What is the best way to get our funds in OZ

[juanz]

We are arriving the 25th of June in Sydney. What is the best and safest way to get our funds in Australia?

We have been approached by the Common Wealth Bank to transfer the money from S.A and collect the Debit Card at the airport.

Others have suggested Travellers Cheques.

Could you please kindly advise us on the above.

Thanks

Juan

[Springbok]

Travellers' cheques.

Annual travel allowance of R160,000 per adult - you can get your bank to transfer it to your Australian bank account if you have one. Just show them your passport and airticket.

Withdraw cash with your South African credit card in Australia, about A$2000 at a time, and deposit that into your Australian bank account.

[Nadia]

Hi,

If you want to lock in the exchange rate you can get a travel passport. (It is like travellers cheques, but a card).

If you think that Rand will be stable or strengthen then the Credit Card option is probably the best.

Regards

Johan Swanepoel

[alanb]

I use xe.com. I move funds from Canada to Aus but I am sure you can use it for SA to Aus. The key thing is the exchange rate. Compare theirs to your bank and you will probably see a big difference. In a recent transfer of $15,000 CAD the difference between my Canadian banks rate and xe.com came to a whopping $1,800! I kid you not.

Thay are backed by Custom House who have offices in Australia. I use xe.com because you get an even better rate because its a purely online service.

Basically it costs me $15.00 per transfer. It takes about 5 business days to complete a transaction so dont panic.

I do not recommend the Visa option. Credit card companies charge punitive exchange rates.

Just another option.

Alan

Edited May 27, 2007 by alanb

[conroys]

We used our foreign investment allowace to transfer money directly into our Aus bank accout.

The process was:

1. Open an account at Westpac in Australia from South Africa. You can the deposit money into the account, but need to activate it, by showing passport, once in Aus before you can withdraw money.

2. Begged Westpac to fax the account details to us since they initially send it by post.

3. Got tax clearance from SARS. Normally a 7 day process. Make sure though that it's the tax clearance for foreign investment. There are different once. You need a bank statement to show the money you want clearance for.

4. Went to ABSA's foreign exchange department with tax clearance and Westpac bank details and asked for a direct money transfer. If you transfer more than R200 000 they try to give you a better buying rate.

You can also do a direct transfer using your travel allowance. Then you dont need the tax clearance.

[juanz]

We used our foreign investment allowace to transfer money directly into our Aus bank accout.

The process was:

1. Open an account at Westpac in Australia from South Africa. You can the deposit money into the account, but need to activate it, by showing passport, once in Aus before you can withdraw money.

2. Begged Westpac to fax the account details to us since they initially send it by post.

3. Got tax clearance from SARS. Normally a 7 day process. Make sure though that it's the tax clearance for foreign investment. There are different once. You need a bank statement to show the money you want clearance for.

4. Went to ABSA's foreign exchange department with tax clearance and Westpac bank details and asked for a direct money transfer. If you transfer more than R200 000 they try to give you a better buying rate.

You can also do a direct transfer using your travel allowance. Then you dont need the tax clearance.

Thanks for all the advice!! It will most definately help. Juan

[jozigirl]

hi

we filled in an application form online with commonwealth bank and someone contacted us soon after. Our account was opened immediately and we were notified soon after with our bank details. We then went to SARS for tax clearance and that was a breeze got it on the same day. Then we went to Standard Bank and they transferred our funds into our OZ bank account. We had to go into the bank to activate the account as soon as we arrived. We also received a credit card although we didnt ask for one; apparently it depends on the amount of funds you have.

[Pixi]

At this awful time in the exchange rate I went to the bank and did the annual travel allowance thing - as we have to be in before the end of the month to validate the visa. Now we use my travel allowance as a direct transfer to my bank account in OZ and we used the travel passport option for my partner - but 2 cards so that we can withdraw the cards in time and get the money into the bank. Now on both we got the same exchange rate - seems me the rate also differs according to the amount. But here is the scary thing: I paid bankcharges of R570 for the direct transfer , but the cashpassport cost R3180. Blood money - if I knew its going to cost R2,600 more I would have transfered directly to the bank -even if it would have cost me to open a new account - maar hoe se hulle - as jy dom is - moet jy suffer. En ons het gesuffer. But now I no for next time . I will definately do my homework on costs - still dont know why I missed to ask the cost beforehand!

[Cindylou]

But here is the scary thing: I paid bankcharges of R570 for the direct transfer , but the cashpassport cost R3180. Blood money ... I will definately do my homework on costs - still dont know why I missed to ask the cost beforehand!

I had a quick look at the Standard Bank Pricing Guide - they have a different maximum charge for "travel related" transfers! So the charge for a draft is 0.6% min R120 and max R550 and for a TT 0.425% min R115, max R475 UNLESS you are using either of these as a vehicle to transfer your travel allowance whereupon there is no maximum. How rude is that?

It does still, however, cost a lot less than the TravelWallet, with a charge of 1.85% no max. I agree, Pixi, not only should you be watching the rate but also the charges.

C'Lou

[TheBs]

If one opens an Aus bank account and then does a transfer of travel allowance is it possible to put the whole family's individual allocations (as in hubby, mine and childrens) into one bank account?

[Cindylou]

I think you would need to make sure that the account in Aus is in both parents' names (ie a Joint Account - something that is not available in SA) I know that on previous occasions I was advised by my bank that they would only do a TT to an account in MY NAME. Not sure of this, perhaps someone else can help?

I collected my currency (TC) yesterday and paid R6/AUD and my partner paid R6.23 this morning (after much haggling and tempter tantrums!)

C'Lou

[starfish]

Yip, that seems to be right. I was told by ABSA this morning that they can transfer my and my wife's travel allowances into Australian bank accounts, but that the accounts had to be in be in each of our names.

(i.e. cannot put both allowances into one account). Our daughter's travel allowance will have to be taken out in travellers cheques.

Regards,

Scott

I think you would need to make sure that the account in Aus is in both parents' names (ie a Joint Account - something that is not available in SA) I know that on previous occasions I was advised by my bank that they would only do a TT to an account in MY NAME. Not sure of this, perhaps someone else can help?

I collected my currency (TC) yesterday and paid R6/AUD and my partner paid R6.23 this morning (after much haggling and tempter tantrums!)

C'Lou

[Pixi]

Starfish, we have send money via ABSA to a joint account at Common wealth Bank. We have done it twice now and there was no problems. So if you have two accounts in Aus, no problem. If you have a joint account let your ABSA branch clarify there facts - or just walk into another ABSA branch who can see light.