Best Credit Cards in New Zealand

Best Credit Cards in New Zealand

There are over 30 personal credit cards available to New Zealanders across ANZ, ASB, Westpac, BNZ, Kiwibank, TSB, SBS, The Co-operative Bank, and American Express — plus two dominant store cards from Gem Visa and Q Mastercard. Most of them are not worth your time. Our analysis shows the average Kiwi household overpays between $150 and $400 per year simply by holding the wrong credit card.

We read every terms-and-conditions document, every rewards programme booklet, every insurance policy wording, and every fee schedule from every issuer in the country. What we found surprised us: many of the most heavily marketed cards are among the worst value. The cards that actually deliver the most to everyday New Zealanders tend to be the ones nobody talks about.

Here are our three picks — then the full market breakdown so you can see exactly why.

1ASB Visa Flex — The Best All-Rounder

If you pick one card from this entire guide, pick this one. The ASB Visa Flex has the lowest purchase interest rate of any major New Zealand bank card at 9.95% p.a. — nearly 3 full percentage points below the next cheapest major-bank no-fee card. It charges no annual fee, no foreign currency conversion fee, and carries the same 9.95% rate on cash advances instead of punishing you with a separate higher rate. Up to 55 days interest-free.

The combination is almost unique. Most no-fee cards either charge a foreign currency fee or carry a higher interest rate. Most low-rate cards either charge an annual fee or whack you with a separate cash advance rate above 20%. The Visa Flex does none of that. It simply costs less to hold, less to use overseas, and less if you accidentally carry a balance.

The trade-off: a low $500 minimum credit limit and no balance transfer facility. ASB designed this as a starter card or a backup card — not a high-limit spending vehicle. For everyday use by someone who pays in full most months but wants the lowest possible cost if they slip, there is nothing better.

2SBS Visa Credit Card — The Only Rewards Card With No Fee

The SBS Visa Credit Card is the only credit card in New Zealand that pays you to hold it. Zero annual fee. Zero rewards programme fee. Zero additional cardholder fee. And it earns $1 cashback for every $150 spent on eligible transactions, credited automatically to your account every quarter.

The math is simple: every other rewards card charges you a fee that you must earn back before you're ahead. The SBS Visa starts you at $0, and every dollar of cashback is pure gain.

The trade-offs: a 19.65% purchase rate (you must pay in full every month — interest will wipe out the cashback instantly), a foreign currency fee of approximately 2.5%, and a modest earn rate. If you spend $18,000 per year on the card, you earn $120 cashback. On an ANZ CashBack Platinum with its $80 annual fee, that same $18,000 earns $150 but costs $80 — net $70. The SBS card nets $120. If your annual card spend is under roughly $20,000, the no-fee cashback card beats every fee-charging rewards card in the country on net return.

3Westpac Airpoints Platinum Mastercard — Best Mainstream Travel Card

If you fly Air New Zealand even once a year, this is the Airpoints card to get. At $125 per year, it's $25 cheaper than ANZ's Airpoints Platinum and carries the same earn rate of 1 Airpoints Dollar per $110 spent (up to $7,000 per month, then 1 per $220). The card includes overseas travel insurance underwritten by Allianz, purchase protection covering loss or damage for 90 days, and extended warranty insurance adding up to 12 months on eligible purchases.

Additional benefits: a Koru membership joining fee waiver plus a $145 discount on a standard 12-month individual Koru membership, one Status Point for every $225 spent, and a 200 Airpoints Dollar advance if you're short on a reward booking.

The trade-offs: the tiered earn rate means high spenders get throttled after $7,000 per month, the 44-day interest-free period is shorter than the 55 days on most low-rate cards, and the foreign currency fee is 1.95%. This is a card for people who pay in full every month, travel at least occasionally, and care about Airpoints — not a card for balance carriers or infrequent flyers.

