Introducing the blog
I've started a blog as I think it's an easier way to keep the website updated and relevant. Feel free to leave a comment but please try to keep it relevant, on topic and polite (a big ask for those of us who've been damaged by this bank but definitely a must). 3rd September 2011
NAB criminality - how are they getting away with this?
Just received an email from yet another nab victim and have permission to post it here. The email is fairly lengthy but definitely worth reading. It is utterly unbelievable - how can "the powers that be" let this bank keep getting a free pass on the stunts they pull? They once again claimed to be a victim of their own employee - real victims are getting very tired of this refrain! This time though there is police evidence of a mortgage scam and a massive operation involving a bikie gang! Check out this story published in SMH back in March 2011 (in all fairness I must state that nab was not the financial institution in question) - and still Patricia lost in court on Wednesday ... justice, wherefore art thou? (20th August 2011)
New Evan Jones article
I’ve uploaded a new Evan Jones article Illusion
and Reality at the NAB Part II July 2011 which
makes an interesting read. Take the time
to read all of the articles of his published on the For Your Information page
and consider the reality of banking in Australia.
Last night was also the first time I saw the nabs latest
PR campaign – the honesty one. I must
confess I nearly choked that this most dishonest and miserable excuse of a
corporation would dare to run an honesty campaign. I know the campaign says Aussies are honest
but you are meant to infer from this that nab is honest. Believe me, they wouldn’t know honesty,
integrity, ethics and morality if any one of those attributes came up and bit
them on their proverbial!
I guess one of the reasons that they keep getting away with this is because on the rare occasion that they have to settle with one of their victims they get a confidentiality clause and the victims can no longer talk about what happened. At a party recently I was 'told off' by one of the guys who works with my husband for telling everybody about what the bank did to us. This man informed me that my husband is a very private person and would not want everybody knowing what happened (gee, thanks for the news that my husband is such a quiet, reserved and private man - honestly after 30+ years with him I really hadn't noticed). My response to this? "and that is exactly how the bank gets away with this - because we are all made to feel too stupid for words and are meant to hide away in shame that we had everything stolen from us". My husband now understands why I keep telling people and he's ok with it.
All I need now is a few whistlblowers to come forward so that all of us have more ammunition to fight this bank in court. So if you're a manager (past or present) with this bank or you know the how/why of this banks sleazy side of operations - let me know and I will pass the information onto everybody who needs to know. Perhaps you have the integrity to believe that the employment contract you signed with this bank should be honoured but think about this; this bank takes it's customers to court even though it was the bank's mistakes that led to the financial difficulties of it's customers. Guess something else to remember is that the bank doesn't show the same loyalty to it's employees but it's your call. (1/08/11)
Full Recourse Loans
In Australia the law on lending isn't the same as that of the USA. In the States if you get in default on your mortgage you have the option of handing in the keys and walking away. I'm not sure how other countries handle this issue. The following quote I found in Money Morning - an online investment newsletter explains the situation in Australia so much better than I could put it.
Who
benefits from recourse loans?
Next up was Amanda Lynch from the Real Estate Institute of Australia
(REIA). As we say, we heard exactly what we expected:
“Housing is the engine room.”
“The fundamentals are entirely different in the Australian housing
market.”
“The highest income earners are the one’s carrying most of the debt.”
“[Australian] lenders have full recourse loans.”
That last one always amuses us.
The bulls always say it as though full recourse loans are good for the
borrower. Yeah, great. If you’re conned into taking out a stupidly
big home loan on the promise that house prices always go up, what can you do
when you wise up to the fact you’ve been lied to?
If the value has gone down and if Fitch Ratings is right and first-home
buyers are set to default in swathes, there’s not much you can do. Because if you skip town, the bank or the mortgage insurer will chase you down
until they’ve wrung every last cent from you and your family…
Three cheers for full recourse loans – if you’re a banker that is.
Just thought you'd like to know that I am angry for many reasons about how this bank has acted and this is just one of them. I've also uploaded a new article by Dr Evan Jones titled The NAB and Corporate Culture 2005 which you should check out. (23/06/2011)
Is there a more sinister reason behind the NAB computer 'glitch'?
