- “Covid-19 impacted many New Zealanders and our banks deferred or reduced loan repayments on $70 billion in business and household loans,” Beaumont says.
- “Depending on the customer’s circumstances, banks also offered to reduce loan repayments, temporarily deferred all repayments, extended the term of loans, consolidated loans, and provided access to short-term funding.”
- “I heard a story a couple of weeks ago from one of our major banks where one of their branches was averaging six transactions a week. That’s not six transactions an hour or six transactions a day. Six transactions a week.”
- NZBA chief executive Roger Beaumont said Covid-19 had a significant impact on how customers used bank branches, the banking hubs and the commitments made by the six participating banks “none of which could have been foreseen when the trial was announced”.
- This is the alternative to a DTI ratio tool suggested by bank lobby group the New Zealand Bankers’ Association in its response to the 2017 consultation. NZBA argued the evidence linking high-DTI loans and loan defaults was weak, with job loss having the most significant impact on the likelihood of loan default.
- “Frontline bank staff were inundated with calls from customers seeking assistance with lending and cashflow. And there has also been a huge increase in home loan applications in the last year. Given all this, it’s perhaps not surprising that some more customers had a less-than-perfect experience, and yet our research shows public attitudes to banking... Read more »
- “Anyone concerned about their bank fees should talk to their bank to discuss their particular situation and how they can avoid fees,” he said. “Some banks waive fees for older customers. Everyone’s circumstances are a bit different and it pays to have a chat about how your bank can help you.”
- Beaumont said banks understood change could be difficult for some customers. “When these often challenging decisions are made, banks put in place significant programmes to communicate and support their customers through the change.”
- The New Zealand Bankers’ Association says for banking talk to your new bank, which will provide you with a Switching Bank Request Form. Once you’ve completed and returned that form your bank will identify and transfer over all your recurring payments, taking most of the pain away. Nice.
- Beaumont said banks lend where they can, subject to lending criteria, which includes the borrower’s equity or deposit and their ability to repay the loan, so they weren’t “going in over their head”.
