Good on BNZ for taking the lead in removing some fees which unfairly penalise customers - and we’d like other banks to take up the challenge.
Today BNZ announced it would no longer charge honour fees, dishonour fees and unpaid bill fees on transactions and savings accounts from 1 September. The BNZ said the fees generated a large number of customer complaints and were a source of frustration for customers and staff. The BNZ said it was not seeking to recoup the fees elsewhere.
Honour and dishonour fees are charged when there are insufficient funds to make a payment or when an account becomes overdrawn without an arranged overdraft. Say your salary was a day late arriving but your automatic payments carried on regardless – if the bank continued with a payment for you, even though it put your account into negative territory, you would pay an honour fee.
Honour and dishonour fees are expensive – the BNZ’s honour fee was $20, the dishonour fee was $35. Never mind that the negative balance of your account may have been less than this …
We’re hoping this is the beginning of the end of honour and dishonour fees.
Member Comments
Got a question or comment on this topic? Share your views and experiences with other Consumer members...
To add a comment you need to be a member of consumer.org.nz. Login or Join.
Read what our members have to say close
To save money on essentials and make buying decisions easy, you can't go past Consumer. We're proud to have over 65,000 members all enjoying our independent information online or in Consumer magazine.
Here's what some of them say...
"Just wanted to let you know that I find your site excellent! Easy to find my way around, everything at my fingertips - just a click away.
I only took out a 3 month membership as I wasn't sure but it is actually really easy to use and if I want it on paper I can print the
reports. Thanks again".
Denise Watkinson - Waitakere
"My mother (74) got a renewal letter from her insurance company for her car insurance, wanting $570. After reading
your article on car insurance, I contacted one of the companies you recommended, who quoted her $318 for the same
level of cover. I just wanted to stay thank you very much for your article, as it has saved my mother a substantial amount of money".
Adrian Lane - Kapiti Coast
"I've been a member to the magazine since 1997 and enjoy reading it a lot. I've found lots of helpful information on different issues...
Thank you for being so helpful".
Peter Kovalenko - Porirua
"I have been a member of the Consumer NZ for 20 or more years and have enjoyed much reliable advice.
I turn to their tests before making significant purchases".
Lyndal Print – Auckland
Join Consumer now and make your decisions easy on a huge range of products and services
- Over 500 reports, plus interactive tools and calculators
- Independent advice from NZ's trusted source of information
- Join over 65,000 members who help us get all NZers a fairer deal
from just $28
and it isn't fun not being paid for a job you have done. Dishonour fees at the time were (I think) $25 and the cheque I received was for $30. But BTST it isn't fun being charged a dishonour fee when you thought you had enough to cover the cheque/automatic payment or whatever, or for some reason had forgotten to make sure there was enough in your account. When this happened to me at ASB they cancelled the fee, but did warn me not to let it happen again because they wouldn't waive the fee twice. I now have my computer set up to warn me to check my bank balance a day or two before my monthly Visa payment is due. I wouldn't switch from KiwiBank to BNZ (or almost any other bank) simply because they are owned by foreigners. I resent all our companies being taken over by foreigners and leaving ANZ and ASB to join KiwiBank was the only way I could register my disapproval.
As a BNZ customer of 55 years I compliment BNZ on this move.
I have only ever once had a dishounor fee applied. I make sure we keep our account in good balance.
For those not as fortunate as us we think this is a great move.
I was horrified to read that the cost to the bank of a dishonour was about $1 and they charge $35 to the customer, that's outrageous!
It is not enough to make me change banks, I was a BNZ customer years ago and the service and fees were awful, judging by the surveys in Consumer I have read since there hasn't been much improvement.
My hope is that other banks will follow suit so that more people can benefit.
Why would anyone think this was for cheques only?
To those that think fees discourage bad behaviour, think again. Those that are avoiding paying will just not pay. There won't be any transaction to generate any fees.
Really annoying when you go $3.00 into O.D for one day and get an A.P reversed plus a $10.00 penalty. Kiwibank does this as standard practice and their Customer Service is the worst I've ever had - totally unhelpful, standard replies, no attempt at compromise at all. Really disappointing when I went out of my way to open an account away from my usual bank (ASB) solely to support the "friendly, local bank".
Having been reduced to one income since the birth of our child our finances have at best hovered just in the black. Our $500.00 overdraft has been a bit of a safety net. Three or four times over the past four years unexpected bills have pushed us near the overdraft limit and a small purchase pushing us over. In this electronic age, rather than an honour fee I would have much preferred a declined transaction at the eftpos.
I am a BNZ customer - we try really hard to ensure we pay everything on time - what is the incentive to do this now? I agree, the wrong customers are being rewarded. BNZ's shareholders will want the same return on capital, so the fees will be made up somehow, by charging other customers.