Your money, sorted before you land.
Tern is the neobank for working holiday visa travellers. Get paid by your employer day one, top up from home with no rip-off fees, earn cashback on hostels, and swap currency with fellow travellers at a flat fee โ all from one app.
2,480+ backpackers already on the waitlist
AUD balance
$4,182.50
Salary received
Sunny Coast Farms Pty ยท just now
Made for working holiday makers heading to
The working holiday money trap
Regular banks weren't built for people who move countries for a year.
We didn't read about these in a forum โ we lived them. Working our way through Australia, Canada and the US, we hit every one of these walls ourselves. These four come up again and again, and they're the four we obsess over fixing.
โNo fixed address, no account.โ
High-street banks want a utility bill and a 2-week wait โ before you've even got a hostel bed.
โMy first pay was 3 weeks late.โ
Employers can't pay you without a local account and the right details. So you work for free, then chase it.
โMum sent ยฃ500, I got ยฃ430.โ
Topping up from home means brutal exchange rates and surprise transfer fees on both ends.
โ$5 every single ATM withdrawal.โ
Foreign-card fees, ATM operator fees and weekend FX markups quietly eat your farm-work cash.
Everything in one app
One account for earning, spending and roaming abroad
Get your salary day one
Open a real local account with your own sort code / BSB / routing number in minutes โ hand the details straight to your employer and get paid on time, every time.
Top up from home, fee-free
Family back home can load your account in your home currency. We convert at the real mid-market rate โ no markup, no nasty surprise on either side.
Cashback on every hostel night
Earn money back when you pay for hostels and partner stays in-app. Your bed pays you back a little โ it adds up fast across a year on the road.
Swap currency, flat fee โ not %
Arriving with euros? Get matched with someone flying home who has leftover Aussie dollars. Swap peer-to-peer at the real mid-market rate for one small flat fee, instead of losing 2โ4% every single time.
Physical + virtual card
A proper contactless Visa debit card delivered to your hostel or share house, plus an instant virtual card for online spends the moment you sign up.
Zero ATM fees worldwide
Pull out cash for the farm, the festival or the road trip without the $5-a-pop sting. Fair limits, real exchange rates, no sneaky weekend markup.
Earning in your WHV country
Get paid like a local โ from your very first shift
A real local account with your own account number lands in your app before you even start work. Send the details to your employer once and your pay shows up on payday, not three weeks later.
- Local sort code / BSB / routing number you actually own
- Set up in minutes โ no branch visit, no proof-of-address wall
- Instant alerts the moment your wages hit
Salary received
Sunny Coast Farms ยท payday
Funding from home + currency swaps
Top up from home โ then swap cash without the % cut
Family can load your account in your home currency at the real exchange rate. And when you need to change money, skip the percentage spread: we match you with a traveller flying the other way and you swap directly for one flat fee.
- Real mid-market FX when loved ones send you cash
- Get matched with arriving & departing travellers to swap currency
- One small flat fee โ not a 2โ4% cut on every exchange
Swap matched
โฌ420 โ A$690 ยท with Mia
Straight from the backpacker forums
The stuff other banks never think about
We dug through years of working-holiday-maker complaints โ on Reddit, in visa Facebook groups, and in the news. Here's what we're building to fix the headaches no "normal" bank covers.
Super tracker & DASP refund
Change jobs and you spawn a new super fund every time โ each one quietly bleeding fees. We track them all and walk you through claiming your Departing Australia Super Payment when you fly home.
โ$21.5B in super sits unclaimed โ backpackers leave thousands behind.โ
Dodge the 45% backpacker tax
No tax file number means employers withhold a brutal 45%. We trigger your TFN / IRD / SIN application at signup and help you file a return โ the average AU refund is around $2,600.
โNo TFN = 45% of every paycheck gone until you sort it.โ
Wage-theft pay checker
We cross-check the wages landing in your account against the legal minimum for your job. If your farm or hospitality boss is underpaying you, you'll know โ with a one-tap Fair Work report.
โ1 in 3 backpackers is paid under half the minimum wage.โ
Payslip vault & 88-day tracker
Going for a second-year visa? Cash-in-hand days don't count. We store your payslips with employer ABN and location so your regional work days are documented and bulletproof.
