The Right Turn Rule dies in 2012 :)
Thank fiddle-dee-doo for that!
The government’s proposed changes to give way rules for left-turning vehicles are due to come into effect in early 2012.
Under the current law, left-turning traffic has to give way to right-turning traffic coming towards it.
Under the changes announced today by Transport Minister Steven Joyce, this would be reversed so the left turning vehicle would have right of way.
Changes were also planned to the rule for T-intersections, when there were conflicting right turns.
The proposed changes would reverse the give way rule, allowing left turning traffic right of way.
At T-intersections, where two cars are turning right, the car turning off the main road would have right of way – reversing the status quo.
“Our current give way rules for turning vehicles are confusing and out of step with the rest of the world. Research shows changing the rules could reduce relevant intersection crashes by 7 per cent.”
New Zealand is the only country in the world with this priority rule. The Automobile Association says the rules are a factor in 2560 intersection crashes, and one or two deaths, each year. Some 17 percent of crashes are at intersections.
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ANZ saved the day :)
Filed under: Banks, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ, Property & General Investing
After getting really irritated with Westpac for being a bunch of inflexible overcharging scumbags – I was actually quite concerned about speaking to our other Investment Property bank about paying a small amount of the mortgage. I kinda felt that if I met any further obstinacy I was likely to spew. Or gnash my teeth so much I’d give myself a stonking headache.
So I popped into an ANZ branch to speak to someone and ask the same question: Can I use some of this money that ends up sitting in the transaction account – to pay down the mortgage.
Apparently I can.
There is a limit of 5% of the balance per year, or $10,000 which ever is greater – after which you pay break fees. Now I’m OK with that to be honest – these would always be the last mortgages I would choose to pay large sums off, because the interest is a business expense and therefore deductible. If I had $10k rattling around – it would be paying off our personal mortgage, which still has $55,000 to go on it. I had figured when we bought the rentals that I would be highly unlikely to want to pay down anything substantial on these two mortgages for at least 5 years – if ever.
(Note: Mortgages on investment properties are treated differently to personal mortgages – you don’t necessarily need or want to pay off the mortgage, depending on how much risk you are comfy with and what your long term plans are. Whereas there are just no benefits to having a personal mortgage that I could possibly think of. Unless you are the Bank’s side of the equation – it’s really rather cushy for them!)
So, the $600 sitting in Westpac has been removed and transfered to our ANZ transaction account, and that gives me $1100 to pay off the ANZ mortgage.
It won’t save me much money in interest payments (about $2 a week) , but at this point its taking me a tiny step in the direction I want to go in. And I guess it’s always better to be going where you want to go, than where the bank wants you to go.
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Why you shouldn’t get a mortgage from WestPac
Filed under: Banks, General Budgeting, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ, Property & General Investing
(Prefaced by saying that they still have the best mortgage calculator I’ve seen – so they ain’t all bad).
Today’s issue comes to you courtesy of Westpac’s draconian break fees – the sledgehammer they whack you on the noggin with for daring to want to pay down some of your mortgage.
Ive asked my banks for break fees before, because i wanted to re-arrange my mortgages when the interest rates started dropping. Westpac at the time were trying to charge way more than our other banks.
Today I have asked if I can use just $600 which is sitting in a Westpac transaction account to pay down one of my investment mortgages. Now the money is only sitting there cos Westpac, like all NZ banks, refuse to take a direct debit from my ASB Business account to pay the mortgage, so I have to set up an automatic payment and pay the funds into a Westpac account that I neither want nor need. But because they refuse to do Direct Debits, and also refuse to work out a standard monthly interest payment, I have to ensure that enough money is transfered to always be able to pay for a 31 day month, which means that over time, the excess paid in a 3o day or 28/29 day month builds up.
Now usually when it gets to about this amount, I transfer the funds back to ASB, where I can actually use it. This month, I decided that rather than doing that, I would like to actually pay these small amounts off the mortgage. It’s my Highest interest rate, it also has the highest Loan to Value Ration (LVR) of any of our mortgages – in fact it’s about 100% of the current value of that property. So for many reasons its actually not a bad idea to pay even a little off that one. So how much are they gonna charge me to pay them $600?
