Confidence interest rates will slowly alleviate financial hardship, as almost half a million New Zealanders are behind on repayments

Centrix's latest Credit Indicator report shows consumer arrears are 1.3 percent higher year on year, with financial hardship also up 19 percent over the same period.

Key Mortgages' Jeremy Andrews says he's not surprised by these figures, and improvement will be gradual.

He says things are slowly getting better from an interest rates perspective, but there won't be a magic turn around.

The next OCR announcement is due in a fortnight.