Banking questions

[canada]

Hi there I was just wondering what banks would be the best to open up?? and is it possible to open an account before arriving in Australia? Thank you very much

[Skippy1]

Try NAB we have found them very good and yes you can open before you arrive. Once in AUS Ubank are very good for savings accounts but you have to be in Aus first for this.

[calNgary]

There are a few banks who allow to o[en an account on line prior to arriving, most allow you to pay funds in but you cannot withdraw until you are here and have 'activated' your account in person. We used ANZ and are still with them 7 years later, we have found them ok to deal with and had no problems.

 

Cal x

[Marisawright]

Hi there I was just wondering what banks would be the best to open up?? and is it possible to open an account before arriving in Australia? Thank you very much

 

Australia has four "big banks" - Commonwealth, Westpac, ANZ and NAB. Most people bank with them because they are so big, and for that reason they don't bother to compete very hard - which means you can usually get better deals on almost everything from the smaller banks. The smaller banks also have to try harder so their customer service is less arrogant. All banks in Australia have a government guarantee up to $250,000 so you don't have to worry about smaller banks being less secure (and in fact, the smaller banks are often MORE secure, because they don't have merchant banking arms betting millions on the stock exchange).

 

Having said that, I don't know which smaller banks allow you to open an account from overseas. You could try some of the foreign banks, like HSBC or ING - their Aussie operations are still covered by the guarantee.

 

If you expect to be transferring money back and forth between home and Oz in the future, then you can't go past a Citibank Plus account - no commissions on sending money overseas.