[willsken]

Can someone help? I sent off an application to open a Kiwibank account ages ago and heard nothing. A couple of weeks ago I sent them an e mail questioning why an account hadn't been set up for me. They e mailed me back saying they had never received my application. A little concerning but I put it out of my mind.

Well today I have received a letter from them telling me I am $30 overdrawn :confused: :confused: How?? According to them I don't have an account. Does anyone have a number I can use to contact them from the UK. The number on the letter is 0800 222181 is this a freephone as in the UK or is this the one I dial?

I'm really worried. I didn't withdraw anything or have had no contact or post from them.

[jubjub]

Did you ask for a cheque book? if so that costs $2.50, and they could now be appying overdraft charges to you, but if they say you have not got an account..... how do they manage that!

That 0800 no is within NZ, I cant see anything on the website for ringing from overseas, maybe try an email? Ooh, just found this +64 4 462 7922, it the no for the account opening team.

Good luck

[willsken]

Thanks so much for that Sal. Will give them a ring tonight. :nice1

[jubjub]

Ok, this was puzzling me so had a bit of a look at the fees they charge.

There is a $30 fee for an inactive account, but they say thats only charged if you dont use it for 6 years! I reckon thats what they have stung you with... no other fees make any sense, or add up to $30.

http://www.kiwibank.co.nz/rates/service_fees.stm

and here are the contact details for making a complaint!

http://www.kiwibank.co.nz/contact/index.stm

And yes I am bored, waiting for bub to wake up so we can go shopping!

[Avalon]

Wow - thats bizzarre! Hope they refund that to you and stick a bit extra in as a sorry! How silly of them. ALthough I didnt like Kiwibank, they do seem to have a good reputation - so hopefully you wont have too many worries getting this sorted.

Let us know what happens.

And good luck

Hxxx

[willsken]

Well, just to fill you all in. I had an e mail from them this morning. Nice quick response. They said that it was $15 per month charges as I didn't had $4000 in the account. I did point out to them that I had never heard back from them after sending them my application. They sent me an email telling me they had never received my application?? :uhoh

Now they claim to have sent an email confirming that the account was open. Well now I know it is and I will transfer some dosh into it.


:)

[Smiler]

Glad you sorted it out Nic.

ASB are offering free banking :clap:clap now with their streamilne account if that helps.

[willsken]

Glad you sorted it out Nic.

ASB are offering free banking :clap:clap now with their streamilne account if that helps.

I have the application on the side ready to post. Filled it in when I didn't hear back from Kiwibank. Think I may email Kiwibank and ask them to close the account and go with ASB, as you say they are free! :nice1

[Trigirl]

initially we were going to go with kiwibank but on further consideration i think we may find westpac's "encore gold" account is best for us - at least to start with. its fee free if you keep more than $5k in there (on average) and pays decent interest. we'll be bringing some but not huge amounts of $s over to start with and this looks right for us i think.

[jubjub]

Well, just to fill you all in. I had an e mail from them this morning. Nice quick response. They said that it was $15 per month charges as I didn't had $4000 in the account. I did point out to them that I had never heard back from them after sending them my application. They sent me an email telling me they had never received my application?? :uhoh

Now they claim to have sent an email confirming that the account was open. Well now I know it is and I will transfer some dosh into it.


:)

Glad you sorted it out, I would say after customer service like that, close the account! We use ASB too, and have had no probs, we also have a kiwibank account, but its only for the mortgage, don't fancy using the post office as my bank somehow... (not that I go in much!)

[Avalon]

initially we were going to go with kiwibank but on further consideration i think we may find westpac's "encore gold" account is best for us - at least to start with. its fee free if you keep more than $5k in there (on average) and pays decent interest. we'll be bringing some but not huge amounts of $s over to start with and this looks right for us i think.
Its definately worth looking at ASB instead. you dont have to keep minimum balances in the current account to get the fee free status (you do however have to opt out of getting paper statements - so if, like me, you need those, it may not be the best). Although they have slashed the interest paid on the account - thier fastsaver has excelent rates (7%) and no fees as well. Or you may find that having a asb streamline account ready to go with no fees and then a savings account with something RAboplus (about 7.35%) would be better. The bottom line is that at the moment - you can get fee free current accounts - AND you can get better interest on savings than you can with the fee charging current accounts where you have to keep minimum balances.

[Smiler]

Its definately worth looking at ASB instead. you dont have to keep minimum balances in the current account to get the fee free status (you do however have to opt out of getting paper statements - so if, like me, you need those, it may not be the best). Although they have slashed the interest paid on the account - thier fastsaver has excelent rates (7%) and no fees as well. Or you may find that having a asb streamline account ready to go with no fees and then a savings account with something RAboplus (about 7.35%) would be better. The bottom line is that at the moment - you can get fee free current accounts - AND you can get better interest on savings than you can with the fee charging current accounts where you have to keep minimum balances.

Yes we opted for statement stopper, in return for printing our own and not giving them fees. :clap

As a comparison my BNZ fees are anything from $15.00 - 20.00 a month and I'm in the process of transferring everything from over. Our savings account is with Raboplus too, good interest rate and easy to use online.

