not long got off the phone from Money Corp, whom we intend to use to transfer our money over - and they were strongly recommended through this site, they said that they can get ANZ to contact us, send forms out and open an account, all before leaving the UK. We will just have to present ourselves with ID at the bank once we arrive to activate the account.

We've just opened an account with the Commonwealth Bank, from the UK
Very easy with an online application and a couple of phone calls to clarify
things. Staff in their London office were very helpful and explained things
in simple terms for a simpleton like me
They didn't appear too happy that I was using hifx to transfer funds into the
account, rather than the London account which is also opened at the same
time, but there you go.

Steve

There are 5 banks in Australia, Commonwealth, ANZ, NAB, Westpac and St George. The first four are the biggest and have the best ATM coverage. As far as everyday accounts it doesn't matter all that much, they will all offer a similar product, so choose whatever is convenient for you.

we went with westpac and opened an account online before we arrive..

all done online..

I have gone with ANZ, so far no problems. All set up for internet banking. Thay have an office in London so I sent the forms there. Going to have a look at money corp though, heard a few people speaking about them lately.
Shabee
x

Plus HSBC, Bank of Queensland, Bendigo Bank, Citibank, BankWest.

In Aus if you use your ATM card in another banks ATM you will generally get slugged with a $2.50 fee every time(depending on your bank's fee structure).

So not a good idea to open an account with eg Bendigo or BQL unless the ATM is located close to home or where you work, stick with the majors until you get yourself situated as you can always change once you are settled,

We opened an account with ANZ before leaving the UK, we had our money transfered through HIFX and all went smoothly, everything was sat waiting for us when we arrived.

Unless you open an account with one of the fee free alternatives such as HSBC or Citibank. I'm with the latter, and have been very pleased with the service that I have. I can use any ATM in the country and not pay any fees for the privilege.


S

I there any info on bank charges in Australia anywhere?? when I was there before I seem to remember charges for things like having less than $500 in the account etc.
There are so many varieties of account in UK I wondered if it was the same over there....

Also, for people who use the Moneysaving expert in UK, is there an equivalent in Oz??
Thanks
Helen

Yes, I'm interested in knowing this too. I'm in Ireland and currently have a great deal with AIB. IE, no bank charges when in credit, use online banking once a quarter. ATM usage is free. Is there anything similar in Oz that would offer a debit card also?

For anyone Ireland based, how have you/are you going to transfer money or open an account over here?

We have opened an online account with westpac, very easy

minibelle

Yes, have a look at the Citibank Citibank Plus account. There are no ATM fees for usage in any ATM in Australia, internet and everyday transactions are free too. There is a $5 per month charge, but they waive this if you have your salary paid into the account. You can also link a high interest savings account to it.

Another good thing is that transfers between different regions are free and seamless too. So if for example you have a UK Citibank account, and an Australian one, then you can transfer money between them free of charge. I'm not sure if you will necessarily get the best exchange rate, but it's still a pretty useful feature.


S

Since the title of your thread is"Which Bank" it would have to be the Commonwealth Bank, that is there ad "Which Bank"

The bank to which we made a special visit in London to open a migrant account, who weren't particularly interested but who accepted all the completed forms and set up our account.

And couldn't find any record of us when we arrived. So we went with HSBC.

However, CBA - bless 'em - have both our super savings accounts. Since I wanted statements for our tax returns last month and none had arrived, I phoned them. The "Executive" on the phone took some 15 minutes to reluctantly find out what the interest rate was, couldn't work out what 15% tax of that was, and said the statements were delayed until October because of the changes to the rules in July 2007. YES - 2007!

Even by Australian standards pretty average!