Credit card/ Debit card

[Guest ozdreamsa]

Hi,

 

It would be nice if you could share your experience/ advice about getting a credit/ debit card just after arriving in Adelaide. Is it hard to get a credit card soon or does it take longer?

In this age of internet it is almost impossible to be without a credit/ debit card.

[Guest Richie_T]

Hi, I went to the bank (NAB) same day I arrived in Adelaide, and I just needed my Passport and an address where I was staying. This allowed me a temporary internet account with NAB until my plastic card and pin number arrived in the post 7 days later. This is a debit card by the way. Not looked into Credit cards yet

[xzibit]

I set up a bank account with Commonwealth before I left the UK, so upon arrival I went into the bank, picked up my debit card and signed a few things, and that was that.

 

A credit card may require a payslip or two to prove income. I only applied for one after working for a month or so, and had to send them some payslips.

[Guest Adelaide_bound]

If you set up your bank account before you go, the day you get off the plane you can go into branch and validate your account, and you will receive your debit card there and then.

 

For a credit card you will need a job, and proof of payslips. But getting a credit card over there isn't like it is here, and every credit card you have will count against your credit file to that amount whether you spend it or not (eg, if your credit card has a limit of $8K, then if you want a mortgage, they will reduce the amount they will lend you by $8K due to the credit card, whether you have spent on that card or not).

[Guest Opportunities]

Thanks for the advice on the credit card.

 

Karen

[Guest Adelaide_bound]

Just spoke to my Aussie bank (coincidence, not phoned them, they just phoned me out of the blue!) (NAB) and I asked about credit cards - she said a) you have to pay a fee for them (don't know if this is the same with all banks, but our bank accounts we don't pay anything for with NAB) b) you don't really need one in Aus anyway - as long as you have ETPOS (or whatever it is), you can pay for everything on card everywhere, and get a visa debit (which we get once we get to Aus, they just have to order it for us and it takes about 5 days or so) we can use that everywhere online. She did point out though that Aus uses online shopping far less than we do here in the UK in her opinion (and having seen a lot of the aussie websites, I can believe it! A lot of them are soooo bad!).

[xzibit]

You don't pay a fee for all credit cards, for example as long as I spend $1,000 a year on mine, it's free.

 

I find it very useful, especially when my debit card gets refused half the time due to commonwealths crappy systems going down all the time.

[Guest Richie_T]

You don't pay a fee for all credit cards, for example as long as I spend $1,000 a year on mine, it's free.

 

I find it very useful, especially when my debit card gets refused half the time due to commonwealths crappy systems going down all the time.

 

lol, i remember your rant about the crappy systems! but i didnt know about the credit card bit so will look into it. In the UK i paid for everything with a credit card and got reward points from it, is that still the same here?

[Diane]

.... b) you don't really need one in Aus anyway - as long as you have ETPOS (or whatever it is), you can pay for everything on card everywhere, and get a visa debit (which we get once we get to Aus, they just have to order it for us and it takes about 5 days or so) we can use that everywhere online.

 

Not sure I agree with her about that - for instance, when we booked our flights back to the UK recently for a holiday, I paid on credit card - otherwise I would have had to have $10,000 lying about in my current account to use my EFTPOS card - regrettably I don't have that! Admittedly the banking systems here are incredibly outdated and oldfashioned, with huge charges for all sorts of things that are totally free in the UK, but if you shop around - particularly for personal accounts rather than business accounts - you can usually find a way of avoiding bank charges for most things.

 

We use an ANZ Credit Card specifically for travel bookings as it gives you free international travel insurance, and free car hire excess cover, and pay a small fee for that card, but our NAB Visa is free and we get Virgin Airmiles points for balances on that. If you are coming over to Australia from another country as well, it's handy to have a credit card for thos last minute Moonpig purchases when you've forgotten someone's birthday back 'home'!

[Guest ozdreamsa]

Thank you all for sharing your experience. Liked the idea to obtain card with free travel insurance. Any idea about American express? Are they costly in OZ? I mean the yearly member fee.

[Guest BackToAdelaide]

The main problem with American Express is it's not so widely accepted as Visa and Mastercard. You'll find yourself having to pay by EFTPOS or cash more often if AMEX is your only credit card.