Why Our Top 3 Are Different From Every Other List

Most credit card comparison pages in New Zealand pick their "best" cards based on whichever bank offers the highest referral commission. We don't take commissions. We read every terms-and-conditions document, every rewards programme booklet, every insurance policy wording, and every fee schedule from every issuer in the country. Then we picked the cards that deliver the most value to the most New Zealanders, with the fewest traps.

What we found surprised us: many of the most popular cards are among the worst value. The ANZ Airpoints Visa Platinum — routinely recommended as "the best travel card" — costs $150 per year and earns just 1 Airpoints Dollar per $110 spent. The Westpac Airpoints Platinum costs $125 and earns at the same Rate with better insurance. The ASB Visa Flex, at 9.95% with zero fees, saves the average Kiwi household hundreds of dollars a year compared to the cards their bank pushed them into. And the SBS Visa delivers cashback to your pocket with no annual fee to claw back first — something no big-four bank offers.

What’s changed in 2026?

• ANZ removing FX fees across all personal cards

• Kiwibank exiting Airpoints entirely

• BNZ updating FX fees to 2.25%

• Amex maintaining strong earn rates but patchy acceptance

• Store cards still at  29% interest despite regulatory pressure

Every Low-Rate and No-Fee Card in New Zealand

These are the cards for people who sometimes carry a balance, want a backup card in the drawer, or refuse to pay annual fees for the privilege of spending their own money. Every card in this section charges $60 or less per year and carries a purchase rate under 14% p.a. (or close to it in the case of the Amex Low Rate with its 2.99% introductory offer).

   

 

Rates verified against each issuer's website, terms-and-conditions document, and fee schedule as at 26 July. ANZ rates sourced from ANZ's official rates-and-fees page (anz.co.nz/rates-fees-agreements/credit-cards/). Kiwibank rates confirmed from Kiwibank's own public governance notices (kiwibank.co.nz/about-us/governance/public-notices/). Amex Low Rate verified from Amex NZ official rates page. TSB, ASB, Westpac, BNZ, SBS, and Co-operative Bank rates from each issuer's website and product disclosure documents.

Which low-rate card should you pick? If you carry a balance regularly, the TSB Low Rate saves you the most interest at 11.95% — that's roughly $100 less interest per year on a $3,000 balance than a card at 13.50%. If you want a card that costs absolutely nothing and covers all your bases, the ASB Visa Flex is unbeatable at 9.95% with zero fees across the board. If you occasionally buy big-ticket items, the ASB Visa Light's Smart Rate gives you six months interest-free on any single purchase over $1,000 — useful for appliances, furniture, or unexpected bills. The Amex Low Rate deserves a look if you can live with Amex acceptance: 2.99% for the first six months is the cheapest introductory credit in New Zealand, and the ongoing 12.69% beats most bank cards.

Every Cashback Rewards Card in New Zealand

Cashback cards return a percentage of your spending to you. The key question is whether the cashback exceeds the annual fee. Below are the four cashback cards currently available.

The TSB Platinum has the best cashback rate in New Zealand at a clean 1% — you earn $1 for every $100 spent. But the $90 annual fee means you need to spend $9,000 per year to break even. The SBS Visa earns at a lower rate but starts you at $0 — your first dollar of cashback is pure profit. For annual card spend between $0 and roughly $13,500, the SBS Visa delivers the highest net return. Above approximately $13,500, the TSB Platinum pulls ahead.

The ANZ CashBack Platinum ($80 fee, $1 per $120) sits between them — cheaper than the TSB but with a weaker earn rate. Its one advantage: zero foreign currency fees as of 24 June, a change ANZ applied across all personal cards. The TSB Platinum charges 1.9% on overseas transactions, and the SBS Visa charges approximately 2.5%. If you travel or shop internationally, the ANZ card's FX saving may tip the scales.

Airpoints Credit Card in New Zealand

Airpoints Dollars are worth $1 each when redeemed for Air New Zealand flights. The earn rate tells you how much you need to spend per Airpoints Dollar. Lower is better. All rates below are for the entry tier — every Westpac card throttles earn rates above monthly spending caps.

