We kept our Heritage Building Society accounts open when we left Australia. The online only account particularly has always earned much better interest than we could have got in the UK or France. They are always very helpful over the phone or by email, and my father has power of attorney to operate the accounts for the few things that need to be done in person. It’s handy for us when we visit Australia, but also because we have Australian clients who can pay us in AUD. We can then use the money in Australia, or transfer at our convenience to France or the UK using our preferential rate with a currency dealer who operates in both Europe and Australia (saving us international transfer fees). We also have Lloyds Worldwide Service accounts for sterling.
Fraussie
November 26th, 2012 at 3:57 pm
And you certainly made a smart move when you kept your Australian accounts open. I did initially, but never used them because transferring money 37 years ago was very expensive and I didn’t have any income in Australia. I should have kept the account anyway.
It always seems to be tricky and expensive to keep a bank account going in the country you moved from. You generally need to, though, for things like life assurance policies etc and a bit more financial security, but no one makes it easy.
Fraussie
November 27th, 2012 at 6:12 pm
It’s strange, isn’t it? Particularly in this day and age!
Pamela
March 6th, 2013 at 1:36 am
Rosemary
Did you know that there is a new Australian law that if you have a bank account here that has had no transactions in three years the government takes the money from the account?! Worth being aware of! Best wishes, Pamela
Rosemary Kneipp
March 6th, 2013 at 11:54 am
Thanks, Pamela, for letting me know about that. Fortunately, with the two linked accounts, I have set up the once a month transferral so that makes a movement in each account. However, I am going to tell my daughter about it as she still has an account in Australia with a bit of money in it that she doesn’t use.
We kept our Heritage Building Society accounts open when we left Australia. The online only account particularly has always earned much better interest than we could have got in the UK or France. They are always very helpful over the phone or by email, and my father has power of attorney to operate the accounts for the few things that need to be done in person. It’s handy for us when we visit Australia, but also because we have Australian clients who can pay us in AUD. We can then use the money in Australia, or transfer at our convenience to France or the UK using our preferential rate with a currency dealer who operates in both Europe and Australia (saving us international transfer fees). We also have Lloyds Worldwide Service accounts for sterling.
And you certainly made a smart move when you kept your Australian accounts open. I did initially, but never used them because transferring money 37 years ago was very expensive and I didn’t have any income in Australia. I should have kept the account anyway.
It always seems to be tricky and expensive to keep a bank account going in the country you moved from. You generally need to, though, for things like life assurance policies etc and a bit more financial security, but no one makes it easy.
It’s strange, isn’t it? Particularly in this day and age!
Rosemary
Did you know that there is a new Australian law that if you have a bank account here that has had no transactions in three years the government takes the money from the account?! Worth being aware of! Best wishes, Pamela
Thanks, Pamela, for letting me know about that. Fortunately, with the two linked accounts, I have set up the once a month transferral so that makes a movement in each account. However, I am going to tell my daughter about it as she still has an account in Australia with a bit of money in it that she doesn’t use.