BFCSA Blog

14th July 2019   PRIME MINISTER of AUSTRALIA Hon. Scott Morrison MP Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet P O Box 6500  Canberra ACT 2600    Re – Sterling First Group Collapse & ASIC’s Appalling Negligence   Dear Mr Morrison,   My wife and I are victims of the Sterling First Group financial collapse. I am writing this to bring to your attention the dire situation we find ourselves in due to the collapse of the Sterling First Group but more importantly to express our sheer disgust at ASIC’s lack of action in this matter in the knowledge and now evidence that ASIC was aware and concerned about the product Sterling First were selling to vulnerable pensioners like us as early as 2015, but more importantly had commenced an investigation into the Sterling First Life Lease product and kept silent about it.  Sterling First were selling to vulnerable pensioners like us as...

14th July 2019 PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA Hon. Scott Morrison MP.     Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet P.O Box 6500 Canberra.ACT.2600    Dear Mr Morrison THE STERLING GROUP COLLAPSE AND ASIC FIASCO. $36 million compensation. I hope you will care to read this light reading on this subject. Once upon a time there were some ‘old people’ who wanted a home to live happily ever after. They found a company, Sterling New Life, who would give them their wish, if they handed over their life savings, they had worked their lives for. Many spent thousands more on extras like security to be safe in their remaining years with their 30 or 40 year lease. To add to that a lot of tenants invested many more thousands of dollars in the company in what turned out to be fake shares.  The SNL people said the monies were invested in a trust fund,...

PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA. Hon.Scott Morrison MP Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet P O Box 6500 Canberra ACT 2600   Dear Mr Morrison. THE STERLING GROUP COLLAPSE and ASIC FIASCO.  $36 MILLION COMPENSATION.                                              JUSTICE. JUSTICE. JUSTICE. This disaster was initially effecting 101 retirees and 800 investors. The number has grown and landlords are also suffering.  But this is bigger than us. The problems suffered and injustice done, has affected friends and families of victims, and come to the attention of people all over Australia. It is gaining momentum in the fight. You as Prime Minister, leader of the country, should be responsible to bring resolutions. Put an end to this horrific saga that tenants have been unwillingly put into. The case has turned into a legal nightmare for innocent retirees, of which I am one. We never wanted something for nothing, this choice was good for us, with no...

14/7/2019  PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA   Hon. Scott Morrison MP Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet P O Box 6500  Canberra ACT 2600   Dear Mr Morrison, THE STERLING GROUP COLLAPSE and ASIC FIASCO: $36 Million Compensation. I am one of the victims of the Stirling Group collapse. My wife and I have lost our life savings and are looking at losing the roof over our heads. I will get straight to the point. You as Prime Minister of this great country the buck stops with you. ASIC have known about Stirling since 2016 but have said nothing. How can this be swept under the carpet when so many PENSIONERS have lost so much and not a whimper out of ASIC. Back when you were Treasurer you supposedly had monthly meetings with ASIC was Stirling bought up? You now have to deal with an agency that could not fight their way...

Dear Mr. Frydenberg,  STERLING LIFE GROUP COLLAPSE AND CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE BY ASIC  I am writing to you to appeal for your help in recovering the whole of the money stolen from us by the above named criminals.   My husband and I paid a deposit on one of Sterling New life units on 11th November 2016, with the proviso of giving 6 months notice at any time to receive a full refund. We gave 6 months notice on the 20th of July 2017.   Since we sold our home in Tasmania to take on the Sterling New Life unit, we had no money to buy a another house. We rented one of Sterling's properties for $305 a week over a period of 7 months, whilst we tried to obtain a mortgage. My husband is 86 years old, and I am 83 so this seemed impossible.  Eventually in May 2018 we obtained a mortgage by...

13th July 2019  The Hon Scott Morrison MP Prime Minister Parliament House, CANBERRA ACT 2600   Sterling New Life Collapse  Dear Prime Minister  As you are aware in 10th June 2019 our whole world was tipped upside down sideways etc while ASIC sat on their hands (ass) and has done nothing.  February 2017 we signed and gave our life savings and I mean life savings $125,000 plus the $20,000 on upgrades with receipts, nothing was withheld and we secured a 40 year lease with a secure roof over our head. Now nothing and no prospect of ever making up this money ever again. My 74 year old husband has had to return to work and due to health issues I am unable to work. Why was this allowed to happen and continue?  It has come to my attention that ASIC reports monthly to the Federal Treasurer and you who was Treasurer at...

