Finances.
This section is designed to let you know how
we transferred our money and the service
we received, there are lots of banks to
choose from, ours is by no means the only
one, but on a matter as serious as money I
felt it only appropriate to talk about what we
actually did and not hearsay.
Which bank? We chose the Commonwealth Bank as it was displayed at an emigration exhibition
and they gave us lots of good advice without being pushy.
When do you apply? We applied when we were in the UK because they have an English branch,
so it can all be sorted prior to leaving. It can also be done without going into the branch which was
convenient because we lived in the North West of England and the branch was in London.
How do you apply? If you go on the Commonwealth bank website it will let you print off an
application form which you complete and send away, you just give your UK details including
passport info and passwords as that's how they identify you in OZ.
What happens next? You are given a contact name and number of your nearest branch on
arrival. When you get there you need to ring this number and make an appointment to go in.
How do we transfer our money? Once your house is sold etc. you will have the money
in your normal bank account. You can arrange with your bank to have the money
transferred over to your London Commonwealth bank account. This transaction is done
for a fee. Once completed the Commonwealth acknowledge receipt and transfer it to your
Australia account after which they will tell you what exchange rate you received and how
many dollars it translated into.
What happens at the appointment? When you go to your appointment allow a good hour, the
bank will tell you what you need to take with you. At that appointment you will open your
account(s), they will give you your EFTPOS (switch equivalent) card and tell you how to use the
accounts. They will also give you lots more info about insurances etc.
Our personal experience:
We found the staff to be extremely helpful but not at all pushy. We did a lot of
searching on the internet to compare prices but we found the Commonwealth a
good insurer for contents and also took life insurance out with them too. We
arranged at a later date to talk to their pensions adviser as you get a free
consultation and in the end also had them transfer our pensions over from the UK
too. We would certainly recommend their services.
Copyright 2006 Karen Atkinson
