Which bank?

[Guest richoz]

Hi all,

Got a start date for work in Adelaide of 24/09/09 so time to think about things i can do from this end - have been looking at setting up a bank account over the internet prior to arriving,

1) can anyone give me an idea which bank i should choose (they all seem the same to me)

2) can i use any cash machine or does it have to be my own bank

 

Cheers

 

Rich.

[Guest GIPSY]

Hi Rich

 

I opened an account over the phone with the Commonwealth Bank based in London - I was able to transfer funds into the account but could not withdraw until I had visited my branch in Oz to activate the account, provide proof of ID and collect my cards, etc.

 

The service I received was excellent and I am happy to recommend them.

 

I think you can use many cash machines but I'm not 100% certain on this.

 

Morag is a member on this forum and she is the contact at the Commonwealth for new arrivals - she will be able to point you in the right direction.

 

Hope this helps and good luck with your plans

 

Hayley

[Guest back clan]

We have opened an account in London with commonwealth Bank too

[Diane]

You can use most cash machines with your CBA card, but you will get charged - I think it's around $2 a go - every time you use a machine that's not a CBA one. If you need cash out over here, your best bet is to use the "Cash Back" facility that is offered at a whole load of places when you use a debit card to pay - post offices, supermarkets, petrol stations, even MacDonalds will do this and you don't get charged any extra. Recent rules mean that if you do use a cashpoint (have had to learn to call them ATMs here as often people look blankly at you when you use the Cashpoint word!) that does belong to another institution, you will be advised on screen of the extra charge that will be levied by the other institution, and your own bank may well charge you extra too!

 

We've been happy generally with CBA - although for some reason our debit card is linked to our "Cheque" account as opposed to a "Savings" one which always throws the checkout staff - it must be unusual!

 

Diane

[jo_marnes]

We are Commonwealth too - no issues so far! Used the London transfer facility also - was more simple than using HiFX etc and each time you transfer money across you only have a £15 charge and you get a good rate which you can fix if you want (we didn't).

 

We chose them as we thought there would be lots of ATMs (there are) and we got a 'real' mastercard, not a handycard like Westpac.

[Guest UzinOz]

Hi Rich, I opened my Westpac account from the Uk and transfered money over but couldn't withdraw until I showed passport in the Branch, same as Commonwealth Westpac have migrant bankers who have been in the same situation as you and are extremely helpful and not just with banking issues.

With your Westpac account you will get a Debit Mastercard that can be used just like bank cards in Uk, even if you are a Temp Resident. If you use a Westpac or Bank SA ATM you won't get charged but use any other banks ATM and there will be a $2 charge.

 

Hope this helps

 

Jackie

[Guest Rob and Clare]

We opened a HSBC account from the UK and they were very good with the money transfer, we even transferred our money over to a pound account in Australia as we weren't ready to exchange our funds with the poor exchange rate.

 

On the down side they only have 1 branch in Adelaide and it's in the city which made it impossible to pay in cheques etc during the working week.

 

Not sure if you can open an account from the UK but we then opened an account with a credit union (A Mutual Bank), with our mortgage with them we get free banking (it can save a lot of money and hassle as we can use any ATM) and a preferential rate on home loan, and best of all they seem to be old fashioned bankers, our account manager knows us by name, lives in the same area, we sometimes meet for coffee and she even helped my citizenship application.