Open GBP bank in OZ

[Guest cruise]

Hi. Has anyone opened GBP bank account in OZ and then converted their savings into A$ at a later date or as and when you required funds to prevent incuring a loss now on the exchange rate? If so, how did you go about doing this? Do OZ banks allow one to maintain bank account in GBP ? Thanks. Nick:idea:

[Guest snowy10]

Hi. Has anyone opened GBP bank account in OZ and then converted their savings into A$ at a later date or as and when you required funds to prevent incuring a loss now on the exchange rate? If so, how did you go about doing this? Do OZ banks allow one to maintain bank account in GBP ? Thanks. Nick:idea:

 

 

I would also love to have a definate answer to this question, I think it is possible as at one of the emigrate fairs I asked the same question and am sure you can open a £GB account in an Australian bank, but I can not remember which bank or who told me, must be my age!!!!.

[Guest willow1234]

hi we have just transfered money from a barclays account in the uk straight to our ozzy account no probblem.it took 2 days to transfer. hope this helps

[Guest Jen & Did]

Hi,

 

We have a foreign currency account with Commonwealth. It is a GBP one but can be in other currencies. The money is held in Sterling until you want to put it into your Oz or UK accounts. The exchange rate you get is generally better as well and when I transfer to UK the money goes into my account on the same day!!!

 

Hope this helps

 

Dave

[Guest WhatNow?]

Hi Jen & Did,

 

Does this CBA GBP account give you any interest? I have my Australian accounts with CBA too and am looking for a place to stash my UK house sale money when it finally comes through. Am torn between leaving it in the UK and getting very little interest and transferring it at an appalling exchange rate but getting a higher interest rate here. Will have to bite the bullet soon, so I should really start getting some proper research done, but must admit I had forgotten about the GBP account option.

 

Funny to think, isn't it, that only 18 months ago, it would have been a no-brainer - got the money over asap without hesitation in those days! The GFC has a lot to answer for...

[Guest Guest5035]

why not just convert it, the intrest rate here is far higher than the uk, have you worked out the difference.

 

stevo

[Guest WhatNow?]

Yes, with interest rates set to go up again soon it looks a good bet but we are talking thousands of dollars at risk and a lot depends on how long you can leave it in the bank to accrue that lovely interest!

[Guest Aussie pat]

Aussie pat's other half here

 

The Commbank GBP account does pay you interest, but only above a certain minimum balance. We used it when we came over but then converted almost all of it, but left just a token balance just to keep the account open. This was some time ago so I'm no expert on the current rates. They probably go up on a sliding scale depending upon how much you've got in there. You could ring them on 132221 to find out. I'm fairly sure that the info is not available on their website but that could have changed. I do not believe the info is readily available in branch either. I would also think that the rates are not as good as rates on term deposits in dollars, so you're back to that nasty problem of do you convert at current low rates for better interest or leave it in sterling hoping the rate's going to go up, but meanwhile getting a lower income. I wish I could get you out of that one, but I don't have a magic wand.

[Guest Aussie pat]

Aussie pat back again.

 

I wuz wrong, it is on their website follow Business - International - International payments - Foreign Currency accounts - then click on view rates. Don't shoot the messenger, but the rates table implies you get no interest. I suppose with the BOE base rate still at 0.5% (is it? or thereabouts anyway) that's possible. Phone call to Commbank should confirm one way or the other. As I'm sure you know you can get 6% for 6 month dollar term deposits, maybe more, certainly more if you tie it up for longer, but to do that you've got to convert your money now and it's difficult to tear yourself away from the notion that surely sterling's got to go up against the dollar sometime so better wait and not convert.

[Guest WhatNow?]

I think from what you've said that the account is the same one I opened when I moved over (and in which I also left a quid or two to keep it open). Thought it was too good to be true that there would be any interest but thanks for the info anyway. looks like it's back to the ready reckoner I've got set up in Excel to work out how many thousands I'll lose by moving money over now...When I set it up the worst case scenario was that the rate would get to 0.50. Better add some more lines. LOL!

[Les&Babs]

Hi. Has anyone opened GBP bank account in OZ and then converted their savings into A$ at a later date or as and when you required funds to prevent incuring a loss now on the exchange rate? If so, how did you go about doing this? Do OZ banks allow one to maintain bank account in GBP ? Thanks. Nick:idea:

 

Hi I have 2 accounts with ANZ one is a deposit account and one is a savings, I use moneycorp to transfer money into the deposit account then online I transfer it into the savings account, this account is earning 4.5% a month less the goverment tax.

Which is still paying more than here in the UK.

Most of the OZ banks will let you open an account online , and I do all my transfers online.

My brother-in-law in Perth tells me that if you put the money into a 12 month fixed rate account you can get 6.5% les the tax.

Using one of the money transfer people is easy and you get more for your money.

 

Regards

 

Les

[Guest Guest5035]

Dollar slightly higher after RBA speech | Adelaide Now

 

intrest rate will go up in 2 weeks time after that little speech by the reserve bank govenor, and the election is now over

 

 

stevo

[Anne B]

I'm with What Now? on this one. Earning 6% interest doesn't compensate.

 

Say, for example, you have £100,000, quite reasonable if you have sold your house.

 

Bring it over now at 1.65 and get $165,000

 

Put it in a high interest bank account for 12 months at 6% interest and get

$174,900 (gross)

 

or wait for the exchange rate to go up to 1.74 and get the same amount straight away.

 

It's a gamble, but if the exchange rate went up to 2.00, you'd get $200,000. It would take nearly 4 years to get to that in a bank account. Two years ago it was 2.28 - that's $228,000. You're not going to get that kind of money in a bank account.

