You have to laugh at Ken Henry, ex Chairman of NAB, not liking populist, (for the people), governments – nasty things like the banking & finance industry inquiry can happen when populism comes into play. He says government should listen to experts. That is true, but the fact is that it is the experts who have allowed the banks to lie, cheat, defraud and abuse their customers. The experts have been corrupted for the benefit of major companies seeking favourable laws and contracts from government to earn billions and pay executives millions.
The Australian people have been treated like dirt by the experts, whether de-regulating the banks and selling off the government owned ones to remove honest competition or depleting the Murray Darling river system.
All bank directors should be prosecuted for their breaches of Corporations law and the Crimes Act. Banks act on the instructions of Directors. Directors set policy (to obey the code of practice or not). The bank CEO is then responsible for doing what the bank directors decide and instructing bank staff on how to do that. The bank directors are responsible for ensuring that the CEO does what he or she is told and finding out whether the bank is or is not treating customers fairly, in accordance with the law and the Code of Banking Practice. Bank directors are directly responsible for the banking debacle uncovered by the Royal Commission. They set policy rather than deal with detail. The bank policy has been to entrap borrowers in unaffordable debt in order to make extraordinary profits.
This week Westpac refused to pay interest owed to a term deposit customer unless the customer personally travelled to the branch and gave a signature to collect it.
Yesterday we dealt with ANZ increasing a guarantee by an elderly couple by a multiple of 10 times, up to 100% of their home value on a loan to family members from which they got not 1 cent of value.
This week we have dealt with Suncorp lending a family a loan on which they had to repay, in the first and most years of the loan, 3 times their average earnings – just impossible.
We are also dealing with nab foreclosing on a family who fell behind on a loan because of serious health and mental health problems. Following our involvement nab has been very helpful in considering a good solution. We have found nab to be one of the best banks at rectifying problems.
If ever you are in trouble with a bank and you give FairGO or GBAC a call, the first thing that will be done is to contact the bank to let them know something is being done about the issue. The second thing to be done will be to find out what caused the problem. The third will be, if possible, to come up with realistic solutions that are acceptable to both you and the bank.
A good move that we find effective is, once the problem has been identified as having been caused by some unreasonable or illegal bank action, to lodge a complaint with the new Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).
However it needs to be understood that AFCA is a body owned and operated by the banks and financial services industry for the banks and financial services industry. GBAC can help you to set out your case against the bank very carefully and with reference to the prevailing Code of Banking practice when you took out the loan. Then you should clearly decide what you want out of your complaint to AFCA and be ready to act if you do not get it. FairGO provides a direct link to all Members of every Parliament in Australia via its Votergram service, so if you are not satisfied with the AFCA outcome you can then refer the matter to parliament, which is usually extremely effective.
The idea that parliament is made up of irresponsible men and women who behave like schoolchildren is totally incorrect and the fault of TV showings of parliament question time which is a bit of theatre designed to impress the voters watching on TV, which in fact does the very opposite.
A good 20% of the Members of any parliament will go out of their way to assist voters and that gives you enormous leverage for good government if you take advantage of it.
Government can work “for the people” but for that to happen it requires feedback, ideas, support and encouragement “by the people”. FairGO has helped Australians do that for over 30 years just as GBAC has helped Australian borrowers deal effectively with their banks for a bit longer. Good banking requires the same sort of involvement by borrowers. It is no good expecting the bank officer to look after the borrower. Bank officers look after the bank’s interests. Borrowers need to look after their own interests or engage someone like GBAC to do that for them.
The combined resources of FairGO and GBAC give bank customers very effective remedies against bank abuse. Feel free to call us on 0428 417 496 from wherever you are in Australia.