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Posts Tagged :

better deal

Top tips to avoid over spending at Christmas

As we approach the silly season and our bank accounts begin to bear the brunt of it, Kiwis should aim to be careful shoppers and only spend what they can afford. We commissioned research which reveals nearly one in three New Zealanders put their Christmas and holiday spending on their credit card and are potentially facing a New Year hangover, saying they won’t pay the full bill before the due date (29%). CreditSimple.co.nz spokesperson Hazel Phillips said the holiday season was…

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Steven Joyce
Budget Day: Steven’s had his – now it’s your turn

Two weeks ago the new finance minister Steven Joyce delivered his first budget, and the last that this National government gets to table before heading to the polls in September. While budget day doesn’t come with quite the drama or possibility of surprise that it did in, say, the 80s, it’s still a big deal. There’s a lot of detail, but essentially the government is announcing where it plans to get money from (taxes, borrowing, occasionally selling things) and how it…

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Will the sun always shine on your mortgage?

Mortgages in Auckland are not small. The average one is $393,000 and a quarter of them are at least $500,000. When you owe that much money you want to know things are going to be okay: that your property values will stay up, that your interest rates will stay down. But the truth we come to know quickly in the credit rating business is that unhappy surprises have a habit of turning up. These post-GFC times have given us some…

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Confident woman on couch in her home
How should you talk to your bank? Like a boss, says Damian Christie

When the time comes to re-fix your mortgage rate, it pays to shop around, says TV presenter, documentary producer and man with a Twitter account, Damian Christie. “I’ve always thought the banks are pretty hopeless at retaining their customers,” Damian says. “They offer a lot of enticements to new customers: free TVs, free money, low interest rates.” But that seems to be where the batteries run out. “It seems like they just assume people can’t be bothered moving once they’re…

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