Help Is On The Way - But Not For Them
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday December 9, 1993
David and Belinda Bailey, of Rosemeadow, who were only 19 and 18 when their HomeFund loan was approved four years ago, don't think the State Government's HomeFund rescue package will rescue them.
Mr Gilbert Ings, 39, of Blacktown, doesn't think it will help him, his wife and seven children to keep their home either.
Under the Government's HomeFund restructuring, Mr Bailey thinks his young family will be thrown out of their Rosemeadow home in either 15 months or five years. The Baileys, who have two children under three, have paid back $68,000 on a loan of $92,000 and now owe $112,000. But their house is worth only$102,000.
"We're just wondering what will happen to the $68,000. Will the Government give it back? I don't think so," Mr Bailey said yesterday.
If they had never heard of HomeFund they would have paid rent and had$30,000 for a deposit in a home, he said.
They were served with an eviction notice three months ago, but are not leaving without a fight. Their lawyer has told them they have a good case for compensation, and they hope to get legal aid.
Mr Michael Bass, 1 67, and his wife Evelyn, 60, were granted a $100,000 HomeFund loan five years ago on a $2,000 deposit. Now they owe about $110,000 on the Heckenberg house they had rented from the Housing Commission since 1965.
Because they can't keep working for too many more years, and on a pension will not be able to afford a normal commercial loan, Mr Bass will probably lose his home when he turns 72.
Mr and Mrs Bass took the loan because it cost less than they were paying in rent and they thought they would be able to leave something to their daughter
Mr Bass thinks the rescue package holds little for him: "They don't seem to have any consideration for the people ... I think they're just grasping at straws." He doesn't know what to do.
Mr Ings is in a quandary. He believes he will fall into the category of borrowers who can refinance, or stay in HomeFund.
"What am I supposed to do?" he said. "Every 12 months my HomeFund repayments go up by 6 per cent, but my personal income hasn't gone up in the last four years.
"At existing bank rates I would be paying much less than I am now, so I would love to refinance, but I can't because my income isn't enough, so no bank will touch me."
After four years, he owes $10,000 more than he borrowed, even though he has repaid $52,000. However, he may be offered Government assistance to repay a normal commercial loan, and given the opportunity to own his own home within 25 years, or end up losing his home within five years.
Betty and Stewart Eyls bought a three-bedroom house in Blackheath in 1988 and sold it in November 1992, just before a repossession order was enforced.
The loan was "impossible from the start", according to Mrs Eyls, 57 - "but we weren't allowed to see that".
"What they're offering at the moment is not going to help anybody," she said.
Mrs Eyls and her husband are now renting a property on the Central Coast, and don't think they will ever be able to buy another home unless they receive compensation.
© 1993 Sydney Morning Herald