Money Transfer To Nz

[aeolion]

While in Thailand and traveling, we have managed to keep our finances simple: Cash cards based in Korea, along with direct deposit retirement in a Thai bank. I never have done a bank transfer. But now there is the real possibility that we will be able get a cycle going -- six months a year in New Zealand fly fishing, alternating with six in Thailand. Further, my Vietnamese wife may well start nursing school in NZ, which would allow me to stay with her on a spouse visa. The tuition for a few years plus living expenses and a car would require some serious money transfer

I of course need a NZ bank account to transfer the money to. Does anyone know if it's possible to set up an account in a Kiwi bank while in Thailand? The only bank I can find that might be able to do it here is ANZ, but they say online they don't offer direct banking services.

Will I probably end up taking some kind of bank check to NZ?

And if we are talking about 150-200k US, what are the fees? And how to minimize them?

Sugestions would be much appreciated.

aeolion

[Gsxrnz]

Hi, I'm a Kiwi and bank with the ANZ. You can open accounts from overseas with ANZ as described here http://www.anz.co.nz/personal/accounts/moving-new-zealand/international-banking-services/

You won't be able to access the funds until you present yourself at the branch you choose with your passport and probably at least one other form of photo ID. Take as much ID stuff as you can to prevent any problems. Choose the account type carefully and examine the transactional fee structures. Some accounts are tailored to high transactions via eftpos, some are not, so look at the bank's charging structure to figure out your best option. You can always change later if you have to.

NZ banks are used to dealing with immigrants and long term tourists so I'm sure you will have no problems. The bank will open the account/s, arrange debit/atm cards etc as per your instructions to pick up on arrival. They will give you a bank account number and you can do an IMT (International Money Transfer) to your account before you leave. Alternatively you could take a bank draft in any currency you choose and deposit it when you get there. There may be a $5 or $10 fee for banking the draft. Also they may make you wait 5 days for the draft to be cleared. An IMT will be cleared immediately.

Check your respective banks exchange rates to determine if you send/take USD or NZD. NZ banks don't offer the sharpest exchange rates so I'm guessing you're better to send NZD from your bank - I could be wrong so do some research. The ANZ publishes their rates on the web.

Make sure that you have some sort of Fax/email indemnity with your Korean? bank so that you are able to instruct them by email to remit funds to NZ after you arrive in NZ. That way you don't have to send all the funds at once and manage your exchange rate risk.

By the way, NZ is verging on becoming a cashless society - that's an exaggeration but we're very big on eftpos. You'll find eftpos terminals in every establishment, big or small, and will rarely have to carry or use much cash. It's a low crime rate society but invariably there are news items about some tourist got their car broken into and robbed of huge amounts of cash and their passports etc. We can never understand why they have all their holiday funds in the car when they could open a bank account easily and use eftpos like a Kiwi.

Also, don't carry your passport as you don't need it, just carry a copy and leave your passport somewhere safe - the ANZ will probably happily keep it in safe custody for you at no or nominal cost. You'll need a drivers licence to drive but your foreign one will be OK for driving as well as for ID. The driving laws are tough and rigidly enforced - be warned!

Edited May 4, 2013 by Gsxrnz