Thursday 31 October 2013

One person refusing to cop it sweet


Perhaps the most infuriating aspect of having insanely dysfunctional interactions with the financial services industry, as I have had recently when trying to sell a property, are the platitudes that come from those who are witnessing the steam coming out of your ears.

“This happens all the time”
“Settlements are always delayed by the banks”
“Mortgage brokers are notorious for stuffing things up”
“Everyone’s doing everything they can”
“If it’s meant to happen it will happen”
And the absolute worst of all:
“Don’t stress or get angry about it because there is nothing you can do”

So it appears that the status quo is that the largest bank in Australia, which in the last financial made record profits of over 7.6 billion dollars, and their partners, the mortgage brokers who get a slice of the action, are frequently unable to organise the paperwork necessary for the sale or purchase of a home within the time frames set by common law.  The frightening thing is that this status quo is accepted by the public because “that’s just the way it is” and “there is nothing you can do about it”. Sorry, but there is something seriously wrong with this picture. The banks’ and the brokers’ inability to carry out basic and common functions in a timely manner, for which they are remunerated very well, is unacceptable. The public’s general acceptance of this as usual and unfixable is disturbing.

Australia has just been ranked as the richest nation in the world. This is primarily due to the inflated value of houses we live in. So the banks and mortgage brokers are doing quite nicely because of this and it comes as no surprise that the extra wealth that Australia has gained has gone to the already affluent. That’s the wealthy minority who definitely do not want the government in any way to step in and regulate the seemingly unassailable right for the rich to get richer. Yes the bullshit that Australia is an egalitarian nation is becoming an even greater lie. It might also come as no surprise that numerous studies are showing in general that the richer a person becomes the more selfish, less empathetic and less generous they become. So let’s just take stock of this:
        Australia is the wealthiest nation in the world
        This is primarily due to the inflated cost of housing
        The distribution of wealth continues to flow upwards to the already affluent
        The wealthy invest in property, with the sponsorship of the government through tax breaks, which further inflates the cost of a house boosting income for banks and mortgage brokers
        Average workers are paying an increasingly larger portion of their income in either rent or mortgage repayments for a roof over their heads
        Banks and mortgage brokers continue to fail to complete paperwork in time for settlements of real estate transactions
        The costs of such tardiness are born by purchasers and sellers of property while banks and brokers are not accountable for failing to provide standards of service which they themselves agree to
        The customers of these services are ignored and even treated with contempt when they request services to be delivered
        And for as long as the majority of us believe that “there is nothing that can be done about it, because that’s just the way it is”, that is exactly how it will stay


The only power you have is to no longer patronise these fat, incompetent and inconsiderate institutions and to move all you accounts and financial dealings to your local community based credit union.

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