banking in Aus

[veinkamerer]

Hey guys. As our 489 visa has been lodged and we are anxiously waiting for approval, we are thinking to open a bank account and try and to get some funds over in Oz. Which bank would you suggest for us to look at. 

[ChrisH]

I personally went with NAB, but the big 4 are all pretty much the same thing.  You can open a migrant account here: https://www.nationalaustraliabank.com/nabglobal/migrant

[RedPanda]

We're with Commonwealth Bank, it was easy to open an account from South Africa and then activate the cards upon arrival. Once here we also opened an account with Bank of Melbourne. @ChrisH is quite right that the big banks are pretty similar. Go on the websites compare the cost and ease of opening an account and just pick the one that appeals to you most. I don't think there are any real duds among them. (CommBank, Nab, ANZ and Westpac are the 'Big Four')

[Fidjet]

My husband is still looking at options but at the moment it looks like we will be going with CommBank and NAB. 

 

[greggle]

8 hours ago, Fidjet said:

My husband is still looking at options but at the moment it looks like we will be going with CommBank and NAB. 

 

 

Commbank's migration team have been fantastic for us. The banking here is so much better than the RSA!!

[BrendanH]

Commbank treated us well when we arrived.

[Fidjet]

Did anyone deal with NAB?

Commbank will only let you open an account 3 months before we go over. We were hoping to open one now and get our money over asap, the R keeps falling. 

[ChrisH]

22 hours ago, Fidjet said:

Did anyone deal with NAB?

I'm with them, they are very good.

[FingersCrossed]

Yes I am with NAB and so far so good.

 

Does anyone know what the criteria is for them to mark a account as "dormant" and close it? I opened my bank account in June during my activation trip and left some money in there - however there has been no transitions on this account since then and I was wondering if that is ok. We are only moving over next year Sep / Oct  so the account will not have any transactions before then. I may send money over in April next year but that is it.

 

I was thinking of just sending $5 to a friends or relatives bank account once a month and they can transfer it back just to keep the account "busy".

 

What do you all think? 

[RedPanda]

I think it would be perfectly fine to email the bank and ask them. They should be able to give you good advice, and suggest ways to solve your problem. We've found most people in Aus to be friendly and helpful when providing customer care.

[Fidjet]

@FingersCrossed When we joined they sent us an email with 2 different contact details, one for general questions and one for account specific questions (to our named baker or something like that) and said that we should ask if we need something. So like redPanda said, it should be fine for you to email them and ask.

[Duke1989]

I'm also looking into bank accounts atm. I saw that Bankwest has got an account called Bankwest Qantas Transaction Account, which gives one flyer miles for each transaction? This might come in handy when we visit SA? 

 

[RedPanda]

On 28/11/2017 at 4:25 PM, Duke1989 said:

I'm also looking into bank accounts atm. I saw that Bankwest has got an account called Bankwest Qantas Transaction Account, which gives one flyer miles for each transaction? This might come in handy when we visit SA? 

 

Could be. Just read the fine print, as always. Sometimes it takes so long for miles to accrue that it's not worth it, sometimes the account costs extra. Sometimes you're lucky, and they really just want new clients so they give you a great deal. See what you got.

[Nev]

Points are generally always a waste of time, the amount of effort you go to to accumulate them is generally not worth the time.

 

For example:

The NAB credit card that gives Qantas frequent flyer points gives 1 point per $ for the first 5k per month then 0.5

 

They make these things super complicated i suspect to keep everyone from figuring out that they are not a good deal i think:

It costs 80k points for a single return flight to Johannesburg, then there is a "Reward Assistance Fee" for 6k points, there are also a whole range of fees if you want to change anything and you have to take one of the flights on their reward list

So call it 86k Points

 

Taxes and surcharges are excluded from the points Quantas charges up to $380 each way in taxes and charges to Europe, cant find RSA so lets assume a similar amount

 

To total cost to RSA 86k Points & $720 in fees

 

If you are prepared to fly outside peak you can easily get return flights for $ 1400 paid cash, including taxes, so your 86k points are worth $680 in total

 

---------------

 

Here comes the punchline:

So lets say you can figure out how to move $ 2500 per month or 30k per year through the card (Since you cant put rent or home loans on any cards i have found that is being generous) it will take just under 3 years

 

The credit card fees are $395 per year

 

So you have paid $1185 for $680 worth of points

 

To break even you will need to be spending 5k a month on your card, then you are still not making anything, over 5k per month the number of points you get per $ halves.... bottom line if you will be spending  80k+ on things you can pay with a credit card it is worth it, if not it is a waste of time

 

Unfortunately this is really common with these cards, they are either a complete loss, or a huge amount of work for a tiny reward

 

 

[RedPanda]

Well said, Nev, thanks!

 

[21yearsoutofrsa]

On 25/11/2017 at 9:50 PM, FingersCrossed said:

Yes I am with NAB and so far so good.

 

Does anyone know what the criteria is for them to mark a account as "dormant" and close it? I opened my bank account in June during my activation trip and left some money in there - however there has been no transitions on this account since then and I was wondering if that is ok. We are only moving over next year Sep / Oct  so the account will not have any transactions before then. I may send money over in April next year but that is it.

 

I was thinking of just sending $5 to a friends or relatives bank account once a month and they can transfer it back just to keep the account "busy".

 

What do you all think? 

There has to be at least one transaction every 3 years. If there are no transactions in those 3 years the funds get transferred to the Federal Government. You can still get the money, but the process is long and complicated.

[FingersCrossed]

On 12/11/2017 at 9:42 PM, 21yearsoutofrsa said:

There has to be at least one transaction every 3 years. If there are no transactions in those 3 years the funds get transferred to the Federal Government. You can still get the money, but the process is long and complicated.

 

Thanks @21yearsoutofrsa - great to know.