daveplumber

Hi all, hopefully someone will be able to help me out here, I have opened a commonwealth bank account in London thinking i will use this to convert my sterling to aud and they would transfer the funds to the Perth office. After investigating further it looks like we are going to use moneycorp for our exchange, question is once they have exchanged where do they transfer the funds to ? is it the London branch or does it go to perth, I dont like to ask the bank because it feels like im going behind there backs or am i just being stoopid ?

Wendy

I'd presume it goes to the branch in Perth. I can't see how you'd be able deposit dollars into a UK pound sterling account.

Do you have the BSB number and account number for the bank in Perth? you'll need them for Moneycorp to be able to send it.

daveplumber

Thanks Wendy but now im completely lost, all i have is an account number and sort code, i take it this will not be the same as the Perth account, looks like im going to have to talk to someone at the bank, im rubbish at all this stuff im just a practical person not very good at understanding finances and paperwork

Wendy

There's three options that I can see here.

1, speak to the bank, ask them for the BSB and account number of your accunt in Perth. If they ask why tell them that Moneycorp have given you a better deal than them. They'll either tell you the details or match the offer

2, Transfer a smallish amount through the bank, and then when you get here transfer the rest with Moneycorp. You'll have your BSB and account number by then.

3, Open another account with either ANZ or Westpac and close your Commonwealth account

daveplumber

Why close the commonwealth bank, are there better options with the other 2, i can open a westpac account before i come out ?
Thanks for your advice

datamile

You can open a westpac.. takes a few weeks, as they mail the details back to you. You then have 60 days to deposit some cash into the account

Moneycorp will hold the money in their account in OZ in AUD until your account is ready if you want to transfer while the rates is good. Talk to them, they are always very helpful on the phone.

Wendy

Well if you opened a ANZ or Westpac account, there'd be no point having a commonwealth account as well as you'd be getting charged monthly for not using it. So you'd be best to close one of them.

ANZ take about 10 days to open an account, you can do it from the UK and they don't charge you until you deposit money. Don't know about Westpac or commonwealth though.

Rhubarborama

Hi
We opened a CWB account in London. We also bought AUD from another UK company first. The company we bought the dollers from transferred the dollars to the London CWB account once we gave them the account details and transfer date. The CWB should have no probs with the fact you have used another company to buy Aus dollers from.
We had to transfer the dollers into the LONDON CWB branch. The money could not be transferred to Aus - Perth in our case - until the Perth CWB account was activated when we visited the bank on arriving in Perth.
Good Luck!!

Rhubarborama

Forgot to mention 2 points.
1) Our transfer worked well. We got a good deal on the exchange and the transfer from UK CWB branch to UK took about 5 days I seem to remember.
2) This all happened in July 2004. I think the process is pretty similar but worth checking nothing has changed since them.

Rhubarborama

Sorry point 1) should have read "...the transfer from UK CWB branch to Aus branch".2)

marco121068

If you're not sure where you'll want the funds - why not set up a forward contract? You agree on a rate with the brokers - pay them a deposit (5 - 10%) and the balance is payable when it matures. I see no point in it sitting in someone elses account (earning interest) instead of your own.

Buzzy--Bee

I recommend Ozforex. They will give British Expats members a much better rate than Moneycorp will.

Mention you are a member of this site.



Buzzy

Rhubarborama

Good point Marco. The biggest benefit/saving we made was by keeping our money for as long as poss in a high interest UK account and then dealing with a forex firm rather than a bank to get a good exchange rate.
When we did our money transfer, the sequence of events was:
1) Before leaving UK: Money (GB Pounds) moved from current bank account (Coop) to high interest rate account (ING). At that time (2004) ING had good on-line high interest rate acct with interest paid monthly.
2) Agreed an exchange rate for all our GBP with a Forex company. Paid deposit of (think 5%) and agreed date balance (in GBP) would be transferred to forex company. Also the date it would be paid by them (in AUD) into our London based CWB account.
3) Arrived in Aus and visited CWB migrant centre to activate Aus based account. The asked CWB to transfer AUD from London account to Aus account. Aus CWB account had also been established (but not activated) while we were still in UK.

I remember being quite nervous and phoning to check money had moved between various organisations in UK at correct times.

I also remember that there were some scare stories at that time about international money transfer problems which prompted us for peace of mind to do our xfer through an Australian high street bank with a presence in both UK and Aus. When we arrived wet behind the ears the CWB migrant banking service in Perth were very helpful and supportive. The other Aus banks probably have similar reliable arrangements now.
Cheers

datamile

How much better are ozforex rates ?

marco121068

Difficult one to say. You're better off speaking to each of them in turn and finding out what they will offer you - though to make it a decent comparison you have to talk to both within a couple of minutes.

Don't be fooled by the moneycorp currency converter. That uses the interbank rate - which you won't get.