Transfer NZ Bank Account to United States in NZD or USD?
 

Bank of New Zealand is offering the option for a transfer to Bank of America. What's the best choice, if you want to minimize loss?

Thx! Sorry, this is a bit off topic but broadly concerns travel.

I don't understand the question. :confused:

Sending NZ$ to USA?
Ask for a quote/schedule of fees?

Now days there are cheaper ways for international money transfer than (big) banks

I use Transferwise ... there are a dozen other new-Fin companies offering significantly better Forex rates than the banks. Often >2% better. If you want to stick with BNZ, then generally better to convert to USD by BNZ rather than by BofA, however it depends in part the amount involved. You can get the rate from each bank and directly compare (dont forget fees which can be sizable for small amounts).

Are you actually moving your account, or just sending money?

If you mean BNZ is offering to convert into US dollars and sending then that's a better option than having any US bank change it, espcially BoA. That said, as others have mentioned, there are dozens of services that will offer better rates than any trading bank. I've had good results with xe.com, paypal, and xoom.com. Of those, xoom.com is probably the easiest to deal with.

How do you know that?

In 30+ years I have never seen a US bank offer a better rate than a NZ bank. So yes, a judgment call. For the last ~15 years I wouldn't touch a bank for a transfer, but if the only two choices were a US bank or a NZ bank then I would always opt for the NZ bank.

Fair enough, I have no experience with NZ banks but it seems that the AU ones are just as happy to rip you off as the US ones.

Best advice is to avoid banks, so many better options. Personally I use TorFX or XE.

I just moved to NZ and have been using Transferwise to send money in the opposite direction. Good experiences so far but expect delays with your first transfer (due diligence going on in the background I assume). Transfers from Transferwise to BNZ take place pretty quickly.