BFCSA Blog

We are all aware there are the MR BIGs of the drug trade, then the PUSHERS who are often "users of the drug."  Then there are the users of the product and end up the victims.   Selling drugs is a criminal act and so is selling fraudulent loans to those who cannot afford to pay the payments.  So why do these very similar activities flourish in our society?   Clearly, greed and money are the key motivators on the part of the Drug and Bank Barons.  However, the second key indicator of wide spread activity is the dramatic increase in the level of complaints and those needing assistance.  The third and major key indicator of widespread abuse is the failure of policing, whether state policing regarding drugs, or corporate policing relating to Banksters and Loan Application Fraud. In so many countries, including our own, the Mr BIGs of the Rackets, happily wine and dine the Police hierarchy.  The Barons can...

If ever there was a need for MULTIPLE ROYAL COMMISSIONS into any industry handling "Money Money Money," this is the moment.  Just who is minding the shop?  Wide spread and systemic corruption entered the political arena decades ago and we the people have lost good politicians who believed in right and wrong.  Even the media admit "politics is a dirty game" whilst media was being infiltrated.  The abuse of children within the various churches was not initially widely known as the cover-up net flies over the institution.  We the people need a Royal Commission into every area where there is abuse - abuse of young employed as slaves, abuse of children, abuse of financial services and products and abuse in the sporting arena. The Banking system became utterly corrupted in the eighties and we have let the matter drift for far too long.  Yes we the people allowed systemic looting and cheating and...

Her Excellency,   The Governor General of Australia,   Ms Quentin Bryce I sincerely hope you had a wonderful time in Antarctica.  The glorious sights must have been wonderful.  Over 100,000 families have an urgent and pressing need to seek your assistance in representations to Government on bad banking practices.  BFCSA Members  in a  collective effort have uncovered a massive bank fraud perpetrated on over 100,000 Australia and New Zealand citizens. We need your assistance to convince the Federal Government that it cannot exempt our banks from prosecution.  It cannot cover up the facts and cannot deny us the right to witness a determined enforcement of law.  The Government ought to be instructing the Australian Federal Police to investigate these numerous and serious complaints regarding lending practices by banks in Australia. We would sincerely hope you would intervene and assist by sending letters to the Prime Minister and asking her to simply enforce our laws by a strong commitment to holding a Royal Commission into the Banking and Finance sector.  Over 600 complaints a week of imprudent lending must...

Message to all FOS Case Managers and Investigators. Normally you people do a satisfactory job. However, if stupidity comes up then people will justifiably scream out. The Service Calculator was attached to the LAF and faxed from Broker to Bank. It was part of the documentation the Bankster relied upon to make poor judgement in lending, particularly Firstmac and duplicated en masse. The Calculator is discoverable. FOS has powers to demand banks hand it over. Please use your powers and a big stick. Wander over to Kim Cannon's offices and demand he personally supplies all his hapless customers with a full set of Loan Application documents - the entire file,   including the serviceability calculator.   YES its an "internal document" but one which Brokers were appointed with powers to have access to and use.  The Brokers acted as Bank Officers in preparing this "internal document."  Don't side with the Banksters. Its not a...

Let us be perfectly clear here:  You cannot profit from a fraud.  The Federal Government cannot profit from the dirty RMBS packs they purchased from the Banksters.....taxpayers unknowingly purchased a $24 Billion DUD!!! Treasury and the Australian Office of Financial Management agreed to the purchase but failed to audit the package and took the Banksters' word that all "income streams" were from a good bundle.  Yeah right!  Problem is that our survey shows that 10% of our members had loans arranged by Bank Managers and staff (no broker involved) and these loans were FULL DOC loans. So, 10% OF FULL DOC LOANS ARE DEEMED TO BE DODGY and FRAUDULENT.....but of course!  Business development Managers taught the Brokers how to use the dreaded SERVICEABILITY CALCULATOR and the Bank Managers also used the same bankster created calculations from the same bankster computer program.  So the Computer was the culprit?  Are we serious here?...

ED:  Thank you my friend.  You are truly a Braveheart and a decent human being!  Come on the rest of you....one from each bank please......we know you have had to keep silent for to long.  BFCSA has provided you with a VOICE and complete confidentiality. From today's whistleblower: All decent, honest bank employees eg: lenders, have been performance managed out of the business, sacked or left of their own accord, that is what has happened in my area, others have been on stress leave, in hospital, think heart attacks. It's beyond belief, the amount of pressure that is put on them from above.  Sell,Sell,Sell at all costs. The lenders that were ethical and cared about their clients have left the business, some with more than 20 years experience, they could see what was happening and didn't want to be part of it. I for one fail to see the sense in...

