BNZ Fee Slash Welcomed by MoneyHub and Issues Challenge to Other Banks to Follow Suit

The Bank of New Zealand’s decision to significantly cut fees across its bank accounts, credit cards, personal loans and mortgages is welcomed by personal finance website MoneyHub and encourages other banks to follow suit.  

MoneyHub’s Senior Researcher Christopher Walsh said “We’re delighted to see these significant fee reductions, which cover any customer with a bank account, credit card, home loan, personal loan and/or overdraft”.

“Annual fees were slashed over a number of credit cards; MoneyHub calculated an average drop in fees of 45%, saving cardholders an average of $30 per year per card. Further cuts on late payment fees and over limit fees are significant, dropping from $15 and $20 respectively to a flat $2. Given this is a 90% fee cut, we hope other banks will follow suit and give Kiwis struggling with their credit card bills a bit more breathing space”.

“For bank account holders, we’re also delighted to see the overdraft facility fee dropped from $5 a month to zero, but there were no changes to interest rates”.

“Home owners would see a number of home loan fees also dropped, including security-related fees. This made entering and exiting a mortgage a little cheaper than previously”.

“The changes come into effect on 1 April 2018. MoneyHub wished to publicise this fee cut to encourage other New Zealand banks to match BNZ and work towards saving Kiwis money on everyday banking fees”.

MoneyHub has updated its best credit cards and student bank account guides to reflect the fee changes.