Taking £3000 to Australia

dustofnations · 20 Dec 2010 at 00:05

[TW]Fox;18037660 said:
Please read the thread before replying

I have already explained:

a) Which credit card you can take which WONT hit you with a massive fee, and works out very cost effective for cash withdrawls

b) Why a Thomas Cook prepaid mastercard is a massive ripoff.

I did say "usually", and I did read the thread. Most credit cards will rip you off, and 1% on the clarity withdrawals will add up, especially if he decides to use more than 3K, hence I would still prefer a bank account (especially if longer term stay may be viable).

Appreciate your accusation though, thanks.

btw with curencyfair, you can ask for a particular rate and see if someone will accept your offer. If they don't then you can take the standard rate before you travel.

Totality · 20 Dec 2010 at 03:37

Another thing to think about with the credit card option Fox is talking about is depreciation of the GBP. When I came across, the GBP to NZD was taking a battering then went up to 2.2 GBP to 1NZD which was the highest it had been for ages so transferring all the money to a 0% cash passport meant I had that amount of NZD no matter what the GBP did after that.

The GBP then proceeded to fall down from 2.21 when I came over in August to to just over 2.04 in November. I had 6000GBP on the card at the time which was worth about 13200 when I transferred it across to top up the card at the start. If I was relying on my UK account the same amount of GBP would have been worth 12240 after the currency dropped from 2.21 to under 2.04 in November. Thats almost 1000 NZD which is 5 months rent here (its cheap

)!!

As I had the money on the cash passport already it wasnt a problem though as I had luckily bought at the high point and because the card had already been loaded at the high figure I had not lost anything and it still hasn't gone back to 2.2 close to 4 months later. I have since withdrawn the money from the cash passport (fee free) and placed it into a NZ account as I have decided to stay. Obviously if the GBP goes up in value it would have made it worse off, but given the bad press Europe appears to be having in the press outside of Europe who knows how the currency is going to go.

Here's a chart of NZD to GBP since I came over mid-august.

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/echarts...osshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=off;source=;

The other plus point of not using a credit card is that you can only spend what you load onto the card so if you get excited in the holiday spirit you can't be stupid!

[FnG]magnolia · 20 Dec 2010 at 07:55

Totality said:
Thats almost 1000 NZD which is 5 months rent here (its cheap )!!

That is 6 days mortgage for us. Where in the *** are you living? Do you live on an illegal boat or actually in the sea?!

Actually, wait. 5 months is 20 weeks and that means 50 bucks per week? Your sums are off, man, or I've missed something :confused:

Smithy · 20 Dec 2010 at 12:38

Just had a phone call from ozforex to confirm my registration. I was talking to the chap there and he said that a fee won't be charged for a bank-to-bank transfer, so all I have to worry about is the exchange rate.

Just logged in to ozforex and got a quote. They're offering a rate of 1.5484, which isn't a great rate, but it only means I'll be getting about $50 less for my £3000 than I would if I used the Visa Wholesale Rate. For the sake of $50, and having all my money in one place and not having to worry about credit cards, it's probably worthwhile.

[TW]Fox · 20 Dec 2010 at 12:42

Having a credit card is not a 'worry'. Infact, not having one might be. Try paying cash for a rental car and see how far it gets you. No credit card, no car at most national renters. Sure you might not want a car but it's just an example.

Plus you need to set up a bank account in Aus first, which you'll need an AU address in order to do. You can set up a PO Box or something, but how much of this process you can do from here is not something I am clear on.

Smithy · 20 Dec 2010 at 13:40

Aye, having a credit card in any case would probably be wise. However, I'm sure that most places which won't deal with cash would deal with an AU bank card.

The logistics of how to set up an AU bank account from abroad is something I'm in the process of working out.

Relentless81 · 20 Dec 2010 at 13:44

Probably just me but I think being forced into a situation where you have to have a credit card is annoying and it would probably sway my decision on if I want to go or not I cant stand them you should be able to use a debit card without being charged

Smithy · 20 Dec 2010 at 13:47

Relentless81 said:
Probably just me but I think being forced into a situation where you have to have a credit card is annoying and it would probably sway my decision on if I want to go or not I cant stand them you should be able to use a debit card without being charged

Really? I find this hard to believe... you would choose not to go on a 7 month travelling holiday because the best financial option was to use a credit card? :confused:

Smithy · 21 Dec 2010 at 16:56

I visited a Halifax branch today. We went through the procedure of setting up a credit account and basically got told "the computer says no". I think my non-existent credit history doesn't do much for my credit rating, so they were unable to open an account for me.

Looks like I'll have to take a few hundred dollars with me in cash to see me through the first few days while my Australian account opens, then use forex to transfer my money over.

Totality · 21 Dec 2010 at 22:09

[FnG]magnolia;18038551 said:
That is 6 days mortgage for us. Where in the *** are you living? Do you live on an illegal boat or actually in the sea?!

Actually, wait. 5 months is 20 weeks and that means 50 bucks per week? Your sums are off, man, or I've missed something

Rent outside the main cities is cheap. I live in a shared house with other people so it's cheap as chips! Saying that the house isn't the nicest there is so I'm moving in with a mate in a nice 2 bed place next to the beach next month then it shoots up to 200 a week inc bills. But I'll be next to the sea for kite surfing so all good! I used to pay more than that for a small room in a flat in Southampton!

marmalade · 2 Jan 2011 at 17:42

pay the money into an OZ bank in the UK for payment to one of their branches in OZ and then use their debit card to withdraw cash. The rate of exchange should also be better this way.
It is often more fun to stay in a hostel than rent a flat check out the notice boards in the hostels.
Don't forget that you can make free telephone calls via Mcdonalds wifi either skype or cheaper option that I use www.internetcalls.com for overseas calls I tend to use my 10" asus netbook. If you are serious about working then get around to as many as poss employment agnecies In Oz you get pro rate payments included in your hourly rate for public hols etc.

Guest2 · 2 Jan 2011 at 19:39

a fat sack of 5p's

Vanilla · 3 Jan 2011 at 00:54

I use HiFX and Moneycorp to move my money into an AUS bank account.

You can open a NAB bank account from the UK on a work holiday visa and then move the money in. Google search should bring the link up but bear in mind you can't touch the money when it's in the NAB account until you get out to australia