Business college lecturer Peter Brown thought it was a prank when a bank in New Zealand asked him to pay $3 to break a $20 bill.

"I thought he was joking and I said, 'This isn't April 1, you know. You've got to be kidding,'" Brown said. However, he quickly learned that it was simply bank policy.

The New Zealand Herald quotes a bank officer as saying that the bank requires non-ASB customers to pay $5 to get change. This helps to limit non-customers from wasting cashiers' time by changing large amounts of cash.

Brown, who was put off by this behavior of bank said he would now not consider opening account with this bank as a customer. However, with some persistence Brown eventually had his money changed without charge.