โLost payslips can sink your second-year visa.โ
Multi-currency & home savings goal
Hold AUD, NZD, GBP, EUR, JPY and more, and watch your balance convert live toward a goal in your home currency โ โsave โฌ8,000 before I leaveโ โ with round-ups doing the work.
โI never knew what my savings were really worth back home.โ
Bond & job-scam protection
Sending a big โbondโ to a landlord you've only met online? We flag rental and job scams before you transfer, and can hold deposits safely so you actually get them back.
โFake listings cost backpackers $2,000+ bonds in Sydney & Melbourne.โ
Proof-of-funds certificate
Border control wants to see AUD 5,000 (or NZD 4,200, CAD 2,500โฆ). Generate an official, correctly-formatted balance statement with a verification QR code in seconds โ no rejected app screenshots.
โImmigration wanted proof of funds at the airport โ my app PDF got rejected.โ
Split bills across currencies
Share the campervan, the dorm and the weekly shop with mates who each earn in a different currency. Request, split and settle instantly at the real rate โ no Splitwise-to-bank chain.
โChasing six nationalities for the road-trip fuel was a nightmare.โ
Work-friendly cover
Most travel insurance secretly excludes the exact jobs you take โ farm, construction, hospitality. Toggle on day-rate cover that actually includes manual work, right from the card.
โMy insurer denied the claim because farm work was โhazardousโ.โ
Some features roll out market-by-market as we secure local partners and licensing. Tell us where you're headed and we'll prioritise it.
Up and running in a day
From โjust landedโ to โsortedโ in three steps
Sign up before you fly
Download the app and verify your ID from your sofa at home โ no local address needed. Your virtual card is ready instantly.
Land with money working
Top up from home, get your local account number, and hand it to your employer. Order your physical card to your first hostel.
Work, travel, repeat
Get paid, earn hostel cashback, swap currency flat-fee with other travellers, split costs with mates and stash savings for your next visa โ all in one app.
From the road
Backpackers who stopped losing money to the boring stuff
Illustrative stories from our early-access community.
My account number was ready before my flight even landed. Gave it to the farm on day one and got paid that Friday โ no three-week wait like my mates.
Mum tops me up from home and I get the real rate. Plus the no-ATM-fee thing genuinely saved me about $40 a week on cash runs for the road trip.
The super refund walkthrough alone got me back over $2k I would've 100% forgotten about. And hostel cashback paid for like four nights total.
Good questions
Everything you're wondering
What is Tern?+
Tern is a neobank (a fully app-based bank account) designed specifically for working holiday visa holders. It bundles a local account for your salary, fee-free funding from home, a multi-currency card with no ATM fees, peer-to-peer currency swaps, hostel cashback and a stack of WHV-specific tools like super refunds and proof-of-funds statements.
Which countries does it work in?+
We're launching for working holiday makers heading to Australia and New Zealand first, with Canada, the UK, Ireland, Japan, Germany and France next. Join the waitlist and tell us your destination so we can prioritise your route.
Can I open an account before I arrive, without a local address?+
Yes โ that's the whole point. You verify your identity with your passport and visa from home, no local utility bill or fixed address required. You get a virtual card instantly and a local account number to hand to your employer, with the physical card posted to your first hostel or share house.
How do you make money if there are no ATM fees and no monthly fee?+
Like other neobanks: interchange from card spending, optional premium subscriptions, the flat fee on peer-to-peer swaps, cashback partner margins, and FX on transfers above generous free limits โ all transparently, with no surprise charges buried in your statement.
Is my money safe?+
Tern partners with licensed, regulated banking providers in each market, and customer funds are safeguarded in line with local regulation. You can freeze your card instantly in-app, approve logins and payments with a quick WhatsApp verification (no roaming SIM or SMS needed), and reach human support 24/7 across timezones.
When does it launch?+
We're onboarding waitlist members in batches by country. Sign up and you'll be among the first to get an invite the moment Tern opens on your working holiday route.
Land sorted. Join the waitlist.
Be first in line when Tern opens on your working holiday route. No spam, no commitment โ just the smartest way to handle money on the road.
2,480+ backpackers already on the waitlist