Debt Solutions for a Borrower

“The Winning Borrower” 

“I was phoned one day by an IT executive, just after I had spoken to a farmer whose total crop proceeds had been seized by the bank. The IT expert had a similar problem. His bank account had also been frozen after a large deposit had been made into the account. The bank’s receiver took it all.”

So begins “The Winning Borrower”, the story of how one Sydney Chartered Accountant with a farming and family business background became a “bank loan consultant” and took on the big banks to provide Aussie debt solutions for Aussie farmers and business owners.

Baseball bats to battle bank debt issues

In the process of negotiations, mediations and refinancing, he discovered the disturbing details of how banks lied, cheated and trapped  farmers in debt they could not clear without selling the farms and did the same to business owners who had mortgaged their homes. The author relates how untrustworthy banks have exploited customers in their quest for multi-billion-dollar profits. He takes a metaphorical baseball bat to the bankers, explaining how some of his  clients ended up making more profit out of their loan settlements than out of farming or business.

Royal Commission investigates bank loan problems

The day the Prime Minister announced that there would definitely not be a Royal Commission into the banking industry, the author sent a Votergram to each one of the 225 Federal MPs decrying the decision. Within days the decision was reversed and the Royal Commission announced.

Author makes book free to farmers during March

The Winning Borrower” 85 page e-book by this businessman,4th generation farmer, Chartered Accountant and CPA , who became a bank loan consultant by accident, is available during March as a FREE e-book to help business owners and farmers all over Australia enjoy more profitable and secure lives.

Benefits of Financial analysis

Financial analysis

Business financial analysis are the last thing that gets the farmer’s attention, but are a necessary part of a successful business operation.

Measurements and financial analysis

In business we pay a lot of attention to measurements – micron, moisture, calving rate.

Yet we mostly ignore the money measurements. Frankly they are not half as interesting.

My grandfather was a Queensland drover, then bred sheep and cattle at Coonabarabran before establishing a property development and building company in Sydney.

Accounting

Before I qualified as a Chartered Accountant/CPA, when I turned 21 he  invited me onto the board of his company. He gave be a set of financial statements from the accountant, to read over. They might have been written in Russian for all that they meant to me and perhaps to him. Many years later they mean more to me than measuring  the micron of our sheep at Tullamore, the soil moisture in the cropping paddocks or the calf birth weights and calving rates at Braidwood.

Financial statements tell stories

Financial statements tell stories to financial analysts that they hide from others. Over one or two years they reveal a great deal about the money management side of a farm. Over a decade they provide the data that can enable a business owner to make much more money per product of service.

It does not matter whether the business is coping with downtime or debt, or enjoying the best seasons in decades. The figures reveal the secret of making more money. We work to enable us to live the very best life-style in the world. But the more money we make out of it, the more enjoyable it becomes.

Many matters depend on wise financial analysis

When we sit down with business owners to chat about  restructuring, succession planning, expanding or getting the bank off their back, their past financial statements have the information needed to set them on the right track. The figures and graphs we extract, tell the business owner what they can afford and how they can best afford it. They also reveal why they might be finding cashflow very tight. An important part of financial analysis can highlight how their toil is supporting the multi-million dollar bank’s CEO’s salary.

Money in your bank account, not the bank’s.

For many, those figures enable us to put more money into the farmers bank accounts than into the bank’s own coffers. At farm debt mediation they earned one farmer $5 million. When refinancing, good financial analysis can help shave the interest rate being paid for the next 20 years. This could even eliminate the need for debt at all. Loan and debt problems are not unique to business owners, but the financial climate can turn profits into losses overnight. Some commodities have a very short “self life” like consumables.

Be careful who you borrow from

The good thing about a bank loan is that one can talk to the bank. Borrowing from a non-bank lender, one of my clients had been faced by a debt collector who said  to the person not making loan repayments, “How would you like to end up in the dam with a lump of concrete around your feet?” Even when a bank debt is seriously behind we have found that the bank will deal with it sensibly. Physical violence is not part of their recovery process, even though financial abuse is. However, business owners need to treat any threat by the bank seriously. Because a bank can foreclose on the business, appoint a receiver or take insolvency action against them. Call a consultant fast if that happens, because that can cost a business owner a fortune and lose the operation in a flash.

Use an accountant who has been paid for producing the figures.

