Banking in Oz- How do you say…Painful?
After trying to find an Apartment, this will be the second most shocking item of setting up housekeeping to most of you- setting up a bank account. Not far off Neanderthalic- lately it has gotten a little better- but not much. The banks in Oz are some of the most profitable businesses in the country- and all at your expense. The Aussies still firmly believe in bank fees for everything!
To help battle the fees, a few pioneering banks have established “All You Can Eat” accounts which they class as a savings account…??? Strange as that is- it works basically as a checking account allowing you unlimited atm usage for around $5/month…as long as you use their ATMs only. (This is not so convieniant at a nightclub or at 3 am when you are trying to get a taxi) There are nice hefty fees if you use a competitiors atm. Look around- but at the moment- ANZ and WestPac have the best deals I know of. ATMs are available 24 hours a day- but banking hours are highly desireable- I’d love to work 10-5 every day. Lush.
Forget getting a local credit card unless you are a permanent resident or make over $70,000 per year. Just because you have an account with the same bank overseas- doesn’t mean they will recognize it here. Make arrangements to transfer money to your credit card back home before you leave. There are a few accounts available from your home countries that may allow you to make payments with local banks- but you will need to sort that before you get to Oz. With all the new terrorism threats it has become very difficult to pay on an account from overseas.
By Heather | Permalink
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HSBC offers an on-line savings account that is free of monthly charges. ATM transactions at HSBC are free, and you get up to 5 free ATM transactions from other banks per month. They offer BPay and very secure (too secure, if you ask me) online access, and you can get checks if needed for $1 per check. It costs $5 to actually visit a branch, but if you are web savvy, you should never need to…and, since they are world-wide, it may simplify moving or accessing funds when (if) you return to your country of origin.
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Here is some banking advice from an American perspective. I still use my bank from the states for most of my banking here. The ATMs here will hit you for a transaction fee but my bank in the states covers me up to $25 a month in transaction fees. I have never even come close to going over that amount.
I opened an Australian bank account solely to write checks to pay my rent and utility bills. I transfer money from my state side bank into the Aussie account with only a $15 transaction fee. My credit card and debit card from my stateside bank all work here with no issues.