Westpac banking

[Aussiebird]

Hi,

In a bit of a dilema and wondered if anyone esle experienced this?

We have our accounts with Westpac, however, we have no cards for the accounts, the last card expired years ago and was never replaced. Our accounts are still active.

We cannot get onto our online banking at all or even the app, have emailed the bank and was told we cannot apply for cards unless we are in Australia.  We cannot even change our address to the one we are staying at as we have to have a code! 

We urgently need to get this sorted as we need to transfer money over from the sale of our home and to pay for quarantine.  We have to have money in our account for when we arrive.

Now trying to ring Westpac but just on hold, could take ages to get through and its costing us £5.50 plus vat per minute!  How do other people go about accessing there accounts from the UK?  

Not impressed at all!  Getting very stressed out about this!!

[ali]

Open a new account and sort out the other when you arrive

 

[Aussiebird]

16 minutes ago, ali said:

Open a new account and sort out the other when you arrive

 

We can't,  because you can only get a card when actually in Australia.  We need card details to access online banking or to register, but we are already registered, just not allowing us access when we put in ID and password.

[Ausvisitor]

I can't help you with the "how to get the card"; but the link below (and many others on Google) can at least cut your phone bill done from £5.50 a minute to approx 1p a minute

https://www.0044.co.uk/australia/cheap-international-calls

You don't need the money in an Australian bank account to pay for quarantine though, any debit or credit card (issued in any country) can be used to pay for the quarantine stay. So whilst you might pay an inflated card use fee to spend the $3-5000 dollars on a UK debit card, it will be much less than paying £5.50 a minute for 10 minutes (which I presume is the least amount of time you'd need to sort this out over the phone assuming there was no wait time to begin with)

[Aussiebird]

6 minutes ago, Ausvisitor said:

I can't help you with the "how to get the card"; but the link below (and many others on Google) can at least cut your phone bill done from £5.50 a minute to approx 1p a minute

https://www.0044.co.uk/australia/cheap-international-calls

You don't need the money in an Australian bank account to pay for quarantine though, any debit or credit card (issued in any country) can be used to pay for the quarantine stay. So whilst you might pay an inflated card use fee to spend the $3-5000 dollars on a UK debit card, it will be much less than paying £5.50 a minute for 10 minutes (which I presume is the least amount of time you'd need to sort this out over the phone assuming there was no wait time to begin with)

Thanks for the reply.  Hubby ended call after waiting 20 mintues in a queue!  Have managed to access online banking now, just need to sort our accounts out.

[mrsmac]

Are you calling the London office? They have a local number so it should really be charged at the local call rate. 020 7621 7000.

[Aussiebird]

27 minutes ago, mrsmac said:

Are you calling the London office? They have a local number so it should really be charged at the local call rate. 020 7621 7000.

No, he called an Australian number, but too late now, we will have the charge on our phone bill.  Didnt know there was a London office!!

[mrsmac]

1 hour ago, Aussiebird said:

No, he called an Australian number, but too late now, we will have the charge on our phone bill.  Didnt know there was a London office!!

 

Address: 23 Camomile Street Camomile Court, London EC3A 7LL, United Kingdom

Phone: +44 20 7621 7000

[Aussiebird]

1 hour ago, mrsmac said:

 

Address: 23 Camomile Street Camomile Court, London EC3A 7LL, United Kingdom

Phone: +44 20 7621 7000

Thank you so much xx

[MacGyver]

Open a transferwise borderless account. You can open a UK account and an Australian account with them and get the card delivered to your UK address. The card works as a visa debit card for both accounts, whichever country you are in. You can transfer money into the local UK account and switch it immediately to your local Australian account. Might be a temporary option until you get to Australia to sort out new cards.

[Aussiebird]

3 minutes ago, MacGyver said:

Open a transferwise borderless account. You can open a UK account and an Australian account with them and get the card delivered to your UK address. The card works as a visa debit card for both accounts, whichever country you are in. You can transfer money into the local UK account and switch it immediately to your local Australian account. Might be a temporary option until you get to Australia to sort out new cards.

I will look into that, thank you so much xx

[Tulip1]

Why not just use your U.K. bank cards/credit cards to pay for quarantine and the essentials in the first few weeks there.  I’m sure many arrive without any Australian banking set up.  No reason why you can’t send funds over to your account from the U.K. You don’t need an active bank card to do that, just your account number and bank code. If you know what your address in Australia will be you can send the bank a letter asking them to change your address with effect from a certain date. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 16, 2020 by Tulip1

[Marisawright]

13 hours ago, Aussiebird said:

Hi,

In a bit of a dilema and wondered if anyone esle experienced this?

We have our accounts with Westpac, however, we have no cards for the accounts, the last card expired years ago and was never replaced. Our accounts are still active.

We cannot get onto our online banking at all or even the app, have emailed the bank and was told we cannot apply for cards unless we are in Australia.  We cannot even change our address to the one we are staying at as we have to have a code! 

We urgently need to get this sorted as we need to transfer money over from the sale of our home and to pay for quarantine.  We have to have money in our account for when we arrive.

Now trying to ring Westpac but just on hold, could take ages to get through and its costing us £5.50 plus vat per minute!  How do other people go about accessing there accounts from the UK?  

Not impressed at all!  Getting very stressed out about this!!

I hope you are not closing your British bank accounts.   Once closed, it's impossible to open another one from Australia, and you'll find it's very useful to have a UK account if you still have relatives and friends in the UK.

So you will simply use your British debit and credit cards in Australia in the same way you do now in the UK, until you get your Australian account sorted. 

The restrictions on getting cards etc overseas are nothing to do with the banks, it's to do with international money-laundering laws.  

Transfer your money with Moneycorp.  How it works is that you transfer your money into your Moneycorp account whenever you want, then it just sits there safely until you get your Australian account sorted, then you instruct them to pay it into the Aussie account. 

 

[rammygirl]

We never had an issue with Westpac when we were in the UK and they sent new cards to our UK address too. As said keep a UK account it is very useful to have. Just let them know you are going overseas. We get new cards sent to Aus address no issues.