Ideas & Loose Ends to clear up before you leave OZ

[lynJer 7]

Hi Guys,

Hope you are all going thru the K1 process without too much stress. It was one time in my life that Im glad I dont have to go thru again.

Thought I would suggest something..

4 mths after arriving here in the usa I (actually think it was the yank hubby) lost my Aussie Visa credit card my ozz pic licence, not long after getting here, and the bank (nab) do not send replacements OS....Lucky for me I had a normal debit card to access my Australian funds but KICK MY SELF STUPID, for not setting up an address of one of my neighbours or family for things like banking, rego, licence etc...

So, if you can remember, before leaving Oz, go change your address with your banks to someone who can redirect, or open and read for you or what ever....things like rego, you need someone from the same state.

I redirected my mail via the post office - for about 3 mths for a ridiculous price....so after a while this is really not an option.

Good Luck

[Bracy2011 2]

Thanks so much for this advice lynJer, i'm sure this will come in handy for people like me who are normally a scatterbrain, luckily I'm living with my parents while going through the visa process to save money etc but I'm sure many of us could deal well hearing this advice. So thankyou for sharing. Its the little things that matter the most sometimes

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Another good idea is to set up a Power of Attorney for the trust person. For me I was living at home with my parents so no drama with mail. I set up a POA with my mum able to do stuff for me and when i was being charged a crazy fee by the bank she went in for me and dealt with it. LIFE SAVER.

Only problem.. woman at the bank claimed that because it was in my maiden name it was "restricted" or something to only able to do certain things. Bull. ######.

[Deb+Steve 13]

That's excellent advice. I did the same thing 2 months and rang St George to order a new card. After being assured they can do it, still no card. I checked online and they've changed my address to the US one. I still have a mailing address in Aus so now I'm waiting for my friends to check my mail and send me the card. They were also supposed to send me a pin generator for online funds transfers because they only send txt alerts to Australian mobiles and I'm still waiting on that too.

I shut my ING Direct account but they were the only ones to send me the pin generator and update my address with no hassles. Wish I'd known St George was going to be a pain I would have shut that one instead.

Edited October 11, 2011 by Deb+Steve

[k84 11]

Commonwealth Bank will send replacement debit and credit cards to an overseas address (as long as you set it as your new account address) but you have to call them and request it - it wont be sent automatically like they do when you live in Australia. They charge $20 AUD for the privilege too.

I called a couple of weeks ago to request a new MasterCard debit card because mine was a week from expiring and it arrived here on Thursday. I don't use it for much these days (having been here for 3 years) but it is nice to have and very useful whenever I'm able to go home to visit.

BankWest sent me a replacement credit card to my US address when that expired. I didn't have to call them or pay anything extra for it - it just arrived shortly after the previous one expired.

[Amanda and Josh 12]

Thanks to the post I have organised with my best friend to use her address for everything once we leave. Without you guys it would never have occurred to me :-)