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Mortgage Insurance In New Zealand Offers Financial Peace Of Mind
Mortgage insurance, also known as mortgage protection insurance, provides cover if you're unable to meet your loan repayments due to illness, injury, or death. Depending on the policy, it can help cover your mortgage for a defined period or pay off the loan entirely.
It's designed to align specifically with your home loan — unlike general life or income protection — and is tailored based on your loan size, repayments, and personal circumstances.
With rising living costs and economic uncertainty, this type of cover offers more than just peace of mind. It offers practical support when it's needed most. Many homeowners are now choosing to factor mortgage insurance into their planning from the outset, especially if they are the primary income earner or supporting a young family.
Mortgage advisors can help compare providers, explain policy options, and make sure you're not over- or under-insured. It's about being proactive and future-proofing one of your most important financial responsibilities.
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Otago Daily Times
2 minutes ago
- Otago Daily Times
Olive branch offered over parking fees
The Department of Conservation has offered a compromise over parking fees at Punakaiki's Pancake Rocks after strong objections from locals. Twelve free parks opposite the new Paparoa National Park Visitor Centre on State Highway 6 were removed in June by the New Zealand Transport Agency/Waka Kotahi, leaving Doc's car park as the only option for motorists. The pricing strategy released by Doc's on Thursday for its paid parking trial starting next month, sets the fee at $5 an hour. But Punakaiki locals will be allowed to park free of charge for 20 minutes, giving them time to pick up a coffee or their mail. And all Buller and Grey residents will be able to buy a $10 permit giving them unlimited parking for a year. Doc heritage and visitor director Catherine Wilson said the department had received more than 150 submissions on its plan to start charging at its car parks at Punakaiki, Franz Josef and Aoraki Mt Cook. "I think the majority of the submissions would have come from Punakaiki, and we understand that people might feel aggrieved - no one likes paying for parking - but we're trying to work out how to run Doc facilities that are costing us increasingly more. "The proposed fee regime was a balancing act between the needs of local residents, trampers on multi-day hikes, day trippers and bus tour companies with Doc concessions, Wilson said. The closest benchmark for the project was the car park at Milford Sound/Piopiotahi which charged $10 an hour. After reviewing the submissions, Doc had set the Punakaiki charges at the lower $5 rate. Concessionaires such as bus companies who already pay fees to operate on conservation land, will not have to pay for the time being. "We are still working through that with the tourism operators, but during the pilot they can apply for a parking fee exemption," Wilson said. Doc will also offer an annual parking permit for $60 for its Punakaiki and Franz Josef car parks, for any private vehicle owner, she said. Many regular users of national parks came from further afield and the $60 option would benefit trampers on longer walks who needed to park their cars for several days, Wilson said. Café owner Grant Parrett has protested that the parking charges will penalise locals and are essentially an unlawful fee to enter a National Park. "I suppose $5 an hour is not very much, but any paid parking is still enough to put the casual visitors off stopping and that will hurt local businesses. "New Zealanders don't like paying for parking," Parrett said. The 20-minute free parking period for locals was also not long enough to show a visitor around the Pancake Rocks, he said. "It takes about an hour to do the walk, so we'll still have to pay to enter the National Park." Wilson said some submitters had suggested an even shorter free period. "We'll give 20 minutes a go through the pilot period and see how it works and how the pricing regime affects visitor flows." Doc expected to collect between $1 million and $1.2m from the Punakaiki and Franz Josef car parks over the nine month pilot programme, Wilson said. She could not say if the revenue would be used to offset the cost of leasing space for the National Park Visitor Centre in the Punakaiki building, owned by Ngāti Waewae. That figure was commercially sensitive, Wilson said. But Doc was hugely short of funding for biodiversity work and any income it could attract would be put to good use. "We're funded at $300 million, but if we were to fully deliver for all the endangered species we are trying to save, the cost would be about $2 billion a year," she said. Doc will hold drop-in sessions at Punakaiki this month to seek feedback on the proposed parking fees. - By Lois Williams, Local Democracy reporter • LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Scoop
2 hours ago
- Scoop
Endometriosis NZ Urges Adoption Of New Clinical Guideline
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1News
2 hours ago
- 1News
Businesses' unpaid tax bill: 'Potential for a lot of collateral damage'
New Zealand businesses owe more than $1.4 billion in unpaid GST and PAYE from the 2025 tax year, in what commentators say is a sign of the stress many parts of the economy are still under. Inland Revenue has provided a breakdown of PAYE and GST still unpaid for the tax years 2018 through to 2025. There is still almost $48 million unpaid from 2018 - and $1.471 billion from the most recent year. Of 2025's number, $432.9m relates to employer activities and $1.047b to GST. Just over $66m of the debt was from businesses or individuals who were bankrupt or in liquidation. ADVERTISEMENT Businesses collect GST on their sales and then send it to Inland Revenue when they file their GST returns. Deloitte partner Allan Bullot had earlier warned that GST debt could be creating a wave of zombie companies. Construction had the largest share of unpaid PAYE and GST, with a total of almost $1b over the tax years from 2018 through 2025. The morning's headlines in 90 seconds, new report into submersible implosion, body found in Auckland park, and mixed injury news for the Warriors. (Source: 1News) Rental, hiring and real estate services was next with $533.5m. On a measure of debt per thousand enterprises, electricity, gas, water and waste companies had the largest unpaid amount in the most recent tax year. Robyn Walker, a tax partner at Deloitte, said Inland Revenue had been given a clear message to collect more of the money it was owed. ADVERTISEMENT The number of businesses being liquidated by Inland Revenue has jumped in recent years. Walker said the data could indicate that other creditors to those businesses were in a precarious position. If a business failed, Inland Revenue would be the first to be paid, which could reduce a business' ability to pay anyone else it owed. "People could be choosing to pay other business suppliers first - but they maybe aren't paying anybody... there's potential for a lot of collateral damage if Inland Revenue is allowing tax debt to accumulate." She said people who were not able to pay GST and PAYE should contact their accountant top make sure they still had a viable business. If a business had hired staff on the expectation it could pay them a certain amount before tax, and it turned out that they could not afford the PAYE component, there was probably a bigger issue at play, she said. "The business may not be viable or may need help in a more substantive way." ADVERTISEMENT SImplicity chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub said the data highlighted the distress many businesses were facing. "Some businesses - not many - think it's okay not to meet their responsibilities. "PAYE and GST are only collected on behalf of New Zealanders, it's not your revenue.... there's a risk to other creditors." He said businesses with tax debt were quite often not viable and owners could be breaching their directors' duties. "It can mean big problems, that's why the IRD has been so active... it's the right thing to do." The data showed Inland Revenue had written off $110.3 million of unpaid PAYE and GST in 2018, $109.1m in 2019, $85.5 m in 2020, $94.8m in 2021, in 2022, $99.3m in 2023, $56m in 2024 and $7.6m from the last tax year.
