Moving to US for 12 months: CC and banking advice

[levelnine]

Hi

I am going to be moving to the US for 12 months to undertake a Masters program.

I have just started to look into the financial aspects of the move, and I was hoping that maybe I could get some advice and general tips from anyone who has done it before?

1. I have some savings that will be going towards the funding of my trip. As the AUD-USD exchange rate is near an all time high, I'm investigating whether I can open a US bank account and transfer a sum of money into it now to lock in the high exchange rate (even if that means I will no longer be earning interest on the money). Has anyone had any experience in opening a US bank account from Australia? It looks to be very difficult, but there are various reports on the internet of it being done.

2. One of the main issues I'm worried about is obtaining a US credit card. From my research, it appears that banks are generally unwilling to give foreign students a US credit card due to having no credit history. I know that AMEX allows card holders to transfer Australian cards to a United States card (American Express - Moving Abroad - Global Card Transfer - United States). However, I do not have an AMEX-issued card (only a Westpac-issued AMEX card) and there appears to be a 12-month requirement before they will do a transfer and I'm going overseas in less than 6 months. Has anyone ever had the 12-month requirement waived? What sort of annual fees do AMEX charge on transferred cards?

Are there any other options out there?

I already have a Wizard CC, which I can use overseas fee free. However, if the exchange rate plummets, I'd like to use a US card and pay it off out of my US bank account.

Of course, any other advice or tips (financial or otherwise) for someone moving to the US would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

 

[markis10]

Have you considered just moving yourself and leaving your finances in Australia, plenty of banks etc offer USD accounts these days and i am not sure what there is to gain from going to a US based setup for 12 months.

 

[FrankC]

Hi

I know that with HSBC Premier, you can open a US bank account and a credit card account, and they also provide you with free instant internet transfer between your US and AU accounts, which can be very handy

Note there are some criteria for an Australian HSBC Premier account though

 

[markjb]

Drop into a Bank Of America you can open a student account with your passport and you get it free for 4 years i belive i did same thing last year when i moved over here for a bit.

You get a visa debit card with that.

if you get a tax id number you can get a credit card as well and of course a social.

I have a friend who works at bank of america in SF if you need a hook up.

 

[blueflamenco]

Good for you! Where in the US are you heading? I studied in the US for a couple of years too, just back recently.

I opened my account while in the US so I can't advise you on that but I would recommend speaking with Citibank since if you have an Australian Citibank account you can do free transfers to an American Citibank account. They may be able to set you up from here, I'm not sure though.

You will probably have trouble getting a credit card, however I would recommend getting a Citibank Debit Mastercard with American Advantage miles. You get 1 mile per dollar spent and it is a great deal (esp. if your paying those school fees!).

 

[levelnine]

Have you considered just moving yourself and leaving your finances in Australia, plenty of banks etc offer USD accounts these days and i am not sure what there is to gain from going to a US based setup for 12 months.

I will need a US account to pay for bills and the like. From what I've been told, having a checking account to pay utilities, rent, etc is essential.

However, do you have any suggestions for which banks offer USD accounts with favourable fees? It'd be pretty good to be able to transfer my money into an Australian USD account prior to my departure.

I know that with HSBC Premier, you can open a US bank account and a credit card account, and they also provide you with free instant internet transfer between your US and AU accounts, which can be very handy

Note there are some criteria for an Australian HSBC Premier account though

I did look into HSBC Premier, but I don't have the requisite resources (something like $200K in savings) to open an account.

Drop into a Bank Of America you can open a student account with your passport and you get it free for 4 years i belive i did same thing last year when i moved over here for a bit.

You get a visa debit card with that.

if you get a tax id number you can get a credit card as well and of course a social.

I have a friend who works at bank of america in SF if you need a hook up.

Brilliant - thanks for the advice. Given that BoA have branches everywhere over the US, it might be handy to have an account with them when I go travelling to avoid ATM fees.

Good for you! Where in the US are you heading? I studied in the US for a couple of years too, just back recently.

I opened my account while in the US so I can't advise you on that but I would recommend speaking with Citibank since if you have an Australian Citibank account you can do free transfers to an American Citibank account. They may be able to set you up from here, I'm not sure though.

You will probably have trouble getting a credit card, however I would recommend getting a Citibank Debit Mastercard with American Advantage miles. You get 1 mile per dollar spent and it is a great deal (esp. if your paying those school fees!).

I'll be studying in New Haven. I'm really looking forward to it.

Many thanks for the tip regarding Citibank Debit Mastercard. I have a HSBC account at the moment, which may be able to do a similar thing, but I'll look into the Citibank option.

 

[moa999]

As at four years ago Citi US and Citi Aus were very different beasts.

City Aus unable to touch my US account, nor acept US$ cheques for deposit, nor help with closing the account.

 

[Soundguy]

If you can open your US bank account first the most efficient currency transfer method would be to use a third party like OzForex or (even better rates) Currency Online to transfer funds. Much better transfer rates than the banks and just about as fast, also can be done via the internet or phone banking from anywhere (eg could be done after you arrive & set up the US account). Have fun!

 

[blueflamenco]

If you can open your US bank account first the most efficient currency transfer method would be to use a third party like OzForex or (even better rates) Currency Online to transfer funds. Much better transfer rates than the banks and just about as fast, also can be done via the internet or phone banking from anywhere (eg could be done after you arrive & set up the US account). Have fun!

Interesting, I never knew about this!

Do you still come out on top when you take into account the fee the receiving bank charges? I suppose it would depend on the size of the transaction?

 

[levelnine]

If you can open your US bank account first the most efficient currency transfer method would be to use a third party like OzForex or (even better rates) Currency Online to transfer funds. Much better transfer rates than the banks and just about as fast, also can be done via the internet or phone banking from anywhere (eg could be done after you arrive & set up the US account). Have fun!

Thanks for the tip. I will definitely investigate.

 

[HardieBoys]

Westpac have an arrangement with Bank of America (and Scotiabank in Canada and Mexico, for that matter). Using a BoA ATM with a Westpac card won't incur a 'foreign ATM' fee, but you will still have to pay the foreign currency transaction fee.