mattdan

Hello
Can anyone help with the following

Can we open an Australian bank account whilst in England and pay regular amounts of money into it before we go. If so can you recommend any
Thanks

aussiedreamer

Yes you can I think westpac do one and commonwealth bank do. Can't recommend one though as we opened ours whilst on a reccie.

Jane

2oddballs

you can open one with commonwealth bank if you phone them up they will send you a application form but you will not be able to draw any money out that you put in till you arrive in australia.They have got branch,s in london.

shiels

You can open one online with Westpac too. www.westpac.com.au/migrantbanking
Its something i really must do soon myself!!!!! C x

mands

were opening one with H S B C very soon

Poppett44

I would go with Westpac,, I have heard nothing but bad things about Commonwealth.

curly

we've opened one with westpac too

asher

oops we used commonwealth

Poppett44

Copied and pasted from another forum, this was posted today,,sorry,,

"Hi sorry but i think this one has been asked before but i couldnt go back and find it..

We are currently banking with Commonwealth Bank and are discusted with being charged monthly for everything especially using my bankers card etc...Does anybody know of any other banks which do not charge for absolutely everything....thanks.....

xx "

momma mia

Hi there I have just opened one with westpac online very easy, info came through within a couple of days then phoned them up to set up telephone/internet banking. The account has to be activated by depositing funds(as much as a pound) the bank want to charge me £20 to do this (robbers) on arrival in oz I will just need to show them some ID then I can start withdrawing funds at the moment I can only view what I am depositing.
Hope this is ok
Rachael

Gibson

All the banks charge extortionate fees over here. I bank with the commonwealth and Bankwest. You will find most of the banks like Bankwest or ANZ do a standard monthly fee of $2.99 or $5.00 per month to cover all your fees. So there is no extra charge for using your eftpos card too many times! commonwealth are buggers for this, you get like 20 go's a month! Internet banking is the best way to go here... No one has cheque accounts and you get charged around a dollar per cheque and then another charge depending on the value! I live in Perth and there is only one HSBC in WA so I wouldn't bother with them if you have the need to visit your bank often!