BusinessDesk and the New Zealand Herald have teamed up to bring you a podcast that’s your home for all things money. 

Cooking the Books is a weekly podcast where host and BusinessDesk investments editor, Frances Cook, asks experts everything you’ve ever wanted to know, in order to get your finances under control. 

It could be how to survive soaring living costs as inflation hits 6.9%, the best tactics to protect your sharemarket investments or a strategy to bag a promotion at work. 

If your burning money question hasn’t been covered by the podcast yet, all you have to do is get in touch with Frances, and she’ll try to cover it in a future episode. 

In this first episode back for the new season, it’s how to handle some of the toughest mortgage lending rules in years. 

The Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act was originally designed to stop irresponsible lending, particularly from payday lenders or clothing trucks that often patrol poorer neighbourhoods. 

But it ended up walloping the mortgage sector, with even regular payments into a savings account questioned as an “unnecessary expense” that could see you declined. 

The backlash was swift, with the mortgage industry, home buyers – and even existing homeowners looking for a mortgage extension – infuriated by the tough new rules. 

In the podcast, mortgage broker Bruce Patten from Loan Market says a review of the rules looks encouraging and that, by June, there may be exemptions around the spending limits that saw so many declined. 

That means a spot of Uber Eats, regular savings, or one-off spending such as Christmas gifts, should soon not cause as many problems. 

There are still other hoops to jump through, so Patten laid out his top tips for looking good to the bank in 2022. 

Listen to Cooking the Books to find out how to prepare your finances to get on the bank's good side, and Patten’s thoughts on the best rates right now. 

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  • Listen to the full interview on the Cooking the Books podcast. You can find new episodes on BusinessDesk, or subscribe on iHeartRadio, Apple podcasts app, or Spotify.