Australia is a great country with lots of amazing places to see and exciting things to do. If you are visiting Australia as a tourist or have a plan of staying there for a while, you should open Australian bank account for convenience.
In this article, we’ll give tips on how to open a bank account in Australia. The benefit of having an Australian bank account while you’re in that country is easy and safe transfer of money across all parts of Australia.
Speak to your local bank first. If it’s an international bank, it must be having branches in Australia. If your bank is not international, you need to select an Australian bank. Four major banks in Australia are Westpac, National Australia Bank, ANZ and Commonwealth Bank.
Most of these banks allow overseas customers to open an account 12 months prior to their arrival. So make sure your are arriving within next 1 year from the date of opening the account. You’ll have to choose one from three types of accounts. They are;
- Everyday account
- Savings account
- Investment account
Choose between everyday account and savings account unless you are an investor. Opening an everyday account means you could withdraw money at your whim whereas opening a savings account comes with keeping the money as deposit for a fixed amount of time and with an interest rate. There’s no monthly account fee for either of the two accounts.
You could open the account online. It’s easy and hassle free, shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes of your time. Do read with attention all the clauses and TOC though; for example, US citizens are required to submit their Tax Identification Number (TIN) or social security number. Until you get past the identity check with the bank, your account will only be active for receiving deposit and not for any other purpose.
Once the identification process is done, you’d get full access to your account. You could then transfer fund to the new account so when you land in Australia, you’ll have Australian dollars in hand. You’ll also get the advantage of suitable exchange rates.
One more thing you need to keep in mind. If you are coming to Australia for business or work purpose, do send the details of your newly created account to your employer or client.
