[suebeenz]

I've decided that I hate mine and I'm going to close my account. Do you have fav bank? Could you outline some quick pros/cons?

Ta!

[Pip]

Well..I'm sure its one of those things and depends on your local branch, but we've been with Westpac (Upper Riccarton) and they're great! We were allocated a migrant bank manager when we arrived and he's sorted out accounts & cash cards while we were in the uk so they were ready when we arrived, and then after arrival, credit cards, mortgages, insurances etc etc .. (I also got some independent quotes and he gave us good deals/rates on mortgage/inurances). I e-mail him if I have a question or need something doing, I also have his direct line and he always gets back to me within the hour. Such a contrast from the uk...:clap He's fantastic!

one example - I dropped in our mortgage application at 1pm to the branch as I was passing, - at 4pm (same day), I get a call from him telling me its been approved.

In fact, I've often thought we should have an immigration hero's thread for people that have been exceptionally helpful since we arrived (I've got a few nominations so far)

[nippa&pippa]

Well..I'm sure its one of those things and depends on your local branch, but we've been with Westpac (Upper Riccarton) and they're great! We were allocated a migrant bank manager when we arrived and he's sorted out accounts & cash cards while we were in the uk so they were ready when we arrived, and then after arrival, credit cards, mortgages, insurances etc etc .. (I also got some independent quotes and he gave us good deals/rates on mortgage/inurances). I e-mail him if I have a question or need something doing, I also have his direct line and he always gets back to me within the hour. Such a contrast from the uk...:clap He's fantastic!

one example - I dropped in our mortgage application at 1pm to the branch as I was passing, - at 4pm (same day), I get a call from him telling me its been approved.

In fact, I've often thought we should have an immigration hero's thread for people that have been exceptionally helpful since we arrived (I've got a few nominations so far)

Pip, are you talking about same man, Ritchie?????? FAB he is.

[Pip]

Indeed I am! Ritchie is a complete star! Everyone deserves a Ritchie when they first arrive!

[nippa&pippa]

Indeed I am! Ritchie is a complete star! Everyone deserves a Ritchie when they first arrive!

:yes :nice1

[willowshouse]

Had an appointment with National Bank this morning to see about a mortgage .. nice friendly chap, have to wait to see but seemed fairly keen and relaxed about it all.

Anyway, he asked me how I was finding trying to buy a house here .. I said awful, why don't you put a price on properties so we know what to expect...? He smiled and gave me a brand new copy of "Where to Live in Auckland" and another one by the same publisher "The Streetwise Home Buyer" .. for free! That's $70 worth of books!!

My OH said it was the most profitable hour we've had in NZ so far :clap

Dawn

[suebeenz]

Thanks guys. Great examples of customer service. Good to know. I won't mention my bank, but I do not get a welcoming vibe at all. Nice on the phone, but not very willing to help you in person. "Well, why do you need to talk to someone? ... Oh, ok ... can you tell me specifically, what your questions are, and then I'll see if we have time."

Any other favs?

[wanderingoregonian]

I have been happy with PSIS so far...

[annie abercrombie]

ASB - Jodie in the Porirua branch
Gets us cheap rates, efficient, always calls back, recommends ways to save money and bank charges etc - amazingly good service

[Park City Partner]

We currently bank with Westpac but I am considering moving our accounts. We have had quite a bit of money go through the account over the last year but when we went to apply for a mortgage they were less than good. Granted we used a mortgage broker and had an atypical income situation but all they were willing to do for us was an 80% loan. We took a mortgage out with ANZ and so far so good but we haven't really tested the relationship...

[Trigirl]

i'm a big westpac fan - they've been great to us so far. they were fab to deal with before coming over, easy to deal with in branch and gave us a great deal on our mortgage.

[Junnifer USA]

Hello,
When we came over we used ASB Christchurch Migrant Banking Officer. IT was not good.

Quickly, we interviewed several bankers and ended up at BNZ, head office, Christchurch. As an example, we have availablity of a business loan at 1.9% less than the retail rate. On foreign currency exchange we only pay 0.015 points in fees...less than even the fx specialty firms. And, we pay absolutely no bank fees on anything.

