What way to bring money to OZ?

chris85

So going heading to thailand first and arriving in OZ in middle december (luckily got good accomodation at a good price), anyway i will be bringing a good bit of money i guess as is needed to get started, the question is what is the best way to bring money over?

Other peoples experiences on this would be great?

I know there are options like loading the credit card, bringing travellers cheques, trasferring funds to australian bank account when you get one? etc

watna

chris85 wrote: »

So going heading to thailand first and arriving in OZ in middle december (luckily got good accomodation at a good price), anyway i will be bringing a good bit of money i guess as is needed to get started, the question is what is the best way to bring money over?

Other peoples experiences on this would be great?

I know there are options like loading the credit card, bringing travellers cheques, trasferring funds to australian bank account when you get one? etc

I was lucky in that my bf had a kiwi bank account so I Just transferred money from my AIB account there and it was waiting for me when I got here. I travelled around Singapore and Malaysia on the way here and I used my ATM card to withdraw cash and my credit card to pay for anything big.

If I were you I’d leave money in your Irish bank account and transfer it when you open an Aus one. I know with AIB you can transfer internationally online and it costs e25.

It worked pretty well for me anyway!

EDIT: I think the max you could transfer in one go with AIB is e5,000

The Sweeper

The Aussies will let you open a bank account with nothing other than your passport (well, you may need one other piece of ID but I know they don't require proof of address), as LONG AS YOU DO IT AS SOON AS YOU GET THERE. I think the limit is something like your first two weeks in the country or something, or first month, after which they look for 100 points of ID.

You can transfer money internationally very easily to your Australian bank account. It takes about five days, and there's usually a set transfer fee - from England with the banks it was £20 for each £5,000. I think AIB even have a facility where you can do it through internet banking.

If you're moving a LOT of money, e.g. if you were doing a transfer after the sale of a house, I'd recommend looking up one of the financial transfer firms on the internet. They give a good exchange rate and charge a minimal fee - far less than the bank. The transfer takes five days.

The only problem with a new Australian bank account is that I'm not sure if they'll give you an EFTPOS card straight away - that's electronic funds transfer point of sale, and most card transactions at the till use an EFTPOS debit card. The best thing I can liken it to in Ireland is a Visa Electron card. If they don't, you're stuck with an ATM card basically. The banks here have only started to issue visa debit cards as a product literally in the last three months or so.

sheepshagger

chris85 wrote: »

So going heading to thailand first and arriving in OZ in middle december (luckily got good accomodation at a good price), anyway i will be bringing a good bit of money i guess as is needed to get started, the question is what is the best way to bring money over?

Other peoples experiences on this would be great?

I know there are options like loading the credit card, bringing travellers cheques, trasferring funds to australian bank account when you get one? etc

Avoid Travellers Cheques - costly to cash and they are not that common down there these days.

Have you tried talking to AIB?, they might have some sort of agreement with one of the Oz banks (Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac, ANZ, National Australia Bank etc) or better still have a look at their websites and see if you can open something before you go. If they can give you an account number you can wire the money, and by the time you get there they should have arranged an ATM card for you (just keep using your AIB card until then).

Did the same thing when I came to live here (had an account opened with AIB before I landed).

watna

Minesajackdaniels wrote: »

The only problem with a new Australian bank account is that I'm not sure if they'll give you an EFTPOS card straight away - that's electronic funds transfer point of sale, and most card transactions at the till use an EFTPOS debit card. The best thing I can liken it to in Ireland is a Visa Electron card. If they don't, you're stuck with an ATM card basically. The banks here have only started to issue visa debit cards as a product literally in the last three months or so.

ANZ gave me an eftpos card on the spot. That’s why I went with them.. You should check if ANZ in OZ does the same thing.

chris85

actually i just saw that my online banking with BOI allows me to do international transfers, i presume with a fee involved.

i think what I will do is bring some money to do me in thailand and for a month in Oz and then by the end of that I should have the remaining money transferred to an Australian account. Will probably just work off my ATM till i get setup then. must check the charges for cirrus transactions.

I will be in sydney for few weeks before setting off to melbourne to settle there for a few weeks, so will just setup the account in sydney and move on to melbourne then.

Crumble Froo

westpac gave me an eftpos card from teh start too... despite my not particularly wanting one... \


of course, that was before i realised that ATMs are less common here than back home.

TestTransmission

I set up an ANZ account before i went over and transferred the money over a week before i arrived.
Went into an ANZ branch with my account no and passport when i got there and they gave me my eftpos card there and then...was all very easy

chris85

jackncoke wrote: »

I set up an ANZ account before i went over and transferred the money over a week before i arrived.
Went into an ANZ branch with my account no and passport when i got there and they gave me my eftpos card there and then...was all very easy

how did you setup the account before you went?

Cmol

As far as I know, you can use your laser card in oz too, could tide your over if you cant get the account set up before you get there...

Mahatma coat

if you are planning on staying for a while then open a few accounts in the first week, when you dont need an address, these will become invaluable later.

BOQ will also give you acard on the spot.


alternativley folks you canjust put all your money in an envelope and post it to

Mahatma
Box 1--
N/Gate
40XX


I'll 'look after' it til you catch me and take it from my corpse meet up with me and get it back

Ozeire

Well

The 5 main banks in Australia are

5 Major Banks in Australia

Some of these you can open accounts online before getting to Oz


check here

Hope some of this helps

chris85

Ozeire wrote: »

Well

The 5 main banks in Australia are

5 Major Banks in Australia

Some of these you can open accounts online before getting to Oz


check here

Hope some of this helps

cheers that looks good, i had no idea you could set up online, im used to irish banks where it can be annoying to do anything with them.