There are a lot of banks in New Zealand, like
Kiwi Bank,
BNZ,
ASB,
ANZ,
Westpac,
National Bank. So every bank has different types of charges on different items. Bank in New Zealand is far different with banks in Malaysia. For examples, Bank A might consists of monthly charges, Bank B might consists of charges when you do any transaction at counter and etc. It too lazy for me to list out all the charges and differences of those banks as you can check it in the link above. I think the best choice is to share what kind of account I opened in New Zealand and the reason.
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Everyday Account
Kiwi bank is my choice in New Zealand.
Why I choose Kiwi Bank???
1) Kiwibank is available all over New Zealand, from big city to small little town. Most of the time, kiwibank sticks together with Postshop (which we called as post office in Malaysia). By having this bank, I never had the problem of couldn't find the bank.
2) There is no monthly charges for the account. Everything can done online and it is free~~ Yeah, I love free stuff~
3) I can transfer my money to another bank account. Why I need this. Carry on reading and you will know why.
The type of account I opened in Kiwi bank is called 'Everyday account'. Basically every bank will offer you this type of account where it is almost the same like our saving account.
Everyday Account = Saving account
Of course, there are differences in these 2 accounts.
1) They will give you an ATM card which can act as a debit card. They called it EFTPOS (Electronic Fund Transfer at Point of Sales). What makes it great than debit card is you can swipe it almost EVERYWHERE, from big supermarket to small little shop or even a little tiny stall. Yes, no joke! In addition, you can swipe it regardless the cost of the things that you purchase. How about $0.10? No problem. Nobody will look down on you because of the low cost purchase with EFTPOS, in fact, everybody do that! Of course, 4 digits of password are required.
2)No interest / little interest will be given by this account.
3) It can even cash out! What does you mean by cash out? You can simply go to a supermarket, purchase a $10 item and tell the cashier 'I want to cash out $100'. Then, they will pay you $100 and charge your account with $110. Amazing right? ATM is not always needed in order to withdraw money.
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Fast Saver Account
Except from Kiwibank, I opened ASB as well.
The account I opened called 'Fast saver'. The purpose of opening this account mainly is to earn the interest, which is 3.15%p.a. . Never look down on 3.15%, even our own fix deposit back in Malaysia could not offer that amount of interest.
I set my kiwibank account as my favourite payee (setting the first favourite payee is FOC. and I can transfer my money back to kiwibank when I needed. (transfer from Kiwi bank to ASB is free). Of course, everything need to be done online!!!
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Visa Debit Card
When you open an everyday account, the bank personnel will let you choose weather you want a normal EFTPOS card or Visa debit. So, the only different between this two is, visa debit card allows you to purchase something online (like we purchase with credit card). If you open everyday account in Kiwibank, you may request for visa debit as it is free of charge!
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Way to Earn More!!
Want to earn more?? Open an fix deposit account in Kiwibank called 'Notice Saver'.
90 days notice - 4.30%p.a.
32 days notice - 4.10% p.a.
I choose 32 days notice simply because 90 days is too long.
Of course, if you think it's a hassle to open these account and you can just open ONE account. But, for me, I don't mind having a little bit of hassle which allow me to earn more without putting any effort. Choice is yours. Think wise~
