KEY POINTS:
Retired couple Alan and Hilda Glatt rely on their investments with Hanover Finance for income.
The pair, both 79, are among 13,000 investors who had their money frozen by New Zealand's third-largest financial services group yesterday.
Several investors told the Herald they had asked for early withdrawals from
Hanover following strife at other finance companies but were refused.
They said they had received several assurances from Hanover, some last week, that their money was safe.
Many were frustrated they had not heard about the suspension of repayments from Hanover directly and were unable to access information from the company's website which was down for much of the day, simply carrying a note that it was being updated. Calls were not being answered at Hanover call centres.
Many were retired people, but a teenager who had $12,000 with the company showed the broad spectrum of investors.
The Glatts, who live in Orewa, have invested with Hanover for 15 years to supplement their New Zealand Superannuation.
They have $10,000 with Hanover and $4000 with subsidiary United Finance.
They reinvested last year and are not due for a repayment for two more years but are worried they will not receive the 9 per cent interest on their investments, which is paid quarterly.
"We rely on [the interest] for income," Mr Glatt said. "It will curtail our activities ... the money is the icing on the cake. It would be difficult to live on superannuation alone. We've got huge rates bills coming up, for instance.
"We haven't heard from Hanover at all. Those people are still advertising every night on the TV for people to invest with them."
The couple also have $6000 with Nathan's Finance, which went into receivership in August, and $8000 with Dominion Finance Holdings, which is considering a moratorium on payments to debenture holders. They are still waiting for interest payments from those companies.
Mr Glatt said it was no surprise to hear Hanover had frozen funds.
"It's like a disease, one company after another. There's a heck of a lot of money tied up in it and a lot of people that are going to get hurt."
Former Aucklander Edwyn Rudge, who has retired with his wife, Helen, to Brisbane, had $10,000 invested with Hanover which was earning 10 per cent interest. But the 68-year-old considered himself lucky as he had taken almost $100,000 out when it matured about two years ago, not knowing finance companies would start hitting the wall.
"I was surprised to hear what had happened because I thought Hanover was a fairly solid sort of investment house, a little bit more conservative than the others."
A semi-retired Matamata couple, aged 66 and 70, have $6000 with Hanover which they were hoping to use for a trip to Britain with their daughter and son-in-law.
The money was left by the woman's father before he died in 2006.
They tried to take it out last year after fearing a collapse.
"We tried and tried but we were refused but they reassured us that everything was sound.
"I said $6000 was a drop in the ocean compared to all the money they had but to us it was a reasonable amount."
The couple also had about $6000 with Nathan's Finance which they said they now considered to be "lost money".
But not all investors were in the retired age bracket.
A 19-year-old University of Auckland computer science student had two respective investments of $6000 with Hanover.
She was saving so she could pay off her student loan.
"I called them a week ago and was assured that my money was as safe as was possible. Now they pull a stunt like this. The website is down and their call centre is closed.
"They have almost all of my life savings, a rather large amount for a teenager."
