Category Archives: Debt

Mortgage sense

Lyn from Hamilton has this tip. Re money sense – making mortgage repayments 4 weekly rather than be a calendar month, cuts both the term of the mortgage and the cost of it dramatically.

Debt help

Hilary from Whangarei has this tip: Christians Against Poverty  Debt help is free and for everyone. They have centres in various parts of the country and will help with every area of debt, including severe debt and budgeting. http://www.capnz.org/in+debt/CAP+Debt+Help.html  

Last resort lenders and money sense

Living a frugal lifestyle has a lot of advantages, including being a great way to take control of your finances, and avoid costly debt. Unfortunately not all people are in control of their finances, which makes them vulnerable to lenders of last resort. Falling into that category, are what are known as ‘payday’ loans. These […]

Credit card debt

Rachel writes in reply to our column about a spend-nothing year. “I was interested because I have Done the same thing. I had run up a credit Card unwisely. I saw an ad on TV saying If I transferred my balances to their bank they would give me 0% interest for a year. So I […]

Managing debt

Hardly a week goes by that we don’t hear of another hard-luck story from someone who has ended up in a financial mud pool because they did not follow some pretty basic rules about money. Anne from Auckland is determined not to end up in that mud pool and has asked for some tips about […]

Mortgage repayments

The general principle is to repay as much as you can as often as you can. • Use windfall gains to make lump sum repayments (e.g. an inheritance, the sale of a second vehicle, an unused boat or caravan, etc). • Have a coin tin. If you are collecting coins at a rate of $20 […]