Okay, so a bit of background.

Travelex offer a product called a “Cash Passport”, basicly it operates similar to a Visa Debit card, in that you load a certain amount of credit, which can then be accessed through the card. The main difference is that it can’t be used for anything but withdrawing cash from ATMs.

Other banks and financial providers charge a heck of a fee for withdrawing money overseas - it’s usually AUD$5 + 1% of the total value of the transaction for Maestro / Cirrus. They also tend to have pretty poor foreign currency rate.

The big advantage of this product is that the transaction fee is fixed at AUD$3.75, and no commision. The conversion rate is also a little bit better. You can also reload it via BSB, so you can keep your dosh in ahigh-interest savings account, and just transfer it out when needed. (It’s worth noting though that you don’t earn any interest on any money in there)

I have an account with the Newcastle Permanent Building Society, and they sent me a bunch of info a while ago about them now offering me a Cash Passport.

Yesterday I went down and got some info on it - fees, conditions, etc. Finding it quite suitable, I went down today and decided to sign it up.
I understood there was a minimum amount (AUD$250) that you’re required to deposit, and there would be a 1% (min AUD$5) account establishment fee.

Now, here’s where the difficulty started.

When I went in today (Wednesday), I said I’d like to establish the account with the minimum, and then closer to when I need it - transfer across whatever I needed at the time. The woman serving me (same as yesterday) said I should probably consider leaving it until a little closer to when I go.
I queried her comment, wondering why it would make a difference (Interest on $250 is… not much for less than a month).
I was advised that there would be additional fees for depositing cash, each time I did it (1% of deposit, minimum of $5 fee).
This was, well.. shocking to put it mildly. I asked to see where this was written that I’d have to pay fees on subsequent deposits.
Over comes the manager, who says that it’s a fee on all those products, because they’re foreign curency.
I say I don’t understand why, because it stays as AUD.
The manager says it’s a requirement, and it’s in the T&C’s.
Ok Fine, but where is that written?
The manager goes to do something else, and the teller starts looking through the documentation trying to find that particular bit of text, but unable to find anything.

Meanwhile, the manager has come back and is talking to the teller (who by now is trying to call head office, who’re all apparently at lunch), and is saying “Well, it’s like any other foreign currency transaction.” as though this is something that should be obvious, and I must be a moron.

The teller comes back, unable to contact anyone to get info, and says it’s like Travellers Cheques, I counter with “But they’re in a foreign currency - so thats understandable, this doesn’t change currencies until I withdraw it.”
She comes back with “You can get Travellers Cheques in AUD”, I’m still not convinced, since they’re just like a money order then - so, again, it’s understandable.

Anyway, I leave my phone number for her to call me.

This afternoon (4PM) I get a call back and it turns out:
1) Yes, there’s a fee for depositing via the branch (1% / AUD$5)
2) No, it’s not written anywhere yet - They’re now re-writing the documentation to include that.
3) Apart from the initial deposit, until I recieve notice of an ammendment I’ll have the fee waived.
4) No, there shouldn’t be a fee for depositing via BSB (and if there is, come back and they’ll deal with it later)

It astounds me though, that the managers attutude was “There’s a fee for all deposits. It’s not not written anywhere - You’re still going to be charged for it. Any moron should be able to figure this out. So, deal with it.”, and wasn’t willing to listen to my objection and think about it for a moment.

Admittedly, the teller whom served me was excellent - she didn’t know the answers, but was willing to do the yards to look it up, and looked to her manager for guidance.

The manager, however, either has a personal grudge against me (why, I have no idea), or is having a bad day/week/year/life and decided to be a pain in the arse.