alkristensen

Hi, we are off next week to validate then comin back here for a year. Can i physically walk into a branch in oz and open a bank account and pay in cash the same day without an ozzie address, and if there is a way round it that is legal .If so then where do i open one and how good are they please

We are just thinking of doing all the TFN Medicare bank acc etc on our 3 week trip so that there is one less thing to think abou when we get there proper next year.

Thanks

alk

alkristensen

anyone?
ta

stubbyholder

Checkout the tread below from "kevinbloomfield"

alkristensen

Just to update on this, im now in oz on validation trip then coming back to uk for a year or so.

Here is the lowdown for people coming back to uk for a little while, people moving there straight away do not bother answering this as it does not concern you.

You can walk in to a branch and open a bank account straight away, with just your passport if you can prove yo have been in the country less than 6 weeks, anything longer than that and you need other id. IN NO WAY DO YOU NEED AN ADDRESS IN AUSTRALIA!! We gave our home address and they could leave letters in a branch to for us to pick up when we move, but our account with westpac is free if you have more than $2000 in it withx amount of free withdrawals a month. This doesnt concern us yet as we are trying merely to get some credit rating over the next 18 months by payinhg in money once a week just so there is healthy activity on the account.

Our accounts are online, and i have a built on savings account that gives back 5.4% interest which i ay in to my current account then tranfer over to other account online, its pretty simple and charge free.

Im sure there are better interest rates and better accounts over here but my question was can i walk into a branch with no address here and the answer is yes. Westpac also have and affiliation with barclays so some interbanking may be cheaper, we will see on return.

Hopes this helps someone as id quite like to have a load of money sat in an accounts here for when we first arrive, and if i set up a weekly standing order from my uk account to account here then there shoud be a nice lump sum here for me when i move, and i cant really get to it either til i move event though they are giving us cheque books and cashcards within 2 weeks. Make sure idf you want to do this and have little time on validation then
sort this out first as it takes time to get your new card etc printed.

As far as the TFN is concerned, the guy that opened my account stated that id need to earn over $6000 in interest per annum before i got taxed, so unless i have more than $100,000 in the account i wont be taxed

Hope this helps

WacandJill

Thanks for taking the time to write this.
I found it very helpful.
Cheers

Alan Collett

Not so - if you are non-Aussie resident and give a UK mailing address the bank should withhold tax at 10% on any interest paid to you under the terms of the Tax Treaty between Australia and the UK.

The interest that is credited to your account plus the tax withheld is then wholly taxable in the UK if you are tax resident and domiciled in the UK, with a credit available for the 10% tax that has been withheld.

Best regards.

alkristensen

Thanks alan, glad your about to correct me, but i wont be getting taxed that much as i wont have silly amounts in the bank anyway, just wanted to open an account and try to build up some sort of credit history before i get here, at the very least we will have been with the bank for 18 months and will have never been overdrawn, and will have had regular credits into it, so that must count for something towards good credit when applying for exchanging credit cardsa over(i have 0zero balance) and a mortgage too . It cant hurt can it?



al

Rob Morton-Jone

You can open an Oz account from here in the UK with no problems.

We have had an Oz account now for the last 6 months or so ready for when we move over to Oz early next year

Hope that helps

Rob

Buzzy--Bee

Hi - could you give more details on this please eg bank you opened account with, what forms you had to complete etc?

Thanks

Buzzy

Rob Morton-Jone

Here we go;

http://www.anz.com/

Click on apply for a bank account.
We went for the account that charges $5 per month no matter how many transactions you make.

Download the forms, fill them in, then send them off. You should get a reply within about three weeks

Rob

glittababe

Rob have checked out the website and it states that if you reside overseas and cannot go to an aus branch to verify your details/ID then they cannot open a bank account! Also couldn't find the forms to download! Sorry to be a pain but we really need to open an account here to get ourselves sorted!

Rob Morton-Jone

We are able to deposit money into our account but cant withdraw any till we take id to the local branch when we arrive.

We just printed the forms off and sent them to the branch in Oz. I will take a look on the web site later

Rob

SuperSeagulls

Im opened an account in Oz with Westpac while on my validation trip..I used my agent as a c/o address for the card to be sent to etc.

The only thing is, they never sent the PIN!!

My agent is sending me the card, I'll then ask for a PIN to be sent over to the UK.

SS

Alan Collett

Maybe have a look at Citibank's Online Cash Manager account:
http://www.citibank.com.au/

It pays 5.50% and you can complete and send the forms from the UK - I believe.

See also www.bankchoice.com.au

(please note that this is NOT to be considered as investment advice)

Best regards.

Rabc

Hello,

I am not any sort of financial wizard at all but we opened an account with Westpac before we left and could pay in money but not take it out until we got here or closed the account (if still in the UK). we looked a Commonwealth (which it certainly is not!), ANZ, Australia Bank etc but found Westpac to be the cheapest all round in terms of fees. We arrived, presented our passports and they sorted out our current account, savings accounts, credit cards, everything. Very helpful indeed and we found it useful to have sorted our cash before we got there.

Recommended by me 100% based only on my lymans experience.

Hope it helps

Rob