DennisBergkamp

Hi,

I was shocked to see all the fees and service charges that NZ banks hand out.

I saw that with Kiwibank you can have a free Electronic account, but no cheque book facility.

I hear that cheques are hardly used in NZ.
But as i may need to pay deposits on rents etc, is it worth me paying the $5 account fee to Bank of NZ with their current account. Some banks even charge for setting up a direct debit! I think BNZ charge $5 for setting up a direct debit. Also, i'm guessing that i will need to use a branch occasionally until i know what i'm doing with my accounts online. Kiwibank say you can use the branch occasionally as part of their Electronic Account.

Can anyone reccommend a good bank? What's your experience?
If i can get away without Cheques then i'll go for Kiwibank, as i can do most banking online.

Also, my salary is $58000 pre tax - how much do you think i'll be taxed? I'm asking as i have seen that some account can be free if you deposit a certain amount each month, so if my salary after tax meets the criteria, i might opt for that.

As i'm going alone, no family or dependants, i think 58k is more than enough to keep me happy. I'll be renting for a while until i get PR.

Genesis

Go to www.ird.govt.nz re tax tarrifs. Why not go for Raboplus if you can do it all online. They have a triple A status and are very, very well respected.

Jan n Neil

I dont think i have written a chq since i have been here so i wouldn,t stress about the chq book, the kiwis are quite keen on direct bank transfer and every body takes EFTPOS (switch card)

Neil

Bo-Jangles

They charge heaps for first off for issuing a cheque book and then per transaction for each you use, which I guess discourages most people. I think some banks are stopping them altogether as they are all but obsolete now.

Whilst I have come to expect to have to pay some fees, they sure do rack them up. I hardly ever use cash and of course when you suddenly need some, you need it now. I used a Kiwibank ATM yesterday, being the nearest place to where I was going and got charged not only the 75 cents fee for using another bank's ATM machine but also a further 75 cents for checking the balance, which I did by mistake by pressing the wrong button. Grrr!!

The charges that hurt me the most are when I get charged $2 for setting up an automatic payment and then have to pay a further $2 each time I change it. FFS the bank has to do nothing.

Read the small print on the bank fees as there still may be some hidden or unexpected cost e.g. using cards at another ATM and such like.

skybluestu

A friend of ours informs us that she is on $60K per year and takes home $1,800 per fortnight,

Am Loolah

We opened a Kiwibank account when we moved here as providing we kept a working balance of (I think) $2,000 in the current account there were no transaction fees. We never needed a cheque book, all our banking was done online as is the norm ...

Then we took out a mortgage and the only people who would lend to us were ASB ... on condition we moved all of our banking to them.

Their fees are ridiculous as we run a current account, a savings account, a mortgage account, a rental property account and 2 business accounts. They charge you if you deposit cash ... for counting it ... They charge you $2 every time you set up an automatic payment.

When I dispose of the ex and cash in the life insurance, I shall pay off the mortgage and move straight back to Kiwibank.

nelsonpom

If you have a national bank freedom account (you must deposit $2500 a month which on your salary is fine) you pay no fees I do almost all my banking on line and have this account which has been fine. Savings wise shop around for the best interest rate we found sbs pretty good. Best of luck

drrobert

I use Bankdirect, which is the internet/phone-only arm of ASB, and has fee-free banking. You still can use ASB branches (although it's rarely necessary). You also have access to all the ASB mortgage and insurance services if you want them.

Bankdirect levy no bank charges for any electronic services including EFTPOS. You can have a chequebook, but there is a small charge ($1 or $2 I think) for each physical cheque you write. 'Virtual cheques' (direct bank transfers) are of course free, and are much more useful - I have only written one physical cheque in the past year, and that was for a house deposit!

FYI, the last www.consumer.org.nz Bank satisfaction survey is quite old (late 2007), but I used it to choose Bankdirect, and am very satisfied.

Rankings for branch-based banking:
1. PSIS
2. TSB
3. ASB
4. Kiwibank
5. National Bank
6. BNZ
7. ANZ
8. Westpac

Rankings for internet banking:
1. PSIS
2. Bankdirect
3. Rabobank
4. TSB
5. Kiwibank
6. ASB
7. BNZ
8. National Bank
9. Westpac
10. ANZ

DennisBergkamp

Thank you

http://www.nationalbank.co.nz/person...omaccount.aspx

Sounds the best deal to me so far!

Jan n Neil

We hadn't seen that list, but we use TSB and are very impressed, great mortgage rate and no charges if over $5000 in the account, plus decent interest on the account subject to same minimum. However, their branches are few and far between, although the staff are soooo helpful and it does feel personal in an old fashioned way. They also let us set up our account while still in the UK, on line, which was enormously helpful.

Jan

Toon_Nut

http://www.salaries.co.nz/a/salary-tax-calculator/

KevinS

We came over with ASB, they have always been very good, they gave us $25 a month to cover charges, so we don't pay very much a month. I did go to the TSB when we first moved over on a recommendation and to be honest they were a nightmare, I had to stay with them due to a fixed mortgage - we dealt with the central bank and it was a faceless experience, once the mortgage period expired I fled back to the ASB. My daughter is with the National Bank and she is very happy with them. All banks seem to charge a custom that the UK disposed of several years ago. It still annoys me that it takes 3 to 5 working days to transfer funds from overseas - I thought computers worked 24/7!!

Bo-Jangles

ASB take 21 days to clear a cheque from a foreign bank. :curse: