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A “hand-up” through a living nightmare

3 February 2014

Moneycare’s Marika Goddard with Margaret.(Photo courtesy of Marika Goddard)

For most of her life Margaret dabbled in politics, played state polocrosse, worked in banking, and practiced as a chiropractor. She never imagined one day she would fear becoming homeless on the streets. But in her mid 70s, that is exactly the situation she faced.

Now 80 and living alone with no immediate family remaining, Margaret came to Tamworth-based Moneycare Northern NSW for help over a year ago.

Margaret’s nightmare began five years ago, after a broker organised a business loan for Margaret that she simply could not maintain. Margaret accepts she should never have taken out the loan. But at the same time, Moneycare financial counsellor Marika Goddard says it is “unconscionable” that someone would offer Margaret a loan in her circumstances and at her age.

Already struggling with repayments, a series of disasters then left Margaret reeling.

She put her home on the market in November 2008 and within weeks it was inundated with water for the first time in its history after work on a nearby subdivision changed the course of stormwater.

Margaret says what had been a desirable small acreage in the town was suddenly deemed ‘flood prone’ and potential buyers soon fell away. She lost all her belongings to water damage, including the furniture she kept after her parents passed away. She then had a terrible fall in the floodwaters. She suffered a number of fractures, some memory loss and still struggles to walk years later.

Margaret was then was also diagnosed with a squamous cell carcinoma.

In only the beginning of her nightmare, Margaret, who had spent many years helping others including free chiropractic sessions to those in need, continued to fall further and further behind in bills. She reached a point where she did not feel she could afford the hot water to shower every day.

Marika Goddard says: “The lender was trying to take Margaret’s home as she couldn’t pay the many thousands of dollars of the loan and arrears. She had sought help from other organisations without success before coming to us.”

Because of the flood, Marika explains: “Just about every document relating to her problem was lost. This created a mammoth task in obtaining copies of all documentation needed before we could even start to help, then a huge deal of work and correspondence. “Finally, with the help of the Financial Ombudsman’s Service, we were able to prove the loan was unconscionable in the circumstances. Sixty per cent of the debt was cancelled and she is required to pay the remaining, interest free, at a rate affordable to her. It was also determined the bank was not to foreclose on the home. It was a great outcome.”

Margaret is still trying to sell her house and still seeking support from Marika as her situation has markedly improved. But not all her struggles are over.

Margaret says: “I have been into the depths of depression. I think I truly might have been driven to suicide because the degree of depression was so deep and that ability to see the way forward without a hand-up was impossible. I’d sunk so low!

“What Marika (and the Salvos) has done has been wonderful. I’ll be eternally grateful.”

Faye Michelson and Naomi Singlehurst

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