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?

PolicyGuy

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#265658 4-Feb-2020 08:01

BNZ and KiwiBank are both telling customers that they will be getting new Visa brand credit cards to replace their MasterCard branded cards

KiwiBank I know about from personal experience: I got an email saying "<name>, your Visa will be on its way soon ... We're changing our credit cards from Mastercard to Visa"

BNZ from Stuff: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/119224933/bnz-sends-first-tranche-of-letters-saying-credit-cards-will-be-cancelled-in-march

What is going on?
Why are these big banks apparently happy to piss off customers, not something they usually do for no reason?
Yes, I know the answer is broadly "money", but what are the specifics at work here?

Incidentally I found an old GZ thread from 2017 why is anz changing from mastercard to visa?
Does this mean that MasterCard is now pretty much out of the NZ market?
🤔

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#2412212 4-Feb-2020 08:15

I'm with Westpac and we got moved from Visa to Mastercard last year. I can't see a Visa card on the Westpac website now.

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mrgsm021

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#2412217 4-Feb-2020 08:23

Hammerer:

I'm with Westpac and we got moved from Visa to Mastercard last year. I can't see a Visa card on the Westpac website now.

I am also with Westpac but I seem to recall the switch from Visa to Mastercard was done ages ago

cyril7

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#2412227 4-Feb-2020 08:50

Yeah I also got moved to Mastercard with Westpac recently, really annoying as only a month earlier I was issued with an updated Visa card so had to go through all the various auto payments all over again,.

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networkn

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#2412232 4-Feb-2020 09:06

I've had 3 lots of changes in a short period of time due to admin nonsense. I am very over this. I was happy with what I had, and it seems I'll be somewhat worse off as a result since VISA don't refund international and transfer fees if a purchase is refunded and Mastercard do.

I do a lot of international transactions and some of them are reasonable value, if only a few a year get refunded, it's a lot of money. I am planning on contacting Kiwibank and seeing what the options are.

Batman

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#2412234 4-Feb-2020 09:09

networkn:
I've had 3 lots of changes in a short period of time due to admin nonsense. I am very over this. I was happy with what I had, and it seems I'll be somewhat worse off as a result since VISA don't refund international and transfer fees if a purchase is refunded and Mastercard do.

I do a lot of international transactions and some of them are reasonable value, if only a few a year get refunded, it's a lot of money. I am planning on contacting Kiwibank and seeing what the options are.

Wow didn't know that.

davidcole

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#2412236 4-Feb-2020 09:10

ASB did it years ago, and ANZ (I think) Obviously Visa is putting something on the table for all the banks to give them exclusive cards use.

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#2412238 4-Feb-2020 09:12

Batman:
networkn:

I've had 3 lots of changes in a short period of time due to admin nonsense. I am very over this. I was happy with what I had, and it seems I'll be somewhat worse off as a result since VISA don't refund international and transfer fees if a purchase is refunded and Mastercard do.

I do a lot of international transactions and some of them are reasonable value, if only a few a year get refunded, it's a lot of money. I am planning on contacting Kiwibank and seeing what the options are.

Wow didn't know that.

Me either. I wasn't happy and I am actively looking for an alternative unless Kiwibank has a plan to mitigate this issue.

sbiddle

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#2412250 4-Feb-2020 09:22

networkn:

I was happy with what I had, and it seems I'll be somewhat worse off as a result since VISA don't refund international and transfer fees if a purchase is refunded and Mastercard do.

Visa made changes around 18 months or so ago in NZ to remove international conversion fees on refunds. I've had multiple refunds since then with ANZ that haven't been charged so I have no idea why BNZ are charging.

Many retailers also just reverse transactions anyway, so you don't get a refunded separate transaction per se.

sbiddle

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#2412251 4-Feb-2020 09:25

In a nutshell Visa and Mastercard are basically just pushing banks for exclusive deals - so they'll go with whoever suits them best.

sbiddle

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#2412257 4-Feb-2020 09:35

sbiddle:

networkn:

I was happy with what I had, and it seems I'll be somewhat worse off as a result since VISA don't refund international and transfer fees if a purchase is refunded and Mastercard do.

Visa made changes around 18 months or so ago in NZ to remove international conversion fees on refunds. I've had multiple refunds since then with ANZ that haven't been charged so I have no idea why BNZ are charging.

Many retailers also just reverse transactions anyway, so you don't get a refunded separate transaction per se.

Just to add to this - I had both the Visa and ANZ press releases at the time because I started to write an article for Traveltalk about this but I now can't find these.

Here is the Consumer NZ story saying about Visa's charge - so questions should really be asked why BNZ are charging this when Visa don't charge them. https://www.consumer.org.nz/articles/consumer-win-on-visa-refunds

I can only assume maybe BNZ's back end system isn't able to differentiate between debits and credits when they are posted so they charge their currency conversion fees on all transactions.

Earbanean

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#2412261 4-Feb-2020 09:37

networkn:

I do a lot of international transactions and some of them are reasonable value, if only a few a year get refunded, it's a lot of money. I am planning on contacting Kiwibank and seeing what the options are.

Get a Westpac Mastercard?

networkn

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#2412272 4-Feb-2020 09:55

Earbanean:

networkn:

I do a lot of international transactions and some of them are reasonable value, if only a few a year get refunded, it's a lot of money. I am planning on contacting Kiwibank and seeing what the options are.

Get a Westpac Mastercard?

Yeah, but it's a hassle. I've gone to Kiwibank and addressed the issue with them. I am going to forward the article Steve linked.

Batman

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#2412285 4-Feb-2020 10:27

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!

xpd

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#2412286 4-Feb-2020 10:27

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

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networkn

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#2412289 4-Feb-2020 10:30

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.

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