geordiebloke

Apologies in advance, as i know some of these questions have been asked
before, but we appreciate any advice given.

Anyway, we land in Perth on the 16th of August and will need a bank account, hopefully to activate on the following Monday (18th)
We will only need a simple current account, to transfer some money from
the UK into and to eventually have our salaries paid in. Also want to be able
to set up direct debits etc.
So, which are the big Aussie bank that we should be looking at?
We'd like something that is easy to arrange from the UK and a bank which
has plenty on branches/ cash point machines in the northern subs.

Also, with regard to transferring money from th UK to an Australian bank,
what are the advantages of using a money transfer company like HIFX as
opposed to just transferring the money from our UK account?

Any other advice re charges, savings accounts etc., again would be much
appreciated.

Steve

redissue

Speaking from my experience, I started a CBA account from the UK, via their website (try http://www.commbank.com.au/movingtoaustralia). They called me in the UK and set it up over the phone. No problems there. I then sent some money over via AFEX into that a/c for when I got over here. They have better rates than the banks, so try afex and ozforex (where you can do it all over the net which can be handy) as well for the exchange rates, crappy as they are now.
I actually left the CBA after about 6 months as I was getting hacked off with being charged -
for them looking after my money
for me taking my money out
for me paying anybody
for walking past their branch (or so it seemed).
But it was useful for starting out
There is free banking here - credit unions are good at that - which I opened after CBA. But I am just about to leave my credit union to open an ANZ a/c as they are providing me with a jolly decent 8.9% mortgage!

pacey

not got too much to add, except to say that NAB look pretty good in terms of monthly fees and withdrawel costs in comparison to the other banks. As for transferring the cash.. god i just wish i had more to transfer! Gigolo time!

homewardbound

Pacey yes could always do with more money!!!

I did the Commonwealth bank thing and found it very easy to transfer money from uk to AU.

Once i have a job sorted i will then shop around for credit union accounts but am just too busy right now looking for jobs and houses.

Banks seem to charge you for sneezing here!

geordiebloke

Many thanks

So, if you go down the credit union route, instead of a traditional bank,
can you still get started in the UK and do you have access to your money
via cash points, internet banking etc.?

Steve

tawkins1

I've heard Citibank are pretty good Not a large amount of branches but they dont charge for you using other banks ATM's!!
Do a search on Citibank..

MarkMC

Opened one with commonwealth, they started charging us straight away, house didnt sell, so I just ignore their letters that come to the UK.

Opened one last week with westpac. mentioned that HIFX recommended them. No charges for 6 months :-)

IvanM

Am with HSBC online savings account. It is a transaction account that pays me interest and I do not pay monthly fees. How novel.

flip

You can set up bank accounts from abroad as follows:

Westpac has an application process specific to expats to set up before they arrive:

http://www.westpac.com.au/manage/pdf.nsf/94937C15E356179DCA2572D3007FDED6/$File/MBaccountopenform.pdf?OpenElement

Commonwealth http://www.activemigration.com/bank.html

There may well be others and you can run a search on banks through the yellow pages www.yellowpages.com.au and check it out with them.

You won't be able to access your money before you arrive because you have to undergo the 100 points test for proof of id but you will be able to send money direct or through one of the brokers like ozforex so that you can use it once you've turned up at the bank personally to do the checks.

These many not be the best banks for you once you're here but can resolve the situation while you're migrating.

geordiebloke

Many thanks to everybody who responded for some invaluable info.

Steve

FiP

You could set up an Aus$ Citibank account in the UK and one in Oz too. You can then transfer your £ to the Aus$ account in the UK for free and then to Oz free too avoiding the costs and delays sending money via the financial exchanging people! All done via the internet.

pacey

that sounds pretty handy! Thanks for the info. I'm not transferring very much, so in a way it's even more important that I get the maximum possible..

hereshoping

The fee free transfers can also be done if you have an HSBC account in both countries. And apparently they will transfer your credit history so you can get a mortgage (prob only with HSBC but better than nothing) when you land.

flip

Just check the exchange rate is as good with an internal bank transfer - it's great saying there are no fees but you can lose out by getting a worse rate than the brokers would give you!