Borrowers battling to beat the bank head to Greg Bloomfield’s GBAC

You get what you pay for and it’s worth what you paid. Why? Because in banking and borrowing that is just how it is.

Mortgage Brokers

There are free Mortgage Brokers to help borrowers borrow from a bank which will then pay the broker up to $10,000 commission. Why did we see a broker suggest one borrower falsify his income, multiplying it by 3? Why would we see a broker who convinced a borrower to accept a totally unaffordable loan? The broker gets the big commission. That's why! The bank gets the mortgaged property and the borrower gets the big debt and perhaps tossed out of their home, business premises or farm. Mortgage literally means “Death Pledge”. Take it seriously.

Financial Counsellors

There are extremely pleasant and highly competent financial counsellors who help people manage their finances and do budgets etc. They can be most helpful in farming. Counsellors are people who listen and help armers achieve what they want to achieve. They develop good relationships with the local bankers in the region they handle and can help with banking relationships. However, they are generally not suitable to go into battle on your behalf to expose illegal or dishonest conduct by the bank in your case or to fight ruthless bank debt collectors and bank lawyers whose only job is to get maximum money for the bank regardless of who suffers at farm debt mediation.

Mediators

Some mediators ,who deal with the banks a lot more than with any individual farmer, can be biased towards the bank. Others are perfectly neutral and do not get involved in the negotiations. They just keep the peace as Hon Richard Amery and Sir Laurence Street envisaged when introducing mediation to financial and other disputes. Greg was involved with both of men.

Personal experience

A Big 4 bank let Greg’s widowed mother with 3 young children and not one bit of financial knowledge in her head, guarantee a relative’s risky gambling business with Chinese investors. His father had been killed in a bushfire. When the relative's business failed, the bank sold up her home. Her  pay as a telephonist could not service the debt. She always claimed that her signature had been forged, but a lawyer told Greg he would never be able to prove that. His mother lived in a small flat with him and his wife in the first years of their married life. Then Greg bought her a home unit. It taught him a lesson about moneylending banks that he never forgot and has used to save farmers in debt all over Australia. The moneylender aims to trap the borrower in debt for as long as possible to earn as much interest as possible with a valuable property to sell up if needed. That is why farmers all over Australia give Greg a call when their farm loan gets a bit out of control. Banks have mostly been very helpful for Greg when his clients do exactly as he suggests. As one very successful NSW farm debt survivor told a neighbour, "There's no point me paying Greg for his assistance if I don't do what he says."