The Car

Lucy gave me a full report on the car test. The local mechanic put the car through its paces on the road and on the rack. He OK’d buying it. We made an offer—a bit lower than asking price because we have to get a new tyre*—and the seller said yes. That led to our banking crisis.

Our credit union is too small to join the international banking system. That is an advantage if you stay in Centrally Located, Texas; no one in NZ can get money from your account.

If you leave the U.S., you have a problem—the group ‘no one’ includes YOU.

We could not direct transfer money from CU to bank. We could not wire money to ourselves—the CU told us we could, but they were wrong.

Our NZ bank told us to write a check to ourselves. They forgot that they cannot take foreign checks until our account is open for six months. They returned the check. Oops. Good thing we lost the auction on the first car.

Solution: We go to our local bank, pull cash from the ATM machine, walk inside, and deposit the cash. The staff on Waiheke is small and they have been wonderful. Ms. S. was so concerned that we weren’t getting money that she took our phone number with her during her holiday. She checked with the bank and phoned us with status reports. We are on a first name basis now.

As every attempt to fund this venture and pay our bills kept failing, they stood with us and tried everything possible to keep us solvent. We failed, but as a hard-working team of can-do money movers. Well, as ‘almost-but-not-quite-can-do money movers.’ The ATM is our lifeline.

Because I was hitting the daily limit repeatedly, they told me to “use our ATM. If it thinks you’re trying fraud and keeps your card, we’ll just dig it out and give it back.” Try that for service!

When I get off the bus, the bank staff sees me, and they wave hello. They know that I will withdraw some cash and then walk in to deposit it. We have a nice chat, and, their workload is a lot smaller since we have stopped trying to get to our funds by other methods. Our first month’s account fee--$3 US—has given us our money’s worth.

It took two days to harvest enough money for the car. On the second day, I was at the ATM thirty minutes early—it was not 24 hours after my previous withdrawal. I crossed Ocean View Road, entered the Lazy Lounge**, and had a flat-white with a New Zealand Herald slice*** on the side.

Deadline passed, I collected the bills and entered the bank. “Hello Terry!” said Ms. S with a smile. “Glad to see you’re keeping yourself funded. How much will you deposit today?”

We get the car tomorrow.

*I had a tough time finding a tire store here. Luckily, tyres are curiously similar to tires and are available in the same size, so we have an acceptable substitute.

**Fabulous name—the service is anything but lazy—and a gorgeous place to let time pass. Ocean view is available wherever you sit, indoors our outdoors.

***I took the front section. ‘Petrol-Sniffer Catches Fire when Tasered by Police.’ Bracing reading, really.