Son studying in Oz for a year - how does he sort his banking?

Nigelcharlesworth

My son is studying abroad for a year. He has some savings in a UK account, plus still gets his maintenance loan. He is also hoping to find some part-time work in Australia (in accordance with his student Visa). What's the best way to transfer money from his UK account and manage the relationship between his UK and Australian bank accounts? He is going to open a current account in Australia. 

DullGreyGuy

Who's his bank in both countries?

For the sorts of money you are probably talking about then the likes of Wise is probably sufficient

ButterCheese

With Wise you'd probably get a slightly better rate (free to transfer, versus internatioal banking fee of between £10-£30). 

When I was working over there for a year, I just transfered my UK savings to my AUS bank account.  And of course my wages went into my AUS account.  But if he's transfering grant money every month then it's probably better to use Wise and not pay each time.  You'd have to check the Wise website for full terms though, I just scanned the trasnfers page

Nigelcharlesworth

Santander in UK, Commonwealth Bank in Oz.

PRAISETHESUN

I'm in a similar boat, with savings in both UK and Oz. Best bet would be to make sure any AUD income goes into his CBA account to spend locally as/when he needs it. If he does need to convert between GBP:AUD (eg. to top up his savings or to transfer leftover AUD back at the end) then best best would be a special currency conversion service, such as Wise. Avoid letting Santander or CBA do the currency conversions as they will offer poor exchange rates and/or take big fees.

gt94sss2

Nigelcharlesworth said:

My son is studying abroad for a year. He has some savings in a UK account, plus still gets his maintenance loan. He is also hoping to find some part-time work in Australia (in accordance with his student Visa). What's the best way to transfer money from his UK account and manage the relationship between his UK and Australian bank accounts? He is going to open a current account in Australia. 

I suggest HSBC Australia:
https://www.hsbc.com.au/international/studying/

Your son can open the account before he arrives in Australia.

If he also banks with HSBC in the UK as well, then HSBC can link the accounts together which makes transfers between them very straightforward.

PRAISETHESUN

I had another thought about this last night. If he only needs to be able to spend in AUD he could consider a UK debit/credit card that offer fee-free overseas transactions, such as those listed in the MSE article I've linked to below. The benefit to this is that he only converts the absolute minimum amount as and when he needs it, without having leftover AUD to convert back at the end.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/travel-credit-cards/