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Banking - sort out now or when you land?

Banking - sort out now or when you land?

Old Jul 21st 2003, 11:08 am
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Default Banking - sort out now or when you land?

Hi,

Hopefully you can help. We emigrate to Brisbane on September 7 and are currently sorting out all the last things we need to do. We've discussed what we're doing with our banking and we haven't arrived at a firm answer yet.

We want to stay with HSBC, so do we sort out an Oz account now, or is it not necessary and we can just do it when we arrive? We are aware if we do it when we arrive, we will use our visas for a while, use our internet banking to pay our visas off from our English account, while we're setting up an Oz account.

We're going to take a bank reference if we do set it up when we land in Oz. And will it help that we'll be staying with HSBC for our credit rating and getting an account easily?

Just got a bit on at the moment, and wanted to keep the number of jobs to a minimum before we leave.

Any replies on this would be hugely appreciated!

Thanks,

Gavin
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Old Jul 21st 2003, 11:09 am
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Also, has anyone used HSBC in England and transferred money to their HSBC account in Oz?

thanks!
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Old Jul 21st 2003, 11:12 am
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I got an account with AMP. You need to be 100 point identified, and I got my UK bank to sign copies of my passport and other stuff.

Sent it off in the post and no worries mate!

Then the dollar decided to strengthen like fury so put off transferring sterling for a while.

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Old Jul 21st 2003, 11:15 am
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Hi Gavin

We have a joint account with HSBC here, and we went into our local branch to enquire.

They faxed their London International branch with the request.

We were then sent all the application forms.

We filled them in and then took them with original documents such as passports, driving licences etc for our local branch to certify.

They then sent everything on to London, who will then discuss with the Oz branch. That's it, really.

We will be picking up our cash cards etc at the Perth branch of HSBC when we arrive.
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Old Jul 21st 2003, 11:18 am
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Thanks Pookin! How long did the process take, as we are leaving in a seven weeks and don't want to cut it too fine...

G
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Old Jul 21st 2003, 11:39 am
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Default Re: Banking - sort out now or when you land?

Originally posted by Gavin B
Hi,

Hopefully you can help. We emigrate to Brisbane on September 7 and are currently sorting out all the last things we need to do. We've discussed what we're doing with our banking and we haven't arrived at a firm answer yet.

We want to stay with HSBC, so do we sort out an Oz account now, or is it not necessary and we can just do it when we arrive? We are aware if we do it when we arrive, we will use our visas for a while, use our internet banking to pay our visas off from our English account, while we're setting up an Oz account.

We're going to take a bank reference if we do set it up when we land in Oz. And will it help that we'll be staying with HSBC for our credit rating and getting an account easily?

Just got a bit on at the moment, and wanted to keep the number of jobs to a minimum before we leave.

Any replies on this would be hugely appreciated!

Thanks,

Gavin
Hi Gavin

We did almost the same thing as Pookin. We've got accounts with First Direct and HSBC. I rang First Direct and they forwarded our information to HSBC International. We received a pack in the mail, chose which account we wanted to open, then took our identification (passports, birth certificates) to our local HSBC. The woman there certified the copies. I also got a bankers draft for $2,000AUD, then sent the whole lot off to HSBC International. Didn't hear anything back for about 4 weeks, then a letter came saying that the account was open and we could collect our cards when we arrive in Australia.

They did ask us which branch we wanted to pick them up from and when we were arriving in Oz, so you'll need to know where your local branch is. It also stated that they only held the cards for 6 weeks and then they would be destroyed.

We've just had a letter from HSBC in Australia saying that we've earnt $2.76 on our account already

Regards
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Old Jul 21st 2003, 12:10 pm
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Originally posted by Gavin B
Thanks Pookin! How long did the process take, as we are leaving in a seven weeks and don't want to cut it too fine...

G
Forms took about a week to come.

So, you can order your $ draft from the bank (about 4 working days max) while you're waiting for the forms to arrive. We've opened Online Savings accounts and the mimimum balance to open is $2000 - but the more the better!

Then you could do all the rest in 1 day - fill in forms, take original documents to local branch etc. So about a week to 10 days max, I'd say.

I will say though that the forms are more complex and numerous than in the UK and some terms are unfamiliar, we filled in all that we were confident with, and stuck post-it notes on the rest with our queries.

The lady at our local branch was able to clear these queries up.

P.S Full details of all Oz-wide branches are included with the forms.
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Old Jul 21st 2003, 12:28 pm
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That's a tremendous help. Thanks so much!!!
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Old Jul 22nd 2003, 8:23 pm
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Set it up before you go. Your HSBC bank bod here can sign the ID paperwork. Apply for the account online with HSBC in Oz, print out the forms and take them to your bank. Send them off to Oz, it's opened within 24 hours of arrival and account number emailed to you.

Then you can set up an account with Halewood (www.hifx.co.uk) to transfer the money for you later.

Got the account numbers for our HSBC online savings account in Oz today. Best current account to have even for those who don't use HSBC in the UK - pays 4.1%! The other HSBC accounts in Oz are rubbish, worse than here.

They set it up quickly and efficiently and the cards and chequebook are on their way to us by post as soon as they receive our initial deposit by TT so we'll have them when before we arrive.

Tip - don't tell them you're going to Queensland (give them your UK address for now) and hopefully the account will be set up with a base address at their NSW head office. So no debit tax on account with cheque facilities. As the online account has no actual branch base to be shifted anyway HSBC couldn't say whether they would start charging debit tax when we gave them our new address in Victoria - crossing our fingers not.
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Old Jul 22nd 2003, 8:41 pm
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st george do an online account of variable 4.75% no minimum balance, no account keeping fees, no transaction or min transfer amounts
http://www.dragondirect.com.au/directsaver/default.asp

Has anyone got this account?
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Old Jul 22nd 2003, 11:26 pm
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I looked into the Dragondirect account. It was set up to compete with INGdirect who also pay 4.75% interest. But both of these are savings accounts which you transfer money in and out of to a normal current account at a clearing bank. You need the normal current account to do day to day transactions such as direct debits, standing orders, cash withdrawals.

The HSBC online savings account is actually a current account paying 4.1% - you can even have a chequebook - and direct debits etc are all free. We have opened one of these and then are backing it up with an INGdirect account, transferring money to and fro monthly or whatever to get higher interest.

PS Has anyone managed to get into the dragondirect website lately? They obviously have too many customers and not enough servers. INGdirect's website works fine and they're helpful over the phone too.
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Old Jul 23rd 2003, 12:37 am
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Originally posted by Jolyn
I looked into the Dragondirect account. It was set up to compete with INGdirect who also pay 4.75% interest. But both of these are savings accounts which you transfer money in and out of to a normal current account at a clearing bank. You need the normal current account to do day to day transactions such as direct debits, standing orders, cash withdrawals.

The HSBC online savings account is actually a current account paying 4.1% - you can even have a chequebook - and direct debits etc are all free. We have opened one of these and then are backing it up with an INGdirect account, transferring money to and fro monthly or whatever to get higher interest.

PS Has anyone managed to get into the dragondirect website lately? They obviously have too many customers and not enough servers. INGdirect's website works fine and they're helpful over the phone too.
I have an account at both ING and Dragon direct, never had problems accessing either (just tried Dragon and fine). Your right you do need an account at a conventional branch, I use ANZ and pay $5 / month for unlimited transactions with no min balance required.
NOTE Interest is paid here gross and so when you declare it at the end of the tax year you will then have to pay tax on the interest. Can be significant if you leave proceed of house sale in it for long period.
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