Accessing your GBP money abroad in AUD

km1500

Your son just uses his debit card at an atm abroad in exactly the same way as he would in the UK there is no problem or risk the only thing to consider is the cost (fees).

You should check with santander what their charges are for withdrawing cash at an atm on a debit card abroad and if it is more than zero your son could consider open a Starling account and put some money in there and using the Starting debit card

Whether it is worth it depends of course on how much your son is going to withdraw on his debit card. if it is just holiday money then the charges will be fairly minimal but if it is thousands for other reasons then it is worth opening another account if the charges on santander are too onerous.

grumbler

Geranium44 said:

TadleyBaggie said:

If you have a good debit card, it’s the only sensible way to get cash via an ATM. Very happy using my Starling card this way when abroad. 

Do you need a Starling bank account or does the Starling card work alongside your Santander account? 

The former

I’m a little confused as my son would need to empty his Santander and place into Starling if so which seems extreme

Why empty and extreme? I have about ten accounts and none is empty. Transfers are instant nowadays 

callum9999

The easiest way is to just transfer money from Santander to his Australian account via Wise when needed.

This is ultimately none of my business, but unless there are circumstances we don't know about, he should be the one figuring out how to access their money/book flights etc. No-one I met while doing this exact thing had their parents planning it out for them (in fact, one of the big attractions of moving to the other side of the planet without your parents is building your independence!).

adindas

Considering your son is currently in AU and therefore need to withdraw cash from ATM more frequently than people who are just on holiday, I share your hesitation of using zero fees for foreign transaction "credit cards".

The general course of action is to open a current account which issue a debit card to be used in AU with no fees for foreign transaction. A few to name, Chase, Starling. Also Monzo, Revolut good for purchase not for cash withdrawal as the fee free allowance is very limited.

The less favourable action to open WISE and request for physical debitcard.

Regarding Santander just be aware of; Unless you are using a specific current account such as Santander Zero, you will get charge every time you withdraw money from cash machine.

For  a more permanent solution you are talking about to open a bank account in AU bank.

km1500

Agreed, although why he has to withdraw much cash at all (as opposed to just using his card) is a bit of a mystery - it's been many months since I needed to withdraw cash.

callum9999

adindas said:

Considering your son is currently in AU and therefore need to withdraw cash from ATM more frequently than people who are just on holiday, 

I just returned from 2 years living in Australia (and 4 in New Zealand) and I think I withdrew cash once in those 6 years. 

adindas

callum9999 said:

adindas said:

Considering your son is currently in AU and therefore need to withdraw cash from ATM more frequently than people who are just on holiday, 

I just returned from 2 years living in Australia (and 4 in New Zealand) and I think I withdrew cash once in those 6 years. 

I am not quite sure how did you do that. Do you have income working in AU and NZ that you live on ? If so than than that is another matter.

There is a limit of cash withdrawal per day. That restriction depend on the your UK bank and the owner of the ATM overseas. Normally it is £300. £500 a day cash withdrawal form ATM is already on the high side.

grumbler

adindas said:

callum9999 said:

adindas said:

Considering your son is currently in AU and therefore need to withdraw cash from ATM more frequently than people who are just on holiday, 

I just returned from 2 years living in Australia (and 4 in New Zealand) and I think I withdrew cash once in those 6 years. 

I am not quite sure how did you do that. 

Like in UK you hardly ever need cash and can pay everywhere by card.
As simple as that. 

adindas

grumbler said:

adindas said:

callum9999 said:

adindas said:

Considering your son is currently in AU and therefore need to withdraw cash from ATM more frequently than people who are just on holiday, 

I just returned from 2 years living in Australia (and 4 in New Zealand) and I think I withdrew cash once in those 6 years. 

I am not quite sure how did you do that. 

Like in UK you hardly ever need cash and can pay everywhere by card.
As simple as that. 

It will depend from person to person and the areas you are visiting, small vs big cities, etc.

But I hardly ever heard people could live comfortably with £500 cash for six years relying solely on card payment. Even in big cities in Europe there are still vendors will not allow you to pay by Visa/Master/Amex Credit cards, especially if the amount is tiny. Small vendors might not even have a card reader.
For large expense, some vendors might transfer all of the fees to you if you insist on card payment. Some are even trying making profit out of you using DCC.

born_again

grumbler said:

 If you asked earlier, why had your son not got some special card for using abroad instead of Santander?

He probably still can get it to his/your UK address and you can post it to Australia.

Travel credit cards

I'm pretty sure the title is misleading - it's not only credit cards.

Trouble could be getting another card. Many will not allow you to apply for accounts when outside the UK. So if they ask for proof of ID they are stuck.