My father was killed in a workplace accident in 2015.
It was horrific.
My dad was the sole income earner and lived in our family home with my mother.
After my father passed away, my sister, brother-in-law and I went to stay with my mum.
We went to comfort each other and be there for our mum, who now felt like she was living life alone.
As we were all at the house trying to help, I tried to make myself useful by sorting out my parents’ financial affairs. I contacted the relevant people to let them know our circumstances and ask what needed to be done.
When I came across my parents' bank statements, I was shocked to see the amount they owed.
I contacted the bank to try to get some clarity but they were no help at all.
I eventually was able to speak with a broker, who informed me that my mum and dad had five business loans amounting to $1 million.
When I spoke to my mum about the loans, she was even more shocked than I was, questioning whether it was true.
It was. My mother had five bank loans and had no idea.
When looking at the statements, we found she had signed each loan. When I spoke to my mum about it, she said she recalled signing forms but thought they were for refinancing.
Although my mum had signed the loans, she had never had a conversation with the bank or a broker. They had never contacted her to discuss the details of the loans, which were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Looking through the loans, I was scratching my head, wondering how they were ever approved.
It was difficult to get any answers. Contacting the bank was difficult. No one was offering to help and I had to Google what to do.
Eventually, I found out we could apply for a hardship agreement. This would enable us to have time to work out how to pay these loans as my mum hadn’t worked for over 20 years.
The hardship agreement was eventually granted for four months, meaning no repayments were required for that period. However, the interest would still be accrued at the rate it was set. My mother's debts were getting bigger by the week.
When I took a closer look at my parent's finances, I was at a loss and couldn’t understand how this happened.
I eventually contacted the financial ombudsman (now the Australian Financial Complaints Authority), who examined the loans.
This took a long time. All the while, my mum’s mental health was slowly deteriorating as she struggled to grapple with the uncertainty of her future.
Of the five loans, the ombudsman found, one was irresponsibly lent.
We had to sell mum’s house for her to pay back the four loans and agree on what to do for the fifth.
The toll this process took on our family was extremely brutal. It felt cruel.
My mum ended up having to be placed in a rehabilitation centre because she was not able to cope with losing her husband and her home.
She had lost all financial and personal independence.
She now lives with my sisters.
What debt can do to people is very damaging.
Please make sure you are very aware of what is going on with your finances as the people giving out the money will not bother with that - they just want profit.
