sonu

Hi,
In UK I have bank account in HSBC and as far i can remmber there was no monthly fee deducted.

I opened account in Oz commnwealth bank and transfered money into that, they are charging me $5 per month for maintaing my account. This is a joke... bank keep my money and they charge me to keep my money and also bank uses that money elsewhere...2 make more money and they dont give interest also.

Any ideas which bank offers an account where I dont have to pay a montly fee...?

Regards
Sonu

thebears

Most accounts over here require a minimum monthly balance ie 2500.

Downies

Open a HSBC account in OZ. Need $2000 initially to open account, no monthly fees, can use the Post Office to input and withdraw, 5(ish) ATM withdrawals without charges and EFPOS (whatever that is) I think (typing from memory as I am deffo getting one when I land!).

Paula

thribble

I've just switched, quite deliberately, to one with a monthly charge. It works out cheaper once you total up the charges they apply after you go over those 5 transactions (although we were with commonwealth not HSBC). It also includes any direct debits you set up in that transaction amount.

Scarily, $5/month didn't seem so bad after those charges. But I know what you mean about them keeping your money and then charging for it - remember, in some things Australia is 20 years behind. I guess it'll change at some point...

Ozzidoc

Behind or just different? How are you finding writing cheques? From about 1992 onwards I NEVER wrote a cheque when living in Oz, came to the UK end 1997 and found that you could even write a cheque for your groceries! V different.

Centurion

Actually the banking is quite advanced really. When you consider FPOS has been around for many years for PIN number security and its only just made it to the UK and Europe. BPAY facilities allow payment to every utility company online, same with most other bills you get. Not in the UK still for all bill types.

My wife had lost her credit card. A replacement within 2 days

Not justifying a monthly charge to private customers, just pointing out that the systems are really a long way ahead. Banks are banks the world over and they are little better than the robbers to occassional frequent them with the simply henious amount of money they make.

Fenton Beasley

Yes I hear what you're saying; loud and clear Sonu. When I moved here 7 months ago I was as shocked and disgusted as you. $260 a year is taken from every Australian's wallet and everyone says, "Ah well, what can ya do?"
The irony here is that the bank you left in the UK is probably the only one here that does fee-free 'everyday' banking. Would it be provocative of me to suggest that Aussie's bend over and take whatever is given to them? That's probably not true but it riles me when I think of the banks doing this to everyone. Everyone I know complains about the banks, but no one moves their money to a fee-free account. Admittedly there only seems to be one fee-free account, but why HSBC haven't been cleaning up, I'll never know.

The best thing I could suggest is, stick $2000 in a new HSBC account and once it's cleared, move it straight out again. I'd put whatever savings you have in to a Bankwest Telenet savings account at 6.40% interest. That's only an introductory offer for the first year. Once the year's up, move it somewhere better. The first 5 transactions are indeed free for anyone's ATM. It's free unlimited HSBC ATM , BPay, EFTPOS and GiroPost transactions though.

Hope you sort things out soon.

FB

worzel

It is all different ways of making money out of you. Maybe there is a small monthly charge but what interest rate do you get in return? My UK account was free but they only paid 0.1%.

Incidentally, I took my mortgage with Commonwealth and they gave me free banking and a Gold credit card with $3000 limit. I also have a free offset facility so any spare money goes in a special account which effectively earns the mortgage rate in interest and should help me pay the mortgage off earlier.

ElshaUK

I have an additions account with Barclays - overdraft, card protection and loads of other bits and bobs all for £10 a month. So, there are banks in the UK who have charges.

Admittedly, I could change, but I am off to Oz in 5 months so might as well leave my account where it is, especially as my overdraft is up and down like a brides nightie!

Vash the Stampede

The sad truth of the matter is that there aren't too many options - and not many ways to retaliate. So you move to a new bank (if you can); does your original bank care? Nope; it simply waves you goodbye and reels in the next punter.

Quote:

That's probably not true but it riles me when I think of the banks doing this to everyone. Everyone I know complains about the banks, but no one moves their money to a fee-free account. Admittedly there only seems to be one fee-free account, but why HSBC haven't been cleaning up, I'll never know.FB

That's a bit like saying "I don't understand why everyone doesn't just buy an electric car and save themselves a packet in running costs."

The answer to your question is that not everyone has a spare $2,000 to keep their account fee-free.

Remember also that different banks offer different incentives to join, which - for many people - tend to balance out (or virtually eliminate) the downsides.

Best way to go IMHO is to get a mortgage-offset account (or whatever they're calling them these days) in which your salary is paid directly into your mortgage, but you can withdraw what you need whenever you want it.

Helps to pay off the mortgage faster, too!

Fenton Beasley

There is at least one option. You can take your money to HSBC. After the intial (bijou) trouble of setting the account up, you can forget about it. Banks don't care because as I said in my intial point, everyone says, "Ah well, what can you do?" and they think it's ok to carry on stealing our money. Once people tell them to bugger off with their highway robbery by taking their cash-cow off them, they'll soon change.

Ah well, what can yer do?


It is a bit like that, but that's not a really a fair comparison. People choose petrol cars over electric cars for lots of valid reasons . Better performance, better load bearing (we love our Utes), quantity of choice and easier refueling/recharging. Once electric cars improve in these areas, I'm sure people will make the switch here also.


Let's face it, $2000 is not £2000. After a few weeks of earning, I'm sure most people could spare (or even borrow) $2000 (£805) for a week or two. Because I'm addressing expats on this website, I am presuming that most, if not all of them will travel to Australia with a modest amount of savings. Who would immigrate here without bringing some money with them and who couldn't spare $2000 (£805) of it for a couple of weeks?

Point taken. Maybe you could ask the HSBC if they can match those incentives? They can only say no.

Sounds like grand idea Mr Stampede

Geordie George

I was charged $10.70 by the HSBC for wanting to put money into my account last week. I have a piggy bank with lots of change, so I counted it all up and took it to the bank, only to be told that, "we're not a cash bank" ( My mistake! I must have missed the announcement about coins no longer being legal tender.) and I would have to pay them for the privilege off them taking my money of me.

Tom Sawyer

We opened 3 HSBC Online Saving accounts, 2 ING accounts and a Virgin credit card when we arrived here, and as yet have not paid 1cent in charges with any of them. Just get cash when filling the car up or in Coles and avoid the cash machine charges.The HSBC account has been voted the best bank account by Money Magazine and they said (hoped) that all bank accounts will go this way.......one day. The fact that branches are not that common has not caused any problems either as we do most things online.
Simple really vote with your feet and the banks that charge will get the message. If however you stay put and pay charges then that is your choice.

Downies

A lot of banks in the UK restrict the amount of coinage you can cash into your account too! the Halifax only allow five bags a day!

Would you have been charged if you had banked the cash into the Post Office? I believe (interpretation not fact) that this should be ok without costing anything.

Paula