Thread: Moving to Bali for 6months - advice on bank account

“But Jen herself will be on a social budaya visa - and they have opened an account for her.”

I didn’t read it that way. What I read was:

“However the bank simply wanted letters of recommendation from the agency that is providing our sponsors for our visas.”

And...

“In one hour we had an account , a debit card and internet banking all set up.”

Grasta, that scheme sounds reasonable and workable. I will say that after many years of dealing with PT Central Kuta, I would trust them with this sort of arrangement if unable to have an account in another way. Their reputation has been impeccable and I’ve never heard of any expat having any problems in dealing with them. Thanks for explaining how they work it.

A similar scheme works within most banjars, that being the so-called community banks. With this arrangement, the community bank also has one (or more) master account with a major bank, but issues passbooks in the name of the village based account holder. Those accounts can be issued to foreigners residing within that banjar. Checking accounts are not available, but they are convenient for depositing IDR at reasonable interest rates, and one is also helping out the local banjar.

We checked out three different banks last September in Sanur and all of them told us that we could not open an account without a KITAS. Perhaps, however, a visit to Denpasar may be more fruitful? We are looking at 6-8months next year in Bali, while we (hopefully) build a house so would really like to get an account opened on our upcoming trip.

Jenpen, dont suppose you would happen to have the address for the Pertama branch in Denpasar handy would you?

Larnes

Try signing up for a National Australia Bank GOLD account.

It is free of all ATM transaction fees worldwide.

oh yay another perth person moving to bali :)
I'm moving in april for 6months at least, possibly 1 1/2 years, depends on various opportunities i'm applying for and exploring. my first two months i am renting in seminyak in a one bed unit with kitchen, ac, fully furnised for 1.7juta/month. i only paid for two months because i am hoping to downgrade to a kos, or maybe find a place to share with others. i'm using my nab gold card when i'm away and as everyone says you pay $12/months in fees. travel insurance wise i paid for 1 year with worldnomads, their bronze cover which will cover me for mainly medical emergenices...everything else that comes with travel insurance i cant be bothered with, like if i lose my ipod in perth i would just have a sad for a day or two so why should it be different when travelling? i really recommend you stay in a guesthouse on arrival in bali and then find something when you're there. that way you'll know what you are paying for. i was just lucky with my place as my friend who lives there told me about it so i sent money over. goodluck with your planning for moving to bali :) it's a very exciting process but also quite time consuming, its taken alot of persistence and organsing of my sponsor in bali to get my visa, book my unit etc and then expenses which i forgot about like visa extensions and travel insurance. but all in all its very rewarding. would be great to catch up for a bintang, vodka or gin :)

There is an indonesian commonwealth bank here in Denpasar (http://www.commbank.co.id). I opened up an account without a Kitas. Though I needed copy of my passport and either a letter from my employer here in Bali (I think) or a letter from my bank (CBA) in Australia saying I was a customer for x years. I went with the letter from the bank, please note a bank statement wasnt enough it has to be a letter from your branch.

It was really easy and sorted in about 30 minutes. Good luck

so where s the proper location for 7000$