Bank Refuses $80K loan; Annoyed Man Withdraws $190K From Bank!

It’s a certified fact of life that due to the requirements for lending by banks, the only people who are qualified to get loans are those who don’t actually need them. If you have the collateral, you really don’t need the loan – but if you need the loan, you probably don’t have the collateral.

Well, this guy had the collateral and the bank still said “No.” Shows you how stupid some MBA’s can be:

Defiant artist Roger Griffiths today made a stand against Westpac (Bank) by withdrawing his $190,000 savings in $20 notes. Mr Griffiths, a loyal Westpac customer for 25 years, decided to withdraw his money after the bank rejected his application for an $80,000 mortgage. “It’s about time normal people took a stand.”

He said the bank turned down his application because he did not have a regular income as an artist. However, he was a successful artist, exhibiting his paintings at the World of Wearable Art complex, in Christchurch and New York, he said.

He wanted to buy a $385,000 property in Mapua, had $200,000 in cash and was going to sell his $110,000 campervan.

That more than met the bank’s criteria for a 20 per cent deposit, and the property which included a home and commercial premises would have returned $500 a week, he said.

He was disappointed when his loan application was rejected, but it was Westpac losing $111 million to Lane Walker Rudkin Industries that tipped his decision to withdraw his money.

“They can lose $110 million with LWR but turn down a normal customer who has never missed a loan payment,” he said. “If they don’t have the trust in me after 25 years, there’s a problem for Westpac.”

Having decided to withdraw his money, he then decided to make it hard for the bank by requesting payment in $20 bills.

He said the Nelson branch told him it did not have that amount and he would have to also go to other branches at Stoke, Richmond and Motueka. However, he insisted the bank have the money ready to collect at 9am today. He then took it to the Nelson Building Society, saying he would rather deal with NBS because it was part of the community.

I can’t quite figure out if this is the stupidest bank in the world; or if it’s just symptomatic of the state of banking today:

Mr Griffiths’ protest comes after a series of embarrassments for Westpac. On Tuesday its former Alexandra bank manager admitted defrauding the bank of more than $400,000, and it has been left red-faced over the slip-up that allowed $10 million to be wrongly credited to a Rotorua service station co-owner who had since fled to China.

And here’s the part where we see “the stupid is still in operation” at this silly bank:

Westpac media relations manager Craig Dowling said today that when the bank lent money it required certain information to be provided to enable that lending to be done prudently.  “It’s about providing evidence of an ability to meet regular repayments.”

“We would like to welcome Mr Griffiths back. We just need the confidence regular repayments can be met.

I guess that $200,000 in the bank account doesn’t compare to a regular paycheck from, say, a McDonald’s or something.

~Johnny~