One Man's Solution to Tight Credit

Turned down for an $80,000 mortgage on a home worth $385,000, a New Zealand man decided that the bank he had used for 25 years was no longer the place to keep his money.

So he made a withdrawal of his account -- $190,000 in $20 bills!

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."

This is the kind of fighting spirit I'd like to see in more Americans. Quit putting up with institutions that screw you over. Bigger is not necessarily better. Maybe we need to start doing business with smaller firms that appreciate us.

His message to Westpac: "If you don't support the community, the community won't support you."

The bank, of course, insists that it did nothing for which it should apologize. There's a lot of that going around these days.