*Westpac Airpoints World annual fee of $310 is waived if you spend $50,000 or more in the previous six-month period. Priority Pass lounge access and valet parking vouchers included. ANZ Airpoints Visa (standard, $65/yr) does not include travel insurance — only the Platinum variant ($150/yr) provides complimentary overseas travel cover via Allianz.

Which Airpoints card should you pick? If Amex acceptance works for your spending patterns — and it's accepted at most supermarkets, petrol stations, and large retailers — the Amex Airpoints Platinum earns 57% faster than the nearest mainstream competitor (1 per $70 vs 1 per $110), includes four annual airport lounge visits, and throws in travel insurance. The $195 fee pays for itself after about $13,650 in annual card spend compared to a no-fee card. If you need Visa or Mastercard acceptance everywhere, the Westpac Airpoints Platinum beats ANZ's equivalent: it's $25 cheaper, same earn rate, and includes a Koru discount. The ANZ Airpoints Platinum has one genuine advantage as of June 2026: zero foreign currency fees across all personal cards. If you travel overseas frequently, that 0% FX rate can save more than the $25 annual fee difference.

The Amex Airpoints (no-fee) deserves mention as the only no-annual-fee Airpoints card in the country. At 1 Airpoints Dollar per $100 spent, its earn rate is better than ANZ's $65 Airpoints Visa (1 per $170) and the entry Westpac Airpoints Mastercard (1 per $150). If you want to earn Airpoints without paying for the privilege, this is your only option — but you'll need to work around Amex acceptance, which remains patchy at smaller retailers, cafés, and some service providers.

Other Rewards Card in New Zealand

These cards earn points or rewards dollars through proprietary programmes rather than Airpoints or straight cashback. The value of a point depends on how you redeem it — cashback to a bank account typically offers the most transparent value.

*BNZ Advantage Platinum travel insurance policy wording effective from 3 Febru3 Februaryor travel departing on or after that date. FX fee updated to 2.25% as at July 2026. **Westpac hotpoints World fee waived if spending threshold met.

The value of points-based rewards cards is harder to pin down because redemption values vary. A True Reward Dollar at ASB partner stores is worth roughly $1. BNZ Points redeemed for cashback to a BNZ account offer roughly 0.6-0.7% effective return — less than the TSB Platinum's 1% cashback. The Amex Gold Rewards Card earns at 2 points per dollar, which transfer to multiple airline programmes — potentially the most valuable points in the NZ market for frequent travellers, but only if you actually use them for premium cabin redemptions.

Store Cards: The Hidden Trap

Gem Visa and Q Mastercard dominate the point-of-sale credit market in New Zealand. They're offered at the checkout of Harvey Norman, Noel Leeming, Mitre 10, Farmers, and dozens of other retailers with the promise of interest-free periods ranging from six months to five years.

The trap is the gap between the minimum repayment and what you need to pay to clear the balance before the interest-free period ends. On a $2,000 purchase with a 12-month interest-free term, the minimum repayment of 3% per month means you'll pay $60 per month. After 12 months of minimum payments, roughly $1,280 remains outstanding. The interest-free period expires, and that $1,280 is immediately hit with 29.49% interest. That's approximately $377 in interest in the first year alone — wiping out whatever you thought you saved by going interest-free.

Our position: These cards serve exactly one legitimate purpose: financing a specific large purchase you can comfortably pay off within the interest-free window while making payments well above the minimum. Using either card as an everyday spending card or carrying any balance beyond the promotional period is financially destructive. If you cannot commit to paying the full amount before the interest-free period ends, do not open one. For alternatives to store cards, see our guide on personal loans vs credit cards for help deciding which type of borrowing suits your situation.

Cards That Are No Longer Available

For completeness — these cards were discontinued and are no longer open to new applicants. Existing cardholders may still hold them.

