Transferring $$CASH$$ to NZ

Heres one for you all to ponder / comment / shoot down in flames.........

We will be looking to lay our hands on a car ideally within a couple or three days of landing in Auckland. In order to do this we need $$CASH$$, so we have come up with the following options;

1. Open a bank account prior to leaving & have the account activated in NZ within a couple of days. I don't think this is really possible so quickly?

2. Take enough NZ$ to do the deed and hope I dont get mugged on the way. Not keen on this cos money wouldnt be uninsured and I would be sh***ing myself all the way. By the way I am 6ft tall dwarf, bald with shoulder length brown hair, a limp on my good leg and a glass eye in my left eye and an eye patch over the right - incase I take this option and people are looking out for me at the airport.

3. Bring enough Travellers cheques & see if any bank would be willing to cash in such an amount.

4. Over-pay on our credit card in the UK, so we have a positive balance sufficient to pay for the car on the spot. Assuming that plastic is taken by your average used car lot.

Any thoughts or ideas on these ideas would be appreciated

Cheers



Nick

Nick, we have the same problem. We are hoping to open a HSBC account over here and put our money into that and when we get to AKL i'm hoping that they/we can just transfer the money over and take it out :icon_question:
More investigations required though :icon_eek:

Interested In this thread as I'm in almost exactly the same predicament. The third would seem the most logical in my books, til you get an account sorted, as even if you set up an account immediately on arrival the wire transfer will take a few days I would imgine. However I bank with HSBC so I'm hoping that a HSBC account in NZ might be the ticket to faster cash.

[quote:46befc07eb="SteveyC"] However I bank with HSBC so I'm hoping that a HSBC account in NZ might be the ticket to faster cash.[/quote:46befc07eb]
We bank with HSBC here, but I believe they only have a branch in Auckland. I did post something a while ago asking if there were any other branches around the country or whether they operated through another bank but never got any positive replies. It would have been easier for us to open another HSBC account in NZ and transfer our money over, but with only one branch, it doesn't make it easy for us.

from a conversation i had with brenda of westpac at the expo in manchester, i think option is the way to go.

she reckoned we can open a westpac account whilts here in the uk,
she works for a team at westpac who deal solely with migrants, you open your account, and once you arrive in nz, your account is upgraded and you can go into your branch and pick up your cheque book and cards etc,,

we didn't go into specifics but it certainly sounded like this was a quick process that , so long as you knew your nz address, could all happen on your first day..

i hope/think/sure i'm right..

Not too sure. I can't remember the last time I had to go into my branch. I spose it would be a pain if I had cash to pay in or something tho. Everythings so easy on the internet these days tho. Might be worth opening a HSBC account for an interim period til you get all your mo on NZ shores where it will be easier to transfer again if required.

Pretty sure They have 4 or 5 branches in Auckland but nowhere else. Will email them for more info when I know exactly what I'm doing, don't want them to start closing down Overdrafts and things yet tho :icon_eek:

Below is a list of branches in NZ. This was taken from their website,
www.hsbc.co.nz/nz/


Type: BRANCH
Country / Territory: New Zealand



Albany Branch
Cnr Don McKinnon & Corinthian Drives
Albany
Auckland
Tel: 09 968 5880 Fax: 0800 80 30 80 / +64 9 918 3625


Sommerville Branch
Sommerville Shopping Court, 125 Meadowland Drive
Howick
Auckland
Tel: 09 538 0160 Fax: 0800 80 30 80 / +64 9 918 3625


Takapuna Branch
Shop 3, 99 Hurstmere Road
Takapuna
Auckland
Tel: 09 914 9267 Fax: 0800 80 30 80 / +64 9 918 3625


Botany Town Banking Centre
34 The Pavillion, Botany Town Centre
Te Irirangi Drive
Auckland
Tel: 09 918 3600 Fax: 0800 80 30 80 / +64 9 918 3625


Queen Street Branch
Ground Floor, 290 Queen Street
Auckland Central
Tel: 09 915 4868 Fax: 0800 80 30 80 / +64 9 918 3625

We opened an account with the Bank of New Zealand. We only had to complete the application form and fax this along with proof of ID to NZ. This was done within a day or so of axing the paperwork

For those of you wanting to set up an HSBC account, check how long this takes, as we were told it can take up to 6 weeks, through HSBC's international division, which I thought was absolutely ludicrous. They also needed ID again, which again is ludicrous, paticularly for existing customers.

I decided not to set up an account with HSBC in NZ as I am less than happy with their service, particularly their overseas call centres, which are awful......

We opened an account with the ASB branch in London - www.migrantbanking.co.uk - which is very useful for the transfer of large amounts of money to NZ at a good exchange rate. They also arranged an account for us in our local branch here in Kerikeri.

On arrival in NZ, we actually bought the car on the first day just with details of our bank account. We activated the account the next day and the bank paid the car dealer straight into their account. Having done that we then picked up our car.

Cannot fault the service we have had from them.

::):

Thanks Glenda

Thats a great re-assurance that it is possible with a decent helpful bank. Where did you buy your car at (as in a used car lot / main delaer & was ir in Auckland?).

With a bit of forward planning I wont have to look like Clint Eastwood in a Spaghetti western when I get of the plane.....(grimacing with a "fist full of dollars"),....Sorry :icon_frown: poor joke