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Posts Tagged :

mortgage

Help! I can’t pay my mortgage

Perhaps you’ve lost your job, you’ve fallen ill, can’t sell but have bought a new property, the property is uninhabitable thanks to an earthquake, or have no rent coming in. Whatever the cause, if you can’t make mortgage payments your finances can turn to custard rapidly. Non-payment will do your credit score a lot of damage. Even worse, it ultimately leads to your home or investment property being repossessed if you can’t make mortgage payments. Talk to the bank and…

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Are your finances on FIRE? (That’s Financially Independent, Retiring Early)

If you’re anything like the average Kiwi, you see retirement as something that happens after you turn 65 (or, *cough*, 67). You stop working, live off the pension, and you’re Officially Retired. But it doesn’t have to be that way, and there are people all over the world challenging ideas about post-65 life. Here’s five things you should know about the New Retirement. Your finances can be on FIRE One of the ‘new ways’ is called FIRE  –  Financially Independent…

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Lending and borrowing the Kiwi way

Us Kiwi’s have made the most of peer-to-peer as a way of life for some time now, adopting services such as UBER, Airbnb and Airtasker and enjoying better value all round. Neil Roberts Joint CEO of Harmoney says it has been very rewarding watching Kiwis embrace the Harmoney peer-to-peer lending marketplace. “The growth has been fantastic, but the passion that comes from our community and their continued support for Harmoney is perhaps the most rewarding of all.” Thanks half a…

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Tips to save everyday on technology

Technology has become a crucial part of our everyday lives. Whether it’s talking, texting, catching up with family on social media or searching for the latest recipe to cook for dinner. However technology is increasingly becoming more expensive. Here are some tips to save money. 1. Understand your bills Understand the plan you are currently on. What are the fees and charges? Go through your bills and make sure you understand what the items are you are being charged for. If you…

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How to overcome bad credit and get a home loan

So you’ve got a big bad black mark on your credit record and you want a mortgage? Don’t worry, all is not lost. Banks like to lend to people who they believe have the disposable income and the will to pay them back. If your credit score is bad and there are a few sneaky black marks on it they might think that you’re not such a good bet. Banks have to be responsible What’s more, our banks are also…

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Man jumping through hoops
Buddy, can you spare a million? How easy is it really to get a mortgage in New Zealand?

It’s amazing, really, how many hoops you have to jump through these days just to earn yourself the privilege of borrowing hundreds of thousands dollars in a home loan. But how many hoops are we talking, exactly? How difficult is it in the current market to get yourself a mortgage? A bit tricky, says Maria Slade, author of Buyer Beware, A New Zealand Home Buyer’s Guide. For starters, you don’t really get past GO without a 20 per cent deposit…

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When is the right time to buy a house? Is there a magical time to act? Are we asking too many questions?

What with Auckland houses selling for more than 10 times the average income and interest rates about to rise and who knows – maybe a crash ahead? – we thought we should ask: Is this this a good time to be getting into the property market? Do you grab the moment while you can? Do you wait for things to settle down? What’s the magic moment to act? Actually, there is no right time, says Maria Slade, who’s just written…

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Tinker with your mortgage and you could save enough for a holiday to Fiji. Don’t believe us? Read this

Banks rely on us being lazy. In fact they make millions out of Kiwis who through inertia fail to shop around for a better deal. Customer loyalty doesn’t always pay. Shopping around on your mortgage can really pay off. Imagine telling your friends that you paid for a flash foreign holiday to Fiji just by remortgaging? It happens. Sure, you got the best rate when you first took your mortgage out. But is it still the best rate? Get a…

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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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Southland
Southland the place to be (and buy) if you’re under 30 and looking to get into the property market

We’ve had a peek at some mortgage data to see how young Kiwis are getting on around the country with getting into home ownership. And it turns out young Southlanders are in the best place to get a foot on the property ladder, with double the success rate of under-30 home buyers in Auckland. Our data shows 8.3% of mortgagees in Southland are under 30, compared to a tiny 4.4% in Auckland. When it comes to property, young Southlanders are…

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