An Auckland man thought it was an April Fool's joke when an ASB bank teller tried to charge him $5 to split a $20 note.
"I was shocked," said business college lecturer Peter Brown after making the request at the ASB in Lynnmall Shopping Centre, New Lynn.
"I
thought he was joking and I said, 'This isn't April 1, you know. You've got to be kidding'."
ASB has a policy of charging non-ASB customers $5 to change cash, but only in certain circumstances, such as retailers changing large sums of money.
A spokeswoman said Mr Brown's experience was unusual.
Mr Brown went to the bank at the weekend to break a $20 note into two $10 notes. The teller told him it was the bank's policy to charge $5 because he did not have an ASB account.
When Mr Brown asked if it was a joke, the teller re-iterated the bank's policy with a "frozen smile".
"I've never had that experience," Mr Brown said. "With this attitude to the currency of New Zealand and its citizens, I will not exactly be hurrying to open an account with this bank."
Mr Brown persisted and eventually had his money changed without charge, though the teller added, "We're not meant to do this".
ASB spokeswoman Linley Wood said the policy "absolutely would not" apply to breaking a $20 note.
"It's really to discourage non-customers that have a lot of cash and want to change it, and they take up the time of the people behind the counter who are there to look after our customers.
"It's left to their discretion [whether to enforce it], depending on how busy the branch is, how many notes they have - it depends on the circumstances."
She said Mr Brown's experience was "very strange" and the bank would make inquiries.
A BNZ spokeswoman said BNZ did not charge to change money, but had a cash-handling fee for non-customers with cash transactions of more than $2000 a day.
Westpac charged only retail operators wanting to change large amounts of money.
