Thats a tough one to answer. It depends what you are looking for in a bank really.

National Bank offer good interest on your account, have low fees (or no fees if you have over $5000 in your account) but their mortgages and credit cards aren't the best.

Kiwibank offer the best mortgage rates (or they'll beat any rate you find!), are very local being situated in a lot of post offices, they also offer a good credit card, but their fees are quite high for everyday banking (unless you have over $4000).

Westpac have been given a 5 star rating for their mortgages, but thats about all I could say about them. High everyday banking fees and high rate credit cards.

ANZ (Australia & New Zealand) Bank is pretty similar to National Bank, as they now OWN National Bank!

BNZ (Bank of New Zealand) only seem to offer anything decent if you are under 30. But even then, their details on their website dont make it look too appealing!


Just as a note, when I say everyday banking fees, you should be aware that you get charged for paying with cheques (50c with Nat. Bank), using your EFTPOS card (25c per transaction with Nat. Bank), making deposits or withdrawals in the branch and using cashpoint machines, on top of which you will pay a $3 monthly fee to keep your account open!. So as you can see, banking is an expensive hobby here, unless you have over $4-5k you can leave in your bank account (or you can opt to pay a monthly fee of around $15 to waive transaction costs).

We're with National Bank at the moment and their service has been excellent, but we may consider a switch to Kiwibank when we look at buying houses etc to get the better mortgage rates.