Mongoose Posted March 11, 2015 Report Share Posted March 11, 2015 Hi all,I had an interesting chat today with a guy from CWB (Commonwealth Bank). He is assisting me to open up our accounts now (although we only leaving in August) and he has sent through forms for me to activate my account while still in SA. It will involve me taking all my documents to the Australian consulate to have my Identification verified. I am then able to open a savings account from this side as well once I have been identified.Has anyone else done it this way before? Pro's vs Cons? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monsta Posted March 11, 2015 Report Share Posted March 11, 2015 Just double check what he means by activate. If new means you can withdraw money, then great. My understanding is you actually need to be residing in Australia to enable withdrawing of funds. But things do change.Oh and good choice on Commmbank. Some colleagues were saying yesterday how impressed they are with commbanks IT ayatems. Their banking apps and website are probably the best in Aus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BronPreston Posted March 12, 2015 Report Share Posted March 12, 2015 Hi all,I had an interesting chat today with a guy from CWB (Commonwealth Bank). He is assisting me to open up our accounts now (although we only leaving in August) and he has sent through forms for me to activate my account while still in SA. It will involve me taking all my documents to the Australian consulate to have my Identification verified. I am then able to open a savings account from this side as well once I have been identified.Has anyone else done it this way before? Pro's vs Cons?Hi Mongoose.So glad you are getting great service.We at Exchange4free send our clients to Commonwealth Bank, if they would like to open accounts in Australia before actually arriving.Your funds are sent to your account, however you are not actually able to access (or withdraw) from that account until you physically walk into a Commonwealth Bank branch with your passport.All the best for your adventures ahead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner Posted March 13, 2015 Report Share Posted March 13, 2015 Same here, our family in Aus said we can open a bank account quite easily on the Comm Bank website, which we are going to to. They said we can then use the bank details to go to our bank (e.g. ABSA) and do an in-branch wire transfer (i.e. move our money from SA over to the Comm Bank account).Our fam also said we can only activate the account and withdraw from it once we arrive in Aus, as the activation gets done inside the branch and you need to provide identification, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alchemist Posted March 27, 2015 Report Share Posted March 27, 2015 I opened and transferred funds but only when we physically go, and present passport can i use the money. I can still deposit though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trace Posted March 31, 2015 Report Share Posted March 31, 2015 And same hereI opened a Wespac bank account online. They posted the account details to South Africa. I used these to transfer money from SA into that account. In this state the account can only be used for deposits (no withrdrawls) until activated. The account can be activated by physically going into a branch in Aus & presenting your passport. Maybe there is another way of activating in SA, but this was not necessary for me since I only wanted to deposit money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mongoose Posted March 31, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2015 Just an update We have opened our accounts with CWB and our kids accounts as well. Our life savings arrived in our account and we have made transfers out of our account on the Internet banking app already.So thanks a mil to CWB. For being so helpful and accommodating Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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