Cooking The Books

Each week the NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's how the mortgage holidays actually work, and whether you should consider one. Hosted by Frances Cook.As jobs fall like dominoes around the country, many are worried about how they keep paying their bills. Of course the biggest bill for many of us is housing, and you can’t really just stop paying it. Or can’t you? The Government and banks have come together to make the unusual step of allowing mortgage holidays. More than 10,000 New Zealanders applied for one in just the first few days. But a mortgage holiday isn’t your only option, it’s just the most extreme one. And if you take the holiday when you don’t need it, it could end up hurting instead of helping you.For the latest podcast I talked to Rupert Gough from Mortgage Lab. We discussed how the mortgage holiday works, how the different banks are bringing it in, and what other options you have that could be better for your future. If you have a