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KiwiSaver hardship withdrawals are "100 percent" being made for the wrong reasons, KiwiSaver providers say - and there are calls for significant change.
Inland Revenue data shows there was almost $49 million withdrawn for hardship reasons in September, up from almost $36m a year earlier.
Withdrawals can be made when someone cannot meet their living expenses or needs to pay for things like medical treatment.
But there have been concerns that people may be making withdrawals in situations where there are other options available to them, or using money for purposes other than they claimed.
One banking industry source said he had heard about people using a withdrawal on "botox and lip fillers". Another KiwiSaver provider said a hardship application had been approved because someone could not sell their Range Rover fast enough.
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David Verry, a financial mentor at North Harbour Budgeting Services, said a hardship withdrawal was the number one request from new clients.
He said financial mentors would try other things first, such as going through someone's budget with them, potentially talk to creditors about hardship provisions, looking at repayme
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