13 July 2019 The Hon Scott Morrison MP Prime Minister Parliament House CANBERRA ACT 2600   Sterling New Life Collapse Dear Prime Minister My wife and I invested most of our life savings in a 40-year lease worth $254,000 through a Silverlink Investment Plan with Sterling New Life which on June 10th went into receivership.  Little did we know that Sterling Corporate Services operations had been under ASIC investigation for some time. Had we known this we would not have proceeded. Now we have  lost the lot, our retirement accommodation is precarious,  and we have little left to see us through our final years. From conversations, consultation and reports, it has become apparent that ASIC really dropped the ball in terms of consumer protection. There were so many red flags over preceding years warning against this type of scheme and the history of the directors involved. Due diligence exercised by ourselves and many others proved...

Dear Mr Hastie,  In June this year I wrote to you advising of the plight of the victims of the Sterling Group collapse. Your office replied on the 24th June stating “The Government does not usually intervene in what is an essentially a business related transaction once it is under legal consideration”.   Slight issue here The legal consideration is the ASIC investigation. With all the evidence that has come to light in the past few weeks it is obvious that corrupt ASIC is not part of the solution, they are the major part of the problem.  On behalf of myself and the other victims I now request you to take an active leadership role in seeking redress and justice for the victims of this scam and not hide behind the fact that ASIC are continuing their “investigations”. Forget the legalities this is a moral crisis that has had a devastating effect...

14 July 2019 The Hon Scott Morrison MP Prime Minister Parliament House CANBERRA ACT 2600 Sterling New Life Collapse   Dear Mr Morrison, By now you should be aware of the financial and emotional devastation caused to so many vulnerable elderly Australians by the collapse of the Sterling First group of companies. The plight of these victims is the result of the criminal intentions of a group of “business people” who were well known to ASIC because of their past shady dealings. ASIC had been warned that corporate malfeasance was taking place by these people in 2015 but did nothing to protect existing and potential victims. ASIC is an arm of the Australian Treasury. You were Treasurer during most of the time this malfeasance was occurring and as such had administrative oversight over ASIC’s actions and inactions and hence bear ultimate responsibility for the events that occurred. You, as Prime Minister,...

13th July 2019.   PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA Hon.Scott Morrison MP Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet PO Box 6500 Canberra ACT 2600   Dear Mr Morrison,   THE STIRLING GROUP COLLAPSE And ASIC FIASCO:   I’m sure by now that you are aware of our dire situation regarding the complete collapse of Stirling of which over 100 aged pensioners have lost our complete life savings after working for over 50 years paying tax for the country that we love and cherish only to be scavenged by Ponzi dealers of which your so called department ASIC have been aware of for over 8 years at least and avoided doing anything about. Please tell me why are we as a nation paying them 450. Million dollars a year for not doing their job and policing these scum bags. ASIC called me and many others to see how we were going with Sterling,when...

12th July 2019   PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA Hon. Scott Morrison MP Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet P O Box 6500 Canberra ACT 2600   Dear Prime Minister Morrison, THE STERLING GROUP COLLAPSE and ASIC FIASCO:  $36 Million Compensation Elderly Residents have again been tricked into selling their homes and paying $300,000 up front to Sterling Group for a forty-year rental style lease. Stressed people are currently facing immediate eviction and being threatened by heavily conflicted property managers. The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (“ASIC”) is totally responsible for this  unacceptable situation. Landlords, who signed up to buy the property because of the forty-year leases, are left with mortgages averaging $400,000 that can no longer be serviced by the Tenants and yet the Tenants are in fear of eviction and being menaced constantly by the companies that ASIC permitted to fester in the corporate sector.  Properties have been consistently over...

OUR STORY Dear Mr Frydenberg We first became aware of the Sterling Group mid July 2017. A friend bought into one and we were quite impressed with the presentation That was shown to us. We put our house on the market and paid a small holding fee on a unit. Someone came and paid cash,  so we were advised by the rep to drop the price on our house. We were shown a property which we liked. The rep told us that they would not be doing these units any more because of a couple of women were causing problems and they had gone to ASIC.   We were offered an Ezy Move contract to move out of our House , leave it empty. We still had a mortgage.  We were then paying rent as well............. Our house took longer to sell than we thought. More stress. We needed to move as my husband...

Mr Frydenberg, Let me tell you of our situation. I am a 69 year old pensioner and had to retire early and give up my job through ill health. Reason being I had a massive heart attack, plus chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. My wife had to become my carer. During this period of time she had a Brain Tumour. We thought if that’s the worst that can happen so be it.  We are victims of an utterly odious and heinous crime through ASICs lack of due diligence. We brought our home through Sterling New Life and we had people look at the offering. They said it seemed a good idea. We said to Sterling to reserve our block subject to sale of our home. We sold and took up Sterling’s offer of a 40 year life long lease. We paid $197,000 up front. We never once heard anything about them being...

Chairman of the Board  Ms Catherine Livingstone and Board Members Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ground Floor, Tower 1. 201 Sussex Street Sydney NSW 2000   Dear Madam Chair   CBA CONSUMER COMPLAINT HANDLING NOT IN-KEEPING WITH BEST PRACTICE   Our consumer group has been supporting victims of bank driven mortgage fraud for over a decade. Our members come from every state in Australia.  The complaints we receive as a support group are mostly with the Major Banks and predominantly relate to Mortgage Fraud and unaffordable interest only lending.   My experience in such matters regarding fair and responsible settlements with banking complaints date back to 1996.    As the head of BFCSA (Inc) I have been compelled to write to you as Chairman, and the members of the CBA Board, to specifically alert each one of you to the difficulties our members face when dealing with CBA complaint handling services.      The main issues are...

Mr Sukkar PO Box6022 House of Representatives Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Sterling New Life Investments   Dear Mr Suukar As the person in charge of ASIC you would be aware of the disaster in Western Australia caused by the Sterling Life collapse. This has caused great stress and anxiety for the older people involved. This has happened at a stage in their life where they should be enjoying themselves. We are two of those people who have had their money stolen by immoral peopled who have no decency or honesty in their business dealings. This problem has been caused by ASIC not using due diligence in their investigations into this company.We invested in Sterling Life on the 8th May 2017 when they had already come to the notice of ASIC. We had phone calls and emails at the beginning of July 2018 from Michael Darch at Asic enquiring how we...

Mr Christian Porter 3/28 Main Street Ellenbrook WA 6069 Sterling New Life Dear Sir I am sure that the amount of legislation paperwork, requests and problems that pass over your desk are practically insurmountable. And I am sorry to say here is another problem that my wife and I as members of your electorate have.  We sold our house back in 2016 and invested in a well- advertised scheme where we moved into a rental property with promise of the interest from our investment would pay our rent .It failed and we now have lost all our investment and we are obliged to pay our rent out of our pension which leaves us little to live on.  My complaint to you is that the company we invested in was Sterling New life and we understand that as far back as 2014 WA Consumer Affairs was not happy with the structure and...

  Mr James Shipton CHAIRMAN OF ASIC   We sold our house back in 2016 and invested in a well- advertised scheme where we moved into a leased property with promise of the interest from our investment  paying our rent .It failed and we now have lost all our investment and we are obliged to pay our rent out of our pension which leaves us little to live on.  My complaint to you is that the company we invested in was Sterling New life and we understand that as far back as 2014 WA Consumer Affairs was not happy with the structure and advised ASIC of the probable problems. It appears that ASIC did nothing to 1. Advise the people of a probable situation 2. Investigate the scheme 3. Bring the directors to task by asking for their business plan.  In our opinion ASIC has failed in their charter to investigate...

30th June 2019   I  am, one of the Tenants who has been financially ruined by Sterling New Life collapsing.   I am 76 years old and have struggled most of my life with finances. and in 2016 when l was introduced into SLN or should l say taken in and lied to. I thought at last my worries were over, my rent is going to be paid for the next 40 years yippee, l could now sit back and enjoy my life with no more concerns and would be able to manage on my pension.   But I was so wrong and now find myself in a worse position, because all my money went to SNL, and now l  found out that ASIC knew of SNL and that it would most likely fail back in 2015 but did nothing about it no warning nothing you just let SNL carry on....

3rd July 2019 Hon. Josh Frydenberg PO Box 6022  House of Representatives: Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600   Dear Mr Frydenberg  As you are aware in 10th June 2019 our whole world was tipped upside down sideways etc while ASIC sat on their hands (ass) and has done nothing.   February 2017 we signed and gave our life savings and I mean life savings $125,000 plus the $20,000 on upgrades, nothing was withheld and we secured a 40 year lease with a secure roof over our head. Now nothing and no prospect of ever making up this money ever again. My 74 year old husband has had to return to work and due to health issues I am unable to work. Why was this allowed to happen and continue?  It has come to my attention that ASIC reports monthly to the Federal Treasurer and raises matters that it is investigating. Were the...

2nd July 2019 Dear Mr Shipton Re: The collapse of the Sterling Life Group I am writing on behalf of my mother, Ann Shepherd, who is one of the pensioners caught up in the collapse of Sterling Life Group. My mother has lost $244,000 of her life savings through the irresponsible and deceitful actions of this company. My mother is a 79 year old self-funded retiree who immigrated with my father to Australia 15 years ago to join their children and call it their home for the rest of their life.  Through no fault of their own, they had already lost a large amount of their self-funded superannuation money in the 2008 GFC. After the death of my father in 2015, and due to her ageing years, my mother had to make the decision to downsize, releasing capital from her family home which she then invested with Sterling New Life in...