Guest jenpen87 Posted February 18, 2012 Report Share Posted February 18, 2012 Hi, There's numerous banks to choose from in Australia, and I've read the info on this site about NAB. I've no idea who to bank with though?! With NAB we can open an account up to 12months before arriving in oz but is there any benefit to this?? Don't want an account with fees which hold no obvious incentive. I currently bank with barclays and for £7 per month get breakdown cover and mobile phone insurance for this. Anything similar in Oz? I'm a big fan of Martin Lewis lol so really don't want to be wasting money in oz. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted February 19, 2012 Report Share Posted February 19, 2012 We opened our account with Westpac about a month before going to Aus when we were ready to transfer some money into it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaynBev Posted February 19, 2012 Report Share Posted February 19, 2012 Ah yes Moneysavingepxert - not yet found anything like this so far. Closest is iselect for insurance ozbargains.com.au in general groupon also do some good deals state & nationally. We have an account with ANZ which we opened in the UK, we made semi -regular payments into it and it created a little bit of credit history here thats helped us get a better rate on our car loan etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rachel, Matt & Kyle Posted February 19, 2012 Report Share Posted February 19, 2012 we opened account with Commonwealth and they have been very good. we opened the london transfer account and then when you get here you just go into C/W and they can activate your aussie account. really good service xxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil Posted February 19, 2012 Report Share Posted February 19, 2012 Most of the big ones seem to have the facility to open accounts before you arrive. As with most banks in the UK, you'll hear good and bad stories about them all. You definitely should open an account before arriving - being able to pick up already-printed bank cards as soon as you arrive and have those accounts with already-cleared funds available is very useful as you try to recover from the flight and have oodles of other things to sort. Not mention there are sometimes issues with using UK cards here (not to mention the fees for each transaction). It's one less thing to worry about on arrival - you'll need an account to set up things like salary payments, Medicare rebates etc. Once you've got an account, if you want to switch to another bank for whatever reason, it's as easy as in the UK. I've used NAB, and apart from a minor admin hiccup, had no issues with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil Posted February 20, 2012 Report Share Posted February 20, 2012 One comment I forgot to make was about NAB's online banking. It works well on PC, mobile phone, tablet etc - they've nailed that bit - but the security doesn't seem as good as it could be. For example, to use internet banking for my UK HSBC account I have to use a "customer ID number", enter the answer to a personal question and use my PIN to retrieve a single-use sign-on number. Which is 4 things I need to have before I can login. Now, for my NAB account I need my customer ID number and a password. And as the customer ID number is printed on the back of the card(!?!?!?!?!?!?) I only need a password. And a card-thief would only need to try and guess it. I don't know what the other Oz banks are like for security, but if you're security-conscious you may want to check on how they provide online/mobile access. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Posted February 20, 2012 Report Share Posted February 20, 2012 I'm with Bendigo. By default it's just userid/password, the use of a securitytoken generator is optional ( I took that option), similar with nab it sounds. id/password is the default but you can beef up security by registering for 'sms security' - authorization codes are sent to your mobile, which you then use to login (in combination with your existing id/password) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jenpen87 Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 I'm with Bendigo. By default it's just userid/password, the use of a securitytoken generator is optional ( I took that option), similar with nab it sounds. id/password is the default but you can beef up security by registering for 'sms security' - authorization codes are sent to your mobile, which you then use to login (in combination with your existing id/password) hi cerberus, is the sms security something just bendigo do? thanks:cute: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 hi cerberus, is the sms security something just bendigo do? thanks:cute: Hi Nab use the sms security. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
portlaunay Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 We're with Westpac and they have been so helpful, especially in dealing with the farcical, well known, four lettered bank we were with in the UK. Trying to transfer money back to our mortgage was unbelievably challenging for them (H*** I mean), and Westpac couldn't do enough for us. Their Android app is also superb and I do most of my banking on my phone now. The charge for taking out cash from a non Westpac ATM is very poor though but I think it's the same no matter who you bank with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mrs Fast Twist Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 what would I need to set up an account? I'd like to set one up while over there on holiday in March ready for when we get over there next year to gain some credit history and have a bit of wonga already there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Kings Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 We set up accounts with ANZ. Set up in the UK a few weeks ago even tho we are not going to Perth till March. Didn't need to deposit any monies to open either!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ang Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 hi we have been getting phone calls from moneycorp about getting a bank account opened has anyone used them? we go over in june to activate visa and would like a bank account opened by then but not sure who to go with or if we need to use any of this companies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil Posted February 24, 2012 Report Share Posted February 24, 2012 Opening an account while still overseas is fairly straightforward. You can do it online for most of the banks. You'll then be able to use MoneyCorp or similar to deposit money into the Oz account ready for your arrival. On arrival the bank will want to see you to verify ID etc and then give you your cards/PINs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stu Posted February 24, 2012 Report Share Posted February 24, 2012 One other thing to be aware of if number of cash machines. No free cash withdrawals here, and I hate paying to get at my own money. We've gone with NAB, and you can also use Redi machines for free, generally we've managed to find one. One word of warning though, it seems anytime NAB try and update something the entire system fails and you cannot get a cash, or switch, or even use your NAB credit cards. It has happened 3 times in the last year and a half. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Posted February 24, 2012 Report Share Posted February 24, 2012 Just the way it is over here. All the big 4 have had problems, Westpac suffered problems in May & June, Commonwealth Bank in April & December, ANZ in April. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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