Sending money to Australia or earning halfway decent interest here?

[Interested Aussie]

Anyone found any good deals for transferring funds to Australia? Bank deals on transfer are dreadful (rate and charges).

The only reason we bother at the moment is that we found some good term deposit rates in Australia that will help us recover some of the costs of transfer.

Reluctant to keep money here earning <1% - any ideas on that front will also be welcomed!!

[interest]

Out of interest, what is the best term deposit rate you've found ?

[Kubes.SG]

Why not convert the SGD into an AUD term deposit account with one of the AU banks here in Singapore.  Sure the rate will not be great and you may lose out on some further AUD devaluation vs SGD, but at least the interest will be 100% tax free in SG.  That can turn a 7% return into an effect 10-11% return depending on your AU tax status.

[Exchange Rate Dilema]

PP your answer was so helpful to me. Thank you. I have a further question which I think you will be able to help me with is:

Wouldn't it be better to exchange the money now from SGD to AUD$ at a decent 1.14 exchange rate and invest the money in Aus (in AUS$) in a fixed term deposit. This could earn a high return, like say 7.5%, even though you may end up paying tax there?

What is the gereral fixed-term deposit rate in Aus now?

[Kubes.SG]

Certainly a better deal than 2 weeks ago with you asked the question.  Of course you probably betting more on the FX variations than on the interest rate you can get.  AUD term deposits are around 7% at the moment.

[sausages]

Why not convert the SGD into an AUD term deposit account with one of the AU banks here in Singapore.  Sure the rate will not be great and you may lose out on some further AUD devaluation vs SGD, but at least the interest will be 100% tax free in SG.  That can turn a 7% return into an effect 10-11% return depending on your AU tax status.

If you are a non resident for tax purposes in Australia you will only pay 10% withholding tax. You will find that the onshore banks are paying better rates than you can get here even taking this into account

[Interested Aussie]

Thanks for the posts so far. Am still interested to find out where I can get the best exhange rate and best deals on transfer - even if I do a TD here, the money has to go back to Australia sometime. More ideas welcome.

TD rates in Australia have dropped in the last few weeks, along with mortgage interest rates. I found 8.4% p.a. for $5k over 9 months at one of the small regional banks. They're currently offering 8% for a 12 month deposit.

I have a feeling that with funds becoming more expensive we may see TD rates rise again.

[out of interest]

which regional bank is offering 8.4%? Sounds too good to be true