Our Finance Blog

Today HSBC says it has stopped accepting any new retail banking customers in New Zealand and will be telling existing customers to start engaging with other financial services providers. HSBC says it’ll wind-down its New Zealand…

As a mortgage adviser I’ve been asked a lot of questions over the years, but two that often pop up are: Why should I use a mortgage adviser? What do you do to get home loans…

Are you an aspiring first home buyer or potential property investor and wondering when is the right time to buy? If you are then you are not alone – as mortgage advisers we are hearing people…

As mortgage advisers we have helped people refix their mortgages over the years, ands it does not matter if that mortgage was arranged directly with the bank, with another mortgage adviser or by one of our…

Why do the main banks make small business finance so hard? Businesses of all sizes big and small need access to finance at times and unfortunately in New Zealand most banks require a mortgage over your…

One of the key roles for a mortgage adviser is to provide people on what is the best mortgage type to have. Of course the other key roles include arranging the mortgage and getting competitive interest…

When we started the Kiwi First Home Buyers Group over 10-years ago house prices were lower and the group was smaller. Over the preceding years the group has grown to about 60,000 members and we have…

When we started the Kiwi First Home Buyers Group over 10-years ago the aim was to help answer questions that first home buyers have, and over those years it has grown to about 60,000 members and…

A revolving credit mortgage works like a large overdraft or credit card, and mortgage advisers will often use a revolving credit as part of the overall mortgage. What is Revolving Credit? Revolving credit is an account…

Over recent times we have seen huge increases in building costs, and yet we hear that most Kiwi’s have left their house insurance cover levels at the same as what they were when the policy was…

You might speak to your bank about low deposit home loans and find they cannot help, but that does not mean there are not options available to you. There are still options for low deposit home…

First Home Partner is a shared home ownership scheme administered by Kāinga Ora (previously Housing New Zealand), as an alternative way to help first home buyers to get into their own homes. This is a scheme…

Plenty of people have opinions on what has happened in 2022, but few (if any) are prepared to offer any predictions for what might happen with the economy and the finances in 2023. Of course, as…

As the year comes to an end it’s a good time to take a breath and some time to reflect on the good and bad of the year, and look forward to the year ahead too….

Today the Monetary Policy Committee increased the Official Cash Rate (OCR) by 75 basis points from 3.5 percent to 4.25 percent which lifts the OCR to its highest point since December 2008. It’s the ninth OCR…

Blink helps bring you affordable home security that’s innovative, and easy-to-use. They are smart home security devices using video cameras linked to the free Blink Home Monitor app on your smartphone. Blink helps you protect what…

With the banks recently announcing more record profits there has been more talk of seeing open banking in New Zealand, but how this has been spoken about has given a very limited view to the benefits….

It’s always interesting that in soft property markets people tend to hold off buying, and yet when the market is running hot they will jump on any house at almost any price. BUT … my wife…

As mortgage advisers we are often contacted by property investors who struggle to understand how the banks assess their loan applications. To the property investor the property looks like a good investment, and yet the bank…

Yes, we have high home loan interest rates and we could have these for a few years. We have had high home loan interest rates before, but for many homeowners we have gotten used to the…