Figures that cost a business owner heaps for the accountant to prepare, turn into a technicolour landscape in the hands of a skilled financial analyst.  Studying accounting enabled me to run the Australia-wide GBAC consultancy, run and equipment hire business, an art rentals business, own and run sheep and cattle farms. At the same time, developing the most effective political persuasion tool in Australia, the Votergrams. I thank all those business owners and accountants who at conventions and conferences or just as neighbours, shared their knowledge with me. That knowledge, I can now pass it on to others.

What I have learned is that there is almost always a good solution to any problem. The dull old financial statements that have been paid for to do tax returns can often help provide those good solutions.

Greg Bloomfield

Succession plan for farm foreclosure?

Saying “No thank you”

Young farmers will be better off if they decline offers of farm succession based on them borrowing an interest-bearing farm bank loan. Their retiring parents and the farm will be safer too.

The inclusion of potential bank debt problems on top of fire, flood, drought, commodity prices and government policy, can be destructive to any farm family. I changed GBAC from  a Chartered Accountancy firm to a farm debt consultant once banks were deregulated. They were promoting “asset lending” – loans that depended on sale of the farm, rather than farm profits, to repay the debt.

Debt enriches banks

Succession planning debt enriches banks, impoverishes young farmers and puts farms at risk. Serious lateral thinking by experts familiar with farming  and bank loans will tailor a safer alternative for those who want to keep the farm in the family.

Passing on farm debt is rarely beneficial, so rather than refinancing debt to the youngsters, every endeavour should be made to clear all mortgage debt first, so the younger generation can begin with a clean slate. It is nothing like as hard as is thought.

Personal experience

When selling my Merino breeding  farm to buy the beef cattle property that had been settled by my great-grandfather, the asking price was many times higher than what I had expected. That was due to a recent nearby sale at a price an agent called “ridiculous”. I could not have afforded interest as well.  So I devised a plan that I could afford. It involved minimal  external debt and it worked extremely well for my relative-vendor.

Good succession planning avoids the need to call in a farm debt consultant when the bank has appointed receivers to run the farm. The last thing any young farmer needs is a debt problem that leads to farm debt mediation, the forerunner to potential foreclosure and sale of the farm.

Avoiding mortgage stress

Bank debt is offered by banks because it converts farm revenue to bank revenue. Better to keep the money in the farm’s saving deposits and avoid the mortgage stress.

Greg Bloomfield

New Year’s Resolution – Farm Succession Planning

Do something about passing on the farm before it is too late.

Here are 5 points on farm succession.

  1. Don’t involve an external lender ( eg bank) in your farm succession plan.
  2. There is nothing clever about handing down debt for your children to deal with.
  3. Add fire, flood, drought, price drop or illness and chances are they will lose the farm.
  4. GBAC ( Greg Bloomfield Agribusiness Consultants) can help your farm transfers without external debt and make both generations happy.
  5. GBAC takes the family friction out of succession plans, satisfies all parties.

Call Greg now to chat on  0428 417 496

Trouble with Transmission Towers

Profits and cashflow affected

Farm or business profits can be suddenly and badly affected when government utility construction staff enter a property. A farm debt or a business debt can do the same if cashflow is badly affected. Gates can be left open, fences or walls knocked down, trading stock or livestock lost and access blocked. GBAC consultants have run their own businesses and farms. They also have an expertise in dealing with government that many others lack. GBAC can be called in to make sure that any transmission construction on or over a business or farm is properly managed to have minimal impact on  finances, particularly  long term loan debt. It can negotiate strongly for serious compensation if damage is done. Enforced transmission lines may have to be accepted, but the wise property owners will ensure that it is at least very profitable.business premises

Don’t waste time with bureaucrats

Individuals often need to make sacrifices for the good of their nation, but when they do they should receive very generous compensation for doing so.

Property owners troubled by transmission lines should not waste time negotiating with bureaucrats or public servants over whom they have no control. Polite persistent political persuasion in the privacy of parliament is the best way to go

Go to those who can say “Yes”, not those who can say “No”

GBAC uses cheap, simple and effective Votergrams to take their concerns directly to every Member of Parliament. MPs are the only segment of government over which most people have any control. In a property owner’s role as a “Voter”, that person gains considerable political power. Voters control political careers. Most MPs are very happy to help voters when approached in the right way.

