The Genie

My wife rang HSBC to open an account today. We are currently in the UK and need one opened in AU as we will be travelling round and have no permanent address. HSBC said they cannot open the account here as we are residents of Australia and that we need to wait until we are in Australia.

I get the feeling that this will be a problem when we get to Oz as we won't have a permanent address, has anyone else had this problem and how did they resolve it?

gedge

Mate this has been done so many times before.
Get on to HSBC International Branch in London and they'll sort you out.
See some of these threads for more info.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=235099
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=392320
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=377284

DianneH68

If I was you I'd wait til you get there. We walked into a Westpac on the first day of our travels in Oz, no permanent address, not even a hotel or anything, and still had an account opened within 20 minutes.
They only need an address to send your bank card to, but we worked out where we were going to be about two week's from then (Broome) and they had the cards sent to the Broome branch for us to pick up.
So easy it was untrue!
Until we could pick up the cards we just had to take our account details and ID into any branch to withdraw cash.
All the form filling in from the UK just seemed like too much hassle and I'm so glad we didn't bother.

pike

Opend one with westpac last week filled in form posted it had an account open 7 days no probs

The Genie

Thanks. I will probably have to wait until I get there. I guess we will have to take enough cash to tide us over?

ianandhelena

why not open a nationwide flex account-no charges for using the visa debit/credit card abroad and the exchange rate is good?

Perthforme

Open one when you arrive and see if the bank willm let you pick up the cards from the branch . You could always use or place for a postal address if you want . I will ask in the bank here today if you can collect cards there ok mate .

JAJ

Or visit http://www.migrantbanking.co.uk

mandtooz

i still had BIG problems with these people as well , i would recommend ANZ, we did the form online in uk and got account number about 10 days later via post - no issues and no problems, then once in oz, show ID to unlock account - simple!

mand

marco121068

Yep - we're with the ANZ. Not bad.

mandtooz

the thing with HSBC is that there are not many of them, but that may just be where we live! with ANZ there is ALWAYS one around, so i never get stung for using another ATM!

GOODLUCK

charlie brown

Sounds like a good idea to me. If I give you my pin number you could always withdraw money for me as well

Your avatar needs time to get used to, I liked the old one better!

The Genie

Thanks. Looks like a good option. Did they hand over the cards when you saw them, or did you need an Oz address for them to be sent to?

The Genie

Just checked that one out, also looks like a good option. Need to look in to it a bit further for picking up cards though. Thanks

Jockstar

I had an ANZ account in 1998. Do you think i would be able to reactivate it when i get there? I did email them but the person i emailed said to get in touch with someone else. Was gonna phone but havent got round to it. Will maybe wait till i get to Oz.