Why are BNZ and KiwiBank ditching MasterCard for Visa?

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Forums › Finance and wealth management › Why are BNZ and KiwiBank ditching MasterCard for Visa?

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#2412290 4-Feb-2020 10:33

networkn:

Batman:
networkn:

Yeah, but it's a hassle. I've gone to Kiwibank and addressed the issue with them.

One man walks in and changes kiwibank. You must be a powerful man!

It's not resolved yet. I've raised it with them.

And realistically what do you expect them to do just for you?

networkn

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#2412293 4-Feb-2020 10:40

corksta:

networkn:

Batman:
networkn:

Yeah, but it's a hassle. I've gone to Kiwibank and addressed the issue with them.

One man walks in and changes kiwibank. You must be a powerful man!

It's not resolved yet. I've raised it with them.

And realistically what do you expect them to do just for you?

For a start, it's NOT just for me. This would affect every customer that uses a Mastercard currently.

I guess we will see. :)

djtOtago

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#2412295 4-Feb-2020 10:51

If enough people point out the same issue to the bank then something will get change.

Banks can't address an issue if they don't know it is an issue or how important it is to their customers.

The squeaky wheel has to squeak before it gets noticed.

sbiddle

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#2412297 4-Feb-2020 10:53

xpd:

I know for retailers Mastercard is extremely expensive to process compared to Visa - could be something to do with cost.

Interchange rates are all public. For the vast majority of retailers there is zero difference for different card types because they're on blended plans rather than unblended.

afe66

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#2412298 4-Feb-2020 10:55

I get card providers change but I found the kiwibank change to visa annoyingly done.

They emailed me months ago saying the were changing to visa. Fine. But when my card expired at end of november they issued me with another Mastercard so I had to change all my auto payments. I asked if they could just send me a visa but no.

Then a couple of weeks ago they send me a visa so I have to go round and change all my payments again...

networkn

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#2412301 4-Feb-2020 11:09

afe66: I get card providers change but I found the kiwibank change to visa annoyingly done.

They emailed me months ago saying the were changing to visa. Fine. But when my card expired at end of november they issued me with another Mastercard so I had to change all my auto payments. I asked if they could just send me a visa but no.

Then a couple of weeks ago they send me a visa so I have to go round and change all my payments again...

Haha, at least you didn't end up with an admin error that meant you got 2 mastercards a few weeks apart and the second one terminated the first meaning twice as much work! :)

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afe66

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#2412357 4-Feb-2020 11:43

The additional part of that experience was kiwibank cancelling my other halfs mastercard card 3 weeks ago and not contacting us but then insisting on sending another Mastercard which was followed one week later by the new Visa card...

She decided not to activate the new mastercard and just wait until the visa arrived..

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#2412358 4-Feb-2020 11:45

And then there was the sudden absence of koru vouchers which turned out that anz had changed their terms on anz Mastercard

Fair enough but where is the email informing me of the change...?

Handsomedan

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#2412427 4-Feb-2020 12:39

Former banker here...used to work in the cards space too for a few years. I can shed some light on this without breaching confidentiality.

As has been suggested above it's about exclusivity agreements and money:

Development money is often offered for new and useful products/services, but only if there's an exclusivity angle. Both Visa and MasterCard have quite deep pockets and like to innovate.

These developments can often take quite a long time and quite a lot of resource to get off the ground, so the agreements are not entered into lightly.

The choice of card branding (i.e. V or MC) will often come down to the two things that most motivate the bank - services and money.

They don't do it to annoy customers and in fact they see this as a positive move to offer services previously unavailable to their customers, so effectively a win/win. Comms are often incomplete because the end consumer won't see any changes other than a new branded card until 12-24 months has elapsed and that's not exciting.

Long story short - you have no influence in this as a consumer and two large and very powerful global issuers control the markets across the world. In our country one is dominant (by about a 70/30 split based on card spend annually), but this differs from country to country.

You can vote with your feet but the fact remains that everyone knows it's a hassle to change providers and an even bigger hassle to change banks completely.

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networkn

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#2412436 4-Feb-2020 13:02

Kiwibanks reply:

We can understand your concern around this change.

We can confirm Kiwibank will refund international transaction fees when a purchase is refunded to you.

Visa do not directly refund these, hence why this may not be the case at all banks. However we do not want to pass on unfair fees to you, so Kiwibank have made the decision to refund these for allcustomers.

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#2412450 4-Feb-2020 13:16

networkn:

Kiwibanks reply:

We can understand your concern around this change.

We can confirm Kiwibank will refund international transaction fees when a purchase is refunded to you.

Visa do not directly refund these, hence why this may not be the case at all banks. However we do not want to pass on unfair fees to you, so Kiwibank have made the decision to refund these for allcustomers.

Visa don't refund them because technically speaking Visa don't charge them.

When you purchase something overseas there are two parts to the transaction - the total is originally converted from the original currency to NZD by Visa at a rate that is either equal to or very close to the mid market rate. Your bank then adds their international conversion fee on which varies from around 1.6% to about 2.5% in the NZ market. ANZ (who I'm with) charge 1.8%, and I then get 1.3% of that back in Airpoints Dollars.

When a refund goes back on your card if it's not a reversal of the original transaction it will be sent to the bank by Visa and it's then the bank who process the currency conversion fee. It's the bank who is adding these to refunds, not Visa.

You can still end up slightly out of pocket if exchange rates fluctuate though.

For anybody who travels I see ANZ as a no brainer for the best bank - cheap(er) foreign conversion fees than many other banks and no foreign ATM fees.

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#2412452 4-Feb-2020 13:23

I think you may be one of the very few people I've met who talk about ANZ in a positive light. I have had and experienced so many horror stories about them over many years they would be my bank of last resort. It's possible they have turned over a new leaf and treat people better now, but I recall how they treated a few members of my family in the past and just don't really trust them.

MileHighKiwi

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#2412528 4-Feb-2020 15:57

sbiddle:

For anybody who travels I see ANZ as a no brainer for the best bank - cheap(er) foreign conversion fees than many other banks and no foreign ATM fees.

BNZ removed their overseas ATM fee a while back. Their FX rate is a bit higher though, at 2.25%.

networkn

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#2412529 4-Feb-2020 15:59

I don't think Kiwibank charge overseas ATM fees any more either. The certainly don't charge to use other NZ ATM's.

On another note, I have been pretty impressed with ASB lately. I have had a number of interactions with them and found they aren't like the old horrible banks of years gone by.

mrdrifter

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#2412531 4-Feb-2020 16:04

I haven't even received any notification from Kiwibank on any changes to my card type or about being issued a Visa. I assume some sort of notification will be sent soon?

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