A recent report showed the average wage earnings in Nelson was the lowest in the country. Photo: 123rf.com
Low wages, increasing living costs and rising interest rates are leading more people to access their KiwiSaver citing reasons of financial hardship.
Nelson Budget Services coordinator Tessa Bell said the organisation is seeing an all-time high demand for financial mentoring and support.
"We're booked out about a month in advance as people come through with all manner of financial issues, with the cost of living crisis and general housing issues."
It comes as a new report shows the average wage earnings in the region - at $60,048 a year - are the lowest in New Zealand.
Bell said the service was looking for a larger premises in order to see more people.
"We're seeing a change from the lower-income into the middle-income, we're seeing an increase in people as their mortgage rates increase, people needing to look at a whole raft of changes in their personal finances."
She said two or three people a week are seeking help accessing their KiwiSaver due to financial pressures.
People can withdraw money from KiwiSaver for a number of hardship reasons, including not being able to pay a mortgage, being unable to cover minimum living expenses or needing to pay medical costs.
Data from Inland Revenue shows the number of people making withdrawls from their Kiwisaver for financial hardship has ]https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018891232/more-applying-for-kiwisaver-funds-under-cost-of-living-stress increased in the last year].
In March, there were 2662 withdrawals totalling $20,291,093 for financial hardship, up from 1641 withdrawals totalling $7,872,419 in March last year.
The number of people withdrawing from their Kiwisaver due to financial hardship has increased steadily over the years. In 2012, there were 6235 withdrawals totalling $22,937,355 - compared to 15970 withdrawals totalling $100,672,251 last year.
"People find that that's one simple way where they don't have to get into further debt, to pay off existing debt," Bell said.
"We do explore other options, because obviously, KiwiSaver's purpose is to be saved for retirement, but on the other hand, a crisis in the short-term needs to be remedied and that's often the only source of money people can access."
Bell said the service was seeing an increase in retirees on fixed incomes, for whom the cost of living increases and rising interest rates were having an impact on their quality of life.
"We might see someone who's not putting the power on and that leads to health outcomes that aren't very positive."
Bell said for some, using their KiwiSaver to pay their mortgage and bills was the only path forward.