It just occurred to me that the only debit cards we'll be taking with us will be Maestro/Cirrus cards rather than the standard Mastercard or Visa. Does anyone know if they're widely accepted in NZ?
Thanks,
Will
It just occurred to me that the only debit cards we'll be taking with us will be Maestro/Cirrus cards rather than the standard Mastercard or Visa. Does anyone know if they're widely accepted in NZ?
Thanks,
Will
You can certainly get cash from cashpoints with switch/maestro/cirrus because I did it at Christmas when we were there on holiday. Don't know if you can use them in shops as debit card though.
Helen
i have used a Maestro / Cirrus card on continental europe to pay in shops etc. they insisted on ID though.
never tried it in NZ - look for the symbol i guess
according to the maestro website:
whteher that's strictly accurate I can't say thoughMaestro is widely accepted throughout New Zealand at merchants in the following categories:
Car Rental
Duty Free
General Retail/Department Stores
Hotels
Petrol Stations
Restaurants
Souvenirs
Supermarkets
Tourist Attractions
Travel Agents
Used my Maestro card at cashpoints no problem although I got charged a transaction fee by the bank every time! I also used it in an EFTPOS machine at Foodtown supermarket when we first arrived. It wouldn't work when I tried to use my pin but was accepted fine when I signed.
Just swhip (sp?) it as you would an NZ EFTPOS card, press CHQ account and then rather than put in your pin press Enter and you should get asked to sign.
Hope that makes sense.
Anneliese
hmmn thats good news Annaliese, I am going to give that a try. I have been using my card to take money out of my overseas account, but have been carrying around cash as couldnt get the card to work as an EFTPOS card, so will try that signature thing.
thanx
The Spaceship company (campervan hire) couldn't take our Maestro debit card. We had to put it on the credit card instead.
We used our Maestro/Cirrus a few times in supermarket when we first arrived at it caused no problems...only difference is that we had to sign instead of use pin.
If you have time (and you're UK based) get a Nationwide current account. They're the only UK bank that doenn't charge a transaction fee when you use the card abroad.
Our experience with many varieties of UK cards was to select 'Credit', not 'Debit', and it works fine.
I'm not sure about other NZ banks but ASB issued us our debit cards the day we opened the account - names are not printed on theirs so they just assign the number to you and there's a machine for you to slect your own pin.