Man Withdraws $190,000 in $20 Bills After Being Denied A Mortgage

[Joanne98]

A New Zealand bank irritated the wrong customer by declining his application for a mortgage. After hearing the reason for his rejection, Roger Griffiths decided to make life difficult for the bank and withdrew his savings — $190,000 in $20 bills.

From the Nelson Mail:

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.

The bank says that if he can provide evidence that he can make regular payments, they'd be happy to have him back. Hey, at least he got a free gym bag out of the deal.

$190,000 withdrawn in $20 bills (Thanks, Jonathan!)

http://consumerist.com/5321505/man-withdraws-190000-in-20-bills-after-being-denied-a-mortgage

[HopeHoops]

1. I would have demanded pennies.

That would have fucked with their heads.

[cutlassmama]

2. me too. Tee-hee. n/t

[progressoid]

16. And be incredibly heavy.

[Oregone]

3. "if he can provide evidence that he can make regular payments..."

That seems reasonable. Down payment aside, you gotta be able to carry the payments

[tblue37]

7. If you have enough money in the bank, then those regular

payments are not going to be a problem. If his income dropped for some reason, he could have dipped into savings for a while.

The bank was probably following an inflexible formula rather than actually looking at the situation and making a rational decision.

[Oregone]

9. No, I don't think thats how this is at all

That money he withdrew, wasn't that supposed to be a down-payment? Hence, he would have nothing in the bank thereafter.

Look, he had $190K cash (withdrew) and was going to sell a camper for $110K, then get a $80K mortgage for a home worth ~$380K

So he would have nothing left in the bank. So to make the payments on the $80K mortgage, he would need a regular, guaranteed source of income prior to the loan.

If Im understanding the situation correctly, this is entirely reasonable.

[MNDemNY]

11. Banker.

[Oregone]

12. Haha. I hate banks

But thats the system. Don't lend money if you can't be sure they can pay it back. And, the same line of thinking should go to a borrower.

[barb162]

19. It is not unreasonable to demand

some evidence he can make monthly mortgage payments.

[n2doc]

14. And if he doesn't? The Bank gets a 380K property for 80K!

So long as they get a proper appraisal they should be hoping he defaults!

[Oregone]

15. Yeah, I was thinking of that

Makes it a pretty low-risk lending, being that they could grab a lot of that equity by doing nothing at all.

[BR_Parkway]

17. If I read that right, property produced $500 a month more than the

payment - plus he'd have living quarters without the need to earn any more income to pay for a place to live. Seems like his savings would have carried it a long while if need be

[brendan120678]

4. That's 9,500 bills!

Now I'm not sure about NZ$, but in the U.S., each wrapped stack of bills has 50 bills in it.
So that's 190 stacks of $20s!

[LiberalAndProud]

5. Very creative. And a lovely piece of performance art.

I hope he gets his mortgage.
:-)

[kenny blankenship]

6. If he tried that in America they'd probably arrest him before he got back to his car

[robinlynne]

8. you mean mug him...

[Lochloosa]

10. Wrong.

They would wait till he got to his car, then "smell" pot, search his car, say the money was for drugs, take it and have a good day.

[pleah]

13. I love it. K&R

[Thickasabrick]

18. I hope he put it in another bank. He's like a magnet for crooks now.

[Xenotime]

23. Anyone who has that kind of money in a bank is taking more than his fair share.

[barb162]

20. Too bad teh article doesn't say where he'll go with that money or how he intends

to get a mortgage elsewhere.

[Jkid]

21. Better Idea

1. Produce enough money to make 20% from savings
2. Sell campervan.
3. Use proceeds from campervan to pay for mortage
4. ???
5. Enjoy his new home!

[truhavoc]

22. He's lucky the had the money!

The way these banks are leveraged I'm surprised that the bank had that kind of cash on hand, maybe New Zealand is different like that?

[question everything]

24. Wonderful! (nt)