bert-doozer

Can anyone recommend an Oz Bank?

Who's charges are low or Zero & who have a good reputation for service.

Any recomendations from practical experiance appreciated

Stu

vickymills

we opened an HSBC account in brissie from here in the UK and transferred some money over, worked very well, sent us cards and cheque book . Gives us some sort of credit rating as we did it months ago and are travelling out there soon. Meant we could send a cheque to the people we're renting a house off which was convenient. We rang HSBC in London to arrange it all

bert-doozer

Thanks
Vicky, will phone them in the morning
Stu

ABCDiamond

This is the phone number you will need:
HSBC Bank, International Branch Tel: 020 7991 7278
(Local High Street Branches may not know much about it)

We use HSBC for savings and transaction accounts, not many branches around but you can use any Post Office in the country, instead.

We also use the ANZ credit card for all purchases, and pay it automatically in full each month. The reward points we get are transferred to shopping vouchers with Myers, and we get about $150 worth each year. The ANZ card fee is about $45 I think.

bert-doozer

Cheers for that good gen
Stu

JAJ

If you have AUD20k in savings (or loans) then the Commonwealth Bank waives most day to day fees.

Alternatively try a credit union like Australian National:
http://www.australiancu.com


Jeremy

buglegirl

I have a hsbc bank account and have had for the last nine months. I have received some of the worst service I have ever come accross in a bank. I went with them because they had been very good to bank with in the uk but their service here has been terrible. To give you an example of just one of the probs a large amount came out of my account by their mistake, it took them 3 months to retrieve it and then they wanted to charge me $25 for putting it back. I am in the process of going with a credit union as they are much more reliable. Yes...if you open an online account there are no charges per say but I would rather pay a couple of bucks a month for a better banking service. I also opened my account in Brisbane and havnt really have cause to complain about the branch because if you have the online acount then you dont really need to visit it. Sorry I couldnt be more positive but im jussed p****d of with how long things take around here to get done. Other than that......im lovin it!!
BG

mlbonner

I was with Westpac but changed to Commonwealth about 4 months ago. They charge $5 a month, nothing if you have a certain amount of savings/mortgage with them.
It took about 10mins to open the account here, alternatively you can go to www.migrantbanking.com to open in while in the UK.

bert-doozer

BG,
I bank with FD here in the UK & as they are part of HSBC I was thinking of using them, but after your experiance I will think twice. Many thanks for the info.

TVM

Stu

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saraliz

I always liked St George (http://www.stgeorge.com.au). Their Freedom account has no account service fees if you have over $1000 in the account, unlimited transactions if you have over $5000 in the account (10 free transactions per month, otherwise), free unlimited phone & internet banking, and best of all you get a visa debit card, which can be very handy if you don't have an australian credit card & don't want to use the UK one! Only problem is that they aren't very widespread (although they let you use other bank's ATMs a certain number of times for free in areas where they don't have ATMs).

bert-doozer

Thats really helpful, I hate paying out when i dont need to

Stu

ad4ozz

See St. Georges came up as the 'Best of the Best' for Banks for Dec 2004 Money Magazine...see...http://money.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=23799.

welshpom

I'd recommend HSBC. Beware of unexpected charges at most Aussie banks and credit unions. Some may have attractive interest rates that are eaten away by excessive charges for just about any transaction or activity. HSBC is about as fee-free as it gets.

BTW, the manager of HSBC Adelaide told me recently that they are expanding soon in Aus, including two new branches in Adelaide, one in the Marion Mall and the other I think was at Tea-Tree Plaza mall.

Don't forget that with HSBC you can make deposits and withdrawals at any post office for free, so you don't have to have a HSBC branch around the corner.

JAJ

This applies to virtually all banks, not just HSBC. Although the queues in most post offices are awful.


Jeremy

petafray

We did the HSBC thing when we moved to Brisbane (Maybe its a Brissie thing) but we too got appauling service so moved to the NAB. We have our own personal banker and off set mortgage, as many accounts as we want, no fees on anything including on line, eftpos and atm's, preferential interest rate and pay $30 pm. Compared with the free service, I am more than happy to pay $30 pm, I probably could get the same for cheaper but I am busy (and lazy) so just email my personal banker and get her to do everthing including filling in direct debit forms, organising paying my builder for the renovations etc etc.

I would avoid the HSBC especially in Brisbane like the plague, but that's just me

Peta