Mortgage Holiday packages and updated Insurance information

Updates to House Insurance and Mortgage Holidays in the South Island and lower North Island

Updates to Mortgage Holidays

Lenders have now come forward with their assistant packages for those caught up in the recent earthquake events in and around the lower North Island and Upper South Island.

These assistance packages include mortgage holidays, which allows exiting clients to put a temporary hold on their mortgage repayments. Also available are temporary overdraft facilities to help individuals and business with cashflow. Although handy there are some things that people looking to complete this should be aware of.

Mortgage Holiday - The interest that would normally be charged is capitalised and added to your mortgage balance. This means at the end of the mortgage holiday period, the money you owe the bank has increased.

Overdraft facilities - These initially will have no to low interest components, however they will need to be paid back, so it pays to keep an eye on your spending if using one of these facilities.

NB: Please note these facilities are only available to those in the affected areas and is not available as a matter of course to those outside the affected areas.

Updates in Insurance

I just wanted to give you a quick update on the Domestic Insurance front, following this week’s events.

The Insurance situation today is best described as ‘Cautiously Optimistic’, as Insurance companies are now allowing existing policies on homes to be transferred to the new purchasers.

Although the embargo for new Insurance policies remains in force, this is an encouraging sign.  We are hopeful that the insurance market for greater Christchurch will be unlocked in the near future enabling new policies to be approved and issued.

If you would like to discuss anything about Mortgages or Insurance, contact one of our friendly Mortgage Brokers today. Remember, we work for you and our services are always free.