Bank Account For Oz

bigsouth1981

Hi there,

I was wondering if anybody could help me out as I have had a delve through the forum and to be honest am none the wiser!

I am going to Australia in June for a year and would like to know what bank account would be best to open in regards to not being charged to withdraw money whilst I am over there.

Also, is it possible to open an australian bank account once over there?.

Sorry for the daft questions, Im just new to this!

Kind Regards,

HappyMJ

You can open one when you get there. Bring a letter from your current bank to support your application. You'll need proof of address and proof of identity. Most australian banks that I have dealt with charge for all transactions or charge a monthly fee. The big four banks are westpac, commonwealth bank, national australia bank and anz. They are all as bad as each other. So, if you can consider a building society. My favourite is Illawarra Mutual Building society imb.com.au but that depends on where you are gooing to live for the year.

bigsouth1981

I am going to be living in Melbourne so can you recommend any building societies?

Also, what kind of fee do the australian banks charge in terms of a monthy basis?

Regards,

Baldur

As far as your initial cash withdrawals are concerned, if I were you I would open a Nationwide Flex Account and use their Debit Card to withdraw from ATMs in Oz.

You will be charged the VISA transaction fee of up to 1% from July for use outside Europe, but it's otherwise fee-free and gives the full VISA exchange rate for the date of the transaction.

97trophy

HSBC Oz offer free banking.

https://www.hsbc.com.au

7sefton

Please take a look at my posts under the recent 'Switching to Nationwide' thread; basically, if you don't want an Oz account to get any wages paid into etc, get a Nationwide current account and a Post Office credit card. Arrange for a direct debit to pay off your PO credit card in full each month from the Nationwide account. Then do all your cash withdrawals on the Nationwide card, and all your point of sale purchases on the credit card.

alanclarke

As HappyMJ stated the 4 major Australian banks are:

National Australia Bank - www.nab.com.au
ANZ - www.anz.com
Westpac - www.westpac.com.au
Commonwealth Bank - www.commbank.com.au

Look at their web sites and email them if you have questions.

I moved to Australia in 2006 and was able to open an Australian Westpac account before leaving England.

When I checked last year most banks charge a monthly fee (about AU$5) for current accounts which covers withdrawals at ATMs, cheques, direct debit etc. but check with each bank as terms & conditions change.

Commonwealth Bank have fee free for a year offer see www.commbank.com.au/offers/nofees.aspx

I'm now with National Australia Bank who have a Retirement account which is a current account and they don't charge a monthly fee, it's for people that are over 55 and retired.

Most savings accounts don't charge a monthly fee, at present I'm with RaboPlus - www.raboplus.com.au that currently pays 4% pa on call.

Some Australian financial comparision sites

InfoChoice - www.infochoice.com.au
RateCity - www.ratecity.com.au
mozo - http://mozo.com.au

The above sites should list building societies in Melbourne, if not try Google Australia - www.google.com.au and Yellow Pages - www.yellowpages.com.au

terrorhawks

its worth knowing that your bank account in Australia doesn't earn any interest, so its worth getting a savings account when you open a bank account. check out moneychecker (com au) for a good comparison.

good luck.