Just thinking that I have a new conspiracy theory on why the
NAB had their computer glitch – what if it was their electronic way of
shredding the evidence? “OOPS sorry Your
Honour, but we can’t seem to find that file, must have been deleted by that
corrupted file we uploaded; bad, bad IT boys.”
I’m thinking specifically the eCredit forms and such which show
timelines of loan applications and specifically how the employee represented
the customers’ financial and personal situation (remembering that in our case
the employee clearly lied). What if
other people had 2nd applications submitted without their
knowledge*? Again, in our case the banks
lawyer said at a meeting that there were 2 loan applications and the second one
was still a ‘tight lend’ (my even knowing that term confirms he said it) yet at
Summary Judgement he said it was laughable that we would make such a claim
(obviously my lawyer told him we hadn’t put in a 2nd
application). A purging of certain files
would remove the evidence permanently.
Now you might be thinking why would I believe the NAB would be capable
of such outrageous behaviour – they took me to court remember, they took
everything we had remember, they claimed they were a victim of their own
employee, remember? Anyway, their ‘glitch’
would make the perfect cover if you think about it. (4/12/10)
*FYI; when I compared the date and time stamps on the eCredit form with the faxed loan approval letter; I realised that the bank took a whopping whole hour to approve the loan - in one hour they managed to check all the information and decide that this was a good idea; I am so comforted by the fact that they did their due diligence so, well, diligently. Then again, perhaps they can be forgiven; after all, the eCredit form was completed at 2.28.09 pm on Friday 5th May 2006 (WA time - making it 4.28.09 pm VIC time - remembering the loan had to be approved by Melbourne as it was so large) and the guys in charge of approving it had probably had a long week and just wanted to clear the inbox quickly so they could enjoy their week-end unencumbered by a job left undone. The faxed letter telling me the loan had been approved has been timestamped 15.46, Friday 5th May 2006. But again, I could just be being cynical about that one and there is no basis to make that suggestion.
What's the damage to my life really worth?
The National Australia Bank knowingly and callously
destroyed my life; they claimed they were a victim of their employee in court
so they admitted that the employees’ actions were wrong. They still proceeded to abuse the legal
system for their own gain. I have been
advised to sue the bank for damages – I’m doing that. But here’s the bit that most people probably
don’t know and I raise it here just to let everybody know. If I were to make a claim as a victim of
sexual harassment I could possibly get about $800k in compensation for the
negative impact this has had on my life (there have been a number of cases
where this has been about the figure paid out).
Punitive damages exist so that the corporation responsible for their
employees conduct actually does something to address the issue and stop the
problem from recurring. Now NAB; which
has totally, absolutely destroyed my life (having lost my home, community,
network of friends/acquaintances, my lifestyle, my ability to trust, etc etc) will
be sued for actual and punitive damages.
For all those that think I have visions of walking away with a Lotto
Jackpot type figure for the massive damage this bank has done to my life here’s
a newsbreak. The average amount of
punitive damages the bank may have to pay me is ..... $10,000.00; now I don’t
know about you, but for a corporation stating their yearly profits in the
billions the princely amount of $10k just doesn’t sound like much of a
disincentive to me. So why should they
stop their immoral practices? It’s not
comforting to know that my life is worth so little; it might have been a little
life but it was mine. Just thought you’d
all like to know. (30/11/2010)
NAB payday 'glitch'
For the last few days there's been lots of discussion in various forums about the NABs computer glitch which affected all of their customer accounts; from complaints about how shabby it was of the bank to advise customers to borrow money from family to tide them over the week-end to conjecture over what caused it. Was it a virus was the first question. NABs spokesman was quoted as saying that it was not human error (so, the program corrupted itself?) although another article stated that it was a simple case of human error. After some digging (ok surfing lol) I found a few news articles going back a couple of years which may be relevant NAB floats denial. But I must confess my favourite theory is that it was a disgruntled employee who was a tad miffed that NAB has decided to outsource IT to IBM (I heard India mentioned but don't know this for sure). Sure hope IT guys start getting treated with some respect - who knows how much damage they might decide to inflict? Anyway, back to NAB: I did not know that God hears my prayers let alone that he would answer them but I've prayed for a long time that NAB gets its just deserts ( bankslayer) then after watching The Bank (brilliant movie) I did remember to ask for a computer problem to bring the activities of the NAB into the news. There have been lots of computer glitches which have affected banks in recent weeks - but none have lasted this long or affected so many people - so pardon me for hanging onto my happy bubble and believing in answered prayers :D (I haven't checked yet but I guess the glitch didn't make my alleged debt to NAB disappear, funny that) (29/11/10)
