...and so my Australia plans continue.

It has turned out that whilst away my work will continue to pay me pounds sterling into my English HSBC Graduate Plus account. This leads to the issue of me incurring fees to get at my money in Oz.

Now I have spoken with my bank, and can set up an Australian HSBC bank account, equivalent to my existing English one, once out there (I could do it now, but at cost ) - but still, moving money from the English account to the Australian one will incur charges - because "apparently" it's handled as an international transfer....

Now there are money sending companies, who I've yet to really look into properly, who "apparently" can do this kind of money sending cheaper than the banks can (how is beyond me entirely) - and I think, to minimise this expenses, they may pose the best option.

I will be explaining to my employers that I will be passing on ALL of these transfer charges to them through my expense claims; as I personally do not see how they can be considered anything but a business expense (I am, afterall, out there on their business) - but obviously I don't want this to become a massive issue... and the cheaper/quicker method will be in both mine and my employers interest.

My question therefore (and the reason for this thread) is what are your thoughts on the matter? Has anyone had any dealings with money sending companies? Can anyone see a flaw in my "expenses" logic? Does anyone bank with a truly global bank that I could sign up to instead of all of this? How would you do it if it were you? Questions questions...

It might be worth pinging a PM to (belching)Matt, he's over there and can probably offer some help.

As to how the money sending companies can do it cheaper, it's simple: Banks are greedy robbing bar stewards that will try to fleece you for as much as they think they can get away with. The actual cost of transferring the money is probably a few pence.

It's worth planning this properly; When I was in Oz, banks were an expensive business - on the average account, you get so many transactions (even via an ATM) per month, then you start getting charged. If you're not careful, a lot of your money can disappear in charges.

Another option, at least for part of your spending, might be a UK based credit card. If you shop around, interest rates can be reasonable and you'll save a lot in percentages and charges from transferring your money internationally. It's worth checking though, to make sure the card company will be happy with you being out of the country for so long.

www.moneybookers.com could do this for you I believe, I think they charge £1.50 a withdrawl though

You could even paypal it to yourself as a gift so you don't incur fees in fact as you would need 2 paypal accounts and a second Aussie bank account

Egg do the Egg Money card, you can load it up from a UK account, if you're in credit there is no charge for withdrawls/international purchases and it's just converted (did my spending in the USA on it and even withdrew from an ATM as I was in credit while I was there), £1 a month charge I think

Interesting... but seems quite convoluted... whereas
sounds like quite a viable option... I'll look it up / give them a call tomorrow.

http://new.egg.com/visitor/0,,3_78868-- ... 36,00.html

It's easy to get an account and I find the card really useful, especially as they provide a LOT of additional extras (like a 1years additional warranty, ticket cover for gigs etc)

1.50 for a withdrawl isn't bad. Abbey charge me 46 quid to transfer money to my German account! I therefore tend to do the transfers in lumps of over 10K...

I use Moneybookers with European betting companies, they seem to offer the best rates and dont charge too much if you do it via debit card

Us a UK credit card ( one that does not charge for overxseas withdrawals - Abbey In think and the post office) and then set up a DD to pay the card off in full each month

However getting your work to pay for the banking Tfr costs is reasonable - rasie that with them for a monthly Tfr to the Auz bank account.

the advantage of that is that it would all be via HSBC so les chance of it going wrong and if it does you ony have 1 company to chase