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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