'best' bank in New Zealand

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Forums › Finance and wealth management › "best" bank in New Zealand

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#1117626 28-Aug-2014 23:27

ScuL: Hi guys
As you may know moving to NZ is getting closer and closer so I've started looking at more practical stuff.

I'd like to hear your thoughts about banks and which you prefer. From researches I can conclude that ANZ, although one of the most used banks, seems to be the least popular.

ANZ, BNZ and ASB all make it very easy to open an "overseas arrival" account in London. Kiwibank seems a lot harder.

HSBC. It's the only one everywhere in the world, more or less!

mattwnz

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#1117652 29-Aug-2014 00:28

Geektastic:
ScuL: Hi guys
As you may know moving to NZ is getting closer and closer so I've started looking at more practical stuff.

I'd like to hear your thoughts about banks and which you prefer. From researches I can conclude that ANZ, although one of the most used banks, seems to be the least popular.

ANZ, BNZ and ASB all make it very easy to open an "overseas arrival" account in London. Kiwibank seems a lot harder.

HSBC. It's the only one everywhere in the world, more or less!

My families experience with them was been appalling after the death of a family member, so wouldn't suggest using them. Also the NZ one is totally separate from overseas ones, as the one in the UK wouldn't allow documents to be witnessed by staff in their NZ branches due to them being separate entities. I would suggest ANZ as they seem ok these days, although they are probably the biggest. Westpacs service isn't great. TSB perhaps has the best service, but their online banking isn't good and they charge a 25 cent bill payment fee, but if you fax them with the payment request it is free.

kiwirock

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#1117665 29-Aug-2014 02:32

I'm a big fan of co-op's like Southland Building Society.

I mainly bank with BNZ. I've always been treated important with them.

When I was with Westpac, they always wanted to sell me something and charged the highest fees at the time.

Since I've been with BNZ, meh, they're just a bank too. However I did get a call once last year to tell me I'm spending $10 a month more than I need to for my fees given my banking patterns. The call was to my mobile phone and they didn't try to sell me insurance at the time. I was impressed enough to have never fogotten the courtesy call to save money.

scuwp

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#1117682 29-Aug-2014 07:46

Putting my vote in for ASB, although as already mentioned this is very subjective. I like their on-line transactions and mobile app. Nothing seems to be any hassle and they offer the products/services we need.

Have previously been with Westpac, ANZ, and Kiwibank. Kiwibank was ok I guess, but I would never recommend Westpac or ANZ to anyone, nothing but muck ups and hassles.

TSB always seem to do well in the customer satisfaction surveys but we have always managed to get a better deal with ASB.

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

sxz

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#1117701 29-Aug-2014 08:16

In my line of work I deal with a lot of clients changing banks. In my view there is no clear favorite. Everyone seems to get pissed off with one bank or another one time or another, and there certainly does not appear to be any trend to me!

ANZ is the biggest. They have never stuffed me around. From what I have seen at work it 100% comes down to your bank manager / branch. If you get stuck dealing with a Muppet you will want to move banks. Get some good people around you, and you will stick with them.

There seems to be a lot of support in this thread for ASB. I've never used them, but I can tell you their home loans have the highest penalty interest rate at about 20% - the other banks charge no more than about 5% penalty interest. You certainly never want to be in default with ASB!

jonathan18

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#1117703 29-Aug-2014 08:19

+1 on the subjectivity of this! Usually people's feedback will be based on their own immediate experience (I doubt any-one holds a full range of account types across all the major banks at the same time), and their perceptions of other banks which they may have banked with previously may no longer even be relevant given change over time.

I'd suggest you may get better ideas from some agregated data. Consumer's summarised results from their last survey (about a year ago) are pasted below (if it pastes correctly); the full report will be available on their website (for a fee, though). Also, Canstar offers some useful information on all banks' products.

(Edit: reformatting table material so it can be understood)

Bank /Overall performance/ Internet service / Branch service / Phone service / Smartphone service

TSB Bank (411) / 98% / Average / Above average / Above average / Average
The Co-operative Bank (235) / 96% / Average / Above average / Above average / Average
Kiwibank (997) 94% / Above average / Below average / Above average / Above average
ASB (1481) / 94% / Above average / Above average / Above average / Above average
SBS Bank (59) / 93% / Below average / Above average / - / -
BNZ (1429) / 92% / Above average / Above average / Average / Above average
Bank Direct (83) / 90% / Average / - / - / -
Westpac (1818) / 88% / Above average / Below average / Average / Below average
ANZ (2449) / 81% / Below average / Below average / Below average / Below average

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sxz

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#1117704 29-Aug-2014 08:21

sxz:

ANZ is the biggest. They have never stuffed me around.

Actually more than that, I've been with ANZ for 26 years. Never had an issue with them. Service has always been great, if I need something it was sorted, more often than not if there is a fee you can get it waived, mortgage manager was awesome. Plus they are everywhere, if you ever need an ATM or bank. Internet banking works well too.

BTR

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#1117724 29-Aug-2014 08:53

I would have to say I recommend Kiwibank 100% my reasons are below.

1. Made it very easy to switch from another bank.
2. I am able to ask my personal CSR John questions while logged into online banking without needing to email or call the bank.
3. Getting a home loan was a piece of cake!
4. They don't charge you for making a deposit in a branch as Westpac do (Reason why I switched)
5. The only bank I have seen that have reduced penalty fees from $20 to $7 for failed direct debit transactions.
6. Its 100% NZ Owned (Hopefully the Govt keep it this way)

ghettomaster

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#1117725 29-Aug-2014 08:56

I switched to BNZ for their YouMoney internet banking which I find fantastic. They've been a great bank to deal with as well.

