Westpac plans to 'dump' risky property investors as rates rise and returns fall

I am with 3 Westpac brands (Westpac, St George, and RAMS) and have a lot of borrowings with them....all were taken as I/O from 10 to 15 years.

No letter to date.....I even called them.

I think this might be furphy....the only time they will call them in is if there was CLEAR fraud. Then that has the potential for criminal prosecution.

I had all mine go through the direct channels and provided all the information and hid nothing.

 

I find it hard to comprehend how a potential borrower fails to remember how many credit cards, store cards or if they have a HECS debt.
No wonder banks are tightening their lending!
Sounds like convenient forgetfulness to me.

 

@TAJ the amount of times clients have said, 'oh yeah I forgot that one' or 'it's interest free so I didn't tell you about that because we don't have to pay'

 

It astounds me that in this day and age with credit checks paramount and cross referencing between departments that potential borrowers conveniently fail to disclose all relevant information.
I bet they don't forget how much they wish to borrow!

 

It could be a genuine mistake. Years ago I applied for a loan and listed my credit card credit limit as $10k. A few months later I noticed on my statement that the limit was $15k. I was a bit shocked because I am sure it should have been $10k. I know it doesn't make much difference but technically I have a fraudulent loan.

Then again, I could have cancelled my credit card then applied for a new on after I got the loan. The last credit card I got had a $20k minimum limit.

 

Did they raise your credit limit without you knowing from $10k to $15k?

 

No idea. My point was that I should have checked but it was something I genuinely missed in all the docs I had to provide. From memory I had to provide around 100 documents, which is a huge amount of information to compile! It's not that surprising that something got missed.

 

Haven't read all 7 pages but spoke over the phone to 2 trusty ppl i know in the industry and they said perhaps in cases of overt fraud, they may be reviewed and asked to refinance.

Otherwise, regardless of LVR etc there's nothing to worry about . Bottom line, fraud never pays .

 

Im wondering if they were just using it as a really blunt instrument for some customers that were being very difficult to deal with, and were less than honest in their dealings with the bank.
Sometimes its just a matter of having a chat with someone to reorganise or sell parts of their portfolio , if they are in a very high risk category.

 

People forget about their HECS debt all the time. It comes out of their salary for years, they just don't think about it. If specifically asked, they'll remember, but otherwise most people won't bring it up.

They usually remember credit cards, but store cards and cards with an interest free are often overlooked, especially if they're not using them.

 

Having CCR (comprehensive credit reporting) in place may theoretically help some of this. Agree, its not too unusual to have some items missing, usually those that aren't used regularly.

 

Is there any confirmation that the letter even exists? I mean primary evidence, not hearsay.

 

None it seems.

 

My accountant's contact in Westpac says it's fake. Seems a very big screw up by AFR to publish without checking facts...but these type of stories do well.
Would Westpac have grounds to claim defamation or libel?

 

Its very unusual for a bank to that. Its a HOAX

 

No libel laws in Australia. Defaming a listed company is VERY hard

 

We're probably better off for it

 

Couldn’t agree more.