Banking when in NZ

#9 - bringing $AU into into the country always involves conversion costs, and if you have it in some form of banker's draft, even more fees. But you can now bypass the banks, by using outfits like xe.com, which charge no fees at all, no commissions, just that little margin that is always there between the buy and sell rate of currency. Even for a one off it can be worthwhile (although opening a bank account is a bit of a chore) but for those travelling for any length of time or frequently, it is a godsend. Now if I could only find a fee free Australian bank.

myshkin - thanks for the tip about xe.com. Have you used them? It looks like the only realistic payment method for Australia/NZ residents is wire transfer? Since this costs $20 or so, this would only make it worthwhile for a largish some of money. And there is bound to be a margin incorporated in the spread between their buy rate and their sell rate. It's probably just a whole lot better than a retail bank. Personally I've always just used a credit card. With ASB, I got double reward points for overseas transactions. So, even though the conversion costs were 2.1% (from memory), the reward points gave me about 1.7% back. Note this is not an ad for ASB - they've just changed there program to make it a whole lot suckier, but similar deals used to be common.

Don't get a NZPost prezzy card. Not only does it not have the flexiblity of a "real" credit card or ATM card but it has a time limit out and the excess funds are lost.

Cash Passports and their ilk are poor value for money, worse than an ATM with charges. They are the plastic equivalent of TCs with Internet reloading and account checking. I used one on my last trip to Europe because I didn't organise a second ATM card in time, but I won't next time.

hey Sam.

i travel to NZ every year or so to visit family and I generally do the following:
1. use a Visa debit card to pay for things on 'credit'. you pay an international currency conversion fee but it's not much.
2. withdraw one large amount at the beginning of my trip.

so i don't avoid fees altogether but i find that it only adds up to a small amount which i'm willing to pay.

some of the suggestions above sounds pretty interesting, but i personally am the kind of person to go with the simplest solution (even if it means i have to pay a few extra dollars).

Hi Sam,

I myself have an account with ASB which is totally fee free if you stop the paper statements (which you can do yourself online once you've opened the account). Been very happy with account - use ASB's own ATM's, and all EFTPOS in shops totally free.

Not sure where you're from(?), and might be too late as sounds like you're already in Oz. But if you're from the UK I totally suggest opening a Nationwide FlexAccount as you can use the debit card you get with the account anywhere in the world and won't get charged an international transaction fee! I've been all over the world and haven't been charged once yet. Also seems to be a decent exchange rate too.

Here some great stuff to do while you're in NZ ;)

#15, a tip for you. Another poster was been banned for putting a commercial site like yours into every reply. Its tantamount to advertising which is banned. Just leave it in your signature line!!