Banking Advice Required

[Forget Me Not]

Well, looks like we'll arrive in Mandurah sometime towards the end of November.

Currently I have no Oz bank account as I'll open one when we get here.

I'm looking for two things; the first for a local branch so I can easily turn up and open an account and secondly the ability to do all my banking on line.

Is this possible ~ any suggestions?

[hammer]

should be a commonwealth branch there and net banking is easy as with them too www.commbank.com.au enjoy

welcome to WA well when you get here any how

[Mungus]

Hope the trip over here goes well, and you arrive safe and well. Mate, I've got to tell you that this is not worth you spending any time worrying about. The top 4 Oz banks (ANZ, Commonwealth, Westpac & National) as well as Bankwest & the Bendigo Bank have branches down here. All of the Oz banks have very effective online systems. With all of our banks, if you want to go and speak to someone you will need to wait, and wait, in line. Oh yeah, they're all wankers too.

[likefry]

What do you mean there all wankers are you serious???

last few times i've been into a bank they've just about been falling over themselves to help. with the competition of banks these days the customer service is awesome.

I'm with commonwealth i dunno about others.

[mystery]

Bankwest has two branches in Mandurah.

If you go in your first six weeks to Australia all you will need to open an account is your passport.

[DesmoFan]

Just a warning about starting an account. You have to have "100 points" worth of id to start an account.
From the NAB site (www.nab.com.au):

The Financial Transaction Reports Act 1988 requires NAB to obtain 100 points of identification from customers when opening new accounts. Existing NAB customers, who have already fulfilled this requirement will automatically qualify for the 100 point requirement.

New customers will need to provide identification in order to qualify. Examples of suitable identification include, passport or birth certificate (70 points), plus drivers licence (40 points), other non NAB Credit Cards, Medicare card (25 points). For a complete list of identification and their points value, call 13 13 12, 8am - 9pm EST, 7 days a week or visit any NAB branch.[/b]

[Aphex]

Passport or Birth Certificate and rental agreement if you have rented a property etc. No biggy.

[Stoneville]

Bankwest has two branches in Mandurah.

If you go in your first six weeks to Australia all you will need to open an account is your passport.[/b]

BankWest worker ??? from memory, so he should know

I have had no trouble with this bank and have been with them for a long time

[shmoo]

you pay reasonably big $$$ to bank "over the counter" in Australia. Online banking is definitely the way to go.

In my experience, Bankwest have probably the best network of branches and ATM's in Western Australia - especially throughout the country areas. However, if you plan on travelling to other states, Bankwest can be annoying because they dont really have any branches outside WA - they do have reciprocal arrangements with interstate banks, but it another inconvenience. So for regular interstaters then go with another bank.

You can get accounts with most banks with monthly fees of about $2-3 with unlimited transactions (but not over the counter branch withdrawals).

At the end of the day its not going to matter a pinch of shit which one you end up going with.

[Arwon]

I use Westpac and have found them very helpful, they also have thee best phone service , they have branches everywhere and also internet banking.

[Duffman]

im with home building society

not as many branches as the major banks, but have a decent online banking system
can also use any atm for no charge, which is convenient

cant comment on things like loans or refinancing. i only do the basic stuff

[jackerz]

anz. great service. easy as internet banking. have been into the bank twice in the last 2 years. ( had to cash cheque )

[Morgs]

I think when we moved over here a few years ago you only had 2 weeks to set it up, but that might have changed.

The banks over here operate a little differently to those in the UK.

Typically in the UK, personal banking is 'free' and you get paid interest on a current account. The majority of services provided by the bank have no visible charge associated with them. Where they make their money is on the spread of interest rates. A current account will probably pay 0.1% interest when in credit, and often 18-20% or more when overdrawn. Savings accounts with the banks usually pay a very low rate of interest too.

Over here even personal accounts will often have a monthly charge levied, and whilst some transactions may be included most will have an individual charge. A lot of things that you would take for granted in a UK bank branch, will be charged for here. Even with online banking there is often a charge for paying bills. They haven't got around to the idea of discount for Direct Debit in the same was as the UK either. The difference here is that overdrafts tend to be cheaper as do personal loans, and savings rates are higher too.

The difference really is that the UK banks tend to hide the real cost of a 'free' account within overdraft and personal loan interest, whilst here it is much more a 'pay for the services you use' kind of idea.

We ended up with BankWest (known locally as WankBest) and have an offset mortgage/current account and credit card combined and as such pay very little in the way of charges, and they are OK as banks go.

PM me if you want any help with this, or any other info about moving over here. There are quite a few POMs hanging around this forum who will have gone through all this too.

Oh and welcome to Perth.

[kalmia]

Just a warning about starting an account. You have to have "100 points" worth of id to start an account.
From the NAB site (www.nab.com.au):
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE

The Financial Transaction Reports Act 1988 requires NAB to obtain 100 points of identification from customers when opening new accounts. Existing NAB customers, who have already fulfilled this requirement will automatically qualify for the 100 point requirement.

New customers will need to provide identification in order to qualify. Examples of suitable identification include, passport or birth certificate (70 points), plus drivers licence (40 points), other non NAB Credit Cards, Medicare card (25 points). For a complete list of identification and their points value, call 13 13 12, 8am - 9pm EST, 7 days a week or visit any NAB branch.[/b]

[/b][/quote]


Special conditions for new arrivals, passport/travel papers = 100pts

I would recommend going to each of the bank&#39;s websites and reading all the small print before you go into the branch, my experience with the big banks is that they&#39;ll do anything to open the account and that&#39;s it. You might want to check out the credit societies (united credit, police & nurses, home etc) they tend to have slightly lower interest rates but also lower fees.

[mark_r]

Westpac will let you apply online, so that all you then have to do is go to branch and provide ID. (http://www.westpac.com.au)