On turning corners
I've spent the week going through all the paperwork to do with the loan from hell and getting it all ready to go off to the lawyer. I'm not sure if I feel better because I'm finally getting ready to fight the bank or that I've finally wrapped my head around what's happened. It was certainly embarrassing to re-read some of the emails I wrote (worse I sent them ... sigh) but considering the worst I did while having a rowdy nervous breakdown was send a couple of embarrassing and totally illogical emails ... well, I hope people will forgive me :)
Finding out just how the bank manipulated me was a bit of an eye opener though. (26/11/10)
Finally some good news .... yaaayyyy
I've got the Today Tonight segment documenting this case which aired in WA last week and will be uploading that to my YouTube channel shortly. I'll have a go at embedding it here :)
Just received this link to newspaper coverage on the story. (Daily Telegraph Story)
Here I go again ..... sigh
I received an email this week-end about another family going through this, Matt & Janet Thompsons story has really shown me that it will be a long, long time before I will even start my own recovery. All I can do is hope that they are getting the best possible advice. There are small correlations between their story and ours - they might even have had the same bank manager who got our loan approved - still waiting to hear on that (but I'm kinda guessing that they are a tad too busy to look into whether there is anything in that). (21/09/10)
I haven't had more updates on this story but it appears that there was a fair bit of unconscionable behaviour on the banks part. Since the Thompsons are fighting this their cautious approach is understandable; although I've come to understand that it doesn't matter if WE play by the rules, the NAB certainly doesn't. (20/10/10)
My my my, time even flies when you're NOT having fun
I've spent a bit of time updating the website, many thanks to Dr Evan Jones for letting me publish his efforts in exposing the National Australia bank.
Since my last update I have finally been brave and read through the mountain of documents from our case ... what I have discovered has just made me angrier - who knew that was possible? The bank did know that we could not afford this loan; it says so in black and white in the documents they supplied to the court. No wonder the judge told us to sue them.
I haven't listened to my youtube videos since I first recorded them but they were recorded before I read all the documents and might have to do be updated - what the bank knew and did is absolutely unbelievable. The fact remains that under the Trades Practices Act and the Consumer Credit Code no financial institution is allowed to lend money to people who cannot afford to repay the loan - it doesn't say but if you can get away with it go for it. It shouldn't be this hard to get justice. (12/08/10)
Saying my Daily Prayer
It's now August and I'm still saying this prayer every morning & every night - check it out & if you want to see the NAB pay for the crappy things it's done to people then join me - download it, subscribe to my youtube channel, like the video, maybe someone will hear this prayer in the corridors of power & finally do something about them. (I suspect not but you have to admire my happy bubble right?) My Prayer
If you're in the mood for something a bit rude; ok, sometimes the stress gets to me really badly & then I do really silly things like this video. I imagined what the meeting between the bank and the banks lawyer might have been like - no doubt this isn't it but what the hey. So the language would make a sailor blush - you have been warned, but having spoken with a few bankers and way too many lawyers the language is about right .... (I could be wrong, don't sue me) banker meets with lawyer
What's happening now?
I have decided to upload a short video on You Tube to let everyone know my story, how unbelievable this all is and raise a number of issues which I feel we, as a nation, need to discuss. I understand that there are some who think I've done the video to try to embarrass the National Australia Bank into paying me off to keep quiet about their appalling business practices. Guess what? That's not what it's about. It is TOO LATE for me, the bank cannot give me back the farm - they've sold it, the bank cannot give me back my life - they have annihilated it, I do not want to speak to anyone from the bank about this case. The only thing I wanted from the bank was the right to stay in my home - that is no longer an option, that dream is dead.
