Accessing Money (fee free) from Australia

morg_monster

Another bonus with the Flexaccount is that you can open an esavings account which is "attached" to it, money moves between the accounts instantly and that means you can keep the bulk of your money in the esavings getting better interest and then just top up the flexaccount when you are getting a little low.
I did this when I went travelling; I had a lump sum at the start which went in the esaver and I'd just put a couple of hundred quid in there every few weeks. There are so many internet cafes everywhere and at all hostels there's no problem accessing your accounts.

I estimated having the nationwide account saved me at least £120 in fees over a 6m trip compared to HSBC, and the peace of mind of not having to carry huge wadges of cash everywhere was great. I remember in Thailand once we were at the airport about to leave and I wanted to buy this silly little souvenir; I got 100 baht out of the ATM (that is just over £1...) nice not to get charged £2!!!

Kilty_2

Cat_76 wrote: »

Brilliant. So it seems a Nationwide debit visa card is the cheapest way for me to withdraw my money is Australia

Just to confirm the whole 'visa' thing... Do debit visa cards not attracted any fees at all on cash withdrawals?

How it works is - Visa charge the bank a fee for you using your card abroad. Most banks pass this directly on to you, usually with some commission on top.

Nationwide swallow this fee as a loss leader, so they spend money there to attract new customers to their current account (and other products).

dzug

Going back to the original post, if you bought Oz TCs and took them with you:

you'd lose (typically) 5% on the exchange rate in the purchase price
you (probably) could deposit them in an Oz bank account without further charge
you'd lose another 5-8% on any you brought home and changed back

The bottom line is that you need to look at both overt commission, overt fees and open and hidden exchange rate loadings when deciding what to do. Many people read 'commission-free' and think that that's it - it isn't.