BFCSA Blog

Essential consumer warnings about borrowing from Australian lenders. Protect your rights, your home and your peace of mind. http://www.bfcsa.com.au/index.php/resources/need-a-loan (Check tab: Resources: Need a Loan?)...

Do you have a home loan written after July 2009? Are the old loan practices still going on? Any sign of change or improvement?   David's comment about loans written after the NCCP prompted my putting up this post. Information below on what was supposed to happen ...  I'm really looking forward to your comments. Lisa xx       July 20, 2009 National Credit Code and UCCC comparison The National Credit Code (NCC) is contained in Schedule 1 to the National Consumer Credit Protection Bill 2009. The NCC will replace the Uniform Consumer Credit Code, with modifications. Here is a list of changes (Note this is different from the changes in the exposure draft bill and does not include the registration and licensing changes): Scope: Code applies as in UCCC but has been extended to cover credit provided for the purchase, renovation or improvement of a residential property for investment...

http://www.mortgagesettlements.com.au/downloads/Mortgage%20Fraud%20Article.pdf With lax lending compliances and checking systems, such as exist with No Doc and Lo Doc loans, there maybe borrowers who were taught to take advantage of the opportunity to tell the Bank exaggerated detail, or so it seems.  This opportunity was created by the banks themselves, by offering a product that didn't involve the prudent checks and balances that any reasonable person would expect from a Bank or Lender in Australia.  Then there are the borrowers in our situation: we told the truth and even offered our documentation for checking, only to discover later that our honestly declared financial facts had been changed by bank staff or brokers. Without Lo Doc and No Doc loans it would be well nigh impossible to create a fraud loan... unless I've missed something?  Strict enforcement of all codes, regs and Laws should eliminate 99% of loan fraud. Banning of Lo Doc and...

Media Release: 24 August 2012How many Low Doc Loans are unethical?Attempts to deflect a Royal Commission into Australia's mortgage finance sector by the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia are mistaken, hollow and shrill, the Australian Democrats said today.MFAA CEO Phil Naylor rejected the Royal Commission call and claims there is very limited evidence of fraudulent dealings by brokers in a 17 August statement that only came to light yesterday. ED:  Yes Naylor would say that...but he has yet to call me.....but like the banks who did not ring the borrowers to ask income details because they deliberately did not want to know yet continued to deny evidence!"I don't know whether to be appalled or bemused by Mr Naylor's caricature of my remarks," Democrats Housing spokesperson David Collyer said today. "He has me saying all sorts of things.""The evidence put before the Senate inquiry by Denise Brailey of the Banking and Finance Consumers...

By Larry Schlesinger  Monday, 20 August 2012 http://www.propertyobserver.com.au/mortgages/banks-negligent-and-reckless-with-low-doc-loans-denise-brailey-in-senate-testimony   Most of the low-doc loans banks provided to borrowers would have been rejected if they had made a "simple phone call to the borrowers”, banking consumer advocate Denise Brailey has testified before a Senate inquiry into behaviour of the banking sector post-GFC. But she says banks chose “in a corporate decision” not to make this phone call to ascertain the true financial circumstances of the borrower. Brailey, who runs the Banking and Consumers Finance Support Association (BCFSA), brought with her to the inquiry a “small bundle” of 4,000 “falsified loan applications", which she said includes applications to every bank in Australia. “The four majors are in there. “They are all responsible, through a series of emails from banks to brokers, instructing the brokers how to get their deals across the line — 'make the deal fit' was their usual interpretation." Brailey’s views...

By Philip Soos  Tuesday, 21 August 2012 The level of sub-prime mortgages in Australia may be far in advance of what was previously assumed and provided for by banks. The story was broken on the ABC, and covered elsewhere. The revelations centred around two personalities: Kate Thompson and Denise Brailey. Kate Thompson was a licensed mortgage broker at Mortgage Miracles in Western Australia. A highly regarded and award-winning broker, Thompson disbursed a veritable torrent of credit from bank and non-banking lenders to clients wanting funds to buy property, making around $5 million a year from upfront and trailing commissions. She is now facing fraud charges for what amounts to predatory lending: providing credit to people with little to no expectation they will be able to repay the entirety of the loan. This fraud was achieved by fudging the income and assets of clients, making them appear much wealthier on paper than was...

It's good to see Australian Broker Online tackling the big concern sending shivers through the entire Industry. Thankyou to their writers, editor and the brokers for providing valuable feedback and information about what was going on from their perspective. Here are the links to the articles and comments related to the BFCSA allegations of Lo Doc Loan Fraud.   Poll: Did banks encourage fraud during boom times? A WA broker – herself facing fraud charges – has accused the nation’s lenders of being complicit, by encouraging brokers to commit fraud to get low-doc loans approved during credit boom times. Australian Broker is asking our readers to cast their vote. Did you see evidence of banks encouraging fraud? Yes or no? Have your say here! http://www.brokernews.com.au/article/poll-did-banks-encourage-fraud-during-boom-times-142522.aspx   TV: 'Overkill' evident in bank low-doc backdown Brokers have labeled bank reticence to write low-docs as an example of a knee-jerk reaction in an exclusive...