<blockquote rel="rareking">Hi there. After reading the first 20 pages on this topic tsaka yung topic about banks. Can summarize the preference on bank as below:
Yung pinaka pinoyau friendly na bank before going to Oz is CBA dahil meron sila product tailored for people like us - recent grants. 🙂.
CBA Smart Access Account will allow you to open account kahit wala ka pa dun.
Merong monthly fee na aud4 kapag walang 2k deposit monthly pero may lusot daw although I am not suggesting it. I think personally cheating pa din sya. Hanap na Lang agad work para di na makaltasan ng 4aud monthly. Hehe. Pressure.
Yung ibang products ng CBA I think di sya ganun ka friendly sa mga kagaya ko kasi nagrerequire na sya ng address in Australia.
With the Smart Acess Account, you can start to open it online and start to transfer your money Kung saan ka man sa Mundo thru wire transfer and I think there are some other ways too. You can do this 3 months before you actually arrived sa Oz. Super!
Google CBA Moving to Australia or CBA Smart Access account for details.
Tip: if you read more in the site, meron sila summary checklist on the things you need to do before going to Australia. Well presented site at very informative.
Kindly pacorrect ng assumptions ko Kung May Mali or let me know other pinoyau-friendly alternatives na meron yung ibang banks. I still think that I should not bring a lot of cash and wire transfer is still the safest at mas murang way to transfer money from my current location to Oz.
PS - I am not working on CBA at wala ding kaibigan dun. This week ko nga Lang malaman na May bankong ganun ang pangalan. Ang alam ko Lang ay Commonwealth Games. LOL. </blockquote>
I think most bank should have their migrant-banking scheme; NAB has one as we took this bank together with CBA.
On #3, I don't think this is cheating... It is what it is and if you want to save $4 per month, you can do it.