Best first bank: NAB, Commonwealth, HSBC or Citibank?

[Stace]

I used this comparison website to do checks for what it is we would really want

http://mozo.com.au/bank-accounts

We ended up opening accounts with Westpac, but think I might to Commonwealth too.

Westpac just seemed like the right one for us, our friends in Sydney also highly recommended them for no withdrawal fees and no monthly account fee, which ends up saving a bunch.

I've literally been crazy with comparison websites for everything, its helped out so much haha.

Wespac have been seriously professional and very helpful with questions, an agent assigned to our accounts has helped us tenfold.

Good luck in choosing!

[JET1]

I like CBA.

Someone here told me that the govt owns CBA? That's why they are the peoples bank.

[Orphan]

My vote goes to Commonwealth Bank. Excellent service, great for internet banking, and best interest rates

[FingersCrossed]

Hi Everyone

 

Found this old thread on the forum and wanted to just check if anyone has any suggestions on Commonwealth vs NAB?

 

I am trying to decide which one is better for me to open and while commonwealth may waiver the first year of bank fees ($4 a month normally) it seems that NAB dont charge a monthly fee. https://www.nab.com.au/personal/banking/transaction-accounts/nab-classic-banking

 

However, I know nothing is free - so what am I missing? 

[monsta]

@JET1  I own shares in CBA... they are certanly not owned by the government. But they are the most expensive bank with the best technology. I use their CommSec service to trade my shares.

 

@FingersCrossed  as I explained to JET1... CBA is the most expensive bank with the best technology. For example, they had tap and go payments on my cell phone before Android pay came out. And you have to go into the commbank app to use it, so I don't have to set an unlock code on my phone .  But, I guess you pay $4 per month for all that technology.

 

Also, don't be fooled... CBA has the "School Banking Program" where they pay the local schools to sign kids up with bank accounts. Many australians were signed up with CBA when they were kids and never bothered to change banks. 

 

Australia is very different to South Africa in that there are always "premium" options. I got insurance quotes for my car this year.. they ranged from $650 to $1600. I was going to be charged $1200 to renew my current insurance. I chose a $800 option at another company.

 

But having said that... I got some good share advise from the CommSec website and I have made more money from that advise than I have paid in fees. 

 

My advise is setup a no fees account at NAB, then switch to ING when you start earning a salary here. You need to deposit your salary into ING to get all the benefits like no fees, use of any ATM in australia, etc..   ->  https://www.ingdirect.com.au/  But be aware that ING is a "direct" bank and has no branches. Also consider ING for your super fund... they have low fees. All super funds have years of good returns and years of bad returns.. but at least with ING you arent paying top $$$ in fees when they have a bad year.

[woodag]

If you are into share trading and you use Commsec, you can get a CBA account that does not have a monthly fee, provided you use that account for your trading. It's called a CDIA account = Commonwealth Direct Investment Account. Actually, I suppose as long as you sign up with Commsec and link the CDIA to you Commsec account, you don't have to really do any share trading.

 

 

 

[monsta]

Yes, I have a CDIA. I got a bank card for it and keep it for emergencies. 

 

There is no monthly fees on a CDIA, but there are other fees  like withdrawl fees. Like 50 cents for each cath withdrawl.

 

https://www.commbank.com.au/personal/accounts/savings-accounts/commonwealth-direct-investment/rates-fees.html

 

So, a CDIA doesn't really fit the "no fees" option that @FingersCrossed was looking for.

[woodag]

So there are no included free cash withdrawals allowed from the CDIA now?

 

I certainly don't pay 50 cents for each cash withdrawal, but then mine was opened prior to the magic date in 2012 mentioned on the page you linked to. I do get hit by the occasional transaction fee - I checked and found average of 64 cents per month for the whole year (and this is my main account that I use for just about everything).

 

Edit:

I did a bit of checking. For my "old" CDIA account, I get 5 free "electronic" transactions per month. Beyond that I pay 30c per transaction. ATM cash withdrawals are counted as "electronic" so I may pay 30c for one of those if I have gone over 5 transactions in the month.

 

New CDIA accounts are slightly different. If not linked to a Commsec account, there would still be 5 free electronic transactions, but the cost per transactions after that varies depending on what it is - some, including ATM withdrawals are 50c. However, a CDIA account linked to Commsec now gets unlimited free electronic transactions, so you should never have to pay for ATM withdrawals (Non-CBA or overseas ATMs would be a different story).

 

At least that is my interpretation of the slightly more detailed T&Cs here:

https://www.commbank.com.au/personal/docs/DEP0022_TSIA_FA.pdf?edm=1547_DT_TSIA_TC_L1

Edited April 17, 2017 by woodag

[FingersCrossed]

3 hours ago, monsta said:

My advise is setup a no fees account at NAB, then switch to ING when you start earning a salary here. You need to deposit your salary into ING to get all the benefits like no fees, use of any ATM in australia, etc..   ->  https://www.ingdirect.com.au/ 

 Thanks for the advice @monsta - that sounds like a plan. I really just want a account that I can start moving some money over to every couple of months until I move over there end of next year. I am going over in June this year to activate my visa and will also activate the bank account.

While Commbank may offer more advanced features, I wont be using them for now so dont see the need to pay $4 per month. As long as my money is safe and maybe earns a "little" interest I am happy.

[RussellJ]

Hi Everyone,

 

Looking at opening account with CBA, one of the questions relate to Job Category.

 

Is this related to my current employment and job category in RSA thus obviously my intended category once landed OR am I in the unemployed category in their eyes since I am not employed in Oz...yet.

Does it matter?

 

Thanks :-)