My story started with the purchase of my home .I had just sold my previous home (which i owned out right.) I went and saw a broker to see if i was eligible for a home loan. I was unemployed and studying at the time but had a sizeable deposit and money in the bank and was told i could apply for a low doc loan..
I did so and everything seemed to go along fine.I signed a couple of areas on the pages of my three pager application and was told after an evaluation on the property that the loan had been approved.I had signed up for a low doc loan paying interest only for the first five yrs.I have never been through the process of a loan before and was quite shocked that i was paying all this money every month which i struggled with at times but my loan amount was never going down. Naive some might say,and i would happen to agree.But the worst of it is yet to come folks!
I arrived home one day to be greeted at the bottom of my driveway by major crime detectives there to arrest me for Deception and Dishonest dealings with documents!I was told to lean over their car where the female detective patted me down for all my neighbours to see.I had no idea what was happening or why this was going on.I was taken to a Police Station and fingerprinted and DNA sample taken.
After receiving all the information on the police report from my lawyers i was told that there was fraud on my loan and they took the assumption that it was me who had put in false financials and tax papers to obtain the loan.What a Nightmare!.
For just over 2yrs i fought these charges in court for they were major indictable charges. The DPP in all their infinite wisdom dropped the charges 4 days before my trial.
After this all happened and thousands of dollars later with all the evidence before me i decided to take this case to COSL (financial ombudsmen )Who took on my case.Another Disaster! Through the 18 mths i had to deal with COSL i had 4 different case managers assigned to me. At the end of the 18 mths with all the information that i had given to them the 4th case manager decides that they cannot deal with fraud and that i should contact the police!
Let me just add that thought that during that 18 mths i contacted and complained about the Bank to ASIC: their answer was to perhaps go to the police.
I contacted APRA: their response was that it was not in their jurisdiction i should contact ASIC or police.
I wrote to the then Prime Minister: no response.
At this stage i was really finding it hard to have faith in any of the systems put in place by the government .Every one of them passed the buck or just didn't respond. If it werent for the tireless efforts of Denise and members of BFCSA keeping the encouragement up i believe i would have been at the edge of suicide!
I just couldn't come to terms with the fact that these banks were allowed to get away with this and that these Government agencies set up to deal with these problems turn their backs and wipe their hands of it.
In A last ditch effort i went back to the Major Fraud Squad to report this fraud and after 4 weeks they inform me they are not continuing with the case and are satisfied with how the investigation had gone previously!
Meanwhile i had stopped paying my house loan as in my eyes i shouldn't be paying towards a fraud until this is investigated further.As the bank involved decide to put an injunction in the supreme court to take my house i decide to fight back and file a civil suit against all involved .
This case after two yrs is still going on so i cannot say too much more except that i have had to sell my home after being given a deadline or lose it for less than it was worth.
In closing i hope more than anything that Denise and all her tireless supporters get retribution for the people that have been victims of this corruption from people who have committed suicide to people who have lost all their life savings and their homes.
BRING ON A ROYAL COMMISSION!
This is Australia give us a Fair Go Mate!