Email me if this is of interest to you.
Jennifer

[gil]

Bank we banked with on arrival: Kiwibank
Bank we have changed to for mortgagae: ASB
Bank with best name: Westpac (wouldn't have known it was bank from the name, although not as good as Banco Monte dei Paschi di Siena - Bank of the Mount of the Shepherds of Siena :D)

Gil

[jubjub]

ASB for day to day, Raboplus for savings (internet only) and Kiwibank for Mortgage

Some ASB branches are better than others, Henderson were wonderful, Botany are OK, but they are just too busy and you have to wait a while sometimes (so I go early/late in the day now, or use Pakuranga), Migrant BAnking section were fab too, Stacey I think it was..... the couple of issues we have had have been sorted very quickly.

Kiwibank, dont really have much to do with them, we just send them money, but the mortgage guy was nice, and efficient.

Raboplus are good cos they have one of the best interest rates and easy access to your dosh.

[constablechuck]

We Bank with the National Bank, so far we are very pleased, setting up accounts and getting credit cards went smoothly, the interest rate on our savings is 7%+ very competetive, I don't think another Bank in NZ (that actually has a physical office) will match that rate.

As a government employee I can get reduced fees and rates on most Westpac accounts and loans, but I'm happy to stay with the National Bank.

[Singel]

We renewed our mortgage with Bank Direct after we were told by our mortgage broker that we got a very attractive terms on our mortgage. Bank Direct is a spin off from ASB bank and we could use the ASB branch services as well. There are no bank charges and no minimum amounts required on the account.

The Bank Direct mortgage manager came to our house after office hour and in the weekend to discuss and set up our mortgage and banking facilities. He also arrange our ASB visa cards. :nice1

[suebeenz]

Wow, some banks I've never even heard of - this is great. Thanks everyone. I'm still sore about banks that charge to get a credit card (which they all do in NZ, as far as I can figure).

By the way, does anyone have a fav brokerage firm for buying and selling stocks? I think most banks offer those services as well.

Cheers

[MarkS]

If you're after low cost execution-only brokerage, I don't think Direct Broking can be beaten on price (www.directbroking.co.nz). I haven't got around to opening my account yet, but I've spoken to a few people who use them and they seem very happy.

Think they're owned by BNZ now, but it doesn't really make much difference.

By the way, we get our Westpac credit card for no annual fee - part of the deal when we negotiated the mortgage. (We got a very good rate on the mortgage too, so I'm pretty happy with Westpac!)

[incredible hulse]

Banking with Kiwibank - no fees and great interest rate. ASB for the mortgage with free credit card (only for first year though as we discovered last week !); also get a free bank account with ASB but interest rate is rubbish so sticking with Kiwibank

[debnjohn]

We also use Kiwibank, found they had the best rates at the time for a current account (Front Runner - 4% if the sum of several accounts >$4000 and more importantly no charges. Had our mortgage with them as well, and asked them to waive $50 fee for credit card - which they did no problem. However we chose to also pay for a warehouse credit card - $25 - as they give a pretty good 'cashback' for shopping in warehouse (approx 0.6%) - all our spend goes on the card wherever possible - pays for itself several times over.
Raboplus for term deposits - they give excellent rates.
Cheers,
John

[markmurphy]

Has anyone used HSBC? No charges automatically except for overseas transactions. The only problem is that the branches are all in Auckland. Still, I plan to use on-line banking so I am hoping that will be fine...?

[debnjohn]

Hi Mark,
HSBC was a route we almost went down, as our UK bank is First Direct; we went as far as approval via FD (before arriving in NZ) but in the end didn't actually open the account. Yes, they had some good options including high interest rates on savings,easy money transfers and the ability to keep dual currencies. The only downside I could see was that, as you say the branches were based in Auckland and we were Christchurch-bound.
However at the time (2005) HSBC had a reciprocal agreement with Westpac where you could use their (NZ-wide) cashpoints for free (don't know if this is still the case).
Cheers,
John.

Has anyone used HSBC? No charges automatically except for overseas transactions. The only problem is that the branches are all in Auckland. Still, I plan to use on-line banking so I am hoping that will be fine...?

[markmurphy]

Hi Mark,
However at the time (2005) HSBC had a reciprocal agreement with Westpac where you could use their (NZ-wide) cashpoints for free (don't know if this is still the case).
Cheers,
John.

Hi John,

Yes, they still have that agreement (without it I wouldn't use them).

I have been passed on to the 'specialist team' for HSBC now to answer my query. I didn't know opening a bank account could be so hard.:roll I'm only persevering now so that I can let others know if this is a route to bother with or not.
I'll probably end up with ASB or Westpac if HSBC prove to be too difficult...

