# Going to Oz for a year....Need bank advice please :) !!



## Britishbulldog (Jan 27, 2010)

Hey all.

I'm off to Perth mid june, and will be travelling round for a year. I just dont know what to do about a bank account. Do I open an Oz account? and if so with which bank as ive heard some can charge alot. Oooor....do i just use my english account and draw money as and when I need it?!

Thanks

Simon


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## Wanderer (Jun 16, 2007)

Britishbulldog said:


> Hey all.
> 
> I'm off to Perth mid june, and will be travelling round for a year. I just dont know what to do about a bank account. Do I open an Oz account? and if so with which bank as ive heard some can charge alot. Oooor....do i just use my english account and draw money as and when I need it?!
> 
> ...


If you're going to be on a WHV Simon and looking to get some work you'll likely find most employers will want you to have an Aussie account to have wages paid into.
Fees are not so dramatically high, possibly something like a $5/mth. admin fee on a basic account and some offer fee free activities and others might have a $2 fee every time you want to do an in bank withdrawal as against using an ATM which'll have a lesser fee if using one of the same bank but higher if using sonmeone else's.

There's also EFTPOS used by many stores and so at Supermarkets and others that operate it, you can do a cash withdrawal at same time as making a purchase, usually with no or minimal charge.

You'll want to check your UK bank to see what their charges are going to be for international access.

ANZ - Travel and foreign exchange - Foreign Currency Rates & Currency Converter is the site of one of our big four banks, others being Commonwealth, National and Westpac with Bendigo Bank not far behind.
But you can open an acount before you leave home and you may even be able to deposit money in it before you leave so that may be worth checking out if there'll be any advantage over withdrawing some before you leave and bringing it with you to deposit when you get here.

If you want to earn a bit of interest on any sizable ammounts, have a look at connecting a normal bank account to an account with
ING Direct - high interest savings, bank accounts, home loans, business banking, everyday accounts
You can do transfers between the two online.


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## Britishbulldog (Jan 27, 2010)

Wanderer said:


> If you're going to be on a WHV Simon and looking to get some work you'll likely find most employers will want you to have an Aussie account to have wages paid into.
> Fees are not so dramatically high, possibly something like a $5/mth. admin fee on a basic account and some offer fee free activities and others might have a $2 fee every time you want to do an in bank withdrawal as against using an ATM which'll have a lesser fee if using one of the same bank but higher if using sonmeone else's.
> 
> There's also EFTPOS used by many stores and so at Supermarkets and others that operate it, you can do a cash withdrawal at same time as making a purchase, usually with no or minimal charge.
> ...


Brilliant! Thanks a lot! You've been a great help with everything!! Will probably have more questions soon!haha!


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