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KiwiSaver and significant financial hardship

Significant financial hardship includes situations where you:

  • are unable to meet minimum living expenses
  • are unable to meet mortgage repayments on the home you live in, resulting in the mortgagee seeking to enforce the mortgage on your property
  • need to modify your home to meet special needs because you or a dependant family member have a disability
  • are required to pay for medical treatment for your own or a dependant family member’s illness, injury or palliative care
  • incur funeral costs if a dependant family member dies
  • suffer from a serious illness (alternatively, you may be able to make a serious illness application).

Depending on your circumstances, you may be able to withdraw all or some of your available BNZ KiwiSaver Scheme account balance, but you won’t be able to withdraw any government contributions (including the $1,000 Government Kick-start). The amount may be limited to an amount that, in the Supervisor’s opinion, is required to alleviate hardship.

How to apply

If you are facing significant financial hardship, call us on 0800 269 549 to discuss your options for possibly withdrawing your KiwiSaver savings.

Other ways we can help:

Find out more about how BNZ can help if you’re experiencing financial hardship.