Any opinions on which bank to open a new account with?

[briancol 3]

Forget ASB.

Their internet banking charges are horrendous. A person recently was charged $2.00 for just adding a name to his 'Payee" list, then after he found he had made a spelling mistake in the name, was charged another $2.00 when he changed it.

Also ASB at the moment are trying to change their interest only mortgages into Principal and Interest loans, no good for anyone with investment properties.

[pjay 8]

Scam a student account from Kiwibank.

No fees, high interest, interest free overdraft and stuff. It's tops.

Edited November 11, 2010 by Pjay

[Gaz 1060]

I"m with Westpac and it's fantastic.

Their online banking is much much better than ASB (my gf is with them) - i've got no account fee's for my daily account. Service is a branch by branch / person by person thing.

This.

Got all my stuff with them and the flat account and no issues at all. Don't go to a branch at all so don't need customer service. The Internet is the only service I need.

[bravo 35]

Forget ASB.

Their internet banking charges are horrendous. A person recently was charged $2.00 for just adding a name to his 'Payee" list, then after he found he had made a spelling mistake in the name, was charged another $2.00 when he changed it.

Also ASB at the moment are trying to change their interest only mortgages into Principal and Interest loans, no good for anyone with investment properties.

They can be, but it depends on which account you're on. You shouldn't believe anything you read in Sideswipe, Brian.

I was 18 and with National and they wouldn't lend me money to buy a house. I've been with ASB for 10 years now and apart from some nasty unnarranged OD fees (ripoff) I doubt that my entire fees would total $100 (excluding business accounts where my fees can be up to $100 a month for high-volume transaction accounts). But you do get alot of fee refunds if you have lending with a bank.

I have 8 accounts with ASB plus credit card. So I'm probably on some bulk discount. Now if only I could figure out how to remove the -ve sign from in front of most of them....

[Yuen 16]

Are you a student? Most of the banks offer tertiary accounts with nil transaction fees. Just go for the one with the most benefits, unless you have a preference around which online banking interface is more user friendly, etc. Service-wise they shouldn't differ much.

[kiwi535 538]

Are you a student? Most of the banks offer tertiary accounts with nil transaction fees. Just go for the one with the most benefits, unless you have a preference around which online banking interface is more user friendly, etc. Service-wise they shouldn't differ much.

I been with BNZ for ages.....no real problems for the whole time except when they "lost" 11000 dolllars when we were moving money around to buy our first house,then tried to charge us for the resulting overdraft.

[Braeden320 0]

Recently moved from ASB to TSB, TSB have been 100% better across the board.

No real issues with ASB, Just chose to support a local bank that puts heaps back into the community here.

[Tristan 338]

I'm probably going to Uni next year depending on if I'm accepted into an overseas course or not.

[KRZY-E30 0]

When applying for credit cards etc, they will decline you if youve been at a certain address for less than 6 months..

I really dont see why its relevant? i was turned down once and was informed it was this reason..

So I always use my parents address for things like that, 20 years at the same address looks good i suppose, despite it looks like i still live at home, i actually moved out 11 years ago..

yeah they never told me why i didnt get accepted. ohwell though.

[Ben 0]

Ive been with ANZ since I was 5 and I still use that same account for my everyday stuff

Never had any problems with them that I can complain about.

Ive got an account with BNZ as well but never had problems with them either

As others have said Kiwibank is annoying with the post shop queue

quit them pretty quick as I didnt find the service as good as ANZ

[Guest Si Vis Pacem]

As with any service provider you need to balance what your requirements are against the whole range of offerings all of the banks provide. For example, running a business is very different to being a student. Most of them have various incentives such as rewards, travel points etc. but often if you do the sums they aren't worth it unless you are conducting a lot of transactions.

Loyalty to any one bank isn't necessarily an attribute when it comes to loans either, always shop around. If your mortgage is up for renewal, check the rates the other banks are offering and ask your bank to match/better it and don't forget to ask if there are any deals going on other rates as well.

Years ago I closed an account with TSB and much to my surprise got a letter with a cheque attached a few days later. The letter explained that they had made an error with calculating the closing balance and enclosed was a cheque to cover the difference. The cheque was for one cent!!!!!