money transfer

[pennersfamily]

Hi all,
Has anyone got any advice on how best to transfer funds to oz bank following house sale in the UK? Also is it true that some of the banks in oz charge you every time you draw money out of ATM's or any transaction using your card?

Thanks in advance
Paula.

[vikkiann]

We looked at bank accounts and i think (don't quote me!) that westpac offer an account where if the balance is $3000 or more you don't pay the monthly fee but i think even if you do have to pay the fee its cheaper than some who do charge a pay as you go system.
I hope i've made sense, it sounds good in my head.

Vikki

[Carole Jolly]

someone may come up with a better idea, but we are transfering money via HiFX who get you a commercial rate for exchange and have an arrangement with Wespac that if funds are transfered to a wespac account, from HiFX, there is no charge.

Carole

[Andrew Williams]

Hi, we used HiFX and also opened accounts with WestPac, I don't think you can go to wrong with HiFX usually better exchange than Banks etc. I think that there may be a similar company to HiFX that offer a slightly better rate but not sure of there name.

There is usually a charge of $2 to use ATM's of other Banks and a monthly Bank charge for having an Account. Some Banks might negotiate on this if you have a large balance etc.

We are on a Temp visa and the WestPac account card did not have the visa facility, we had difficulty with this as to be approved for one we were told you had to be a Permanent Res, however we found with ANZ an everyday debit account that has the Visa Debit facility and you do not need a credit check. (Info if you are coming on a temp!)

Cheers Andy

[Lea]

We are on a Temp visa and the WestPac account card did not have the visa facility, we had difficulty with this as to be approved for one we were told you had to be a Permanent Res, however we found with ANZ an everyday debit account that has the Visa Debit facility and you do not need a credit check. (Info if you are coming on a temp!)

Cheers Andy

Was just going to post the same thing Andy - Bank SA also have a visa facility on their bank cards.

Lea

[dunnarunna]

i opened an account with westpac and they waivered any fees for 6 months, they usually charge $10 to receive the funds from a transfer, for transfering funds i have used ukforex/ozforex as slightly higher rate than hifx. banking fees on current account are $5 a month unless balance is over $3000 but i was advised your better off putting any excess money in account into a savings account, so your interest will out weigh fees as there is no interest paid on a current account.
donna

[HALT]

Hi
We used the commonwealth Bank international transfer account in london I think over $5000 there is no charges and the exchange rate is commercial. They transfer in from any UK bank then transfer the money to a Commonwealth Account in Oz. I normally hate banks but the guy we have been dealing with has been super helpful. They don't charge for ATM withdrawls as long as you use their bank machines etc. But think most banks have different charges for things. watch out for credit cards too as the charges etc are different.
I bought a book called living and working in Australia and it well well worth the money. Talks about everything you would wantt to know and so far all the info has been spot on.:)

[Diane]

Just a quick tip - if you need to draw money out and there's no ATM for your particular bank nearby, use your EFTPOS (by which I mean the equivalent of a debit card in the UK) card in a shop and get cash back - you don't get charged for that. Most shops do this, as do petrol stations, MacDonalds, Post Offices, supermarkets... I have even bought something really really cheap for just a dollar or two and got cash back although some places do have a minimum spend so check first.

Diane

[swampo]

We have used Moneycorp to transfer our cash over to Westpac. Moneycorp, as will the otheres, 'spot' for you and call you when the exchange rate hits the rate you want. On Moneycorp they don't charge for transfering larger amounts and £15 for smaller amounts. They are very helpful when you call them.
Westpac charge $5 per month for current 'Choice' account but will waiver this charge for using Hifx or Moneycorp for the first 6 months. Westpac were really helpful at their London branch and the account easy to set up, if interested call Sarah Pugh on 020 7621 7000. The account takes about 7 days to set up then you have to make a deposit into the account within 30 days, again this can be done via HiFX, Moneycorp or whoever you use.
Hope that is of use.






large amounts

[Libby1971]

Our money was supposed to have been transferred to the London branch of the Commonwealth bank by a 4 lettered company mentioned on this thread. Instead, it held on to the money for almost 3 weeks by the time we got it.

The worst moment was going to the bank and have them tell you that they don't know why you are there because they don't have any money for you. It took us 2 days to find out where it was (they had had it 2 weeks by this time) and another week to get it back, although we didn't know when it would hit our account as the company concerned just said it would be done as soon as one of their staff had the time.

It was just as well by OH didn't listen to me and brought too much spending money as in the end it was all we had.