Homeowners who get into financial difficulty must contact their lenders early to seek assistance, Banking Ombudsman Liz Brown has warned.

Trends in international interest rates are setting the pace for New Zealand borrowers this week.

Home Loan Report: Christmas spirit was in short supply in some corners of the mortgage market over the holidays with several lenders raising their rates.

Although proposals for a code of conduct around home equity release schemes is developing, one player wants regulation.

HSBC is to stop selling mortgages through brokers.

Christchurch broker Rob Parsons of Mortgage First New Zealand has been named mortgage broker of the year by the New Zealand Mortgage Brokers Association.

Plans by the Government to allow homeowners to use the KiwiSaver savings scheme to help pay off their mortgages have had a cautious welcome from lenders and advisers.

Modern life has already given us extreme sports and extreme makeovers. Now it is mortgages that are being pushed to their limits.

Finding a fixed rate loan at the right price can be crucial to whether you can afford your dream home or investment property. But if you have to delay completion of the purchase you face the possibility that you will lose the cheap rate.

Southern Cross Building Society has some of the best mortgages rates in the market at the moment but if you are a highly-geared risk taker don’t bother to apply. This lender’s deals are not for everyone and it is happy to keep it that way.

Banks and other financial institutions may be able to police their own sales forces under proposals published by the Government for regulation of financial advisers.

New Zealanders are so keen to buy property that more than half would buy with friends or family, according to a survey by Wizard Home Loans.