Mark

[debnjohn]

Hi Mark,
sounds like you are about at where we where - I remember having reams of paperwork to sign, and having to provide authorized copies of Migrant Visa/Passport for the UK branch to forward (by internal mail) to Auckland. We never intended to physically visit an NZ HSBC branch on arrival, which was the reason for the complication. In the end we ran out of time for the physical mailing to-from NZ, and I wanted to have some sort of NZ bank account up and running om arrival.
After gleaning advice on this forum I just phoned Kiwibank (from the UK), and 2 faxes later we had opened an account. It was only ever meant to be a stop-gap until we got chance to open a 'proper grown-up' account with one of the major players, but Kiwi bank have served us well so far. I draw comfort from the fact that Kiwibank is NZ govt. subsidised and runs in a 'tin-pot' way from Post Offfices (a perfectly adequate fashion for us) - makes me think less profits are required for shareholders)
Kiwibank seemed to be a bit haphazard at times in the beginning, but this was probably more down to us assuming NZ banking would be an identikit of what we had been used to in the UK. However, now we 'understand the ropes' I cannot fault them, and all four of us (two working sons) have accounts with Kiwibank. We rarely visit a 'branch' (Post Office) as everything is available online for free (or on the phone for a small charge)

Cheers,
John.

PS If I had had the time, I would have pursued HSBC as well simply for the extra choice if would have given. Good luck

Hi John,

Yes, they still have that agreement (without it I wouldn't use them).

I have been passed on to the 'specialist team' for HSBC now to answer my query. I didn't know opening a bank account could be so hard.:roll I'm only persevering now so that I can let others know if this is a route to bother with or not.
I'll probably end up with ASB or Westpac if HSBC prove to be too difficult...

Mark

[Patricia]

We have been customers of HSBC for some considerable time and we like debnjohn have got thoroughly fed up with all the to us unnessesary paper work, one tells you that an a/c in NZ can be set up in 24hrs another one tells you at least 4 weeks are needed then they want a considerable amount of money deposited befor they can open it. :(
My OH has just blown his top and said stuff em so we are going with Westpac
They have been so helpful when we spoke to them and you can do everything through their London branch no hassle.
HSBC say they are world wide but the different countries have a different set of criterior aaand they do not speak to each other so how can there be any continuity. :roll So bye bye HSBC :p

[markmurphy]

Well HSBC have lost my business. I finally got a reply from HSBC NZ who said that the £100 fee (fine) was indeed necessary to open an account with them in NZ from here (UK).

It really is ridiculous as there is no charge by ASB, Westpac or KiwiBank and yet none of the have banking branches in this country / hemisphere!

So I have opened an account with ASB. Sent the forms and had the account opened two days later. :clap

Cheers
Mark

[benandclare]

Has anyone used HSBC? No charges automatically except for overseas transactions. The only problem is that the branches are all in Auckland. Still, I plan to use on-line banking so I am hoping that will be fine...?

Kinda the other way round but our kiwi student thought he'd sorted out his account here,Telford UK, when back in NZ.
When he went into the branch in Telford yesterday to activate it he was told the only branch he could do this in is in Oxford street London :wah

[zardell]

Hi All.

We were with HSBC for years (still have a UK account with them in fact) and over the past 20+ years they were wonderful.

However, as far as transferring our funds to NZ are concerned they were TOTALLY USELESS.

For those of you in the UK I've posted the following info before on this forum, so I'll post it again for anyone who needs help with opening a NZ account and transferring funds:-

Ring Kate Lancaster at the London branch of ASB. number is 020 7710 3592

Not only will a NZ account be opened for you, but any monies that you transfer into your London account will be transferred to NZ at exceptionally reasonable rates with good exchange rates upon your request both before and after you arrive in NZ.

Upon arrival in NZ you simply walk into any ASB bank to activate your account and away you go.

Easy peasy and stress free.

Good luck with it all.

Julie

xx

[Jozis]

Can anyone help? I've been advised to open a bank account in NZ before I arrive, something to do with credit checks. If I do this does it mean that they can access my credit history when I arrive. I was told it would help to get loans etc in the future.

[Brad77]

go to www.westpac.co.nz and click on the Moving to NZ link. I did this and the Migrant Banking team were VERY helpful in setting everything up, and I got a credit card my first week in NZ too!