Susan Taylor: Lockdown hardships push more people to get Kiwisaver funds out earlier

Early Edition with Ryan Bridge · Oct 19, 2021 · 3m

Financial hardship thanks to lockdown means more people are trying to get their Kiwisaver funds out earlier.

Budgeting advisers say there's been a 25 to 40 per cent increase in the number of payouts being approved.

That means an increase in rejected applications that they don't quite meet the hardship standard - and this is proving tough for some to hear.

Financial Services Complaints CEO, Susan Taylor told Kate Hawkesby they have noticed increased demand for their services.

"We’ve had about a five to ten percent increase, just in the last few months, which we see as a bit of a trend…