Dear Pete, The Solution to Debt isn't More Debt!  Mackers created the "Wealth Creation Industry" and you Peter, helped them along for a decade.  I was at the same lunches.  But the reason for the Bankster's obscene and immoral success is greed and personal wealth and help from Mates to become richer.  Whilst ASIC embraced the "Creating Wealth Industry" Banksters were LAFing all the way back to their Bulging Bank Vaults.   No-one gave a coconut for Consumers' welfare. When will ASIC attack these Banksters?  The Officers gave Macquarie Millionaires Factory Inhabitants a slap over the wrist with a damp lettuce for years. Several staff members were systemically breaching various sections of criminal law.   We know that, as we have the evidence. Peter Kell is bleating "we will be" getting tough.  Come on Pete same words as 2001: I dubbed those words as "the ASIC attack of the willbees!"  Remember?   Straight...

It seems timely to resurrect this Americanism from the 1930s - one of many evocative words the United States has contributed to the English language, says Harold Evans. Americans are pretty good at adding words to the English language. We owe them pin-up girls, highbrows, killjoys, stooges, hobos, drop-outs, shills, bobby-soxers, hijackers, do-gooders and hitchhikers who thumb a ride. During the time Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain was cost-cutting, he spent $1.1m doing up his office - $86,000 for a rug Hear Radio 4's A Point of View The Americanisms are so much more concise and vivid. Instead of saying "sorry we're late but drivers ahead of us slowed us down when they craned their necks to look at a crash" you can say "we were held up by rubberneckers". Words pop in and out of our language as social conditions change. The American gangster, which is still with us, has...

ADAM HARVEY: Those dragged in include some of the nation's most senior business executives who stood to make a lot of money from the Mount Penny deal.  Like mining veteran John McGuiggan and John Kinghorn recorded here on an ICAC telephone intercept talking about the growing Obeid scandal.  JOHN MCGUIGGAN, MINING VETERAN (recording): What... What... What I have been thinking about is, you know, it's how do we get control? How do we manage reputations and what's the shortest distance to a pot of money? ADAM HARVEY: And former RAMS Home Loan chief and philanthropist John Kinghorn, he's on tape too. JOHN KINGHORN, FORMER RAMS CHIEF (recording): That's why you and I could never afford to get divorced mate. All this shit will come out if we do. Kinghorn - the Philanthropist? Really?  We are still unravelling the mess YOU left behind at RAMS and RHG.  You picked up your lousy...

Philip Soos :   Macrobusiness: 'Comparing Australian and US Housing' For the full article and 114 comments: http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2013/01/comparing-australian-and-us-housing/ Similar to the US, Australia has a deregulated and liberalized financial sector, having undergone numerous reforms during the 1980s and 1990s, ending the government’s heavy involvement in ownership and management during the social democratic period of the 1950s to 1970s. Unsurprisingly, the amount of credit the banking sector extended to all parts of the private sector has increased dramatically. Mortgage debt has more than quadrupled from 19% of GDP in 1990 to 84% in 2012 to a higher level that of the US at its peak. According to Denise Brailey, the President of the Banking & Finance Consumers Support Association, an organisation dedicated to protecting the public against predatory financiers, there is some evidence to suggest mortgage fraud is far more wide-spread than previously thought. Having worked in this field for the last twenty years, criminologist Brailey has...

I have read a few posts on this blog discussing brokers as agents for the lenders. i don't know much about that but I came across this and thought it might be of use. It's a court decision where the lender Permanent was held responsible for the agent Streetwise..hope it helps: http://www.bdl.com.au/index.php/Commercial-Business-Law/the-liability-of-financial-lenders-for-unjust-loan-contracts.html ED:  Yes it was Ms Brailey who originally gathered those people together in 2004.  She briefed the lawyer and handed over 12 arch files of documentary evidence of proof of dirty loans from 50 families.  They raised funding from the Jenman Group for 3 families.  The generosity of the Jenman Agents to uphold truth is legendary.  Those families were dedicated RECA Members and are now BFCSA Members.   The family appeared on Sixty Minutes in 2005.  Denise also reported the Streetwise Scandal involving some 187 families in 2003.  ASIC responded with letters to ASIC Chairman from Denise, as President of RECA,  stating: "there was no evidence ...........not in the...

FOS is on overload and warning consumers that investigations may take a year or two.  In fact it may take up to a year to have an investigator appointed.  In all similar cases you need to ask for a proper investigation. One case was allocated a number on 26 July 2012 # 292446.  Now we notice that another case number allocated in mid October # 300444. The difference: 8000 Case numbers allocated over 12 weeks  = 666 per week 5 days a week = 133 new cases pouring into the doors of FOS, per day  The Australian Federal Government does not see a problem, when 32,000 people per annum, are complaining about our major banks?   Are the Members of Parliament that stupid? Why is it that BFCSA can see a problem and the Government is in denial?  This is our GFC.  We take a while to wake up here in the South.  So many loans where forgery of signature and fraudulently tampered with Loan Application Forms...

