Opening an Australian bank account is one of the most pressing things for any new migrant to do upon arriving in Australia, and Rebecca Jolis from the National Australia Bank (NAB) has news of a new update for their customers:

NAB announced on 15th October it would be abolishing more bank fees on customer accounts. Fees to be abolished include current $4 and $5 monthly account service fees on NAB’s most popular everyday personal transaction accounts: Classic and e-Banking.

There is no asterisk, no disclaimers and no rule requiring customers to make a minimum monthly deposit. The fees will be abolished with effect from January 22, 2010.

Monthly account service fees are one of the most unpopular fees charged by banks, and commonly cost customers between $3 and $10 a month, or up to $120 a year, and more than 860,000 NAB customers will benefit from the decision to abolish these fees.

Today’s announcement means monthly account service fees will be abolished or waived for around 97% of all NAB personal transaction account customers.

Monthly account service and a range of transaction fees will also be abolished on 10 other transaction and savings accounts with effect from January 22, 2010.

This will mean the only personal transaction account with a monthly account service fee will be NAB’s premium Gold Banking product which provides extra benefits like purchase protection, overseas travel insurance and no NAB fees on overseas transactions.

If you would like more information on banking in Australia or opening an account before you leave the UK, please contact the NAB Migrant Banking team on 0208 6149 320 or email .

- NAB are a partner of the Australian Visa Bureau, an independent company specialising in helping migrants with their Australia visa application.

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