Quarter of Kiwis plan to skip paying bills, says survey

Posted 09 Jun 2010

A recent survey has painted a disturbing picture of Kiwis attitudes towards paying their bills on time. Pay TV and mobile phone bills were most likely to be skipped but perhaps most surprising is that 20% of respondents would consider skipping a mortgage payment if money is tight. This might be an issue of education as much as finances, as the results suggest many Kiwis weren't aware of the consequences of late payment.

Dun & Bradstreet New Zealand general manager John Scott said many New Zealanders were unaware late payments could be listed on their credit report.

New Zealand's credit reporting laws allow payments to be listed if they are 30 days overdue..
Six out of ten or 62 per cent of Kiwis surveyed said they would be more likely to pay their bills on time if they knew their behaviour would negatively impact their credit profile..

Scott said an individual's payment history was to key in determining their credit profile and access to mainstream funds..
"Mortgage lenders, banks, utility companies, telcos and various other lenders all follow the same formula, evaluating an individual's credit history to gauge their financial personality - so it is important to have a good bill-paying record," he said..

It highlighted a significant gap in consumer knowledge about the importance of personal finance management, Scott said.

The full article can be found here.

It's hard to imagine banks taking this lightly and if this attitude is as widespread as the survey suggests, there may be more than a few small businesses signing up for debt recovery services in the coming moths.