This comes in from an angry member:
THE PROBLEM WITH FOS and WESTPAC and its CORRUPT SYSTEM OF DODGY DETERMINATIONS
All FOS has managed to do was paint a picture of someone that really must think and believe that we consumers are all idiots and that the Ombudsman cares not one little bit for anyone or anything.
As dodgy as it all may sound, the relationship with the WESTPAC BANK was built on trust, good will and honour. My father was and is the most trustworthy, honest, honourable and fair man I know, and he was a career banker from the old school. So it saddens me a great deal to not only be treated in such a dishonest way by FOS and its bank pay-masters, but also in the way this whole dispute has been dealt with by both institutions.
This experience with shady mortgage fraud by bankers has really has tested my faith and belief in people generally being honest and good.
After almost 3 years of going round in circles with FOS who is the biggest joke of all. I have come to the obvious conclusions they are as shifty as Westpac and both circle like sharks over the carcass of consumers. Everyone at Westpac and FOS continue to ignore all the countless examples and evidence of mortgage fraud by a Westpac Home Loan Manager who is still employed and continues to conduct the same illegal processes in order to secure fraudulent mortgage sales commission through deceit and unethical behaviour unbeknown to customers.
Westpac are in my view and personal experience: Crooked liars and cheats.
I am struggling to understand how on earth Westpac approved my hidden fraudulent mortgage Low Doc loan and still manage to state that the bank’s preferred and perverse position that no fraud occurred? THERE IS FRAUD ON EVERY PAGE OF THE LAF
I am angry as most victims of this scam are angry. We are systemically being wiped out financially and left homeless. The Westpac and FOS alliance ensures we are being picked off like dogs in the gutter. There is no integrity in this system. My family have had to suffer to pay the CEO;s massive commissions and FOS pick up huge salaries paid for by Westpac.
How is it that Westpac are permitted to continue to deny the truth and hide behind what the Case Manager must know was a completely one sided and totally bias FOS Determination, made only more incredible by the total lack of management, understanding , service, acceptable timeframes and acknowledgement of any evidence I provided. The lies floating around between them are sickening.
FOS complaint handling is a system set up for the consumer to fail, give up or both, whilst FOS is only focused on protecting its own bank member base and receiving blood money from Westpac et al at a magnificent $5000 per dodgy “investigation.” If a film were created about this it would be classified as a black comedy.
I’ve worked for a member base association for ten years now so I know how it works – they all work in the same way and in protecting their own, whilst creating the perception that they are there for the greater good of the consumer and community. It’s the nature of the beast and ASIC knew these flaws would be there when it licensed these EDR ratbags.
I’m truly aghast and in disbelief at the evil responses given the documentation I attached and sent to all concerned. They were as we all know, documents containing clear and undisputable evidence of fraud and of how these forms have been doctored and our signatures copied and pasted on to them by a Westpac employee and an unaffordable loan was then approved. How Westpac continues to deny that these documents do not provide examples of fraud, is completely beyond me.
What do I now tell my father’s grandchildren about our very corrupt banking system?
I was bought up in what I consider to be a banking family with my father having a career of close to 40 years, 30 as a senior manager. In those days if you wanted a loan, you made an appointment to see the bank manager. I remember stories about how as a young bank teller my dad had struck up a great relationship with Sir B, the business brains behind an iconic fashion label of the 70s. He often told of how he would get a personal call at the bank from Sir B requesting money for this and that. Sir B wouldn’t deal with anyone other than my father, so whenever these calls were received, my father would have to go down to the basement to the bank vault, count the cash and place in a black briefcase which would then be handcuffed to my father’s wrist. He would jump in an taxi cab and head for business HQ an hour down the road. There he would meet Sir B where the transfer of the black briefcase full of cash would take place.
The business relationship was built on trust, good will and honour. Our family were bought up to be honest and to always stand up for the truth, no matter what the consequences may be.
Unfortunately and very sadly from my own experiences, these morals and beliefs seem to be missing within the banking and finance sector today, missing within Westpac, missing within FOS and with lack-luster regulators turning the other way like the three wise monkeys.
The banking sector has been self-regulated for thirty years now and we were told this was good for us. What nonsense as one million people are waking up and realizing THE TRUTH: banks have become power houses of corruption driven by greed money and power. Trust and confidence in banks have been well and truly trashed.
Denise is right, we all have to demand a Royal Commission into the Banking Sector and we need the Politicians who share these values to promise every victim of mortgage subprime fraud that a Royal Commission will take place during the next 12 months.
Henry