Ben Legume wrote: > > >>And how come there are so many people from Australia into > egold??! :) > > You've obviously never tried to open/operate an Australian bank > account. As well as needing roughly the same ID requirements to get a > passport, the incompetent, rude staff have to be seen to be believed, > and most banks have closed thousands of their branches over the last > 10 years to save money. > > I started using E-gold after I found it was easier, cheaper and > quicker to send cheques and money orders from the US back to the US, > to buy E-gold, than to have to que for half an hour, then negotiate > with the staff who would as often as not refuse to let me bank > cheques from overseas if they were made out to my business, as I "may > have found them in the street". Not to mention that most (if not all) > the banks here take 28 days to clear all overseas instruments OF ANY > TYPE! This means money orders, postal orders, even bank cheques, > cashier's cheques and bank draughts have to be held a month before > they clear. Makes it difficult to sell things to customers OS when > they find out they have to wait a month for the payment to clear. Australia has one of the world's best banking systems: 1. Internet banking is cheap, widely used and useful (Westpac charges me 25c per BPAY or direct transfer, transfers between Westpac customers clear instantly and to other banks within a banking day, can download records to financial software on PC) 2. Telephone banking is cheap, widely used and useful (enables BPAY bill payments and account balances and request statements etc. Westpac has a 1800 number for this service) 3. 24 hour 7 day customer service on the telephone (Westpac again) 4. Cash Management Trust (CMT) accounts are available without any fees or charges whatsoever and pay monthly interest at near wholesale rates, funds are accessible (BPAY in and direct credit out or direct debit authority with your broker). 5. EFTPOS is reasonably widely available and used and reasonably cheap (about 65c) and most retailers offer cash out with purchases. 6. Government does not influence the allocation of credit in the economy, own any commercial banks or bear bank risk or insure deposits. 7. International Transfers can clear within a short time (my mother sent me a few hundred bucks from NZ early this year and they arrived clear and available within a few days). 8. Banks and financial institutions are free to offer all types of financial services including insurance, superannuation, brokerage services, credit cards etc. You can trade online with Westpac and other banks. 9. Taxes and government charges on financial transactions are low and are being eliminated as part of the New Tax System. 10. Account keeping fees are moderate on most types of transaction accounts ($10 a month gives me 25 free transactions per month with my Westpac account). 11. Did I mention that you can get chequing accounts with banks? I don't have one because such antiquated instruments are not necessary or expedient to use, and certinally very inexpedient to receive. I have not received a pay cheque for years and I have had about 15 jobs in the last couple of years. 12. Lots of ATMs (I walk past 4 ATMs between my house and the train station two blocks away (HSBC, Commonwealth, ANZ and Westpac)). In fact they are everywhere, in convinience stores, pubs, shopping malls and every bank has an ATM. 13. You can easily set up automatic payments, direct debit authorities and with BPAY you can schedule bill payments on the due date, or in fact any date you wish. There are few, if any, places where fees are lower or services are better than Australia. I believe the US banking system is considerably worse. David Hillary --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: archive@jab.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
