How to open a New Zealand bank account before you arrive

[Weta]

Money goes like water when you first arrive and you need to tell your bank or credit card issuer about your plans if you want to use overseas cards here. Imagine the alarm bells that start ring back at bank HQ with all these high value transactions. You hit the ground running with heaps of cash required for new phones, car hire, furniture, insurances, hotel, motels and all kinds; these transactions suddenly start coming through on your card in the middle of their night.

Decline, decline, decline, assume stolen, cancel card.

Ask me how I know?

[carosapien]

We let our bank know before we moved but still had to phone them up to keep it from being declined.

It's frightening how much you get through in those first few months, I estimate we spent at least $50,000 in the first six months, not all of it on a credit card fortunately.

[escapedtonz]

Originally Posted by megan130

Thanks, good FYI. I know I was planning on starting a NZ PO Box for a new local short term address once I knew I was moving til I got real residential address.

As Anski says there are loads of ATM's etc but you will be charged by your uk bank for every transaction in a shop using visa delta or switch and for every cash withdrawal.
For some reason it's free when you are on holiday in Spain, Turkey, Greece etc but when you come to t'other side of the world to live the bank charges you every time!!!

Same advice with the uk credit cards. Usually charged a fee for the transaction and then when it appears on your statement the rate of exchange is rubbish - then you may have problems paying the uk credit card bill - you may have to transfer money back to the uk or pay it from nz where you will lose again on the exchange rate or you might forget to pay it at all.

You will be shocked at the banking system anyway here. Not as easy as in the uk and more charges but you'll get used

[anski]

Originally Posted by escapedtonz

You will be shocked at the banking system anyway here. Not as easy as in the uk and more charges but you'll get used

I have always found banking easy here. Agree bank charges can be high, I was with BNZ & ANZ then switched to Kiwibank when they first opened -reason ZERO fees & over the years have grown & they just keep getting better.

[YieldQwest]

I used to work for one of the largest banks in NZ. I can say with a fair degree of confidence that they all are quite good and you cant go wrong with the big 4, ASB, Westpac, BNZ, ANZ/National

Having said that, here are the things to consider:

1. Does the interest you will earn at the foreign bank need to be filed with your current countries tax code for the tax year it fall under?

2. Do you have to file a FBAR as US Citizens must do?

3. With some NZ Banks you can only deposit funds and not withdraw until you land in the country. They sometimes only allow 2 deposits and you must arrive within 6 months.

4. If you are looking for an account that you want to open up online from home and not have to travel to the country check out OPENING A FOREIGN BANK ACCOUNT


5. There is a tax treaty with NZ/US so you will not be double taxed but make sure you clarify this with

[Jacqcampbell]

Most banks website has a tab for migrant banking, which gives you detailed instruction on how to go about it. We found ANZ to be easiest.

[DebbieM]

We opened up a Westpac account before we left the Middle East. Everything was done online (Migrant banking)...you're allowed to transfer two lump sums into the account which was great as it meant not having to bring large amounts of cash in with us. Once you arrive in NZ just go into the branch to verify your identification and you can withdrawl etc. It was all so simple that I was initially a bit concerned that it could be a scam! They have also been very helpful since we arrived.

We can also endorse Westpac.

Did it all with the help of HiFX who arranged a monthly deposit from the UK to the
Hamilton branch and the staff in our new bank are so helpful.

Hope this helps.

[bleater]

If you don't want to open an account before arriving, you might be able to save some fees with using your ATM/EFTPOS card from your foreign account in New Zealand if your home bank is a member of the "ATM Global Alliance" (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_ATM_Alliance). The New Zealand member bank is Westpac.

The upshot is that if you were coming (for example) from England, and used your Barclays ATM card in a Westpac ATM here to make a cash withdrawal, you won't pay the per-transaction fee for a foreign ATM. You WILL still pay the 1% (usually) currency conversion fee, plus you typically get an awful currency conversion rate... so don't plan to move big amounts via this method. Also, most banks typically impose a fairly tight limit on daily ATM withdrawals.

Still, it might be convenient to get you started.

[padavio72]

Originally Posted by MrsRose

Our decision to move to NZ is still not 100% settled. But if/when we are ready to make the move, do you recommend we open a NZ bank account before we move?

Hi,
I would recommend opening an account before you arrive. We used ANZ, it was very easy to do and they were great.
Good luck