The down side for me with ASB is that our personal manager doesn't! However I'm just putting up with him til we move and then we'll ask to change to the local branch if we like the look of them. He talks at me, doesn't listen and I had to point out to him that our business account would do better earning interest in the Fastsaver account. It does now!

[Trigirl]

i didn't like the look of that asb account only because of setting up so much new stuff when we first arrive. at $3 for every manual transaction you have to be pretty certain of being able to do everything online. as new migrants with uncertain internet connection (i don't fancy doing my banking from an internet cafe) and printer on a ship for several months i'm not sure its immediately right. we get a decent interest rate on the westpac account and an set up a 7% savings account with them if we need it.

however, i'm not one to worry about changing banks. medium term we'll be looking to find the right package for us that includes mortgage too and at that point bringing over the rest of our cash from the uk so we'll look again then.

[Avalon]

i didn't like the look of that asb account only because of setting up so much new stuff when we first arrive. at $3 for every manual transaction you have to be pretty certain of being able to do everything online. as new migrants with uncertain internet connection (i don't fancy doing my banking from an internet cafe) and printer on a ship for several months i'm not sure its immediately right. we get a decent interest rate on the westpac account and an set up a 7% savings account with them if we need it.
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Just wanted to check this to make sure you had read things right. A manual transaction is generally if you want someonw at the bank to do something for you - it does cover phonebanking or ATM / Eftpos stuff. And it doesnt seem to include getting your bank manager to do stuff for you either. In fact ive yet to be charged it at all.

Sorry if you did know that ! I just dont want to assume anything - im honestly not trying to teach you to suck eggs (whatever that actually means i never did understand that saying)

[Trigirl]

its ok - i do understand what they are. we write cheques here occasionally. i don't know if we'll need to over there but i'd rather not have to worry about it. thanks for the clarification though.

given we wont be able to use electronic statements the advantages don't seem that great over the westpac equivalent. i'm particularly not keen on a current account that pays no interest. it seems to me that while we're settling in a hassle free good rate of interest (4.5-5.5%) on all our money is better than having to juggle money between a current and savings account to get 7% on some of it and nothing on the rest. especially as with the big purchases relating to moving in etc we're likely to want to keep a healthy balance in our current account. i've got a revolving credit mortgage here so i'm used to just one account for everything - i don't even have a savings account at the moment!

i'm sure westpac isn't right for everyone and the asb account looks great for people who are happy to get electronic statements and happy to spend some time and effort moving money around to get decent interest. medium term as i said we'll look for the best deal once we know what our finances are going to look like but in the meantime westpac look right for us.

thank you though - i seriously do appreciate your advice/comments.

[Avalon]

Excellent! Couldnt aggree more with the thinking. Ive often made the decision to forgo a saving in money terms for a bigger saving in hassle factor :D (hope that doesnt sound too blasphemous coming from me :D )

Although - if you saw the transfers on my revolving credit that I make to cut the interest it would have your head spinning!

Have you had any difficulties with your revolving credit account? I have found that it can be difficult not to overspend - so if you have any tips - id love to hear them - its been a bit of steep learning curve for me on how to deal with one!

[Trigirl]

Yes – I agree its hard not to overspend on a revolving credit mortgage. Mine is with Virgin One and their website is pretty good at giving you the tools to manage it – allowing you to artificially separate the account into mortgage, current account, loans, savings etc. So I just do everything I can to make sure that my “current account” shows a balance that I’ve actually got to spend.

So every month a transfer goes out of my “current account” and into my “mortgage account”. If I get an interest free loan for anything (eg when I bought my sofas) I set up a loan account and move the money into there, then reduce it as I pay off the loan – that way my current account looks as though I’ve already spent the money.

But to be honest I still struggle with it a bit and I think it would be even harder to manage on a tight budget as its just not as transparent as you need. Its been perfect for me over the past few years while my income has been “lumpy” but I’m not sure if we’ll use one again in NZ.

[willsken]

I use the Virgin One account and I agree about not using one if you are on a tight budget. We aren't in this country but will be in NZ so I will go back to having the traditional accounts.

[Avalon]

Yes – I agree its hard not to overspend on a revolving credit mortgage. Mine is with Virgin One and their website is pretty good at giving you the tools to manage it – allowing you to artificially separate the account into mortgage, current account, loans, savings etc. So I just do everything I can to make sure that my “current account” shows a balance that I’ve actually got to spend.
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OMG! That would make life sooooo much easier for me if they did that here. I actulaly have my accounts at home on quicken separted into these artifical "pots" as I call them, but the bank is really not helpful on this score.

Worse, our First Direct mortgage was an offset one, where you have real separate accounts, but all count towards your mortgae balance for interest. Much easier. Worse still, the Aussie banks do this, including ASB, but they dont do it in NZ :mad:

If you do ever need to use one here, you can always let me know and ill talk you thorugh how ive set it up. I sometimes think it wouldnt make any sense to anyone other than me, but just keep it mind for future use if you ever need it!