Heartland Bank Launches Village Access Loans – A Retirement Finance Solution

Heartland Bank is excited to pilot its Village Access Loans, designed to offer older New Zealanders a solution to some of the barriers associated with moving into retirement living.

Heartland Bank CEO Leanne Lazarus said, “we aim to be the leader in providing finance solutions that address the unique banking needs of older New Zealanders. We are the market leader for Reverse Mortgages in New Zealand, and financing the needs of older Kiwi is a speciality of ours. Designed to remove the barriers to entry, Village Access Loans bridge the gap between moving from one stage of retirement to another”.

To move into a retirement village people typically need to make an upfront lump sum payment - usually called an occupation license payment - to the retirement village operator or owner. Often people need to sell their existing home to fund that payment. This can present challenges – for example, house prices may be low at the time, or coordinating the sale and move is difficult.

“With this product, we saw an opportunity to reduce some of the stress older Kiwi face when having to sell their home to move into a retirement village. Often people are selling family homes they’ve been in for generations which is emotional and challenging enough without adding factors like market conditions.

“Village Access Loans give people an alternative way to fund the move by allowing them to borrow against the equity in their home and postpone the sale of their property to a more convenient time,” Lazarus said.

These loans have been specifically designed to bridge the move into a retirement village. If approved*, customers can borrow up to 50% of the value of the mortgaged home to finance the move to a retirement village. This can also help them with associated expenses while living there. The loan is for a maximum term of three years and no regular repayments are required during this time. However, customers can choose to make repayments or repay early if they wish.

Anyone interested in learning more about Heartland Bank’s Village Access Loans and how to apply can visit heartland.co.nz/village-access-loan

*Heartland Bank Limited’s responsible lending criteria, terms and conditions and fees may apply.

About Heartland Bank

Heartland Bank Limited (Heartland Bank) is a 100% New Zealand operated and managed bank with a long history stretching back to Ashburton in 1875. It provides customers with specialist banking products, including Reverse Mortgages, Livestock Finance, Motor Finance, Asset Finance and Savings and Deposit products.

Heartland Bank has been awarded Canstar’s Bank of Year Savings for seven consecutive years (2018-2024) and is New Zealand's leading provider of reverse mortgages. Its Reverse Mortgages have received Consumer Trusted accreditation from Consumer NZ for seven years in a row.

Heartland Bank’s point of differentiation is its ‘best or only’ strategy – where it focuses on providing banking products which are the best or only of their kind through scalable digital platforms. In December 2023, Heartland Bank was recognised for its strategy in the Deloitte Top 200 Awards as a finalist in the Best Growth Strategy category.

Heartland Bank’s parent company, Heartland Group Holdings Limited (Heartland Group), is a financial services group with operations in Australia and New Zealand. Heartland is listed on the New Zealand and Australian stock exchanges (NZX/ASX: HGH).

More about Heartland Bank: heartland.co.nz

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