Open a personal bank account - Comparison of banks offers

I used to send AUD to my ANZ account here in Viet Nam and paid very little to change it to VND, around 12 dollars if I remember correctly.Maybe the rules have changed,but 300 seems obscene,you can also try and open at Commonwealth Bank, they are here also.

philcon wrote:

Hi
Anz charge too much on conversion fees
Well The main reason i intended to bring the cash is to avoid the conversion fee the bank charges.

My bank asked for $30 to transfer the cash and 3% to convert which comes to approximately

$330 i think this is a wee bit too much

Cheers Phil

What a bloody rip off, but that's because they are doing it manually, as I posted, if you do it online, with Westpac, the first $10k is only $20, no conversion fee, it is done at the VN end, and is is minimal.
Once it arrived here, my wife would withdraw it in $A, and take it to the Bank with the best currency exchange rate, and I live in a small country " city ".

Hi
Thanks for comments, I think doing banking online is the way
To go once I have Vietnamese account. As long as my bank in Aus does
Not convert the money, seems I'm ok.
I am happy with vietnam bank converting the money as they don't
appear to rob their customers at that end.
Cheers

Hi Colin
Thanks for comments, yep obscene is the word.
Banks in Aus don't  like being robbed, when they are they can call the
Cops. Who do we call?
Cheers phil

philcon wrote:

Hi
Thanks for comments, I think doing banking online is the way
To go once I have Vietnamese account. As long as my bank in Aus does
Not convert the money, seems I'm ok.
I am happy with vietnam bank converting the money as they don't
appear to rob their customers at that end.
Cheers

Just be very careful entering the Swift codes ,( Bank Country/Branch code ), I stuffed up one time, ( apparently you had to enter the Branch number twice ), I had 10k " LOST " for over week, after many phone calls to Westpac, etc, ( the free number doesn't work anymore, and there is no such thing as " collect " calls in VN, to anywhere ), the money was " found ", and it had been converted to VND at a piss pour rate, but Westpac did the right thing, ( although it looked like my stuff up ), and converted it back to $A, and even waived the $20 transfer fee.( but of course they got it back when I transferred the money the second time ).

philcon wrote:

Hi Miley
thanks for your suggestion, this is a good link i came across recentley. This Citi bank account is only available to Aussie customers at the moment. But may have been updated

http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/citibank_p … on_account

thanks phil

That account has a $10,000 minimum balance requirement.

RayG wrote:

philcon wrote:

Hi Miley
thanks for your suggestion, this is a good link i came across recentley. This Citi bank account is only available to Aussie customers at the moment. But may have been updated

http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/citibank_p … on_account

thanks phil

That account has a $10,000 minimum balance requirement.

I'm looking forward to reading Jaitch's opinion on Citi Bank, probably won't have to wait long.

RayG wrote:

philcon wrote:

Hi Miley
thanks for your suggestion, this is a good link i came across recentley. This Citi bank account is only available to Aussie customers at the moment. But may have been updated

http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/citibank_p … on_account

thanks phil

That account has a $10,000 minimum balance requirement.

Isn't that only to avoid paying the monthly maintenance fee?, I had a Westpac account like that once , but it was only $2000 minimum balance.

Hi Citibank Plus card
No minimum balance
no minimum deposit
no annual account fees
no atm fees if you use citibank Atms (not many atms in vientnam)
don't need sms as citibank have app for iphone that works on any phone no need local chip
only available to Aussies  at the moment
cheers phil

Hi Ray

This account has no minimum balance, if i transfer citibank to citibank there is no transfer fee either
but  my only issue is that citibank will charge 3% conversion if they convert the money to dong.
But as suggested i think by bluenz, if i can get the money out in Aussie dollars in Vietnam pay no conversion fee then take it over to vietcom bank its a win win situation.

Ok thanks all  thanks for you input, i will let you know how i go and maybe my experience will
assist the next voyager.
Cheers phil

"  take it over to vietcom bank its a win win situation. "
Shop around, they don't always have the best conversion rate, BIDV usually does better. ( unfortunately, they don't do Foreign transactions , CC ).

philcon wrote:

Hi Ray

This account has no minimum balance, if i transfer citibank to citibank there is no transfer fee either
but  my only issue is that citibank will charge 3% conversion if they convert the money to dong.
But as suggested i think by bluenz, if i can get the money out in Aussie dollars in Vietnam pay no conversion fee then take it over to vietcom bank its a win win situation.

Ok thanks all  thanks for you input, i will let you know how i go and maybe my experience will
assist the next voyager.
Cheers phil

You're correct. I looked at the wrong column in the terms and conditions. Thanks.   Wish I could go back and note that on my earlier posting. I hate to let incorrect information stand.
For US Citibank customers there are some limitations and fees on international transfers.   

" You're correct. I looked at the wrong column in the terms and conditions. Thanks.   Wish I could go back and note that on my earlier posting. I hate to let incorrect information stand. "
Don't worry about it too much Ray, at least you admit when you are wrong, unlike a few others on this site.

Hi Ray
No worries, you have been very helpful
That's the great thing about these forums.
Being able share info and keep upto
Date

Cheers phil

I could not find the post where someone said there is a bank in HCM city that is easy for a foreigner to open an account. I am wondering which one is it?