How to Pick the Right Card for You

Most New Zealanders don't need a rewards card. They need a card that costs them the least. The questions below should lead you to the right answer in about sixty seconds. If you're also reviewing your everyday banking setup, check our guide to the best bank accounts in New Zealand — the right account paired with the right card saves more than either choice on its own.

Do you ever carry a balance — even once a year?

If yes, rewards are irrelevant. A single month of interest at 20.95% on a $2,000 balance costs about $35: that wipes out a year's cashback. Your card should be one of the low-rate options — ideally the ASB Visa Flex at 9.95% or the TSB Low Rate at 11.95%.

Do you pay in full every single month?

If yes, you can consider rewards. At annual card spend under approximately $13,500, the SBS Visa nets you the most cashback because there's no annual fee to overcome. Between $13,500 and $20,000, the TSB Platinum pulls ahead with its 1% cashback rate. Above $20,000 in annual spend, the Amex Airpoints Platinum or ANZ CashBack Platinum with 0% FX fees become competitive depending on how much you travel.

Do you fly Air New Zealand regularly?

If you fly even once or twice a year and can use Airpoints Dollars for flights, the Westpac Airpoints Platinum ($125) delivers the best combination of earn rate, annual fee, and benefits among Visa/Mastercard Airpoints cards. If you can live with Amex acceptance, the Amex Airpoints Platinum ($195) earns 57% faster and includes lounge access.

Do you spend overseas or shop online from international retailers?

Three cards now charge zero foreign currency fees: the ASB Visa Flex (9.95%, $0/yr), Westpac Fee Free Mastercard (12.90%, $0/yr), and all five ANZ personal cards (as of 24 June 24 June If you combine overseas spending with everyday use, the ASB Visa Flex is the clear winner — zero fees across the board and the lowest interest Rate if you ever carry a balance. The Kiwibank Zero Visa charges 1.85% but uniquely applies this to NZD transactions processed overseas (Spotify, Airbnb, Apple) — a cost no other bank passes on. If you need a card purely for overseas spending and don't need credit, consider a travel money card instead (see the Travel Money Cards note above) — Wise and similar products typically beat even the best credit card FX rates.

Are you a high spender ($50,000+ per year on card)?

At this level, the premium cards justify their fees. The Westpac Airpoints World Mastercard ($310, waived if $50K+ spent per six-month period) earns at 1 APD per $95 with Priority Pass lounge access and valet parking. The Amex Airpoints Platinum earns faster (1 per $70) but with Amex acceptance limitations. The Amex Platinum Card ($1,250) is a charge card for people who value lounge access, travel credits, and concierge services more than they value $1,250.

The ValueHub Definitive Conclusion

New Zealand's credit card market is designed to look competitive while quietly extracting value from people who don't read the fine print. Rewards cards with 20.95% interest rates are pushed aggressively because the bank profits whether you earn points or pay interest. Store cards with interest-free periods and 29% revert rates depend on you missing the deadline. And comparison sites that take referral commissions have every incentive to recommend the card that pays them the most, not the card that saves you the most.

Our advice is simpler than the banks want it to be:

1. If you ever carry a balance, get the ASB Visa Flex — it's the cheapest card to hold and the cheapest card to slip up on.
2. If you pay in full and want something back, get the SBS Visa — it's the only card that pays you without charging you first.
3. If you travel, get the Westpac Airpoints Platinum — it's the best-value Airpoints card with full Visa/Mastercard acceptance everywhere.
4. Avoid store cards unless you will absolutely, without question, pay the full balance before the interest-free window closes.

Everything else is noise.

See how long it will take to pay off your card: Our Credit Card Repayment Calculator shows exactly how much interest you will pay and when you will be debt-free.

For a full breakdown of travel insurance across every NZ card issuer — including age limits, activation rules, and hidden exclusions — see our credit card travel insurance comparison.