Techno Freak

Here is how to open a Westpac account - and get online access from the UK, ( without doing the identity check ), even though they say you can't. You will still only be able to pay into the account though, not withdraw until you have been identified, either in Australia - or via the acceptable referee method below.

To save phone bill charges, open an account with someone like Onetel first.


Opening the account:-

Phone Westpac on +61 2 9293 9270 and you can open an account over the phone. They will give you sort codes and account numbers there and then. Remember, if it is a joint account, you will both need to be present to speak to the Westpac operator. The account we opened was a Westpac One - this has one joint current account, one joint savings account and we also opened a joint Maxi savings account. Details of these accounts can be found on the Westpac website.

They will ask you which branch you want to collect your card etc from once in Australia. We chose a central Melbourne branch.

They will tell you that you can only make payments into the account, and cannot withdraw until you have been identified by the bank. Identification is by turning up at your nominated branch once in Australia. They may also tell you that you cannot register for internet banking until you have been identified.

That's it - jobs done, you now have Westpac bank accounts that you can pay money into.

It took about ten minutes to get everything set-up. When you arrive in Australia and go to the bank with your passport etc, ( see Westpac site for documents required to confirm identity ), you will get your cards and the account will be fully active.

After you have phoned to set the account up, they will send you a pack in the post. Ours came in about 10 days - this pack will include a form called, 'Identification by an acceptable referee'. This is a form that you can use if you desperately want to activate your account for withdrawals before you enter Australia. An acceptable referee in the UK is someone that has personally known you for over 12 months, and works for a bank, and has the authority to open international accounts - I bet there are loads of us with friends like that eh??? The form allows you to activate your account from the UK, allowing you to withdraw, as well as pay in money. So - unless you need to take money out, or pay Australian bills from the UK, you don't need to send any of the forms back. You can pay into your Westpac account by using the sort code, ( BSB code ), and account number that they gave you on the phone when you applied, and you can check your balance by telephone or internet banking from the UK - see below. You don't need to fully activate the account until you are in Australia.


Getting access to on-line banking:-

Once you have phoned and opened an account, give it a few days and phone them again, this time on the telephone banking number - 00 61 1300 655 505 - ask them to register you for telephone banking. They will ask you for one of your account numbers. They will then give you an 8 digit customer number and a 3 digit ID number. These are what you use when you call telephone banking to check that your payments have gone it.

Then, ask them for a temporary password for on-line banking.

If it is a joint account, you will both need to speak to the advisor as you will have different customer and ID numbers, and your own temporary password. Just ask the operator if you can pass the phone over to your partner, that's what we did.

Once you have your temporary password, you can go to Westpac online and click to 'log-in' to internet banking - ( do not click on register for on-line banking - go straight to log-in ), you will enter your 8 digit customer number and your temporary password. It will ask then you to chose a new password, along with a few other questions, then voila - you have access to your Westpac account on-line. Again, you should both do this if it is a joint account. You will both access the same account, but have your own unique log in number and password.

Once on-line, you can add all of your other on-line accounts to it, so you can see your whole financial situation at a glance from one access page.

In all, it was easy, trouble free, and every operator we have dealt with so far at Westpac have been very knowledgeable, helpful, informative and generally pleasant to deal with.


Transferring money into your account:-

Sign up for a tranzfers account at www.tranzfers.com if you only want to deposit a small amount of money. They only charge £7.00 per transaction, however, they are part of Ozforex and you can only have one account with Ozforex, ( including your tranzfers account ), the guy on the phone told me it would be fine - he said that we can just use tranzfers to move our house money when the time comes and there will be no fee - basically they will treat it as an Ozforex transfer.

I would suggest moving a small amount first, then waiting to check your Westpac account balance to make sure it arrives, before senging over any big money.


That about wraps it up, it was a doddle reaslly, and so far I have nothing but good things to say about Westpac.

Happy banking.

thewoodz

Thanks for that

BullcreekBob

G'day

A nice post TF.

There is another way of activating your account that can be done from the UK before you get here. Go into Australia House in London along with the appropriate ID (passport, drivers lic, etc) and have them complete the 100 point ID check on behalf of your bank. They can't do it for all banks, but they can for most including WestPac.

Recently some clients of mine, living in London but wanting to buy in Perth were able to use the above method to activate their accounts (including the mortgage).

GinaUK

Hi TF,

that's a fab post! Thanks for the info. We're just about ready to open our Westpac account. We'll follow your step-by-step guide.

It'll be great to be able to check online that the money is in there.

Gina

Brisben

Yeah, I am using Westpac also, I transferred a small sum and got a statement from them, all seems fine at the moment.

Techno Freak

I forgot to add that the phone lines are all 24 hour, 7 days a week.

MarkandShelly

Hi All
As from 7th May there will be no Westpac One A/C it is now called Westpac Choice A/C

Shelly

tomy2tums

What are they like for 457 visas?

can you get credit cards and mortgages?

thanks

a.

Techno Freak

No idea, sorry.

All I can say is that at no point were we asked what our status was. We could have had no visa at all and they wouldnt have known.

Give them a ring on that first number I put on, see what they say.

BullcreekBob

Yes you can - feel free to PM me about how.

tomy2tums

PM'd

Seacaptain

Excellent post, thanks!

GinaUK

Just to say that my husband and I have just opened our Westpac accounts over the phone: Westpac Choice and Westpac Max-i-Direct joint accounts.

The Westpac guy also signed us up for telephone banking there and then and gave us the customer numbers, ID numbers and passwords.

He has also ordered us our Mastercard debit cards which will be ready for us when we arrive.

We chose to activate the accounts at the main downtown Perth branch (checked the location on a map before we phoned).

It was all easy peasy.

Thanks again, Techno Freak, for your excellent post

Gina

Techno Freak

Great stuff.

When are you leaving for Perth? I had read that you could apply for the credit cards, but that you had to be in Australia within 60 days of applying for them, so we have left ours for the time being.

GinaUK

Hi TF,

we wanted to fly out on Sunday 5 August. But now there are no seats left on the flight we wanted . Now we may fly out on 1 August or 6 August, depending on flight availability. I daren't book the tickets until we have exchanged contracts on the house ...

We didn't order *credit* Mastercards, we ordered *debit* Mastercards. Up to now Oz banks had "handycards" which you can use in ATMs and for EFTPOS, but you can't use handycards to buy stuff over the telephone or over the internet or get money out of an overseas ATM.

With a Westpac debit Mastercard you can do all of the above. And unlike most Oz credit cards, there are no monthly fees for the debit card.

Just phone telephone banking again a couple of weeks before you fly out and ask for them to have your debit cards ready when you get there.

Gina