$151.77 
Yep – an eye watering 25% of the amount I actually want to pay off the mortgage. Seems theres not even the option to pay off upto 10% a year from your fixed rate mortgage, which most banks allow.
Now to be fair – I do need to take some responsibility here – I signed the mortgage papers without understanding this – and I didn’t make it clear to my broker (That I remember anyway) that I expect to be able to pay a certain amount off a fixed rate mortgage each year without penalty. On saying that – I do feel mortgage brokers should include this automatically for you anyway. They are supposed to be looking out for our best interests, and I think this is something that should be included as a matter of course.
Now, I’ve looked back at some old blogs Ive written on this topic – and there is supposed to have been an investigation into ridiculous break fees charged by New Zealand banks. And Phil Goff, the leader of the Labour party called for banks to be more flexible. But it seems sod all has happened.
Be warned: Westpac have draconian and inflexible charges if you want to pay even a cent off a Fixed Rate mortgage. The fees are unreasonable, and the bank is known to be inflexible if you start having problems – which is beyond stupid. I happen to know that rather than helping some people by altering the terms or rates on some mortgages, Westpac forced 2 mortgagee sales and lost a staggering $350,000 on the sale of those properties in the block our investment is in. A decision which directly affected the Value of our own apartment, which is what makes our LVR on that so high.
I absolutely recommend you never get a mortgage with Westpac! Ever!
If anything goes wrong – they won’t give an inch, and will lose hundreds of thousands of dollars rather than help you out. As much as I might dislike ASB charging me fees – I will never move banks because they still let me actually manage my mortgages – certainly Westpac don’t. I have asked my new manger (I think I’m on my 6th one in three and a half years – they seem to get through staff like a case of the runs) if someone can try and be flexible over this – we will see if I get anywhere.
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NORD Forms – when the stupid just doesn’t go away.
Filed under: Banks, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ
I recently opened up a new savings account with First Direct, my UK bank. Its a Regular Savings Account, which was offering a really good interest rate. You can get 5% if you put a regular amount in every month for 12 months (Minimum £25, maximum £300). So I shuffled some money round, and am moving £300 a month into this account to get a higher interest rate than I can with either my New Zealand savings accounts, or even a UK tax free ISA.
All rather cool and dandy.
Only I had to fill out a new NORD form (Not Ordinarily Resident Declaration), which means that first Direct will not take Tax off the interest. First Direct sent me the form, and I filled it in and sent it back.
This week I received a letter from them saying:
Whilst you have completed page three, you must complete the whole of the form in order for the account to registered for gross interest.
Ok thats fine as far as it goes – but then I would have filled in the other pages – if they had bloody well sent them to me!
Worse, having sent this missive, telling me I seem to be incapable of filling a in bloody form properly – did First Direct send me page 1 and 2????????
Did they squiddly!
Now I have to try and send them a message via their (inactive) secure message system, pointing out their silliness, and suggesting they may like to send me the proper forms.
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You move half way round the world and you find…
Filed under: Only in New Zealand, Property & General Investing
I’m home in the (battered by gale-force winds) Wairarapa for the weekend, and have before me a lovely sample of Insulation.
Cripes that makes me sound like I need to get a life rather desperately!
But hey – if it makes it easier to deal with our cluster flies problem – which basically prevents me having a life anyway – I guess I can live with that. On with the point:
A few weeks ago – we came across the kind of Insulation we actually wanted – after months of not being able to find anything by googling “Insulation Products New Zealand” and variations thereof. It’s called Kingspan, and it’s basically solid sheets of foil backed insulation. No fibres for flies to get stuck in.
The NZ suppliers, Forman Building Systems have sent us a sample (no price list) and its just what we want. So im kinda (and sadly) excited.
But as I was browsing through the brochure they sent, I noticed where Kingspan is based in teh UK.
Pembridge, near Leominster.
About 10 miles from where I grew up.
Tis a small and funny world.
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Wow – I’m too tall to be a Hobbit!
I’m short.
It’s a fact of life – tall I am not.
