NZ Bank Suggestions

• 

  quasar on 04/12/2017 - 22:18

  +1

  I'm personally with Kiwibank, never been with TSB but I've heard they're alright. You'll find with the smaller banks like TSB/SBS etc that their mobile apps won't be as polished as the big banks (if that's important to you) and things like that. Most of the big banks will do fee free accounts if you're paying your salary into it or you have a mortgage with them. If you want to get yourself setup before you get here the big four Australian banks own the big four banks here in NZ so they can probably set you up an account:

  Commonwealth Bank = ASB
  NAB = BNZ
  and the tricky ones:
  ANZ = ANZ
  Westpac = Westpac

• 

  Hedgehog on 05/12/2017 - 08:31

  +1

  Look very seriously at TSB, a great bank, NZ owned and very professional. Having said that they are like every other bank, a bit tricky with fees on some things added over the years probably as they aspire to more profits for sponsorship and greater exposure to customers in the large cities.
  Mobile APP's are every bit as good as the larger tricky banks, recently upgraded once again.

  • 

    nzmax on 06/12/2017 - 17:04

    No fingerprint login support though yet for their app. Not unless they have recently updated it to add it in.

• 

  bullettime on 05/12/2017 - 11:05

  Thanks for both of your responses.
  Looks like i'll need to do a bit of homework!
  I just sent TSB a message asking if i can open an account from OZ prior to arrival. I note that where i might be heading in the south island there is no TSB Branch.
  Here's another question: Australia post over here does a lot of things besides just postal services (eg. passport services, draft services etc). Does something similar operate in NZ?

  • 

    quasar on 05/12/2017 - 12:23

    Yes NZ Post does a lot of those things. Kiwibank is owned by NZ Post and a lot of the NZ Post branches can do Kiwibank stuff as well, and a lot of NZ Post branches have Kiwibank ATMs as well so I don't usually struggle to find one. I'm with Kiwibank for my transaction accounts, mortgage and credit cards and found them to be decent enough. They do offset mortgages which works well for my type of income and found their rates to be very competitive. I also like their Airports Platinum card, I get a decent amount of rewards out of it.

    If you want to go for a smaller bank like TSB in the South Island maybe go for SBS Bank instead, they're originally from Southland so they have a bigger presence down here.

    • 

      bullettime on 06/12/2017 - 18:06

      Cheers, mate.
      Kiwibank might be a goer for us.
      I like TSB, but since we might be in South Island, might be an issue with setting it up (Christchurch the nearest office).
      Might switch to them later on or open up another account with them though if and when we move down.

• 

  monkey on 06/12/2017 - 13:50

  +1

  Re savings - Heartland Bank has served me well but…

  https://www.interest.co.nz/saving/e-saver-online

  Take a look at other options on the menu on the right.

  • 

    bullettime on 06/12/2017 - 18:05

    Thanks for the link!

    • 

      Nil Einne on 08/12/2017 - 21:16

      Yes interest.co.nz is a great site. Personally I found either Rabodirect or Kiwibank tended to be best however I didn't really pay that much attention to Heartland etc, credit rating etc were a little too low for me. (Frankly even a is a little low.) BTW, on that point, I presume you know that there is no deposit guarantee scheme in NZ. There was one briefly during the GFC but that ended a while ago.

      Anyway it also depends what you want.

      If you ignore term deposits, the best rates tend to be with notice saver type accounts meaning you need to give 32 or more days notice before withdrawing money. After that, the bonus rates are second best but these mean either (depending on the bank) you generally can't withdraw money in the month or longer, or your balance needs to increase. (For the later, you can I think fool around to satisfy the requirements if you want to although if too many people do that it's likely to mean the bank will change the T&C.)

      An interesting point is that bonus rate accounts sometimes have better base rates than the rate for a normal on call account from the same bank. (Although the rates are still very poor.) So you may be better off putting all money want on call in one even if you're likely to be withdrawing it within the month. However I'm not sure if you can often have more than one of the bonus type accounts so it may get complicated if there is a fair amount of money you want to keep in such an account. (RaboDirect doesn't let you, nor does HSBC, although in both cases there's a lot less reason since their alternative accounts are better if you're sure you want to withdraw money.)

      When it comes to term deposits, the main banks tend to have their headline rates which are often quite good compared to what even Kiwibank or RaboDirect offer but of course these only normally last one term so you need to keep fiddling around with them if you want the good rate and their normal rates aren't so good. RaboDirect has the same rates for TDs from $1000 so it's quite easy to get a good stagger of TDs even if you don't have that much money and are putting them in a year or more term.

• 

  nzmax on 06/12/2017 - 17:03

  I have a TSB account but with their Premier account, you need a minimum balance of $5k to not pay fees. Many of the things are free, and I can use any banks atms. They are the best bank I have found for customer support. Basically I have always been able to speak to a real person based in NZ straightaway. The only issue I have is their online app has no fingerprint support yet, but that I guess is minor.

  • 

    bullettime on 06/12/2017 - 18:05

    Thanks for that mate, good info.

• 

  wowbigdeal on 08/12/2017 - 12:15

  ASB: I struggle to find physical branches as many have been closed down over the last couple of years. They are targeting online only. I moved my accounts from ASB.

  Kiwi bank: Jack of all trades. Always lines as they do everything… Passport photos, car rego, courier, shipping, much more… And banking. I moved my personal banking to Kiwi bank, I like being able to step into a physical branch anywhere,anytime.

  ANZ. I have my business account set up at ANZ. I couldn't open a Kiwi bank business account as it was too difficult for them to get there heads around what I do and how I do it. ANZ for business is very professional.

  All of the above have finger print scanning. Everytime you shift to another tab to copy details on the ASB app you have to log in again loosing previously entered information, a total pain.