I do however, want to talk to the Government about changing the way the banks can abuse the legal system to harm Australian citizens and steal their homes as well as cost them their life savings.
 Follow me on You Tube, I will be making much shorter videos to highlight the different issues I have raised in this one.
I think it is about time we used a bit of people power to tell the tyrants who run the banks that enough is enough. Self-regulation is a joke, the legal system is being abused and no-one is watching. We all need to start watching and doing something about it. I've added a new section for others to have their stories heard, if you or someone you know has been a victim of the nab, please let me publish your story - united we stand, divided we fall :)
|
What's new in court? |
|
|
March 1st
Sorry I didn't get around to updating this on the 10th but things have been hectic since we lost the appeal in court. I can't believe it, we didn't lose because we didn't have a case - we get to sue the bank for damages; we lost because we couldn't prove damages. WTF????? We lost 30 years worth of work, in court one of the judges made it sound like all we lost was a property that we had borrowed money from the nab to buy and we couldn't meet repayments. No sir, we purchased our original farm property 17 years ago, thank you very much (and we bought it from the sale of our properties in Kalgoorlie and Kambalda), the National Australia Bank stole our property and I don't care what the court says - I can prove it.
This was the perfect case of predatory lending and the bank should have been held accountable for its actions - but of-course everybody thinks we can't touch the banks, they sit firmly above the law, never mind that they are thieves. I'm thinking about my next move, but this is not going to end until the bank is held accountable.
The new tshirt designs on the left say it all. I'd love you all to buy one (or a bag or shirt) to show that you too are sick to death of the banks getting away with daylight robbery go to http://www.cafepress.com.au/omalicious
And yes, I will keep this website going, we need to change the system so that the system protects us from them. What good is a law if the banks know they will continue to get away with it? We need to change this and my big question for today - if not now, when? When exactly will be the right time to make banks pay for their stuff ups and greed? When will decent Aussies get a look in without having to resort to suing banks for damages when all that does is line the lawyers pockets and never really rights the wrongs? My lifestyle is gone - I've been forced to become a city slicker and I'm not happy about it - watch this space. |
|
|
10th February 2010
6.56am
Not sure why the bank is so positive that it will win in court today but I do know that they have finally advertised the other farm for sale.
Is it too late to sell my soul to the devil to get me out of this? Oh, that's right, that's what I did when I signed up for the loan from hell with the National Australia Bank. |
 |
Yippeeeee, granted stay and have appeal date
We went back to court on December 16th and the judge handed down his ruling on our application for a stay of execution to stop the bank from taking our farm (we had already handed over one property in September). We were granted our stay of execution meaning we didn't have to move just yet (we have been living out of boxes since early September because we did what we had to and packed up the house when it looked like we had to leave straight away). The judge also gave us a date for our appeal hearing - February 10, which is rushing up way too fast for my comfort.
I'm not sure who was more shocked by the decision - me or the banks' lawyer (apologies for the apostrophe being in the wrong spot). I know it didn't sink in until about half an hour later that we would have our appeal heard. What this means is that a judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia has decided that there is enough evidence to prove that we had a defence and questions need to be answered by the National Australia Bank. If we didn't have a reasonable chance of proving our case we would not have been granted an appeal - the courts don't like their time being wasted on frivolous law suits.
December 16,2009 | |
Stuff the banks lawyer said in court |
 |
Why bother with the law when you can make up rubbish about someone?
Although just now there isn't too much in the way of specific stuff here that is more to do with the fact that I need to get this new site online rather than there isn't any. I will put in all the stupid stuff the lawyer said and/or implied in court such as; I lied to the bank to get the loan - to me the bank manager is the bank and I told him our financial situation - all of it, no lies and he used it to get the loan approved - I don't know how he did it, I haven't seen the original documents, I do know there were 2 applications lodged and the first one was not approved - but we didn't know it at the time - we found that out last year. There is no way I would have tried a second application. (ok, turning into a rant again, will fix it :) when I've had some sleep and can think again)
If anyone is interested I guess you can get a hold of the court transcripts - I have no intention of publishing anything on here that I cannot back up.
2009-2011 copyright R Cornell
Page last updated 20th August 2011
| | |
|
|
Updates
