Hi
I need to open a US dollar account in an Australian bank. I looked at the Commonwealth product and see that they charge for inward transfers. Anyone know of an account with minimal/ no fees?
Thanks
Foreign Currency Savings Account with no fees??
Amaris on 11/03/2014 - 12:04
Comments
How do you withdraw the funds? Would the bank have USD currency on hand to give it to you?
HSBC can give out funds in AUD, USD and HKD. But you'd have to go to a branch to get those.
I pair it with another HSBC account of mine. Thus, the action of transferring money between my AUD account and my USD account is the transaction of foreign exchange itself. The rate is not as good as say, a CFD - it will be about 0.5c difference to xe.com. In otherwords, if u want to 'play the forex' you need the usd/aud to move more than 1c before u can make a profit. There are better ways to make money through forex; this is just a tool for locking your money in USD.
I used Bank of Sydney which had no admin fee, but again didn't use them for transfer In/Out so you'd have to check those fees. Easier to use ozforex for transfers between different currency accounts.
The other bank you could use is Citibank for its Multicurrency Account. They don't charge monthly fees.
http://www.citibank.com.au/aus/investments/multi_currency_ac…
This one has a minimum initial deposit / investment of AUD $10,000.
Does anyone know if the HSBC account has such a requirement? I haven't been able to find any reference to it yet.
Umm that HSBC weblink I posted previously shows one of the overview points of the account as "No minimum opening or ongoing balance requirements". Hope this helps.
YEah… :)
I actually saw that after I posted that, and couldn't edit. Applied on Friday.Actually, someone from HSBC rang yesterday and we talked a bit about the account. Re: withdrawals, he said that it could be done at the branch, but he's not sure what OTC withdrawal fees would apply. Have you had any experience?
Unfortunately, no experience in that department sorry. Haven't had the opportunity to cash out in an overseas currency. Sorry.
If I remember correctly, with HSBC, you have to maintain $10k equivalent in foreign currency, otherwise it would attract $10 fee per month. Also withdrawing FC, or even transferring to another local FC account adds around .25% fee. This part I didn't like at all.
Citi don't enforce the min deposit amount, I know this because I used to work for them. Plus I have one of their USD and EUR accounts, both with less than 10k worth of currency deposited.
I'd go into one of the branches, maybe the Pitt street one and tell them you are getting USD 15,000 shortly and need an account in AU to transfer it to. Obviously you wont have the cash on you so you cant be expected to hand it over for an opening deposit.
I'd be very surprised if they didn't open it for you.
Don't expect good savings rates though.
I have a USD account with HSBC, but it is not meant to handle incoming/outgoing transactions. It is only meant to change between AUD to USD. It works like a less effective forex account, where you transfer money into USD when the rates are good, and vice versa. Helped me tack on a few grand before I traveled to USA.