You may be eligible to withdraw KiwiSaver savings early if you're experiencing financial hardship as defined in the KiwiSaver Act rules.
Significant financial hardship includes circumstances where you:
- cannot meet minimum living expenses
- cannot pay the mortgage on the home you live in, and your mortgage provider is seeking to enforce the mortgage
- need to modify your home to meet your special needs or those of a dependent family member
- need to pay for medical treatment for yourself or a dependent family member
- need to pay funeral costs of a dependent family member.
Prior to applying for a KiwiSaver significant financial hardship withdrawal, you need to have contacted Work and Income, your bank and any other financial institutions you deal with to ask for assistance, and be able to show you have been declined any assistance.
To support your application you’ll also be required to provide a completed statutory declaration in respect of your assets and liabilities, and documents to evidence the following:
- Bank account statements for the last 3 months for all accounts you hold
- proof of income
- Statements for mortgages, loans, and other forms of debt, and their repayment schedules
- Any other relevant evidence showing you’re not able to meet your minimum living expenses or have costs related to one of the situations above that you’re not able to pay.
Please note that non-personal (i.e business or family trust) related expenses are not considered to be personal expenses for the purposes of a financial hardship withdrawal application.
If you'd like to apply for a significant financial hardship withdrawal, please complete this referral form. This information is then sent to Debtfix who’ll contact you to discuss your situation and let you know the next steps.
By submitting this form you’re consenting to us sharing your personal information with Debtfix for the purposes of providing assistance in relation to your financial situation, including the preparation of significant financial hardship withdrawal application where you decide to proceed.
If you have any questions please send us a secure message via the contact us form.