Foreign Currency Account at a NZ Bank

[Dell]

I'm trying to transfer $$ from a U.S. bank to my N.Z. bank - and of course all the fabulous instructions that the U.S. bank gave me on how to do the online transfer don't work and it seems that the online chat at my U.S. bank is staffed by idiots who don't realize that New Zealand is not IN the U.S.

I have a foreign currency account at my NZ bank. Does anyone know if I can deposit a check from my U.S. bank into a foreign currency account in NZ? I could deposit a check into my regular NZ account but then I have no control over when the money is converted to NZ $.

....and the next time I'm in the U.S. I'm changing banks.


Thanks!

[kiwihusker]

Yes Dell you can take a US check and deposit into a NZ bank, but there will probably be lots of fees added. FYI, Chase does online wire transfers and seem to work seemlessly for us.
Good luck.

[Dell]

Thanks Kiwihusker, but I'm wondering if I can deposit it into a foreign currency account? No problem - will ask on Monday when the bank is open. The problem is that I am here and my $$ is in the U.S. Can I transfer through Chase if my $$ is at B of A?

[Dell]

B of A online chat told me to use Western Union or send a Moneygram!!

[kiwieagle]

I deposit American cheques from US bank accounts in my BNZ cheque account all of the time. There are no fees. Funds are available in 3 days but they say it takes around 30 days for cheques to clear.

[Dell]

30 days! I need the $$ in two weeks, and it is a large amount. I doubt they'd make the money available in 3 days.

[kiwieagle]

30 days! I need the $$ in two weeks, and it is a large amount. I doubt they'd make the money available in 3 days.

Okay. I'm just telling you what we have done.

[Dell]

Sorry - I appreciate your help. Thanks. Just a little stressed.

[Azkateaz]

I use a currency exchange service - xe.com

It takes about a week for money to be available in my NZ account and there are no fees on either end. It's all automated and online but I think my transactions are limited in dollar amount per month and the most I've ever transferred at a time is $10,000usd so I'm not sure how they would work with a large transaction.

[Dell]

Many thanks. I'm beginning to think that I will need to fly back to the U.S. to transfer the money. Can't believe this is happening - it's crazy!

Apparently I was given inaccurate information by my Bank of America branch. Now transferring a large amount of money seems an impossibility unless I'm in the U.S.