Kiwibank Platinum by fees not by service?

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Forums › Finance and wealth management › Kiwibank Platinum by fees not by service?

Batman

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#204878 21-Oct-2016 11:27

Hi any Kiwibank Platinum credit card holders here can comment -

With BNZ you get priority queue, but with Kiwibank you're lumped with everyone else - takes 20-30 mins to sort out simple things like "I need an authorization code for this purchase".

Not a rant, just a question ...

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#1655608 21-Oct-2016 11:42

I have one of these cards but can't answer as I'm not sure exactly what your question is! Can you re-phrase it?

Edit: if you're referring to how long it takes to answer and deal with a query via the 0800 number - can't say I've ever found this a problem, and have typically had calls answered quickly. They do have a different number (0800 521 521 for credit cards; different for general queries, which differs again from home loans etc). So still not sure if I know what you're getting at...

Edit 2: ah, you're saying that a benefit of having a BNZ Platinum card is you get priority in the phone queue! Nope, no such thing with Kiwibank but, as above, I've never experienced any issue - and would certainly never decide to go with one bank or another based on this...

The only issue I've had is that they hadn't correctly loaded the fee-free year into the system, so they charged me six months after getting the cards; this was soon sorted (even without a priority queue!).

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richms

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#1655709 21-Oct-2016 13:43

Banks have been falling over themselves to give platinum cards to anyone recently. They get more merchant fees on them.

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#1655714 21-Oct-2016 13:52

joker97:

Hi any Kiwibank Platinum credit card holders here can comment -

With BNZ you get priority queue, but with Kiwibank you're lumped with everyone else - takes 20-30 mins to sort out simple things like "I need an authorization code for this purchase".

Not a rant, just a question ...

I've had one since they came out. I was invited before they gave them out like candy. I've never had a problem with particularly long wait times, though I've had some sub par experiences with overseas online merchants refusing the card and Kiwibank not being able to explain why.

jnimmo

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#1655726 21-Oct-2016 13:57

I've had huge waits with Kiwibank recently, 30-40 minutes to get through to credit cards over a few different days.

richms

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#1655728 21-Oct-2016 13:59

jnimmo:

I've had huge waits with Kiwibank recently, 30-40 minutes to get through to credit cards over a few different days.

That is probably because they seem to be one of the worst for declining transactions for no good reason.

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#1655730 21-Oct-2016 14:00

richms:

jnimmo:

I've had huge waits with Kiwibank recently, 30-40 minutes to get through to credit cards over a few different days.

That is probably because they seem to be one of the worst for declining transactions for no good reason.

Surely that is all handled by Visa/Mastercard not the banks own systems (speaking about fraud detection anyway) - I've never had an issue with transactions being declined

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#1655749 21-Oct-2016 14:26

jnimmo:

richms:

jnimmo:

I've had huge waits with Kiwibank recently, 30-40 minutes to get through to credit cards over a few different days.

That is probably because they seem to be one of the worst for declining transactions for no good reason.

Surely that is all handled by Visa/Mastercard not the banks own systems (speaking about fraud detection anyway) - I've never had an issue with transactions being declined

Fraud detection is done by the banks, and the level of that detection will vary significantly between banks.

ANZ probably have the best analytics backend right now when it comes to detection. I've had my mobile ring within 60 seconds of having had a transaction rejected.

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#1655757 21-Oct-2016 14:42

I have a Kiwibank Platinum card.

Many years ago, Platinum cards were a premium product offered only to higher value customers, but they seem to be increasingly ordinary now. Kiwibank gave me a platinum card when I first moved to NZ a few years ago. At the time my income was zero, so I have no idea if they have any particularly special criteria for dishing them out these days.

On the service front, I'm finding Kiwibank slower and slower now with just about everything. I recently applied for a mortgage with them and gave up after waiting 3 weeks and still being no closer to knowing if they were going to approve it. I went to TSB and got a better rate and an approval within 5 days (and TSB apologised for the "slow" service). I'm probably going to move everything away from Kiwibank in the near future. It's a shame because they used to be great.

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#1655759 21-Oct-2016 14:46

Rushmere:

I have a Kiwibank Platinum card.

Many years ago, Platinum cards were a premium product offered only to higher value customers, but they seem to be increasingly ordinary now. Kiwibank gave me a platinum card when I first moved to NZ a few years ago. At the time my income was zero, so I have no idea if they have any particularly special criteria for dishing them out these days.

As @richms pointed out above the banks love them because of the interchange rates. They're getting over 2% for a Premium card such as a Platinum but well under this for other cards. Many people wrong assume interest is the only way banks make money off credit cards - but despite giving back well over 1% in rebates to customers for programs such as Airpoints a bank could still be making hundreds of dollars per year off many customers.

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#1655760 21-Oct-2016 14:46

We would move from Kiwibank if it didn't cost thousands in fees and if every other bank weren't as bad in some respects anyways. (Mortgages, trusts etc etc).

I banked with ASB for YEARS and when we went overseas and our CC's were stolen, they were SO hard to deal with, we were treated like criminals when we got back etc. I have 1 account with them now, and I'd worn my 10+ year old eftpos card literally through entirely, and they charged me $10 to replace it.

Not to mention it took 10 days to get there and 3 phone calls and various other difficulties.

Some of the worst banking stories I've heard, came from ANZ.

Doesn't really leave that many options :)

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#1655763 21-Oct-2016 14:52

Really? Every time I have worn out the stripe on the cards they have replaced at no charge. I am so glad that chips are a thing now for the credit and debit cards, just wish they would hurry up and have them on the plain old ATM cards.

I just told them that they make so much on each transaction the wear of the card should be allowed for in their expenses and bam, its free.

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#1655793 21-Oct-2016 15:25

I have a platinum card with Kiwibank and can't say I have ever had any problems getting hold of them. My only issue was with the 'free' travel insurance which provides rental car excess cover, but only when you pay for the car rental in full before you leave NZ (impossible if you are a Hertz Gold member), and only if you take the highest damage waiver possible. For most hire companies this knocks the excess down to zero, so negates the need for the travel insurance excess cover anyway! It looks generous on paper though I guess...

I was a TSB bank customer for many years - when you call them, an actual person answers within 30 seconds (no IVR at all) and that person can help you with almost any query - I think only once did I ever have to be put through to someone else for specialist help. Not sure what it's like these days though...

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#1655802 21-Oct-2016 15:36

Wheelbarrow01:

I have a platinum card with Kiwibank and can't say I have ever had any problems getting hold of them. My only issue was with the 'free' travel insurance which provides rental car excess cover, but only when you pay for the car rental in full before you leave NZ (impossible if you are a Hertz Gold member), and only if you take the highest damage waiver possible. For most hire companies this knocks the excess down to zero, so negates the need for the travel insurance excess cover anyway! It looks generous on paper though I guess...

While ANZ's policy doesn't require payment in advance it does require you to buy all insurance offered by the rental company, which as you point out makes rental cover pointless as every major company offers full excess buyout.

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#1655807 21-Oct-2016 15:47

You would think that a rental company would twig to that and launch a sub brand with one very cheap offers nothing insurance option to get people to use their cards for it?

Richard rich.ms

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#1655822 21-Oct-2016 15:56

richms:

You would think that a rental company would twig to that and launch a sub brand with one very cheap offers nothing insurance option to get people to use their cards for it?

yea that would be nice, but my procedure these days is to take out a comprehensive travel policy with 1Cover. For Australia it's around $37 and includes I think $5000 rental car cover. That's a lot cheaper than the daily excess reduction charged by the rental car company, as well as all the other benefits that come with having the travel insurance.

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