Guest steza1975 Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 Hi there, My partner and I will be moving to Australia in Jan 2009 and I am trying to sort out an Australian Bank account to transfer some of our savings , as the rate is quite good at the moment (although I we have now missed the boat on the 2.6 rate from few weeks back! :goofy:). I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on the best bank to choose and also the best way to exchange currency i.e. with my current bank or a financial trader - i.e Moneycorp or similar. Any help would be greatly appeciated Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chris_mac Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 Hi Commonwealth have a good savings account with a rate of 6.5% of balances over 100k ($) and an account can be opened by telephone, details on website. Also my best advice would be to open two accounts with say Money corp and HIFX and play them off each other for the best rate... Both of the above is what i did! Good luck Chris General Electrician Applied TRA Aug 07 TRA Retuned Oct (Skill path D removed) Re-applied Vetassess 01.01.08 Vetassess Paper Assess Passed 10.04.08 House up for sale 28.03.08 sold 14.04.08 (3 weeks, crikey) Vetassess Practical 15.07.08 Practical Passed 11.08.08 176 Visa Application submitted 11.09.08 DIAC Acknowledgement 24.09.08 Sent Police checks 27.08.08 - Recieved 06.09.08 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest daffodil50@hotmail.co.uk Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 sorry canrt help there but does anyboady know how long it will take if i have submitted my visa 175 on the 17/9/08 sent of police and meds 4 weeks ago not had any news since any ideas be very greatful mike and shelly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sam&Si Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 Hi Steza1975, We have opened a e-choice and e-saver account online with Westpac. Very straightforward, no complaints. We also did the same as Chris and opened trading accounts with Hifx and Moneycorp then played them off. Eventually traded using Hifx. You get 5 days to send the funds through to the and your money is transferred to your nominated Aus account within 24 hours. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Davidsons Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 Just a word of warning on this one from us....Easy to open account with Westpac- did it online. They also have a migrant banking line in London 0207 621 7000. We opened an account and transferred funds from House sale for when we arrive in Jan. Aussie Accounts will pay no interest until you validate your account with passport checks etc due to money laundering etc. Therefore, do this before you get there by calling above number and asking for paperwork. Also move moeny from current a/c to savings ones as Aussie current a/c pay no interest either! I hope this has been useful? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest steza1975 Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 Cheers for this info everyone... it was exactly what I needed know. This site is fab!! x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay290901 Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 Does anyone know if Australian banks guarantee your money if they go bust and if so what amount? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andy & Rach Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 The Australian government guarantee 100% of funds held on deposit so your money is safer there than in the UK... Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andy & Rach Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 Hi there, Whatever you do make sure you dont send your funds through the bank as you will get a much better rate of exchange through a currency broker and some will even do it free of charge. We have a current account and online savings account with Westpac and we did it all through their london branch. Be aware though that once you activate the account and transfer funds you can not access your money until the account has been activated in Oz by taking your passport into a branch out there and collecting your cards. In the interim we can see our balance online + interest is paid on a monthly basis and we can see this being added even though we haven't activated our accounts yet... If you send your money through HiFX as well as saving money you also get other benefits with Westpac such as free banking (no monthly charges and no fees when your money is paid into the Westpac account) and you can even get discounts on mortgages so lots of benefits there... Although you might feel you can play currency brokers off against eachother this is a common misconception- they are there to help you and don't forget they are the experts in this!! My best advice would be treat them with respect and they will be more inclined to look after you and you might even get a better rate of exchange! Any further questions just give me a shout. Cheers, Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ali1963 Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 We actually found we got a better exchange rate with Commonwealth Bank than with HiFix, also, as we needed to have an operative Oz a/c whilst still in the UK, Commonwealth Bank (and I'm sure the others would, too if nec.) saw OH in their London branch with his various forms of id and activated it here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chris_mac Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 Although you might feel you can play currency brokers off against eachother this is a common misconception- they are there to help you and don't forget they are the experts in this!! My best advice would be treat them with respect and they will be more inclined to look after you and you might even get a better rate of exchange! Hi Andy and those reading this post. There is no misconception, its simple! The brokers want your money and the more you have the better rate you get... They dont care who you are or what you do! MONEY TALKS AND THEY WANT IT! I played them off to a tee and got a belting rate. With your future interests at stake you dont need to respect anyone or anything other than your own money. Business is Businness and there are no friends in business! Thats the rules! Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cob Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 we are chewing over which bank to go for - i think i would have to agree with you chris - when did money institutions last care for their customers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deb8181 Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 Hi I'm just in the process of transferring some of my savings over to Oz. I went to the Migrate Expo in Coventry a couple of weeks ago and got some advice from english people who had migrated over there. I chose Moneycorp to move my money over to Oz. They are based in London and are very helpful. They can guarantee a rate for you in any amount of ozzie dollars with a 10% deposit and they ask you when you want to set the deadline for the money to cross over to oz. They only charge a transfer fee of £15 no matter how much you want to transfer. I was recommended to NAB bank (National Australian Bank) which is a double AA rated bank and has more ATM's than any other bank. I opened an account with them (head office in Victoria) and what will be my local branch emailed me and introduced themselves to me. Nothing seemed too much trouble. Plus they do mortgages and you will see their symbol on some of the reality websites selling houses. One of the thought processes behind this is that I might get a bit of credit rating if I opened an account now and put some money in it because I'm not due to emigrate over to Oz until around September next year. Hope this helps. Debbie:yes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herbies Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 Just backing up earlier post, we too opened an account online with westpac, a choice and an e-saver, transferred money with HIFX, all went very smoothly, good contact and an excellent service from both institutions. Also opened a contract with Moneycorp but found them not so helpful, just my personal opinion as HIFX were ringing every rate increase, where as i had to ring MC to enquire on there rate offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1010ozzy Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 We opened bank accounts with Westpac, they couldnt of been more helpfull, moved money using currenciesdirect, first transfer was free. We wanted to be able to use our account from the UK as we have bought a house in Townsville and are renting it out untill we move over next year, all we had to do was go to our local Barclays Bank and they validated our proofs of ID and faxed them to our local Westpac branch then we posted the originals, sorted we didnt even get charged by Barclays!!! Dawn and Nigel x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deb8181 Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Has anyone had anything to do with Moneycorp cause you put your trust in them with all your savings and you dont really know who they are. Anything like us and we just met them at an emigrate show - they could have been anyone really couldnt they??? Debbie:unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andy and Tracy Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 sorry canrt help there but does anyboady know how long it will take if i have submitted my visa 175 on the 17/9/08 sent of police and meds 4 weeks ago not had any news since any ideas be very greatful mike and shelly Hiya Daffodil - You have inadvertently hijacked someone else's thread!! Don't worry, we all do it at first! So you probably won't get an answer. Try posting your own new thread under Migration Issues, ask this question directly and you may get a response. Incidentally, our 175 took just over 10 months, so you are in for a bit of a haul, probably!. Hope that helps. Tracy:err: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cob Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 We opened bank accounts with Westpac, they couldnt of been more helpfull, moved money using currenciesdirect, first transfer was free.We wanted to be able to use our account from the UK as we have bought a house in Townsville and are renting it out untill we move over next year, all we had to do was go to our local Barclays Bank and they validated our proofs of ID and faxed them to our local Westpac branch then we posted the originals, sorted we didnt even get charged by Barclays!!! Dawn and Nigel x is there an minimum amount you have to transfer with westpac? we would like to get started but have money wrapped up in the house and that small cold country up north somewhere! hey that may mean we have very little!!! bad timing methinks cath Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1010ozzy Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 As far as I can remember there was no minimum amount to open the account, we did think about opening one when we were out there on our recci as being an Ozzi citizen and having my passport but as we haddn't made up our minds for deffinate then we didnt bother, but I think I could of opened an account with just a few dollars, but just remember most accounts have a monthly charge so you will need to take this in to account as well, I think A$3.00 a month. We opened our accounts after returning to the UK and then buying a house, we had no problems at all, we phoned and e-mailed the branch and asked questions all the time and they couldnt of been more helpfull. Hope this helps Dawn and Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest roverbelle Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 We opened bank accounts with Westpac, they couldnt of been more helpfull, moved money using currenciesdirect, first transfer was free.We wanted to be able to use our account from the UK as we have bought a house in Townsville and are renting it out untill we move over next year, all we had to do was go to our local Barclays Bank and they validated our proofs of ID and faxed them to our local Westpac branch then we posted the originals, sorted we didnt even get charged by Barclays!!! Dawn and Nigel x Dawn & Nigel I am glad someone mentioned Barclays & Westpac they are apart of a Global Alliance Westpac Internet -Accessing your accounts overseas When you use your westpac cards in any Barclays cash machine in the Uk they dont charge you a withdrawl fee of $5 only the standard currency conversion rate. This also apples to all Westpac atms in the south pacific such as NZ Fiji etc too ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sanders family Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 Hi we used moneycorp they were ok and no transfer fee and we opened a ANZ bank account in oz with 5% interest so very happy, We got a bank statement today and all the money is in there no problem.:smile: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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