Rosie n family

As Im a bit of a scaredy cat when it comes to transferring my £ into $ so wanted to use Barclays they seem to have a good rate (2.61 on friday) and it would only cost around £35. They also said they could set up an account for us in Australia with ANZ before we leave.....this all sounds great but I just hear such good reports about HSBC amongst others...and wondered if anyone else had gone down this route.....? Any advice gratefully received...

ABCDiamond

If its easy to do it that way, then it may be a good thing.

You can always change to a good bank when you get here

Seriously though, I am sure that every bank will have a good number of customers, or ex customers, that will give a bad report.

We have an ANZ credit card, and like it, except for the annual fees !!

I wasn't aware that Barclays had links with ANZ. I recall when Barclays had quite a few branches of their own in Australia.

Rosie n family

apparantly only for corporate clients. I can use Westpac for my visa card withdrawals but this ANZ agreement is new - Im waiting for the application forms but suppose there will be a choice of account - I remember seeing recently a comparison of banks and I will look up ANZ charges - are they high then?

ABCDiamond

The ANZ Access account seems reasonable at $5 pm, but not great for interest. But HSBC can be free of fees.

ohsohopeful

We are with Commonwealth who seem as good as anyone but they do charge a monthly fee. The only problem with HSBC or ANZ is that they do not have a branch in the smaller towns, goto their website and check your nearest one before making your decision.

Kiwipaul

I'm with ANZ and they have just about as many branches as other major banks down here. I do agree HSBC have branches few and far between.

As for Barclays they have free withdrawals arrangement with Westpac in both NZ and Oz. (It's listed in their brochure about withdrawals abroard)