DavenHelen

We fly out in 33 days an just accepted an offer on our house which is probably not what we originally wanted but with the current market & stamp duty levels it seems like a big relief as we really did not want to manage a rental from NZ.

Question is I know interest rates are higher in NZ than UK, but with the £ $ exchange rate hovering around 2.10 NZD I would obviously preferto exchange at a higher rate. I know everything can change for better or worse, but we have no immediate need for the NZD and hope things improve our way. Should we exchange all now and get on with our NZ adventure, do it in monthly installments or leave somewhere in UK until it improves.

I realise I am asking for financial advice, but sure others have been in similar positions and would be interested in your views.

Cheers

concretepump

hi you can open an account with ASB in london, then you can leave it in for as long as you want no fees for transfer over £30,000 about £15 any transfer under £30,000 and they will open an acount in nz for you as well

rushmere

There are a number of specialist companies such as Halo Financial, Moneycorp and HiFX who all offer money transfer services, usually at much better exchange rates than the big banks.

As to which way the exchange rate is heading, the long-term trend is definitely in the wrong direction for anyone selling Sterling, but the NZ $ does seem quite volatile, and the occasional spike in the exchange rate could make quite a difference to a large transfer.

Halo Financial have an excellent weekly newsletter which you can sign up for on their website which gives information on current trends. Most of the specialist companies also allow you to state what exchange rate you're looking for, and they will transfer your money when (or if) the target is reached.

Good luck!

drrobert

My suggestions:

Keep your UK account(s) open - just give them a friend's or relative's address, and set up online access. It is now very difficult to open a new UK account from overseas, so don't close them! Consider spreading your funds between a few accounts to minimise the risk of a bank going bust.

Put your funds somewhere where you receive at least a bit of interest (to keep up with inflation). You don't need to declare interest on your UK deposits on your New Zealand tax return, as there is a 4-year new immigrants' tax exemption on foreign earnings.

Transfer a sum over to NZ once every few months - this will 'average' the exchange rate over a period of time. Many exchange rate websites offer better forex rates and fees than the banks do, for instance, hifx.com or tranzfers.com. You should set these up before you come to NZ, as they require some proof of address etc.

You probably already know this, but any of the main NZ banks will allow you to open an account before you arrive. According to consumer.org.nz, the cheapest banking fees and highest customer satisfaction ratings are with TSB and PSIS (but note that these two are smaller banks with fewer branches), Bankdirect (the internet/telephone only branch of ASB) and Kiwibank.

Lynne sinclair

Hi folks,

We used Halo financial to transfer £15k over to get us started the balance is still in the U.K. awaiting a better exchange rate ie an order is put in for 2.2. Halo have been great so far, rates are much better than bank to bank! Were in the same boat, were reluctant to move at the moment and are waiting for rates to improve, however we are also in the market to buy a house so may just have to bite the bullet.....!

jmh

I'm looking into this myself. I think the TSB look good and they have a cheque account with low/no fees and paying interest: http://www.tsb.co.nz/Banking/PremierCheque.aspx

I've sent off an email asking about how to set up an account from the UK - will let you know if it is a problem.

drrobert

Another good tip is to look at interest.co.nz - it's a financial news site, but also includes current lists of all the interest rates for mortgages and deposits available in NZ.

One word of warning: there is no universal deposit guarantee in NZ. Some banks have opted into a temporary government guarantee scheme, but this runs for a limited period and is not universal. A few years ago, thousands of Kiwis lost their deposits with finance companies.

So if you are moving a large house deposit over, consider sticking to the larger or guaranteed institutions, or spread your savings between several companies. Interest.co.nz includes the credit ratings of all of the banks/finance companies.