Debtfix takes hardship off providers’ hands
Debt solution charity Debtfix is working with a growing number of KiwiSaver providers, to help them handle their financial hardship withdrawal workload.
Thursday, February 26th 2026, 6:13AM
Financial hardship withdrawal numbers have increased sharply in recent years. There were 10,000 more withdrawals last year than in 2024, to a total of 58,460.
Each withdrawal requires KiwiSaver provider staff to process the application for a supervisor to make the decision.
Debtfix chief executive Christine Liggins said her organisation was working with six providers so far, including Milford Asset Management and Simplicity.
“Milford have said it’s actually improved their staff morale – obviously we’re dealing with all the people in hardship and we get all the abuse and all the struggling people, that’s what we are set up to deal with. It takes them out of the KiwiSaver provider’s hands and they can get on with making and saving money rather than giving it away.”
She said Debtfix planned to start working with more KiwiSaver providers this year. “We’re just in the process of updating our software to help people engage, complete the forms, provide the documents and cut down the processing time for everyone.”
She charges KiwiSaver providers for the service but said members ended up with a better experience.
“We're providing a better service because we're talking to the members about all of their options for getting out of hardship and giving them all of the recommendations, whereas a KiwiSaver provider really just says ‘you're in hardship, process the form, off you go’.”
Her team would spend about eight hours with a client, she said. “We get to know the client and try and understand the circumstances.”
That might involve directing them to the Ministry of Social Development to see if they could claim more entitlements, she said, or talking to their creditors about hardship provisions.
“We’ve got all the normal sort of financial mentoring tools in our kete. We can share that with them … sometimes if someone's just struggling with debt, then it might just be a debt solution that they need.”
She said it was important to make sure the KiwiSaver withdrawal was not just a bandaid solution.
“We actually want to make sure that we're looking at all options and opportunities for the client. And then we can get them out of hardship, but it's a longer term solution than a bandaid.”
A number of KiwiSaver providers have reported having to take on additional staff to deal with hardship claims.
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