Chartered Accountant Greg Bloomfield developed Votergrams in his GBAC office before he concentrated on helping Aussies with their mortgage loan and debt issues. To provide strength to those who need community support for more effective political persuasion he also formed the Voters! Network. Transmission towers threaten the peaceful operation of businesses, homes and farms across Australia. That is the sort of issue on which voters need to join forces. When long term mortgages are taken out it is not possible to foresee the future. We have seen millions of dollars damage done by utility construction teams who simply do not know or care that mortgage repayment schedules can be seriously disrupted by intrusive construction teams. GBAC is good at making them care, even long-distance online . shaking hands

Join Voters! and have other voters support you

GBAC knows that bringing in Voters from all over Australia to report problems to Federal MPs helps to  deter harmful practices by construction companies.  Votergrams  can quickly put voters in touch with every state and federal MP in the country. However as negotiating consultants GBAC knows that it is rarely necessary. Once a construction company knows that, it tends to treat property owners properly.

 

Farm Debt – consultants

Do farm debt consultants deliver financial benefits to farmers ?

 

GBAC Farm Debt Consultants’ farm loan clients benefit from Greg Bloomfield’s years as a Chartered  Accountant/ CPA with an emphasis on pastoral companies. They gain too from his experience when he headed the largest NSW Farmers branch, ran sheep at Tullamore and cattle at Braidwood.

 

Many followed his sound farm financial advice in the Hereford Quarterly and rural papers. Farmers were amazed when they won farm debt mediations and huge debt write-offs.

 

Farmers today are freed from overwhelming debt,  with tailored refinance. In the process farmers unexpectedly earned hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions of dollars.

 

At home on a horse or bike, fixing fences or marking calves, having financed his own farms, Greg soon identifies bank loan problems  and bank debt solutions.

farm creek pond

 

Working by phone and fax previously, phone and email now,  GBAC provides farm debt solutions in a way that neither RFCs nor local Accountants can, using unique and persuasive strategies to win a fair go for farmers all over Australia. Receiverships and foreclosures are stopped and prevented.

 

Anyone needing help with a new farm loan or an old farm debt should ring for a chat with Greg any day or evening on 0428 417 496 or 02 9988 3312. Being away from the local town means that what farmers discuss with GBAC remains completely confidential.

 

Borrow Better with your own “broker”

Good Roads affect small businessHow can any small to medium sized business or farmer be properly served by a mortgage loan broker who is  paid substantial commission by a bank and knows little about business or farming?

  • Either the broker serves the bank or they serve the borrower. They can’t serve both because what the bank earns, the borrower pays; what protects the bank makes the borrower vulnerable if loan problems arise.
  • Who do the brokers deal with most, the borrower or the bank? The bank of course on a daily basis.
  • At Borrow Better we do not accept any commission or payment from the bank. We work for borrowers only. As the bank does not pay a broker on loans we help borrowers negotiate, we work to get borrowers a substantial reduction in the loan cost.
  • Borrow Better by having banks compete for your loan business, whether it is a new loan, restructure or refinance.
  • Borrowing is easy. It is the paying it back that is hard. So the most important part of a loan is not the getting of the funds, but the price and promises given to get them.
  • Price of a loan includes:Hay
    Interest rate
    Set-up charge
    Bank fees
    Amount and timing of regular repayments
    Contract terms
    Conditions under which bank can call in the loan to be repaid in full.
    Flexibility if the borrower strikes hard times, gets sick, loses income.
    Ability to repay early or faster.
    Borrower’s ability to meet repayments out of income as only interest will be tax deductible
    How well the borrower gets on with the bankers involved.
    The smiling lender can quickly be replaced by ruthless debt collectors in some loan contracts.
  • Who will gain the most financially from the loan? Make it the borrower!
  • Sometimes borrowers need loan help. At other times help is needed with a defaulting debt
  • If farm debt mediation or business debt mediation arise we can give expert assistance.
  • Even if a bank moves to foreclosure or appointing receivers, we provide appropriate, experienced assistance to borrowers.
  • GBAC consultants are qualified and experienced at running their own businesses and farms.
  • How will that be achieved? BorrowBetter.au consultants will tell you.
  • Call now for a friendly chat 0428 417 498, 0422 907 155, 02 9988 3312

Email greg@gbac.au, pat@gbac.au

Cell grazing farm debts

There is no need to risk losing the family farm by keeping a farm debt that’s not helping you.