Here we go again Folks.  When I was raising the issues of Westpoint in 2000 with ASIC hierarchy, and again re Prime Life and other looming disasters (eg potential for Provident Cap and Banksia Securities in 2005, ASIC officers were encouraged to ring victims of these scams who had lodged a complaint.   What a surprise.  The answers sought revolved around whether I was giving legal advice.  Questions related to yours truly and RECA instead of asking about the directors of the collapsed companies.  We have lawyers who care about our endeavours....of course we do.  There are decent lawyers out there who wish to assist us.  They are streets ahead in knowledge and intelligence than those who work for ASIC. Clearly this shows that ASIC and its Bankster mates are worried about the existence of BFCSA and its Members.   There is an irony here:  BFCSA and its predecessor RECA, would not have had a need to...

HOW LONG WILL WE LET THIS GO ON FOR?    HERE IN AUSTRALIA AS WELL:  Australians Take Note.   How familiar is this?  ASIC, NZSC and the SEC in the US turn their backs on the real culprits and hide the information taxpayers pay for but are not privy to.  Should we just say "oh well!"                       Aaron Swartz, financial fraud, and the Justice Department January 24, 2013 deanbaker   Many people have been asking about the Justice Department’s priorities in the wake of the suicide of computer whiz and political activist Aaron Swartz. As has been widely reported, the Justice Department was pressing charges that carried several decades of prison time against Swartz. He was caught hacking M.I.T.’s computer system in an apparent effort to make large amounts of academic research freely available to the public. The Justice Department’s determination to commit substantial...

The Prime Minister of Australia Ms Julia Gillard Dear Prime Minister,  (Prime Minister of New Zealand: Please take note) BFCSA Members have the evidence of criminal intent in the Banking Sector on a massive and unprecedented scale.  We have offered to deliver our evidence to the Chairman of the Australian Securities and Investment Commission ("ASIC").  Given the seriousness of the allegations we have leveled at the Banking Sector and the likely falsification of over $60 Billion worth of mortgages in Australia, your role in appointing Mr Medcraft is yet again under question.  I am simply receiving excuses from the Chairman that he is out of town. For well over a decade, no-one has enjoyed any faith in our Corporate Cop.  ASIC Commissioners should be on the phone daily, asking to meet with BFCSA Members.  Despite my evidence given at my expense on 8th August 2012 to the Senate Inquiry, not one regulator has called me.  With...

A plague on Aussie housing Philip Soos   Published 8:33 AM, 16 Jan 2013     We suggest you read the excellent and entire Philip Soo article on Business Spectator  http://www.businessspectator.com.au Is Australia’s residential property market in a price bubble? This question has been much debated over recent years as housing prices leaped then slowly receded, resulting in entrenched views on both sides. Certainly, mainstream opinion is opposed to the idea that a housing bubble exists, with the government, FIRE sector (finance, insurance and real estate), and much of academia claiming that prices are linked to fundamentals or intrinsic value. It helps to have a sound fix on what an asset bubble is when exploring this matter. Otherwise, it becomes like pornography: you can’t define it exactly, but you know it when you see it. A good starting point is the work of the late US post-Keynesian economist Hyman Minsky. His contrarian work revolved...

GRAHAM MACAULAY WE SALUTE YOU Graham MacAulay would want me to correct one thing in the previous BLOG, which is compulsory reading for all consumers of financial and banking products and services:  Tony D'Aloisio knew all the right words to say to consumer victims but delivered only a modicum of results in much the same fashion.  Graham lobbied and attended several meetings with D'Aloisio.  He had 300,000 reasons to be angry with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission's newly appointed Chief Regulator.  He pressed for several meetings at his own expense armed with a list of 20 - 30 questions on each occasion and received no cogent answers.  On each occasion he would return home on the train and ring me saying: "they are utterly hopeless in there and D'Aloisio is the worst of the lot." Graham would then contact all media outlets and vent his frustration at a system that had clearly failed him and his...

How was ASIC monitoring this fiasco as more and more retirees were encouraged to "place their life-savings" with Banksia Securities Limited? Taken from © Australian Securities and Investments Commission August 2007 Page 64 of 79 report Table 9: Mortgage financing unlisted, unrated debentures  EXTRACT: Banksia Securities Limited  004 736 458 Permanent Nominees (Aust.) Ltd  408.042 3.00%–6.50% Nov 00    Mortgage financing is defined as secured mortgage lending for residential  and commercial property ownership and improvement with security over  real property. This category represents 42% by value and 39% by number of  the total unlisted, unrated debentures. The largest 3 issuers’ amounts  outstanding represent 34% by value of this category and the largest 10  issuers’ amounts outstanding represent 69% by value of this category.    ASIC presented at the Senate Economics Committee on 30 May 2007 a  preliminary analysis of the market for deposits and debt securities in  Australia. The analysis as shown in Figure...