Five ways to get quick cash for the holidays
It’s the season to spend money – and for many people that can mean pushing up against their budget limits.
If a bit of extra money would be a help to your household right now, there are a few things you can consider.
CHECK WHETHER INLAND REVENUE HAS ANY OF YOUR MONEY
If it’s possible that you have money in a bank account you’ve forgotten about, or an accountant’s trust account might owe you money, check with Inland Revenue.
It holds unclaimed money that has been left with financial institutions. If a bank account is inactive for six years (or six years after the term deposit expires), the bank must contact the owner. If they cannot, it is transferred to Inland Revenue.
There are more than 17,000 people owed a combined $15.3 million – and one person has more than $300,000 due to them.
If you want to check whether that’s you, look for your name on the unclaimed-money page on the Inland Revenue site and follow the steps to prove your identity and claim the cash.
MOVE TO A NEW POWER COMPANY
This is more likely to give you an account credit than money in your hand – but if you have to spend less on your power bill, you should have more cash elsewhere.
Power companies often offer tempters to entice people to move across.
At the moment, Nova is offering $650 for people who move their broadband, power and gas to the company. Trustpower is offering a Samsung TV and $50 account credit if you move to a power and broadband bundle.
SELL STUFF
If you have things lying around the house that you no longer need, it’s a good time to try to sell them to present-hunting shoppers.
You could list on Trade Me or Facebook Marketplace.
Lisa Stewart, head of marketplace at Trade Me, said there was usually an increase in secondhand listings in November and December as people tried to make some extra money in the lead-up to Christmas.
‘‘Last year we saw a 30 per cent lift in the number of secondhand listings on-site in November and December, compared to September and October.’’
SWITCH BANKS
If you have a mortgage that is coming off a fixed term, you may be able to get a cash incentive to move banks.
The money is in theory intended to cover the cost of the lawyers involved in the deal but often the amounts offered are well in excess of what you’d need for refinancing.
Usually the amount is linked to the size of the deal but can vary from about $2000 to more than $10,000.
SELL YOUR SKILLS
Sites such as Fiverr, Upwork and Freelancer make it easy to pick up piecemeal work, particularly if you’re a designer, developer, video editor, marketer or content writer.
Some people have significant success by picking up small jobs that they can do outside their normal work hours for some extra money.
The caveat is that the sites can sometimes be a race to the bottom in terms of prices. You’ll need to ensure that you limit the scope of any work you take on so that the money you’re paid is worthwhile.
If your skills don’t suit an online transaction, you could go with a more traditional offer of babysitting, gardening, cleaning or providing general life admin services for people in the busy lead-up to Christmas.