Cell grazing works well for your pastures, so why not apply it to your farm debt mortgage management.

Staying with your existing bank through tough times can eat away most of the original goodwill.

Think of bank lenders as cells. Have a good relationship with one and then move on before the relationship sours completely. As it is mostly done on line you don’t have to stay with a local bank.

Borrow Better by checking out fresh lenders to see which offers a farm debt to suit you best.

Over-patronising one bank can damage your farm finances, like overgrazing damages your paddock.

Independent of any bank, GBAC farm debt consultants are not paid commission by the bank like brokers are, to deliver you to them. GBAC is firmly on your side, seeking the farm debt that suits you best.

GBAC combines its own 4th gen. farming experience, accounting, tax and economics qualifications with a passion for fairness towards farmers.

 

 

 

Business Borrowers can Borrow Better

It is one thing to take out a personal mortgage loan to buy a home when the borrower has a secure job with a salary that will provide plenty of funds to cover repayments. However, business owners know that their profits can vary from year to year depending on a variety of factors, not all are under their control. Cashflow can also vary even more frequently in an unstable economy.  It is important that they obtain a loan with the very best interest rates and the most flexible terms to accommodate those variations without the bank disrupting cashflow by unreasonable demands. Banks always give themselves great power in the fine print of their loan contracts.loan application

The Borrow Better facility puts borrowers in charge. That is a big change from working with a bank or a bank-paid broker, where the bank begins and remains in charge of the loan facility. When four or five banks have competed to lend to a business and the business owner after some discussions and analysis of the loan offers, has chosen one, that bank looks after them and the other banks stand ready to pick up the business should that banking relationship sour in the next year or so. It also means that instead of a very substantial brokerage fee being partly paid as an establishment fee and partly  capitalised into the loan repayments, the chosen bank will probably reduce or eliminate the loan establishment fee.

Businesses that have used the Borrow Better facility, have run with the same lender and excellent relationships through good times and bad for decades. That may be because most have engaged  The Borrow Better founders GBAC business loan consultants to ensure that the loan is serviceable by the business and that the business is run on sound profitability principles so that it can always cope with the loan.

Don’t let loan default spoil your Christmas

Aussies have some unique ways of reacting to problems. The swagman jumped into the billabong,

but today’s Aussie borrowers might want to square up to the multi-billionaire banks with their multi million dollar executives and demand a bit of respect. GBAC helps borrowers do that from a position of strength rather than one of being the underdog, kicked around to enrich the bank.

Borrowers in default on loans can shore up their defences with some very effective strategies.

13,000 Australian borrowers are currently said to be at risk of loan default. APRA says it is modelling how safe the banking industry is from recession. Nobody bothers to model how safe those farm and business borrowers or home-buyers are from foreclosure.stop foreclosure

That is why we established our GBAC debt consultancy years ago for small business owners and farmers. I have owned family farms and businesses. When default looms, borrowers can act fast to make themselves safe from foreclosure. Business debt mediation and farm debt mediation are options that should be strategically prepared for very well, as the bank will use ruthless experienced officers and lawyers. They are more of a last resort.

Votergrams can also provide a very effective remedy for home loan borrowers who have been cheated, misled or robbed by the bank. Votergrams enable borrowers to inform the parliament of what the bank has done wrong and to seek  help. Given the massive dishonesty of major banks revealed by the Banking Royal Commission, MPs are very willing to assist.

Refinance is always an option. It can be a very good way of dealing with bank loan or debt problems. We offer a cheap and effective Borrow Better service that helps borrowers get the cheapest and best loan available. It is no good hoping that a broker paid by the bank is going to negotiate the cost and terms of your loan down for you. They are paid to make money for the bank.

I am not a fan of restructures like debt consolidation because that puts “all you eggs into one basket”. If the consolidated debt gets into trouble it can cause a storm rather than a shower. Better to have your debts spread a bit so that you can negotiate with each lender and if one gives you a hard time then it only affects a small part of your total debt. Debt help is always available from www.gbac.au and in my experiences the faster it is sought the sooner the problem is solved.

The Aussie debt solution is to take on the bank and fight like made for a fair go. Billionaire banks can easily afford to make concessions that help their borrower customers. Without the borrowers the banks would go broke!