About going overdrawn with a New Zealand bank account?

Question

Hello,

Basically I am going backpacking fairly soon in New Zealand and about a year ago I opened a bank account with the BNZ bank over the internet and then totally forgot about it. Well today I received a letter from them telling me I'm $31 overdrawn which I'm assuming is the cost of the bank account itself having mounted up over time.

What I need to ask is are there any penalties or anything like that for going over drawn in New Zealand? Am I likely to face a hefty fine or anything?? The laws on this sort of thing in the UK where I live are quite lenient as you'll only get a letter and a £22 charge but I know in other countries you can be fined and have to go to court and stuff. It doesnt say anything threatening on the letter I got but I'm just wondering what might happen?

I wont have any way to deposit money into this account until I actually get to NZ on the 6th of september so providing nothing major is going to happen between now and then I can just go into a BNZ branch and pay it when I get there but thats still a few weeks away.

So... any thoughts?

Thanks in advance :)

Answer 1

Yes you'll get fined if you don't pay, only reasonable to.

Answer 2

you will be fine, the only thing is that the fee may increase if you dont pay it by the end of the month etc but have a look online at your statements which will tell you what the fee is for, it also depends on your contract with BNZ because there may be a overdraft fee, but again that could be included in the 31$



So long as you pay it you will be OK and no legal actions will be taken.