Perhaps fancying herself to be a modern-day alchemist who could turn lead into gold, a 71-year-old woman in Perth on a nurse's salary loaded herself up with more than $3 million in loans from half a dozen lenders and at one point 'owned' fourteen investment properties. Was she self-medicating?
It all seemed possible during WA's mining boom years. But then the downturn came and her properties became harder to rent but the banks still want to get paid. She now sees how unrealistic her plans were but says, "Oh, absolutely, but I relied upon the banks to work this out".
She's taken her case to the Financial Ombudsman claiming the loans were unaffordable in the first place. It's a great business model: go for broke and when things don't work out, play the victim. Why didn't I think of it?
