Techno Freak

Thanks Gina.

Best of luck with the house exchange.

louie

I went into Australia House yesterday to ask them about this and they (the girl on the visa counter who was the one I was directed to by the guys manning the security/entrance desk) denied all knowledge of it Does anyone have any information about what I should ask/say/do, who I should ask to speak to or anything relating to this?

louie

I should also have said thanks to Techno Freak for the original post. We opened our account last week with no hassles although the process took a bit longer than I expected.

What can I expect through the post?

tum

Thanks for this post, I just printed it out and will set up an account next month.

Miranda

Techno Freak

No worries

louie

I see there's another thread about opening and accessing bank accounts from the UK. Can anyone help me with this query?

Techno Freak

Depends what bank you want to go with?

If you want to go with Westpac, just follow the instructions on the first post in this thread.

louie

Yes, I've done that and opened an account with Westpac in May - thanks for your help. However, we are now at cross purposes. What I meant was can anyone help with the query about being able to do the Money Laundering checks at Australia House rather than having to wait until we get to Oz. We have bills for our property in Oz which we can't at the moment pay from the funds we have in our Westpac account so if we can access those funds by using the method Bullcreek Bob suggested it would make life a lot easier.

Techno Freak

Ahhh...sorry - I see what you are saying. You can activate your acocunt for paying out by using the 'acceptable referee' method. You can get the forms from Westpac. Basically, you need to know someone that works for a bank and has authoirity to open accounts. They fill in the form and say that they have know you for 12 months or longer. You send that back to Westpac and Bob's your mothers brother.

There are other acceptable referees listed on the form, like policeman etc, but if you are in the UK you have to be reffereed by the bank staff one.

Best of luck.

louie

Sadly I don't know anyone who fits into that category. But an earlier post suggested you could call into Australia House with the appropriate documentation and they will do the necessary. I tried that - no-one knew what I was talking about! I was hoping someone would know who I needed to ask/what I needed to say as I can get to Australia House easily enough.

Techno Freak

I seem to remember reading a similar post on here about doing that at Australia House too.

Fortunatley, we dont really need to use ur account until we are there, so I never looked into it.

Hope you manage to get sorted out.

louie

I finally got round to sorting out the telephone and internet banking codes on the phone last night. Really helpful staff, so far I'd thoroughly recommend Westpac.

One thing though - I now realise that not only can we not withdraw funds until we turn up at the branch in Oz, we can't transfer money between accounts either. So if you are transferring money to Oz (or as we are, having funds paid in over there, in our case rent), make sure it goes into the Max-i account not the Choices account otherwise you will lose out on interest.

Thanks again to the OP for putting this post up.

louie

I knew it was too good to be true.... it was all going smoothly and then I rang up to make sure our cards would be ready to pick up when we arrive only to be told that we could only apply for the cards once we were in Oz. I explained that other people had managed to do it from the UK, but she was adamant we would have to apply when we turned up at the branch and then wait five days. Which as we arrive in Sydney Friday morning and then leave on Thursday morning to travel effectively means we won't be able to sort it, which in turn means we have all our money in the bank and no means of getting it out (other than drawing enough to pay for everything in cash for a three week holiday). Anyone know who else I can talk to to sort this out as I'm not happy

GinaUK

Why don't you activate your accounts in London before you go to Oz?

The migrant banking department of Westpac have an office in London. The exact address and their direct telephone number was in the latest issue of "Australia" magazine (that's the October issue). Unfortunately, I've already put our copy out into the recycling bin.

Although Westpac had a London office for years, I think having a presence there for migrant banking is a new thing, because their address in the "Australia" magazine has previously always been Sydney.

If you don't have the magazine yourself, try phoning Westpac's London switchboard: (020) 7621 7000. Ask to be put through to the migrant banking department. Then ask them for an appointment to come in, activate your accounts, and ask them to order your cards.

Hope you can get it sorted.

Gina

louie

Wow. I didn't know you could do that Gina. I'll ring them tomorrow. Thanks for the tip