How to withdraw larger amounts of New Zealand dollar with your credit card – Backpacker Tips

So you can withdraw large sums with your credit card

You are in New Zealand and would like to withdraw more money in the next few days. You want to buy a car, deposit cash on your New Zealand bank account or you just want to do a crazy activity that costs a lot of money? Then you probably know the problem at least after the first attempt, all ATMs in New Zealand have a relatively low leverage limit. But there is help and we explain how to use your credit card limit properly.

Note the time difference

Please note with your credit card limit, most banks have defined a daily limit. That means for you, you can use your limit even twice on a New Zealand day in the morning and in the evening, in Germany then would be already another day so that’s how it works. With the current 10 to 12 hours’ time difference, you can practically use this to quickly get your total amount of money.

Credit card limit

Your credit card has a limit; you need to know this limit to get the most out of it. Please note there is once your daily limit (the maximum amount that you can withdraw or pay per day, taking off and paying up), and then there is your total credit card limit. Your total limit is usually relatively low because the bank doesn’t want to let you make too much debt, if you want to spend more than your total credit card limit, then deposit money to your credit card account first. Then your total limit will increase to the amount you have as credit plus your credit card limit granted to you (comparable to the dispo credit line in your checking account).

Limits at the ATM

Also, the ATMs in New Zealand have a withdrawal limit. We have found common limits per withdrawal between 300 and 800 New Zealand dollars. The biggest limits in our attempts were the Westpac ATMs. If an ATM in combination with your credit card charges additional fees, then this will be displayed on the ATM display before completing your withdrawal. If you are given the opportunity to charge directly to your account in your home currency, then you should normally refuse this. With this nice-looking method, banks are improving their margins and giving you a bad exchange rate. The New Zealand ATMs usually spend only 50 NZD and 20 NZD notes, so you can only withdraw from this combination.

Photo by Mirza Babic on Unsplash

Withdraw money in practice

Ok, let's get to practice and a few examples of how to make big sums of money.
At most ATMs, you can withdraw money several times in a row. To minimize the risk of blockage and card collection, our experience is that you should not go to the same ATM twice in a row. Unfortunately, if your card is withdrawn, it will be destroyed in most cases, which is very impractical, especially abroad.

Example 1:

Let's take the first example. Let's say you have enough money on your credit card and a daily limit of 1000 New Zealand dollar. The 1000 € correspond by example to current exchange rate 1758 New Zealand dollar.
You know from the top that the ATMs only spend 300 to 800 NZD per round, and you know that the ATMs only hold 20 and 50 NZD notes. So you can only come to 1750 NZD.
Since you can get a maximum of 800 NZD at one Westpac ATM (and even less at the other ATMs) you have to go to different ATMs several times.
So in the first round you ideally go to a Westpac machine and pick up 800 NZD. Then you go to the next machine and also collect another 800 NZD from another (or the same) Westpac machine. Then you go to another ATM and pick up the remaining 150 NZD. Then you have reached your daily limit of 1000 € and you have to wait until the next day (depending on your local credit card bank time zone).

Example 2:

Let's come to example two. You want to buy a car and need 2570 € for it, that corresponds here in the example a total amount of 4520 New Zealand dollars. We assume that you have enough money on your credit card and that you have a daily limit of 800 €. Your daily limit of 800 € is equivalent to 1406 NZD. Now it's time to start. You are ideally looking for one or more ATMs again and calculate how much New Zealand dollars you will receive per withdrawal. Then you just have to look towards the end that you reach exactly the 1400 NZD. The next day you repeat the game. It is important to remember that you have to adjust to the time of your credit card banks local time zone, the New Zealand time does not matter for your daily limit (except your credit card is from a New Zealand bank). The more money you need the more complex it gets, but in case of doubt, just write the amount already withdrawn on your phone.

Be careful with so much cash

In order not to make others thieves on occasion, it is advisable to keep a close eye on your money. Either you carry it permanently with you; alternatively you ask in your accommodation if there is a safe. If there is a safe, ask for an envelope and pack your money so that it is not obvious at first glance.

Questions, comments or ideas

If you have any questions, comments or ideas to this article, then please be so kind and leave us a comment below this article. Many Thanks!