beachlou

Hello,

We are hoping to open up an Australian bank account before we leave and wondered if anyone has any sugesstion to which one?

I bank with HSBC here in the UK and quite like it. I mainly do my banking online and need one that I can open now and then it'll still be open when we arrive in January (I know Westpac needs you to arrive within 90 days of opening, so that's not any use to us).

Thanks

thebooys

HSBC do offer an overseas account in Australia as they do have a presence in Australia, but not like it is here in the uk.

They will charge you £100 to open this type of account though so l've decided to give them a miss even though i like the service i receive.

We have opened the Westpac account, but i note that you have discounted this one.

beachlou

Thanks for the advice. £100 to open an account? Think I'll give it a miss, which is a shame as I really like HSBC here.

We have only discounted Westpac because you have to arrive in Oz within 90 days, which we won't be doing. I've had a little look and quite like NAB at the moment. Does anyone have any experience with them?

tawkins1

We opened an account with westpac from the UK. Was very simple & used it straight away when we validated our visa's last year. We only pay $5 monthly as we dont have our salaries paid into it yet. No problems so far

Centurion

www.nabgroup.com/migrantbanking/

Used to bank with Conyourwealth, now with NAB. Much better service and everything is just been easy with them.

Huge amount of ATMS, branches and excellent online. Highly recommend.

sassie

If you open an HSBC account in Australia theres no charge, a pretty straightforward process. We chose HSBC as they are one of the very few that offer fee free banking.

MartinLuther

I use HSBC and they haven't pissed me off. Didn't cost anything to open the account and they've not charged me for anything in the years that I've been banking with them.

leigh-c

i opened a HSBC account when on my validation trip very straightforward to do, and as martin luther and sassie said they have fee free banking which is what decided it for me in the end.

ABCDiamond

Open your HSBC account when you arrive here, as others have said, there is no charge to do that here. It is only a charge by the UK bank to pass the paperwork to Australia !!!

The Online banking works well, the account pays interest, and you can have some funds in a higher interest account.

They don't charge any monthly fees, and you can have a cheque book if you want one. However, I am not sure that a cheque book is needed these days.

You can use a HSBC card at any HSBC or Westpac banks, to withdraw cash, as well as any supermarket that you are shopping at.
You can also make deposits and withdrawals at any Post Office.

sassie

Just to clarify, you can obviously use your HSBC card at any other banks ATMS, but with HSBC's and Westpacs, there is no charge.

ABCDiamond

Yes Never even considered using another bank, I don't fancy paying for my banking

tawkins1

No me neither. Think i may swap when we move over in October

Turtles

Take a look at the commonwealth site, we’re in the same position as you and following their moving to Australia link on their main site and we opened 2 accounts online (with a phone call from the London branch to double check details). It was all very easy and they were helpful.

It’s a $4 per month charge but that’s par for course in Australia. One other thing – they will try to sell you airline tickets, removal service and currency conversion – just say thanks, but no thanks, we just want an account. Took us a couple of days to get an account number and an actual person to speak to when we get to Melbourne!

ABCDiamond

It doesn't have to be.

Too many people just accept that they have to pay, possibly because some people say that they must just accept it, because that's how it is here.

But you don't have to pay if you shop around and ask.

Turtles

I am aware that you don’t need to pay charges if you have a look around, but the OP asked for an easy to open account from the UK and the Commonwealth is just that. For the longer term I will probably move to Bankwest but so far I can’t fault Commonwealth.