sharonmcallister

Hi everyone, I was just wondering, we are going to Adeliade in July/August and we are in the process of selling our house. How long before we go should we open a bank account in australia? Which one is best, Westpac or any other? We would want a high interest one as we will be trying to save as much as possible for a deposit when we are ready to buy a house,

Thanks in advance,

Sharon

GaznEm

Hi Sharon,

We are also going out on a Student Visa to the Gold Coast in 7 weeks. We opened an account with ANZ Bank about 4 weeks ago. It was very easy- printed off the application form online (it was all self explanatory) and sent it to ANZ in London. They opened an account for us within 7 days and we now have sort code, account number, branch in Oz and internet banking.

Hope this helps

sharonmcallister

Thanks for that, so do you have to put money into it within a certain amount of time of opening it? I am sure I read somewhere you could only openit 90 days before going as if you didnt put money in or withdraw in that time they closed the account,

thanks
Sharon

GaznEm

Hi,

No, they didn't give us any stipulations about depositing money, only that we had to set online banking up within 5 days of receiving the passwords etc and that we have to ID ourselves at our branch on arrival in Australia.

Inglewhite

anyone what the minium amount of money is needed to set up a bank account with westpac?thanks in advance

carlap

Westpac charge $5 per month fee. I put in $50 to cover it until we are (hopefully) there. You can only deposit money until you get to Oz (unless you know someone working in a bank who will act as a referee)

Only did it in the vain hope that exchange rates spike up and I can transfer some money over

moneypenny20

You can open one and put what you want in it. We opened ours ages before we moved over, well more than 90 days anyway, that was with the Commonwealth. The only thing you can't do is take any out until you are in Aus.

razbolch

Westpac waiver the fee of $5 if you keep $3000 in the account. We opened a current account and a max i saver. We went down to London for the 100 point check as my husband will be going out first and with Westpac a joint account cannot be used in OZ until both people are there for the check. We thoroughly recommend HIFX for the money transfer who once registered with also have links with Qantas to get flight discounts. HIFX also can arrange payments from oz to the uk at business rates with no fee as we both have student loans to pay off.

sharonmcallister

Hi, did you have to put any money into the account?

Sharon

razbolch

yeah we had to deposit within 90 days of opening so the minimum $3000 went into the current account to waiver charges (i think they waiver them for 6 months anyway for new migrant bankers). The rest went into the attached max i saver. Still have some to transfer but the rates are so rubbish at the mo just wished we'd have put the house sale money straight in last year when the rates were 2.46

gormac

Hi Sharon we opened our account with Clydesdale bank we are off to Brisbane 25th May clydesdale are connected to the National bank of Australia so when we go over our account is sitting there where are you in Glasgow ? we are in Busby Clarkston All the Best the Gormacs

sharonmcallister

Hi I have an account with clydesdale already, how does this work, do you have to contact the clydesdale bank to let them know, we are in kinning park,

Sharon

yafm

We have found over the past 5 years that we did the right thing before we left UK We opened an HSBC australia bank account in the UK via the local HSBC branch (although we are LLoydstSB customers) The did the form filling and checking our credentials and then nearer the time we went up to Canary Wharf and collected the paperwork from their office therfe.

When we reached Australia we went to the branch and collected the cheque book and filled in the form for credit cards etc.

This bank is the only australian bank that works like a UK bank There are no charges unlessd you go overdrawn.
(except for the cost of a cheque book $8-12 ) all banks charge for cheques. All the toher australian banks and Credit Unions charge for ATM withdrawals and for standing orders and direct debits and some charge for internet banking. The HSBC does not have lots of actual branches only those in big cities BUT ALL THE POST OFFICES are banks for this purpose and we take out money at post office counters and put in cheques etc. with no costs.

Their credit card is free for the first year and then $99 per year./ however it gives you free travel insurance if you use it to pay for the holiday.

There are other credit cvards which are free annually - NAB ant amex card is free and gives flybuys (like Asda points) and you can get a Virgin credit card here free annually.

If you go down this road ask fpor the designated branch to be in the local Main City (not the nearest to you as the crow flies as this could be a difficult journey as you are not a crow. good luck yvonne

jwood

Hi we also opened an HSBC premier account while in the uk. we did it over the phone. Hubby phoned bank manger in West Bromwich and he did the rest. Had to go to HSBC when we arrived in Adelaide. No monthly charges or atm charges.
When we arrived at the branch hubby opened a joint account also. Pretty straight forward, the only draw back is that there is only one branch in the city, so make sure you take all your evidence and get there before they close. otherwise you'll have a wasted journey like we did the first time as they close quite early, about 4/4.30 if i remember correctly.

Nu-Shooz

We opened an account with Commonwealth with one dollar We opened up this account on our reccie. Open one as soon as you get here.