New Zealand’s Earthquake Commission (EQC) is racing against time to process thousands of claims.

In July it insisted 20,000 Canterbury earthquake claims for less than $NZ15,000 ($13,060) would be dealt with by the end of October, either by being paid, declined or advising the customer.

A spokesman says 15,700 claims are now closed and 780 are waiting on additional information from customers.

“The remaining 3585 continue to be processed,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“Some will receive a phone call, some are still to be declined, some have a commercial component and will be communicated with – and a variation of other scenarios.

“We remain on target for October 31.”

Customers in multi-unit buildings with claims below $NZ15,000 are being treated separately “because of the complexities inherent in multi-units that have required resolution before settlement can proceed”.

“We promised this group of customers we would get back to them by the end of this year,” the spokesman said.