Banking

Check out these sites for more information. www.commbank.com.au (Commonwealth bank), ANZ(ANZ bank), www.nab.com.au (National Australia Bank) and www.westpac.com.au (Westpac bank). I found that the Commonwealth bank is the cheapest and much more efficient ways for student banking, but there might be a better option that suits you. And the plus side is that they will give you a bag of freebies.

Most of them offer $0 fees for students and a savings account just for students. All you need is a student id or a confirmation of enrollment to apply as well as a passport for id. If you have arrived in Melbourne less than six weeks then a passport will do for 100 points of id.

And then you can take out heaps of money from any atm belonging to your bank for free. If you take it out from somewhere else they might charge you a fee of $2.

RMIT has a Commonwealth bank branch at the city campus and for all other campuses an ATM from the same bank. It would make sense for students to sign up to this one as there are no ATM fees.

Don't forget that the bank does charge dishonor fees (or overdrawing fees) of mainly $10 if you do take out more than you have. They only allow you to do this once.

Try and also get an online banking account as it allows you to earn interest and you can check your account online at home. You can also buy things online this way. Try and keep most of your money in this account. If you lose your card then you don't have to worry too much about losing all of your income.