Now at stage of considering opening bank account in Aus and getting hold of Foreign Exchange transfer agent.

I am aware giving finance advice is not always easy or advisable.

Considering opening Commonwealth Bank account before we go in July and using HiFX to transfer money.

Has anyone used this approach and was it successful?

Mark

I have opened accounts with both HIFX and Ozforex in advance of when we wanted to transfer, that way the account is ready to trade whenever the rate is good. For us ozforex has offered the best rate every time and I can highly recommend their service 100% every time.

hi mark im allso at that stage hopfully going to adelaide in june,im opening an account with the Commonwealth Bank in london takes a week to open it then they will open a bank in a area of my choice in australia then all i have to do is tranfer money to london and they will do the rest, my hsbc bank seems to want to charge me alot to tranfer a little over to there adelaide branch ,so for me thats why i picked commonwealth.

all the best in the move m8

We've opened an account with Ozforex in anticipation of transferring our money in a couple of weeks.
Just need to open up our Westpac account to send it to! But have all the forms for that upstairs. They have a London office & were v helpful when I rang them the other week.

Using HSBC here - very good and cheap, and used HiFX for my first transfer whilst i was in the UK.

Pain was as soon as you migrate you need to register with HiFX in Australia AGAIN (with all the money laundering paperwork etc) and they wont let you trade on your UK account. So I closed it and moved to OzForex instead who seemed easier to open.

We bank with the Commonwealth Bank and also use UKForex/Ozforex to transrer money and find them both very good.

Some good info on here and great tips, cheers for that folks.

We opened an account with HSBC before we came out and transferred our money with Moneycorp. Also registered with Ozforex but got a better rate on the day with Moneycorp.

Can recommend both companies.

Excellent info. Just what I needed to help make decision. Thanks to all.

Mark

I used HIFX for the lot, they got me a top exchange rate and it was very easy. I rang HIFX they sent me a couple of forms to sign and set up an account in australia with westpac. Then i phoned them and told them how much i wanted to send, went to my bank and done a transfer in to HIFX's account. Monday morning i walked in to the Westpac in Sydney and showed my passport and they had everything waiting for me. couldnt be any easier.

I did the same. HSBC were pretty painless and are fee free. Moneycorp was very professional. They are just about to set up in Sydney, with Australian accounts, so you will be able to use them to transfer money back if you should wish.

S

HSBC for banking - no charges. OzForex are very efficient and their rates are as good as any. And they are not *pushy*. (Some of you will know what I mean <g>).

We cannot fault Westpac. Faxed the application forms to them on Monday night. They confirmed by email Tuesday morning and we have just had all the account details in the post this morning (Thursday).

We are considering using Tranzfers to transfer our money because I've been told its the cheapest but still looking into that one.

Thanks again to allfor the advice.Made it easier for me to decide. I will let all know what we do and how we get which may helpthe next person who asks same question.

HSBC also have no branches locally outside CBDs mainly and I found when I first migrated the need to raise bank cheques and have access to face to face service would have annoyed me considerably.

Of course it comes down to individual needs. Migrants should consider Westpac, Commonwealth, National, ANZ, HSBC & everything else and see which is better for them.

Agree with Ozforex though. Very good company to do business with.