Throughout life, most of my nicknames revolve around this salient fact. I am in fact 5ft and a 1/4 inch. (I claim the 1/4 inch cos it makes all the difference to my BMI!)
But shockingly – this makes me 0.035cm too tall to try out for a part in the casting calls this weekend for The Hobbit.
They are on the lookout for men aged 16 and over who are 1.23 metres (4ft) to 1.58m (5ft 2in) tall or over 2.03m (6ft 8in). Women, aged 16 or over, must be between 1.2m and 1.53m.
I’m gobsmacked!
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New World seems to have misplaced Wales.
New World at Oriental Bay in Wellington had a large selection of imported beers and real ales. Quite impressive if you are into that sort of thing. (I’m more a JD or Drambuie gal myself). Each of these beverages has a small sticker next to the price, showing its country of origin – by way of the flag.
From England.
From Scotland.
From ????
Brains: It’s from Cardiff. you can’t miss the smell!
And it’s not as if it’s that hard to find the Welsh Flag:
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Child abusers finally being dealt with!
While New Zealand is undoubtedly a lovely and safe place to bring up children, that doesnt alter the issue that Child Abuse and neglect is rife here. Finally in the Wellington region it is being taken care of by a special task force, set up to concentrate on just this issue.
The Wellington police district’s first team focused solely on child abuse cases has netted 57 arrests in its first six months.
The Wellington district child protection team has opened more than 240 child abuse case files since early March and seen several abusers sentenced through the courts.
The appalling lack of action in Child Abuse cases is regularly in the news here, with high profile cases causing widespread condemnation, and a lot of questions about how the hell people are able to carry on abusing children, and either get away with it or get a slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket. This team is just what we need I think.
Worse – there were 108 cases in the Wairarapa alone – all of which just sat on a desk mouldering because there weren’t the resources to deal with them. There are however whole convoys of police tracking over the Rimutakas on a nearly daily basis looking for speeding cars. I know where I believe police time should be better spent.
“We want people to come forward. What people need to realise is that they [abusers] don’t stop. You can bet if they’ve sexually abused you, there’ll be other victims, unless they’ve been apprehended by police.
Hmmm, I think most people know that – which is why, for example, we are sickened that some of the monsters who tortured Nia Glassie are already out of jail, and that not a single person has been held accountable for the deaths of the Kahui Twins – despite 12 members of their family being present when their heads were bashed against a wall.
Then we have the issue that the courts protect these people by giving them name suppression – one recently where the victim pleaded with the court not to protect her abuser becuase she wanted to people to know that this is going on. The court refused, on the basis that it would identify the victim (the usual excuse) and a man who abused his daughter cannot be named. I think the Powers That Be need to wake the hell up and get on the same page. There’s no point setting up teams to clear the backlog if the courts insist on protecting abusers.
What does this mean for you?
Well, look: it’s bad. Theres not really any denying that child abuse stats in New Zealand are sickening. And a lot of excuses are made as to why it happens. The main ones being that it’s “the Maoris” and “its poverty”. I personally think thats trite and offensive – being poor or being Maori (or indeed any ethnicity) does not make people stick a 2 year old girl in a tumble dryer for kicks.
But here’s the thing: what ever IS going on in New Zealand – in this case won’t affect YOUR child. I’ve certainly seen on forums in the past where people think that they shouldn’t move to a certain area – or to New Zealand at all – because of the high number of cases. But that won’t affect YOUR home. You will be living in a country that has a huge problem that needs fixing – and I am sure you will be sickened by what you see in the news. But YOUR child won’t be a victim of abuse just because you move to New Zealand. Just be aware that you actually do need to take precautions around who has the care of your child when you are not around – don’t assume that New Zealand is “safe” in this area just becuase it’s New Zealand. Humans still live here, and some of them are still monsters – rich or poor, Maori or European.
I take my hat off to the people in these task forces. I can’t think of a more difficult job to be honest, but we need them.
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Reprieve on interest rate rises.
Filed under: Banks, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ
Alan Bollard (Bless his little cotton socks) has held off putting interest rates up again, so we all get a bit of a break in the finances. Which means we might actually get some benefit from the fact that the Income Tax rates go down next month.
