im going to australia for a year in august by myseelf.. im 19 and barely traveld before. atm ivv got my visa and flight ticket and almost all my funds.
I transferred mine when I arrived in Australia and had opened an Oz bank account (it cost about £30-£40). Although to do it when I was here I had to send them a fax with 2 forms of ID and a letter requesting the transfer.
But I'm sure you can transfer it before you leave. I know with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia they can open an account before you leave and have your funds transferred and debit cards ready for you when you get to Australia.
Whether this is the easiest or not I don't know.
From what i have heard you can't open a OZ bank acccount until at least 1 month before you are due to arrive. Once this is open you can transfer your money from your UK account. I have looked into it and my bank will allow me to transfer money for £10.00 with online banking, but guess it depends what bank you are with
Claire
If you've got an English bank account card which is part of the Visa, Mastercard, Cirrus or Plus networks then it should work in Australian ATMs. The only trouble is most banks charge a high percentage nowadays for overseas withdrawals. I got a FairFX travel card for travelling this year which is ideal. You transfer funds onto it from your English bank account then you can withdraw the cash at any Mastercard ATM. They charge £1 + 1.4% though, but this is cheaper than using your English bank account directly. Nationwide are the cheapest and they still charge 2% on each withdrawal. I got a FairFX card cos it was recommended on the moneysavingexpert website but their website isn't very accurate cos there are better cards than that. But anyway it's worth having a look for a prepaid travel card.
Or it might work out cheaper to open an Australian bank account if you're going to be there for a while, but whatever you choose I would recommend having a back-up card as well.
I went into Nationwide yesterday and they informed me that there is now a charge of 2% plus £1 on debit cards as well as credit cards.
fwiw I would suggest opening an Australian Bank Account if your over for a substantial amount of time. Also you will NEED one if you plan to do any work,
Hi
I have just opened an account with the Commonwealth Bank in London and they will tra
nsfer your money at preferential exchange rates but there are costs , i think £15 for the transfer plus Oz banking is not free like the Uk usually $5 per month to operate the account but you can earn interest at 3.8 %
Hi everyone I arrive in Melbourne on the 13 th dec on a wh visa, so your basically saying you can open an account before you arrive?? And transfer money into the account??
I've been looking into ANZ who seem to do a good rate, transfer money before you go, then $5 a month...
Yeah, I would say that richjb78's advice that if you're there for a while is good advice cos I would imagine that the an Australian bank account would pay for itself is you're there for a while.
I would definitely recommend getting a pre-paid travel card as well though as a back-up. FairFx charge £1 + 1.4% but some others charge less than this. The bonus with FairFx is that you can transfer money from an English bank account onto your card for free. You only pay a fee when you withdraw your cash. (Actually I think most pre-paid travel cards are probably like this).
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