I was with ANZ for a long time before that, had a few mortgages with them etc. and always got great people to deal with.

khull

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#1117744 29-Aug-2014 09:33

ASB or HSBC are the most customer relationship focused banks.

Stay away from ANZ who will happily blame you for their incompetence - Very bad experiences with their card department and mortgage department

Westpac is just a pain to deal with. If you are the sort that insists of going into a branch for every transaction then this is the bank for you - There will be no paper trail either as they don't have bank mail which means any disputes is considered hear say.

ScuL

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#1117785 29-Aug-2014 10:48

jeffnz: "best" is very subjective choose the one that best suits your needs and if you don't like it change

Yes of course it is subjective hence why I've put it in quotation marks. I was hoping to see a general tendency towards the one above the other, or more so the more appraised ones versus those that receive a lot of criticism.

ASB seems to receive a lot of praise in this thread.

Do NZ banks typically charge for cash withdrawals? (domestically? abroad?)
How about bank transfers? (domestically? abroad?)

What are the online systems like with various banks?

I know of the following being used in Europe:
* login through username/password
* login through PIN/key device
* login through USB connectable device
* login though SMS/text message codes

Geektastic:

HSBC. It's the only one everywhere in the world, more or less!

I've got 3 accounts with HSBC UK at the moment and am reasonably pleased with them.
There are two points where they have provided abysmal support:

A) Credit card refunds/claims where products were not delivered/not as described/counterfeit
Very frustrating process to convince them the seller was in error, taking up to six weeks, incredibly bureaucracy and not being able to get your money back in time whereas similar problems were resolved by American Express in under 24 hours
B) International cash withdrawals despite being "the world's global bank"
I am a very frequent traveller and regularly do daytrips from London into Germany or other European countries, also longer haul to Dubai or the US. The amount of times HSBC have blocked my cards for withdrawing money overseas is absolutely shocking.
Usually they call you within 30 minutes after they barred the card (in the US this is rarely at a covenient time) where you have to pick up within 10 seconds or the call will disappear. I've had to spend 24 hours in Las Vegas with NO cash funds and resort to my AMEX's expensive cash advance because HSBC blocked 3 of our cards and was unavailable (call centre is in India) during US working hours.
Despite telling them I don't require this overzealous fraud prevention system because I travel very frequently they have still not respected my requests.

Another issue is that to open an HSBC NZ account from the UK they require a minimum deposit of $10,000 or £5,000 into the NZ account.

On a positive note, HSBC has been extremely helpful and accomodating with their travel insurance policies. Refunding us $400 in dental bills (when my wife had to have emergency surgery whilst holidaying in NZ) and $200 of pickpocketed money in Barcelona without even requesting to see evidence.

Haere taka mua, taka muri; kaua e wha.

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jonathan18

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#1117793 29-Aug-2014 11:02

ScuL: Do NZ banks typically charge for cash withdrawals? (domestically? abroad?)
How about bank transfers? (domestically? abroad?)

It may depend on the bank and the type of account.

Generally, if you have a mortgage with the same bank as you do your day-to-day banking with there are no monthly fees, and no charges for electronic transfers (domestic, anyway - don't know of any banks that provide free overseas transfers). Cash withdrawls from ATMs are typically free, but this may only be from a select group of banks (eg, I'm with Kiwibank and only their ATMs are free; other banks have arrangements betweeen themselves). I'd imagine there are other arrangements for business banking, or if you have savings with the same bank.

There is a huge amount of information on the website I mentioned above including comparing many different types of accounts, however that URL was wrong - it's http://www.canstar.co.nz/

ScuL

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#1117831 29-Aug-2014 11:38

jonathan18:

It may depend on the bank and the type of account.

Generally, if you have a mortgage with the same bank as you do your day-to-day banking with there are no monthly fees, and no charges for electronic transfers (domestic, anyway - don't know of any banks that provide free overseas transfers). Cash withdrawls from ATMs are typically free, but this may only be from a select group of banks (eg, I'm with Kiwibank and only their ATMs are free; other banks have arrangements betweeen themselves). I'd imagine there are other arrangements for business banking, or if you have savings with the same bank.

To give you a frame of reference:
Cash withdrawals within the UK are always free regardless which ATM you use (I'd say this is a basic minimum)
Cash withdrawals abroad are free with the Advance card (which costs me $25/month converted) otherwise chargeable
Bank transfers within the UK are always free (again I'd expect this to be a basic minimum)
Bank transfers abroad are usually free within the Eurozone, $14 outside of it (I would not expect this to be free in NZ maybe despite xfers to AUS - not a biggie)

I'd be proper gutted if I had to pay a fee for using a Westpac card in a Kiwibank machine (How inconvenient is that, having to find the right brand of ATM?)

Haere taka mua, taka muri; kaua e wha.

Glassboy

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#1117841 29-Aug-2014 11:52

I've had excellent service from ANZ. In all the years I've only had one problem and that was due to someone trying to be too helpful.

kiwijunglist

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#1117891 29-Aug-2014 12:30

Been with ANZ for 15+ years, never had any issues with them, I'd recommend joining a bank with a cash back credit card reward scheme (not sure which banks have this). Also mobile banking is quite important. ANZ has an android app, and it works very well for me.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

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