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Blue Chip company sign - Source: ONE News -
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Victims of the Blue Chip collapse say they are being threatened with mortgagee sales from financier GE Capital, before a decision on a landmark court decision.
Christchurch Blue Chip investor Helene Philpott says she and at least a dozen other investors have received notices under the Property Law Act that GE will put their homes up for mortgagee sale unless they reach a settlement within a few weeks, The New Zealand Herald reports.
GE has offered the group reverse mortgages, she says, where the older people can live in their homes until they died, when GE will sell the properties.
However, Philpott says they are awaiting the outcome of a High Court case, which could be affecting their own situations.
Retired Whangarei couple Bruce and Judy Bartle have gone to court in a bid to get their mortgages discharged. They say that as a result of forged mortgage documents they have been left with financial obligations they cannot meet.
Philpott, in her 70s, says her occupation has also been written down on loan documentation as "self-employed" so that she could qualify for a mortgage and invest in Blue Chip.
The practice, understood to have been widespread, meant a pensioner could qualify for such a loan.
GE Money managing director Greg White denies GE is trying to get in ahead of the judgment.
"I absolutely refute that in the strongest possible terms. That is not what we're about, we are a responsible lender," he told the paper.
The company has offered solutions such as reverse mortgages to struggling customers and some have taken that up, he says.
White says the Bartle decision is not a precedent-setting case because the circumstances of each Blue Chip investor will be different.
However, the Bartles' lawyer Paul Dale says the matter is representative of a large number of cases and will be a springboard for a raft of other claims.