 

Rates are at a historical low - it doesn't make sense to exchange at these low levels, unless you have no choice. It's a huge gamble, but there is a chance it will get better - if you change now there is no way you can win.

[stanley246]

100K sterling right now I reckon you'd be lucky to get 3% pa for term deposit of 1 year, if other's know different please do tell .........

 

rgs 246

[Guest jessica_svr]

Hi 'Willow'

 

What bank did you go with in Oz? And did you have to pay a fee to transfer the money? Jess

[stanley246]

For those of you who are about to sell sterling read this Aussie dollar '27pc overvalued' - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

may be worth a wait and see ?

 

rgs 246

[Guest cruise]

I would prefer to have a GBP account in oz and that way I can convert whenever I want without any hassles e.g transfering to Moneycorp or HIFX in the UK and then asking them to send the money over. Does moneycorp or HIFX offer the same service in oz?

[Guest WhatNow?]

For those of you who are about to sell sterling read this Aussie dollar '27pc overvalued' - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

may be worth a wait and see ?

 

rgs 246

 

 

OMG I don't know if I'm comforted by that or not, but thanks anyway stanley 246! By the way the 6 and 6.5% returns quoted by some of the banks are normally temporary rates for 3 months or 6 months only and only on new accounts, after which time they revert to the regular lower rates of around 4% (you have to read the small print very carefully). You could, as I did, threaten to move your money elsewhere and get a bit longer at the higher rate. I emailed CBA to ask them why I shouldn't remove my money from my old account and open a new account elsewhere to get the higher rate. They immediately gave me a higher rate on my existing account but reinforced that it was only for 3 months.

 

As Anne B said (thanks btw for the calculations) it would take me forever to make up the losses, even on a term deposit ,if I transferred now. No easy answer, I think, but I am going to hold on until after Christmas and see how things are looking then. The difference between what I will get in the UK and what I would get until then here isn't going to compensate for the loss due to the exchange rate.

 

Even the UK and USA economies will have to improve sometime:arghh:

[Guest Aussie pat]

Aussie pat's other half here

 

Just to clarify my comments about dollar interest rates, I was referring to Term Deposit accounts with Commonwealth Bank. Currently for 6 and 12 months you get 6%, and if you commit to 3 or 5 years (that's a lifetime!) you get more. They call these their headline rates, and deposits for other periods do not get as good rates. Also the periods for which you get headline rates change from time to time - you may find that the headline rate for 6 months disappears and is replaced by one for 7 or 8 months, so you've got to monitor their website. However, during the 3 years that I have been using them, there have always been good deals. I'm not an expert on other banks so I'm not saying Commbank are the best. I stay with Commbank to keep life simple.

[Anne B]

Yes, we kept a sum of money here in Australia while we were living in the UK, in a NAB Term Deposit. We would invest it for 3 months or 6 months or 8 months at a time, whatever gave the highest 'blackboard special' rate. It changed every Monday so you would have to check which term gave the best rate when the investment matured. That way we always got a good rate, and would use the money whenever we came here on holiday as spending money. Unfortunately we've spent it all now !!!!

[Guest Guest5035]

Reserve Bank of Australia ready to lift rates if growth continues at current pace | Adelaide Now

 

its coming, think it might be time to buy my american dollars.....

stevo

[Guest WhatNow?]

Aussie pat's other half here

 

Just to clarify my comments about dollar interest rates, I was referring to Term Deposit accounts with Commonwealth Bank. Currently for 6 and 12 months you get 6%, and if you commit to 3 or 5 years (that's a lifetime!) you get more. They call these their headline rates, and deposits for other periods do not get as good rates. Also the periods for which you get headline rates change from time to time - you may find that the headline rate for 6 months disappears and is replaced by one for 7 or 8 months, so you've got to monitor their website. However, during the 3 years that I have been using them, there have always been good deals. I'm not an expert on other banks so I'm not saying Commbank are the best. I stay with Commbank to keep life simple.

 

 

Yes, sorry Aussie pat's other half...I did rather go off at a tangent there.

Was thinking of the normal deposit accounts rather than term deposits...but even with the normal accounts it's possible to get the higher rate by just leaning on them a bit as I did.

 

As you say you need to keep on top of things and make sure you know what the current rate is and what competitors' rates are and make your decisions accordingly. I too am with Commonwealth but relatives are with Westpac and similar tactics have worked for them too. Depends how much you want that extra I suppose...

[Les&Babs]

OMG I don't know if I'm comforted by that or not, but thanks anyway stanley 246! By the way the 6 and 6.5% returns quoted by some of the banks are normally temporary rates for 3 months or 6 months only and only on new accounts, after which time they revert to the regular lower rates of around 4% (you have to read the small print very carefully). You could, as I did, threaten to move your money elsewhere and get a bit longer at the higher rate. I emailed CBA to ask them why I shouldn't remove my money from my old account and open a new account elsewhere to get the higher rate. They immediately gave me a higher rate on my existing account but reinforced that it was only for 3 months.

 

As Anne B said (thanks btw for the calculations) it would take me forever to make up the losses, even on a term deposit ,if I transferred now. No easy answer, I think, but I am going to hold on until after Christmas and see how things are looking then. The difference between what I will get in the UK and what I would get until then here isn't going to compensate for the loss due to the exchange rate.

 

Even the UK and USA economies will have to improve sometime:arghh:

 

Follow this link it gives us all some hope ,

Gillard's Dollar Peaking as Tax Proves Aussie 27% Overvalued - Bloomberg

 

Les

[Guest WhatNow?]

Ha - now the Finance News on 10 has just said that 'The US is now officially out of recession...despite double figure unemployment' . Although we will all probably find that hard to believe, apparently Wall St has reacted favourably. Wonder how long that will last!