Preparing for New Zealand: One Wise Digital Card Before Opening an ANZ Account

Knowing how to open a bank account and get a card are two of the most important things you'll need to prepare for your arrival in New Zealand. Here are our tips for using the Wise Digital Card to pay locally until you get your bank card, and get your first paycheck without a hitch.

Preparing to enter New Zealand, currency exchange vs Korean credit cards

Have you been exchanging currency as part of your pre-arrival preparation for New Zealand? Or did you bring a Korean credit card to use locally?

But at some point, you're going to run out of money, and every time you use your Korean credit card to make a purchase, you're going to be reminded of the foreign payment fees.

If you're not just traveling to New Zealand for a short visit, and your intention is to live here, the first thing you'll probably do after arriving is open a bank account and get a card.

In New Zealand, you can open an account and get a card at any local bank, including ANZ and ASB.

The approximate time it takes to open a bank account and get a card in New Zealand is 1-2 weeks. Of course, it can vary from person to person, but most people seem to take this long.

So how will you pay without a card for a week or two? Will you continue to exchange money? Or will you continue to use your Korean credit card? I use a Wise Digital Cardin this article.

Wise Digital Card

Wise is an international money transfer service that helps you send money from overseas to Korea and many other countries with low fees and fast transfers. The Wise card is also accepted in many countries around the world (including New Zealand).

1) Pay like a local upon arrival

First and foremost, you're free to make payments in New Zealand until you get a local bank card.

After installing the Wise app, you can easily get a Wise digital card from the card menu and add it to Apple Pay or Google Pay. Wise Digital Cardis issued, be sure to read the following post

What you need to know is that I can't transfer Korean won from my bank account to my Wise account.. Sadly, Wise doesn't offer that service.

So how do I use the Wise Digital Card?

2) How to fund your Wise account

There are two main ways I can think of to fund a Wise account. One is to start working before you open a bank account and get a card, and have your paycheck paid into this account as you earn money. I think this would be very useful, especially if you are delayed in opening a local bank account.

This may be the case if you're looking for a job quickly, especially since New Zealanders are paid weekly.

Another is to pay with a Korean credit card to top up the balance in your Wise account. In my experience, Wise has low fees for bank transfer and Poli (one of the payment methods), but high fees for credit card payments.

I don't highly recommend this method, but I thought I'd mention it just in case people need to use it in a pinch.

Once these funds are in your Wise account, you can use them to pay at the grocery store or restaurant, or you can use them to pay for In Auckland, when taking the bus You can also use them. This means that it can be very useful until you get a bank card.

3) Beyond Settling In: Reverse Remittances to Korea Are the Real Deal

Wise digital card in preparation for your arrival in New Zealand, now that you have a bank card, Wise can be used as an international money transfer service, most notably for sending New Zealand dollars to your home country.

I take money out of my Korean bank account for insurance premiums, sending my parents birthday and pocket money, and buying items in Korean shopping malls. Whenever I have a shortfall, I send New Zealand dollars to Korea to fill it up, and Wise has been great.

You can also use ANZ and ASB's international money transfer services, but for a simple example of sending $1000 from New Zealand to the US, the bank will charge a minimum of $32 and Wise will charge $5.16. If you'd like to see how Wise compares to banks and other international transfer fees, be sure to check out our post below

Please note that the above remittance services may vary depending on the time of year.

Bank transfers with no transfer fees typically take 3-4 hours for Wise and 3-4 minutes for Poli. However, methods like Poli have different transfer fees depending on the amount you're sending, but they're still lower than bank fees.

4) Wise Multi-Currency Account

With a Wise account, you can create currency accounts for many different countries. I have accounts for New Zealand dollars, Australian dollars, US dollars, Japanese yen, and Korean won. It takes less than a minute to create them.

The great thing about having accounts in multiple currencies is that when you go to a country, you can use your Wise Card (digital card) to pay in that country's currency.

For example, I went on a trip to Japan, Use a Wise Japanese yen accountI've made a lot of payments at restaurants and shopping malls, so this is a great Wise card if you're planning to travel to multiple countries.

The country I've tried is New Zealand, United Kingdom, In South Korea, I had no problem making payments, but I did have a problem with withdrawing cash from ATM machines, which I thought you might already know.

Finalize

Today, we've covered how to pay directly with your Wise digital card without a local bank account as part of your pre-arrival preparation for New Zealand. Actually, I said before you open a bank account and get a card, but I'd like to point out that Wise is actually quite versatile even after that.

You're probably used to sending money to Korea, especially if you live abroad, but you should definitely give Wise a try.