# Which bank should I choose?



## MiloK (Aug 24, 2012)

Hi. We're about to emigrate to Australia and want to open a bank account before we leave....which bank is the best?! Thanks.


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## tenten (Aug 12, 2012)

I would not know, but 2 names that have frequently been thrown around on the forum are NAB and Westpac. You could visit their websites to find out if they offer what you are looking for.

National Australia Bank - NAB

Westpac - Australia's First Bank


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## garrycool (Dec 29, 2011)

MiloK said:


> Hi. We're about to emigrate to Australia and want to open a bank account before we leave....which bank is the best?! Thanks.


Hi
I would say CommonWealth as most people suggests me this when I came here...


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## speedyv9 (Aug 9, 2012)

MiloK said:


> Hi. We're about to emigrate to Australia and want to open a bank account before we leave....which bank is the best?! Thanks.


Hi 
You may want to consider commonwealth for below reasons:-

- You can open an account from anywhere in the world and well before you land in oz. An account can be opened literally over the phone.
- They seem to have a lot of branches/atm's throughout the country
- They have toll free/ local contact numbers for enquiries, which means you can call them and clear all your FAQ's at domestic calls rates before opening up an account.
- Seem to offer reasonably good customer service and found them quite helpful and upfront during my telecom with their customer service.
- Offers different banking account types - eg: every day account and savings account, etc
- Once you activate your account, you can perform online transactions 
- Good / clean website that is easy to navigate and understand (try for yourself and you can see the difference between the other oz banks) - gives me an impression the bank has a simple and easy style of dealing with customers

Although I am yet to open an account with them, IMHO they seem to check all the relevant boxes that I would look in a bank and hence thought of recommending them to you. Besides, we may need a bank to get us started in Oz and to transfer funds before you migrate and if for whatever reasons the bank is not great, you can always open account with another bank and close down the account or minimise the funds you retain in this bank.

Here's the website: commbank.com.au/personal/international/moving-to-australia/default.aspx

Ofcourse, the feedback from forum members already residing in Oz would be more reliable as they would have experienced the commonwealth bank's services firsthand.

Hope this helps and good luck with your move to Oz.


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## Judy&Rob (May 31, 2011)

Hi, if your emigrating from the Uk....AnNZ bank had an offer combined with Emirates where if you opened an account with them and booked a flight through emirates you got 50kg luggage allowance plus 7kg hand luggage.....that was back in April when we came out


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## mbond819 (Feb 27, 2013)

*Banks..*



tenten said:


> I would not know, but 2 names that have frequently been thrown around on the forum are NAB and Westpac. You could visit their websites to find out if they offer what you are looking for.
> 
> I am not a fan of banks myself. I had an account with NAB and they made accounting errors on the account. I would not trust them. I wouldn't really trust any of the big banks though, Heritage Building society is good, and credit unions. The service is more personal and overall more trustworthy.


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## ozbound12 (Mar 23, 2012)

My feeling is that all of the "big four" banks - Commonwealth, Westpac, NAB and ANZ - are all basically the same. I went with NAB because I was able to open the account before I arrived (although I think you can do this with all of the major banks), they don't charge monthly fees, and the banker I dealt with even helped me get a credit card so I can start building credit right away. Plus they have ATMs everywhere.


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## Ursan (Jan 26, 2013)

Commonwealth bank is the best because i have found them the most reliant and convenient and you can access the atm at every 7eleven store for free if you are with commonwealth so probably u can think of having ATM access at every corner. I have found them to be the best, i had accounts with NAB and ANZ as well.

Sent from my iPad using ExpatForum


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## Sukhoi (Jun 23, 2012)

I reached Sydney about a month and half back. I stayed in CBD for some time and then shifted to two other places near to CBD. I have an account only with NAB, but got the opportunity to bank with ANZ and Commwealth. I felt in terms of service, Commonwealth definitely scores slightly better over the other two. From my general observation staying in different areas of Sydney, in terms of ATMs, I felt Commonwealth has more in number and easily accessible. As others, I suggest you go with Commonwealth.


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## Tas Burrfoot (Aug 4, 2012)

I got Commonwealth and NAB - both of these I opened even before I entered Australia...

So far, they are okey!


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## slagozzz (Oct 13, 2012)

Which bank is good for perth?


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