Pink & Fluffy

Just a bit of useful information to anyone with a HSBC or First Direct Bank Account. My Husbanbd called their international banking department in London to find out if he could open an account so we could start transferring funds from the sale of our house, they sent him a form and advised him to go into our local branch so they could help us to fill it out (they supply a letter to take into the local branch with internal tel numbers etc). We went into our local branch of HSBC had a coffee they entertained the children and helped us fill in the forms, it took about an hour, we transferred AU$200 from our First Direct account via bankers draft (this cost £20 which seemed a bit strange as the account is with them ) and within 2 weeks we received a letter from the HSBC in Sydney with details of our back account and advising us that cards etc will follow shortly!

We were really impressed with the service as reading threads on here we thought that this would be a nightmare!

Hope this is of some use to other First Direct/ HSBC users?

wavy_davy

We bank with HSBC in Perth and they've been super efficient since we've been here, our atm cards were waiting for us at the branch when we landed.

Rachel & Paul

Thnks for the info, I have a HSBC account here in the UK and need to open one in Adelaide.
I'll give them a ring in the morning.
Regards,
Paul

manxfamily

We opened an account last week with ANZ. Dead easy, downloaded the forms from website, filled in and sent in post to Australia. Letter came back within a couple of weeks with our account no etc. No KYC needed, we just need to turn up when we get their and show our passports to access the cash.

sharon_gareth

Just remember when your converting yout pounds into aussie dollars to check out companies like moneycorp and HIFX as they will probably have better exchange rate than the bank.

wavy_davy

Bunnings is a good place for converting ponds

sharon_gareth

lol... it's late

stubbyholder

On a slightly different tack.....you ought to be aware that,if you deposit monies into your Aussie bank a/c and you don't have a tax file number i.e you're not in the country, the bank may wish to withhold 48.5% of any interest you may earn until you get the TFN. You can claim it back of course, but it's better they don't have it in the first place. Once you've got it your interest is paid to you on a gross basis.

S

touchingcloth

I'm sure I read somewhere that its 10% withheld on interest.

Can anyone verify this please?

TC

h2oskineil

I agree, the bank is good, but the one draw back is the lack of branches. The only time we have needed to visit the branch is for a bank cheque for large purchases, but it is a bit of a pain to have to drive all the way in to the city.

The online banking is great with HSBC, more complicated than First Direct, but good to have it available.

Neil.

stubbyholder

"You do not have to give your TFN to the organisation authorised to request it but there may be consequences if you do not. For example, if you earn interest on money you have invested and you choose not to give your TFN to the financial institution, they may be required to withhold tax at the highest rate plus Medicare levy from that interest and remit this tax to the Tax Office. You can claim this tax amount as a credit when you lodge your income tax return"
taken from the ATO site

http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/co...1/002&st=&cy=1
S

The Crow

We weren't organised enough to open an HSBC account from the UK - it was over the Christmas period. We tried to open with HSBC when we arrived and they wanted $2K upfront - we didn't have this to hand (surprise, surprise!) and didn't want to take it out via credit card for obvious reasons. Went across the road to Westpac and they only wanted $1.... May not be the best bank - but we needed one straight away. We can change if and when we want to. So just a warning - unless we looked particular dodgy..!!

galloping gaijin

We only have the 10% withholding dedcuted, but we're with Citibank and the account is set up as an offshore account.

galloping gaijin

Are you sure, what 'spread' does HIFX give, buy vs sell?

I've had a look on their site and it just shows the interbank rates

TillyG

that's frustrating - I looked into opening an Aussie HSBC account, while I was still in the UK, and we were told we would have to do that whole 100point check and it would also take longer than we had - this was a week before we left the UK.
So I phoned up ANZ, opened the account there and then, transferred money over, and on our 2nd day here, went in with our passports and it was done Simple