Accessing money (for Australians)

shayolden

I mentioned this in another thread but it seemed to get missed so I was wondering...

Are there any Aussies who can advise me about how they accessed their money from overseas? I'm with St George, who will charge me $5 for each withdrawel + a 2.5% currency conversion fee. Is this standard across the board? Do you have a better suggestion?

Kind regards,
Shayolden

New-South-Welshman

Hey Shayolden. The best thing to do, if your keycard is a Maestro, or Cirrus, etc. Go to an ATM in India, and just withdraw the maximum ammount. That is what I do. Sure it maybe a little risky carrying so much cash around, but what are the chances when you protect it like an infant?

There is a charge when using your keycard. Happens to me, and I'm with the Commonwealth Bank.

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Grantaustralia

Credit union member here and had free acces to my funds via atm.. until the new year when they charged me 8 dollars per transaction.. I took most of my funds over there (in USD/AUD) on both of my trips and got a better deal on the exchange rate than by using the ATM.

palerider

Howdy, I'm also with st George.
As welshy says, they charge a flat fee for a withdrawal whether it's one dollar or one million, so if you take out a big amount at a time, the charges work out less.
But your money goes so far in India, it's never been a problem for me, and I'm a pensioner. Hope this helps.
I tend to withdraw about two or three thousand at a time.

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nri111

i recommend speaking to Citibank in the sydney office .... its the best deal going around at the moment ..... start up a new account for drawing out money in india ..... very little costs and no conversion fees!..you get you personal atm card for indian atms ....

its called the NRE or NRO accounts,- by the way i'm not affiliated with citibank in anyway, and am not a professional who is trying to market thier plans, its simply my personal opinion..... good luck ...

wonderwomanusa

I will have to ask next time I'm at my Citibank branch (where my US$ account lives) but I do not believe there is a charge for withdrawing from any Citibank ATM on the planet from this account. That's the way it was when I opened the account and they
haven't let me know it's changed... so I'm assuming all is well.

davey

we use a westpac card with cirrus, w have never had a problem and there are plenty of secure ATMS in all of the major towns and cities that we have been too. I think they charge $5 a withdrawl but in the big picture its better than travellers cheques and works well for me

unclelach

I found that HSBC ATM's would connect to my Australian bank but some other ATM's would only connect to my VISA account. It was worth having my VISA account in credit so I could draw Rupees.

shayolden

aye i went into citibank today,
they told be that they could not better my plan with st george, in fact it was exactly the same. $5 per overseas withdrawel, 2.5% currency conversion fee.

In the grand scheme, who cares?

nri111

i opened a nre citibank account ..... firstly via online then i saw them in person at the 2 park street level 13 ...... i had no probs ....

maybe cos i look indian ..... but i'm originally from fiji ....so that shouldn;t have been the problem ... i still think aussies can open nri accounts ..... i dunno ..... why pay $7 approx for every transaction when i can get it free ...

Putty

I'm taking all my money in traveller's cheques as I feel safer with tc's then a credit card. Due to the charges, I'd find that each time I withdrew from an ATM I'be be drawing out more than I need and don't really want to risk walking around with 'a lot of cash'. With tc's, I can just exchange them every 3-5 days as I need them.

This worked for me last time on a 10 1/2 week trip. This time I'm going for 18 weeks and will do the same.

Just my opinion.

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just_an_old_boy

Folks,

An alternative to TC are the forex cards. For my official travels I use one Citibank's Centrum Currency card.

Ask the Citibank folks. Simply load up your card with XYZ amount and access your money from any of the VISA/VISA Electron ATMS. Sort of virtual/electronic TC. No hassles of TC getting stolen, banks closed etc. etc. Supplement your arrangement by carrying your regular bank account debit card and your ATM card.

Putty,
Indian banks operate on Saturdays as well. Still I'll suggest give a try to forex/currency cards.
TC's are fine in metropolitan areas. I personally switched after getting fed up with TCs.
I had a horrible time with TC's in Melbourne. There was no bank near my office in Bayswater and I had to go all the way to CBD from Ringwood on Saturdays to Amex or Travelex counters for exchanging my TC's. Got fleeced most of the time. Got wiser and asked my Delhi office to send me a Citibank forex card.

Thanks

batistuta

Are the rates reasonable Jaob for this forex card,i did not want to use my debit card in Bangkok as the Bank(Hsbc)charges wre quite expensive.Hence i had to carry cash which was quite risky.

Thx in advance.

just_an_old_boy

yes, they are reasonable.

For Indian nationals, domestic banks are also an option. HDFC and UTI too have their currency cards. If you have accounts with them, just ask about possible concessions. And if you from corporate sector, simply go through the corporate channel.

New-South-Welshman

You're probably overseas now, but yeah, there isn't a really big difference at all. It's not like Pluto and Jupiter, but do withdraw the maximum amount so the less fees your bank charges.