Tansferring money from UK to OZ

[Bitza1984]

I will be arriving in Adelaide early November. My fiancee and I have a savings account with Nationwide in the UK.

 

What options do I have to get the money transferred to an Australian bank account?

 

Also what information do I need to set up an Australian bank account when I arrive in Adelaide?

 

 

Thanks.

[Guest holliepop]

Hi there,

 

You can set up a australian bank account from the UK, we have done so with Westpac. You can then transfer into them using a money transfer service like moneycorp or HIfx, I think they both offer 'free' transfers- we have used HIFX and all went very smoothly. Westpac have also been great with setting up an account etc.

 

thanks

[Bitza1984]

Hi there,

 

You can set up a australian bank account from the UK, we have done so with Westpac. You can then transfer into them using a money transfer service like moneycorp or HIfx, I think they both offer 'free' transfers- we have used HIFX and all went very smoothly. Westpac have also been great with setting up an account etc.

 

Thanks for the info. Can you just apply for it online? Free transfers.......seems too good to be true lol!

[Guest holliepop]

hey, we transferred the money for free which was great! We set up our account at a 'down under live' but have just found this web page

http://movingtoaustralia.westpac.com.au/

 

There are other banks out there but I think they are all much of a muchness really after speaking with my sister who lives in Oz.

 

hope this helps!

[Bitza1984]

hey, we transferred the money for free which was great! We set up our account at a 'down under live' but have just found this web page

http://movingtoaustralia.westpac.com.au/

 

There are other banks out there but I think they are all much of a muchness really after speaking with my sister who lives in Oz.

 

hope this helps!

 

Great thanks, I'll check it out

[Guest cloudnine]

Hibitza,

We set up a NAb account as there are few bank charges with the account and used Hifx to transfer funds, but we were hit with charge on our account for transferring international Money into it. This time we used UKfoex and there was was no charge as they send it to a UKforex here before it hits your account, therefore being an internal transfer. Something to take in account when your looking at the rates. The service from Ukforex was very good.

[Guest Flo]

Regarding 'free transfer', banks and financial service firms can charge you in two ways, one is the direct fee/charge and the second is the exchange rate between pounds and dollars. Some providers might give you a 'free transfer' but use a worse exchange rate, so it is no always clear what service is cheaper (and it's possible that one service is cheaper when you transfer a low sum while another one is for a higher amount). So if you compare make sure you understand what exchange rate they are using.

[Diane]

One of the regular posters on here is John from Moneycorp- he also does a good deal for forum members (no fees) so might be worth dropping him a PM

 

http://www.pomsinadelaide.com/forum/member.php?u=6280

[Guest Flo]

Not sure whether you can get all of them to do it, but you can ask them to give you the precise amount in AUD that will paid into your Australian account. This way you can easily compare which one will give you more money for your money....

 

And regarding bank accounts, all of big banks (NAB, Westpac, ANZ, Comm) have dedicated migration teams and websites. You can open accounts with them online while you are still in the UK (at that stage you can only pay into these account but not withdraw) and after your arrival in Australia you have to visit them, show your ID and they will lift the restrictions.

[Bitza1984]

Thanks for all the information, much appreciated.

 

I will be transferring from a Halifax account into an aussie account so I will have to shop about and see what the best deals are.