Bank of New Zealand product reviews

I only opened an account with BNZ to have a separate account for emergencies and the kids couldn't walk past the display without asking often "can we please have a piggy mummy?".

The account opening process was easy, just had to fill in the forms and could bring in the IRD numbers and such later as I hadn't planned on opening the account that day. I asked for just a savings account and for the kids to have just savings as well. I got an ATM card so I could use it without having to go into the branch for transactions.

A few months after I had opened the account I got a call from BNZ offering me a credit card, I didn't think I would qualify so hadn't asked about one before. One thing that is not so nice is that you can go over your limit by about 10% and then once you are over your limit it can be really hard to get the balance back down again but the bank charges unarranged overdraft and late payments which is understandable.

The staff are friendly and rather helpful, since this is not my main bank I don't go in often and I know there are a lot more services than the ones I use but it does do what I want.

The online banking is easy to use, even lets you customise the accounts names so I have used my name for mine and each child's name for their accounts so I always know which account is which. You have to use a Netlink card to log in, it is sent to you in the post and I think it gets changed but not sure how often as I have only ever had it replaced once and that was because it wouldn't let me log in and when I called customer services they couldn't explain the problem so just sent me a new Netlink card.

I like that I can use the mobile banking app on my phone and find that a lot easier to use than the online banking on my laptop as I often have to try and find the netlink card (I don't always know exactly where my wallet is) and I can check my banking where ever I am.