PORT HEDLAND REAL ESTATE MANAGER FACES NIGHTMARE RETIREMENT

“This visit was very aggressive, unfortunately, I blacked out during that first introduction to a situation we have never faced, and my partner had a breakdown in the office.” Peter Dunning

 A long running dispute over the fine print has landed former Ray White manager Peter Dunning into a retirement nightmare. 

 A Port Hedland local who has been working and living in the area for 30 years, will lose his properties and business and be without work or a retirement plan at the age of 71.

His bleak future comes after several years since he was advised to refinance the business by an independent broker. 

 Mr Dunning said the broker promised he could assist in the refinance of all current facilities, and get a better deal, but he said,  ‘everything we had was maxed out’.

Ngaarda Media has sighted the application signed by Mr Dunning and his former partner Dianne Lovell. 

It contains misleading and incorrect information and also lacks any date of when the document was signed.

 Ngaarda Media has contacted the broker but received no response. 

 Mr Dunning has been a loyal customer with Bankwest for 53 years. The bank gave him until May 27 this year to come to an agreement. 

 “Despite this assurance in writing they rocked up at the office with an order and shut us down on May 26th,” he told Ngaarda Media.

  “This visit was very aggressive, unfortunately, I blacked out during that first introduction to a situation we have never faced, and my partner had a breakdown in the office . We have never experienced this type of thing in our lives, and nothing prepares you for this.”

 Bankwest is currently selling the Ray White business in South Hedland after destroying any value the business had, however, no one will tell Mr Dunning who the business was sold to recently.

 “They are selling our business and livelihood as quickly as they can as a fire sale and have put us on notice.  We will be on the street unless the bank gets every cent in costs and penalties,” he said. 

 Mr Dunning has reached out to a broking advocate in Sydney to help him try and seek a solution and an explanation from the bank. 

 Melissa Cuturich has raised awareness with the banks over many years in relation to issues and concerns about their external complaint process and internal mismanagement.

 Ms Cuturich believes Mr Dunning was left in a vulnerable position and that the bank should have been able to predict that he was overextended in his indebtedness and restricted in his ability to repay or manage the debt.

 Mr Dunning believes when the downturn hit Port Hedland in 2015, he lost 70 per cent of his business and property holdings and did all he could do to survive by using personal funds from an inheritance to pay down debt.

 Mr Dunnins biggest concern is that the broker who promised to refinance and rebrand his business had taken out a loan with the ANZ while knowing there was an existing loan with Commonwealth Bank

 This meant Mr Dunning was paying for two loans. CBA had an interest in the property but did not register their mortgage on that property.

 Mr Dunnings broker then obtained a loan from an unsuspecting ANZ Bank.  The ANZ funds went directly into the business to keep the doors open and ensure vendors and tenants were not affected by the downturn. 

 Mr Dunning now has two loans secured on the one property. 

 Mr Dunning received a written apology from Bankwest who also stood outside the office of Mr Dunning and told him that the bank wanted to send him bankrupt.

 Bankewst sent Mr Dunning a written apology about wanting to send him bankrupt.

 A Bankwest spokesperson said in a written response to Ngaarda Mediathey could not comment on individual customer cases due to privacy restrictions. 

 “However, we can say that in all dispute cases, we work closely with customers on an individual basis on matters relating to their financial circumstances and we encourage them to seek independent adjudication from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority if they are not satisfied with our conclusions.

 We are then guided by the determinations of AFCA as to any remediation actions we must take to resolve a case.”

 Sydney Advocate and Broker Melissa Cuturich says we should always get a second opinion and not just sign and we will share the second part of this article with you next week.