2009-05-29 This Week, Digested

Monday: Bought a new petrol cap because someone pried open the lid with a screwdriver and took the old one. Low crime rate my ass, New Zealand!
Tuesday: Biked 40 kilometers to check out two catteries for August. A good one and a bad one.
Wednesday: Booked a month at the cattery. Went to the vet to make sure Walter's vaccinations are up to date. Went to Pak'nSave for food and petrol.
Tuesday: Went to ASB to open a new bank account, because I'm trying to get away from ANZ. More on that later.
Friday: That's today. I came home from work, went straight to bed, and have no intention of leaving it any time soon. Monday is a public holiday.

***

About the ANZ account. Here is what happened:
When I opened the account, I set a limit of $1,000 per day for online transfers, as a safeguard against typos and evil hackers. But that was too low to pay for the flights to the Philippines and Germany, so I needed it raised. There's a "raise limit" button on the website which makes them send a letter with a secret number. When I got that letter I was supposed to call them, identify myself with something that only I can know (like my birthday for example (I know! Crazy, right?)) and they would raise my limit.
So far everything worked out according to the plan. I transferred the money and was rewarded with a neat message that read "Your money has been transferred".
Now that the payment was done, it was only sensible to lower the limit back to its original value. No letter needed, no questions asked. That was on a Friday.
On the following Tuesday, when the weekend's transfers usually show up on the (digital) bank statement, the money was still on my account. And not only that, but if the flight wasn't paid on the following day, the price would be "subject to change", as they say. That would be bad. Really bad.
So I rang up ANZ, explained patiently what had happened and after they understood the situation they told me that I shouldn't have reset the limit right away. But it said "Your money has been transferred", I told them. Yeah, but transactions are done over night. At night the amount was over the limit, and so the transaction got rejected. The call center guy told me that the only way to get the money there on time was some sort of wired transfer (I forgot the exact name), which would cost $25. Gasp. I went to one of their branches during my work time and found out that I could get a bank cheque for $5. And even though what happened wasn't my fault, I still had to pay for it.
ANZ also charges $5 every month just for "managing" the account.
Call me old fashioned, but I am reluctant to pay an institution for the privilege to give them my money, and that's why I am going to walk away from ANZ.

On a more general note: This is the year 2009. Is it really necessary to do transactions over night? Shouldn't it be possible to transfer money as soon as the OK button is clicked? This isn't Gringotts!