Amid fears of growing financial hardship throughout New Zealand, a comprehensive campaign against high-interest lenders looks to be gaining new ground. Payday lenders, trucks shops, loan sharks: the names alone are enough to conjure up grim images of shady operators and hustlers lurking in dark spaces to prey on the financially vulnerable. While the reality … Read more
The end of the wage subsidy is expected to trigger an avalanche of financial hardship requests. Budgeting services and financial mentors are bracing to meet it head on. It’s been a surprisingly quiet few months for most of New Zealand’s budgeting services. Spending was down during lockdown and with more than a million people tended … Read more
At this time of year, small debts can put people living on low incomes into huge hardship. A microfinance provider is doing their bit to lift people back up again. The financial pressures that come with the holiday period are difficult enough for any family to manage. They become a lot harder when there already … Read more
Finance companies say they shouldn’t have to be ‘fit and proper’ even though in some cases they charge more than the planned clampdown on high cost lending. A group of finance companies that charges well over the government’s proposed cap on loan repayment costs is distancing itself from lenders who “cause the most harm to … Read more
British regulators have placed caps on interest rates and the total amount fringe lenders can charge, so why isn’t New Zealand making similar moves? Having to take out a loan to pay for food, bills, petrol and rent is the reality for many New Zealand families. With around one in seven Kiwis living in poverty … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: PM Ardern at a series of international summits this week, Pike River plan revealed, and NZ to host the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup. PM Jacinda Ardern will be walking a series of fine lines at international summits over the rest of the week. She’s currently in … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Police discuss logistics of legal weed, amount beneficiaries owe to MSD revealed, and a thorough rundown on why houses are unaffordable. With a reeferendum coming by 2020 at the latest, the police are starting to give serious thought to how they will go about their jobs … Read more
Measure twice, cut once. New Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi is on a mission to make our laws fit for purpose. Unfair clamping fine from a private carpark: $760. Phone call from a debt collector: $30. Interest on a short-term loan: 400%. These are the sort of consumer outrages in the sights of Commerce and … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Like it or not, a plastic bag ban is coming, loan sharks are flouting laws, and Bob Jones is going to court. A ban on single-use plastic bags is almost certain to be announced this year. Earlier in the week environment minister Eugenie Sage hinted to Newshub that legislation … Read more