Lack of loan information irks

A New Zealand businesswoman is upset she’s being charged 26.5 per cent interest for a $150,000 loan that no-one can provide documentation for.

Jenene Crossan, founder of Flossie, took out the loan from ANZ for her former business NZ Girl and its subsidiary Bloggers Club in 2007.

The business closed last year. ‘‘Whilst we quietly and neatly wrapped the business up, a $150,000 loan facility to ANZ remains, and is now the focus of my astonishing challenge to get what I’d consider to be basic information on a loan that’s becoming more mysterious as the year goes on,’’ Crossan said.

She wants a breakdown from the bank of the principal, interests and fees charged between 2007 and 2015, and repayments made. She also wants information about the guarantees offered on the loan.

Crossan said her former husband, Grant Nicholls, who is now part of the ANZ executive team, had also offered a personal guarantee, along with two other people. He held a similar shareholding in the business, which they started together in 1999.

However, she said ANZ had been unable to give her any of the information about the loan she requested, and she felt as though the bank was prioritising employee interests over shareholders, she said.

As the director of the company, only she was being chased for the money, she said.

She had expected that the bank would want to go out of its way to show there was no conflict of interest with Nicholls, but had not done so.

‘‘I’ve simply had no response from ANZ to my reasonable requests for information about the loan and its terms.

‘‘To be clear: in no way do I dispute the loan or my responsibility to pay off my share of the debt as one of four personal guarantors for the facility.

‘‘What’s perhaps most alarming is the revelation that ANZ has been unable to locate a signed copy of the original facility to NZ Girl in its files. To my mind, that credit contract is vital to outline the terms that were agreed to by NZ Girl at the origin of the loan, and the basis of which any fees and penalties are charged. I’m deeply concerned that as a customer of ANZ, I am experiencing such difficulty, or indeed a stone wall of silence, from my bank when I have asked for reasonable information to determine what I owe. I’ve had to employ a lawyer to help me navigate this, at significant personal cost.’’

She has now complained to the Banking Ombudsman.

She and Nicholls did not have a relationship property agreement when they divorced in 2002.

‘‘This is not an ex-husbandand-wife dispute. Grant and I have enjoyed a friendly relationship since an amicable divorce in 2002,’’ Crossan said.

‘‘However, when it comes to the matter of the business we started together and he arranged the loan for, he has not responded to any communication from me since it was decided to close the business.’’

Crossan said, if she could not get the information she sought, the bank could come after her for the whole loan.

‘‘They can bankrupt me if they so choose.’’

ANZ told the Banking Ombudsman it could not find a copy of the loan agreement but was continuing to search its physical files.

‘‘Our records show the terms, including the loan guarantee, were disclosed in 2007 (and we received confirmation to that effect),’’ spokesman Stefan Herrick said in response to a query from Stuff.

He said customers generally could request the details of a loan but banks only had a legal obligation to hold copies of documents for seven years.

‘‘The normal process for debts that fall into arrears is to talk to the person or entity owing them the money in the first place.

‘‘Once that’s exhausted and if an arrangement can’t be agreed, then we can call on the guarantors.’’