Cashback and clawback
Every cashback in New Zealand has a leash on it.
Nobody prints the length.
What each lender pays, how long you have to stay, and what you'd owe back if you left early. Both numbers, side by side, because only one of them is the offer.
The mechanic
It isn't a gift. It's a discount you haven't finished paying for.
A cashback is paid on settlement and comes with a minimum period attached. Leave inside it and some or all of it is repayable.
“If you're offered 0.1%, 0.7% or even 1% of your mortgage balance as a ‘cashback’, you may wonder what the catch is, given banks are not known for their generosity.”
MoneyHub, which is not selling you a mortgage.
It also does the arithmetic nobody else in the category does. Its own worked comparison over three years:
| Monthly repayment | Total over 3 years | Cashback | Total cost of borrowing | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lender A, no cashback | $2,503 | $90,108 | $0 | $90,108 |
| Lender B, with cashback | $2,681 | $96,516 | $3,500 | $93,016 |
Taking the $3,500 left that borrower $2,908 worse off. (MoneyHub, worked example. Their numbers, their assumptions, cited as published.)
That is not an argument against cashback. It's an argument for putting the two numbers on the same page, which is the thing that currently doesn't happen anywhere.
The table
What each lender pays, and how long they want you for.
| Lender | Cashback as published | Minimum period | What the terms say |
|---|---|---|---|
| ANZ | Advertised at $5,000 for first home buyers on a new loan of $200,000 or more. | 3 years | ANZ states the cash contribution is conditional on staying with ANZ for at least three years. |
| ASB | Advertised at $5,000 for first home buyers, with the loan drawn down in full at settlement. | 3 years | Repayable pro-rata: refinance, repay or terminate within 36 months and a proportion of the cash contribution is repayable. |
| BNZ | Advertised from $5,000 for first home buyers on a loan of $250,000 or more. BNZ has also publicly run a percentage-based offer of 1% up to $20,000, which is a different product shape. | Not verified | BNZ states the applicable cash back rate is specified in your loan agreement. We have not verified a single clawback period and will not publish one until we can. |
| Westpac | Reported at $5,000 or more for first home buyers on a loan of $250,000 or more. Not confirmed from Westpac’s own material. | Not verified | We have not been able to verify Westpac’s clawback period from their published material. Check your loan agreement. |
| Kiwibank | Advertised at $5,000 or more for first home buyers borrowing $250,000 or more. | 4 years | Kiwibank requires you to maintain your banking relationship for four years from the date the cash contribution is paid — a year longer than ANZ or ASB. |
Collected from each lender's published material on 11 September 2026. Each lender sets its own criteria, including minimum loan size and minimum fixed term. Check the current terms with your lender before relying on anything here.
Two periods are missing on purpose. Where a cell says “not verified”, we could not read that period off the lender's own material. It is not zero and it is not three years — it is in your loan agreement, and the lender will tell you. Published cashback amounts also move between a flat first-home figure and a percentage of the loan, which are not comparable numbers, so read the wording as well as the dollar sign.
The loyalty number
The bank with your salary in it is not the one bidding hardest for you.
A borrower whose rates were rolling over asked a broker to compare their own bank's retention offer against what new lenders would do.
“Our rates were coming up for renewal so we asked our broker to compare a Westpac cash-back with new lenders. WP offered a paltry $1500-ish. […] Major Bank #1 offered ~$6k cash back […] Kiwibank was more chill: had NO conditions but also offered ~$6k cash back”
r/PersonalFinanceNZ, 15 October 2025.
One person, one instance, one week. It is not an average and we're not going to present it as one. What it is, is the word “paltry” doing a lot of work — a retention offer from the bank that has your salary going into it, against several times that from banks that have never met you.
Inertia is priced in this market. It is not priced in your favour.
Your own number
What would yours cost to walk away from?
Four figures answer it, and you can get all four in one phone call to your lender.
What you received
The cash contribution paid on settlement. It's on the settlement statement, or ask them.
When it settled
Month and year. The clock starts when the cash was paid, not when you first applied.
The period in your agreement
The minimum period, and whether it reduces over time or stays at the full amount until the day it clears. ASB's is pro-rata. Others are not.
Those three give you the date it stops mattering and the amount at risk before it does. The fourth is what a move would cost on top — legals, valuation, discharge, and any early repayment adjustment your lender calculates.
Lenders calculate clawback differently and some reduce it over time. Your lender's own figure is the one that counts. Nothing here is a quote or advice.
Questions
The things people actually ask.
What is clawback?
The cash a lender pays you on settlement comes with a minimum period attached. Leave inside it and some or all of that cash is repayable. We publish the period for each lender we have been able to read it from, and say so where we haven’t. It is worth knowing that the word “clawback” appears nowhere on any of the six biggest mortgage sites in New Zealand, while all six promote the cashback. (Category scrape, 11 September 2026.)
Is a cashback worth taking?
That depends on numbers only you and a licensed adviser can put together, so here is arithmetic instead of an opinion. MoneyHub’s published worked example compares two lenders over three years: the one with no cashback costs $90,108 in repayments, the one paying $3,500 cashback costs $96,516, which is $93,016 net of the cash. In that specific example the cashback left the borrower $2,908 worse off. (MoneyHub’s numbers and assumptions, cited as published.) Different loan, different answer. The point is that the comparison exists and almost nobody runs it.
What is a break fee, and will I have one?
If you exit a fixed rate early, your lender may charge an early repayment adjustment. It is calculated from wholesale rates rather than advertised ones, it differs by lender, and the figure moves day to day. It is largest when rates have fallen since you fixed, and MoneyHub notes it “may be very small or zero” when they have risen. It is separate from clawback, and a move can trigger both.
Why are some of your clawback periods blank?
Because we could not read them off that lender’s own published material. A policy claim about a named bank that turns out to be wrong is the worst error available on a site like this, so an unverified cell stays empty and says why. Your loan agreement carries the period that applies to you.
Is this financial advice?
No. This page publishes factual information about lenders’ published offers and terms. Under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 that is factual information, not regulated financial advice. A recommendation or an opinion about a particular product for your situation requires a Financial Advice Provider licence, which we do not hold. The licensed adviser we hand you to does, and they will give you their disclosure information before advising you.
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