While I’m hugely happy about this – it needs to be noted that the reason we are getting this break is not so good – it’s because of the Canterbury Earthquake, and the effect it will have on the economy.
And because I’m actually on the ball today for a change – I actually went to have a quick look at the exchange rate – which improved (comparatively at least) quite a lot. You can see it shoot up as the Hold is announced. So if you want to bring £ over to $ – you also need to pray that Mr Bollard doesn’t screw us all over with any more increases.
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What on earth is wrong with our MP’s?
If you were thinking you might get a better class of politician when you move to New Zealand – you are likely to be disappointed I’m afraid. This was something that did surprise me – I never really believed it when I was being told by Kiwis that their MP’s were corrupt and dishonest. But after a while you really do get to see what they mean. I guess I was just terribly Naive in thinking that MP’s in New Zealand – being Kiwis, would just be less “grubby”.
The latest in a long line of exposures of dodgy dealing, dishonesty and troughing at the publics expense is that an ACT MP, David Garret is a filthy little hypocrite. Hes the “Law and Order” spokesperson for ACT – a party that is pretty much imploding right now anyway. Hes also the guy who wants to bring in a 3 Strikes policy for criminals: essentially meaning that each time you get convicted, your sentence gets worse. (I’m OK with that to a certain point).
Only it turns out that he has “2 strikes” himself. The first came out at the start of the week – seems he got a fine for belting someone in Tonga. The fine was $10. Now OK – in the scheme of things thats a relatively minor issue, though I personally feel you really shouldn’t go around belting people. But this is the Law and Order spokesman, so I think the main screw up is that he wasn’t honest about. And of course, the media got hold of it and he had some questions to answer.
But on the back of that – it turns out that Mr Garrett also did something else that was not only illegal, but much more serious. He stole the identity of a dead baby, and got a fake passport. Not only that, but the details were suppressed (which just goes to show how sick these bloody suppression orders are!).
Mr Garrett claims that he only did it out of curiosity:
“To this day, I cannot explain the rationale behind my actions, except to say I was simply curious to see whether such a thing could be done.
Jeeze – get this piece of garbage out of parliament! How on earth can people like this get jobs as MP’s? You cant even get to live in New Zealand if you do something like this. Worse – the leader of ACT, Rodney Hide actually knew about this – and still made this guy the Law and Order Spokesman. I really do wonder what planet these people live on.
The Info section of the article contains a list of other people who have been caught faking passports:
CAUGHT OUT
Anyone using a dead person’s identity to obtain a passport has a high likelihood of being caught. Systems including death-record checks, a shorter term of passport validity and the introduction of e-passports have made the crime easier to detect. Fictional assassin “The Jackal” kept his cover in Frederick Forsyth’s 1971 novel The Day of the Jackal by using names from headstones to apply for birth certificates and false passports.
People who have been caught in New Zealand include:
2006: Frank Macskasy, 48, of Upper Hutt, is fined $2000 for forgery after using the name and details of a dead baby to get a passport. He said he had wanted to try The Day of the Jackal scam.
2006: Porirua man Dacey Jon Cameron is jailed for two years after attempting to obtain a passport in the name of a dead baby. Cameron changed his name by deed poll in 2004 to that of an infant who died almost four decades before and applied for a passport soon after.
2006: Peter Fulcher, a former kingpin in the Mr Asia drug syndicate, escapes a jail term despite admitting stealing the identity of a five-year-old who died in 1945, to obtain a passport.
2006: Rotorua man Christopher Mark Grose, 36, is fined $10,000 after stealing the identity of a dead baby to obtain a passport.
2005: William Kevin Roach, 49, a United States citizen, is jailed after admitting forgery charges. Also inspired by The Day of the Jackal, he assumed the identity of a baby after visiting a Tauranga cemetery.
2000: Jo-Anne Mary Cole, 43, is sentenced to 4 1/2 years’ jail after being convicted of fraud and passport offences. Cole also used the Forsyth techniques.
And then David Garrett gets a Taxpayer Funded job, taxpayer funded perks, and the ability to demand a “Zero Tolerance” stance of crime – as long as its crime committed by other people. Slimy Git.
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