• Financial Support for COVID-19 from NZ Banks

  • These are trying financial times for all of us. Many of us are experiencing anxiety over the uncertainty of our future as we deal with the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on our lives and our income (whether through employment or business).

    The government has already revealed the economic support measures being taken to assist us here in New Zealand. This includes calling on New Zealand banks to do their part to help both individuals and business owners impacted by the current situation.

    To make it easier for you to find that info, we've decided to find the appropriate pages on the website on the major NZ banks and link to them from here along with a summary of what help is available.

    ANZ | ASB | BNZ | Kiwibank | The Co-operative Bank | Westpac

  • ANZ
  • COVID-19 Financial Support
    from ANZ

  • The starting point for accessing info on what ANZ is doing to provide support is their Here to Help page. There's a section on that page titled Financial Support Options. You need to click on the We're here to help if you're impacted link to see what measures they have in place to assist their customers.

  • Personal Assistance

    • Reducing your loan repayments by restructuring your home loan or personal loan.
    • Pausing your home loan or personal loan repayments for up to 6 months.
    • Topping up your home loan or personal loan.
    • Refixing home loans to take advantage of lower interest rates.
    • Lowering interest rates on credit cards.
    • Reducing interest rates on personal overdrafts.
    • Waiving the Low Equity Premium for first home buyers using KiwiSaver.
    • Waiving withdrawal fees on Serious Saver accounts from 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020.
    • Providing the option to request an early withdrawal of term deposits.
  • Business Assistance

    • Access to the Government Business Finance Guarantee Scheme for additional lending to NZ-based businesses with turnover between NZD 250,000 and NZD 80,000,000.
    • Waiver on fees associated with contactless debit card transactions, loan restructuring, and international funds transfers.
    • If you meet hardship criteria, the ability to withdraw business term deposits early without an interest reduction.
    • Reduction of 0.40% pa on the 6-month and 1-year Business Term Loan Fixed Base Rates.
    • A previously announced reduction of 0.75% pa on the floating Business Term Loan Base Rate
    • A decrease on the ANZ Visa Business Credit Card purchase interest rate to 9.95% pa until 30 June (effective 23 March)
  • ASB
  • COVID-19 Financial Support
    from ASB

  • For the latest on financial assistance and support for ASB customers, the COVID-19 Support page is the place to look. ASB support options include...

  • Personal Customer Support

    • Access to emergency funds via a 90‐day temporary overdraft facility at a concessional interest rate
      - up to $5,000 for home loan customers,
      - up to $1,000 for personal loan customers.
    • Waiver of loan application, top-up, and re-structure and/or re-documentation fees.
    • Early access to term investment funds in cases of hardship for customers that are eligible.
    • Interest only repayments on home loans for up to 6 months.
    • Mortgage repayment deferral for up to 6 months.
    • Interest only and repayment deferral options for personal loan customers.
  • Business Customer Support

    • Access to emergency funds via a 180‐day temporary overdraft facility of up to $200,000.
    • Access to business working capital of up to $200,000.
    • Early access to term investment funds in cases of hardship for customers that are eligible.
    • Defer loan payments for up to 6 months.
    • The ability to restructure to interest only loans for 6 months.
    • The ability to extend terms to reduce your repayment amounts.
    • No establishment fees when establishing or re-documenting a home or business loan.
    • Refund default interest and any fees on accounts over their limit for 6 months.
    • Line fee waivers on Commercial Credit Facility, Commercial Flexible Finance Facility and Business Overdraft for 6 months.
    • Access to the Government Business Finance Guarantee Scheme.
  • BNZ
  • COVID-19 Financial Support
    from BNZ

  • On BNZ's COVID-19 Update page you'll find details about what they are doing to assist both their personal banking customers and their business banking customers during these trying times. As you scroll down that page, you'll see a section on experiencing financial difficulty which includes info about applying for hardship assistance. Further down the COVID-19 Update page, you'll find info specific to business customers. BNZ's support measures include...

  • Personal Banking Assistance

    Hardship variations can be applied to

    • Arranged overdrafts
    • Home loan
    • Personal loan
    • Credit cards

    Possible variation options include:

    • extend the loan term and reduce the amount of each payment,
    • postpone, during a specified period, the dates on which payments are due;
    • both of the above.
  • Business Banking Assistance

    • Access to the Business Finance Guarantee Scheme.
    • Ability to review and extend trade credit.
    • Reduction in overdraft rates.
    • Up to 100% asset finance funding.
    • Apply online for up to $100,000 of lending.
    • Principal repayment holidays.
    • Extension of term lending periods.
    • Short term loans.
    • Hardship loans.
    • Business credit card options.
    • Moving to ‘Interest Only’, on a case by case basis.
    • Asset financing.
    • Possible eligibility to QuickBiz online lending for up to $100,000.
    • Waivers for fees related to contactless debit transactions and BNZ PayClip device.
  • Kiwibank
  • COVID-19 Financial Support
    from Kiwibank

  • The Coronavirus Updates page of Kiwibank Support Hub is the place to go for more info on what measures Kiwibank has put in place to assist both personal banking customers and business banking customers affected by COVID-19. Depending on your circumstances, these may include...

  • Personal Banking Support

    • A repayment holiday on home loans.
    • Hardship package including interest-only option for home loans.
    • Extension of length of home loan term to reduce the regular repayment amount.
  • Business Banking Support

    • A repayment holiday on business loans.
    • Moving to interest only on term lending.
  • Co-operative
  • COVID-19 Financial Support
    from The Co-operative Bank

  • The COVID-19 help page is a dedidated page for support for customers of The Co-operative Bank. For info on financial support, you'll need to scroll down and click on the question: "I’m struggling financially due to the impact of coronavirus. What support is available?" There you'll see a link to the financial hardship page.

  • Personal Support Options

    • A loan repayment holiday,
    • Interest-only home loan payments,
    • Consolidating your debts, or
    • Extending the term of your loan.
  • Business Support Options

    There is no specific information for business customers so you'll need get in touch with The Co-operative Bank for more details. No doubt, the options will be similar to that for personal banking customers.

  • Westpac
  • COVID-19 Financial Support
    from Westpac

  • Personal Banking Support

    • A temporary overdraft facility.
    • Suspension of principal loan payments for up to three months.
    • Reducing loan repayment amounts.
    • Restructuring your loan.
    • Taking a payment holiday.
  • Business Banking Support

    • A temporary overdraft facility.
    • Suspension of principal loan payments for up to three months.
    • Deferred payment on business credit cards for up to three months.