B-Sure Mortgages

23/03/2026

This article is just a reminder to be aware out there.

Fake brokers target borrowers in new loan scam alert
By Julian Barnes
23 March 2026

Fake brokers target borrowers in new loan scam alert
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Consumers have been warned that scammers are posing as brokers and financial service providers in a new wave of personal loan scams.

According to Scamwatch, part of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, fraudsters are posing as financial service providers and loan brokers, setting up fraudulent websites and posting advertisements on social media platforms offering personal loans.

Once an application is submitted, victims are contacted by email or social media and sent a loan contract, before being asked to provide personal information and documents including photo ID, payslips, bank statements, and login details for bank and myGov accounts.

Applicants are then directed to pay an upfront fee for “payment protection” insurance or “loan establishment” costs before any funds are released. These payments must be made in full, often to a personal bank account, and are falsely claimed to be refundable after three months.

The warning states that scammers may impersonate existing Australian credit licence and financial service licence holders, sometimes using real ABN and licence details from ASIC to appear legitimate.

Anyone searching for a loan provider may encounter these scams, with people experiencing financial hardship identified as particularly vulnerable.

Scamwatch has outlined several warning signs:

Communications that ask for your personal details and identification documents.
Requests for upfront insurance payments that must be paid before loan funds are released.
Requests to pay funds to a personal bank account.
The loan provider is not licensed and does not appear on ASIC’s professional registers.
The loan provider appears on ASIC’s investor alert list.
Pressure to make payments and to pay in a particular way.
Claims that insurance premium payments will be refunded after 3 months.
If affected, individuals are advised to contact their bank or card provider immediately, change compromised passwords, monitor accounts for unusual activity, and seek support through IDCARE on 1800 595 160. Incidents can also be reported to Scamwatch.

The warning comes as scam and fraud activity continues to rise across the lending sector.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows an estimated 3.2 million Australians, or around one in seven people, experienced personal fraud in 2024–25.

This included 2.3 million people (10 per cent) affected by card fraud, nearly 600,000 (2.7 per cent) by scams, around 220,000 (1 per cent) by identity theft, and approximately 500,000 (2.3 per cent) by online impersonation.

Card fraud has increased from 5.9 per cent in 2014–15 to 10.4 per cent in 2024–25, while identity theft rose from 0.7 per cent to a peak of 1.2 per cent in 2023–24 before easing to 1 per cent.

An Equifax survey found three-quarters of brokers had been impacted by scams or fraud.

Separate data from Equifax shows Australian lenders prevented more than $1.5 billion in fraudulent financial applications in 2025, despite a rise in fraud attempts.

17/03/2026

As anticipated by many, the RBA has risen the cash rate by 0.25%.

12/03/2026

Another group of banks hiking fixed rate home loans yesterday.
This may not bode well for next Tuesday's RBA announcement.

11/03/2026

Here's an article just showing that if it sounds too good to be true it probably isn't. Nice to know the industry has one less cowboy.

Three jailed over interest-free mortgage scheme
By Julian Barnes
11 March 2026

Three people involved in promoting “interest-free mortgages” have received a combined sentence of more than 13 years’ imprisonment after being convicted of dishonesty offences.

Remedy Housing officials Brent Smith, Mahmoud Khodr, and Fue Mano were sentenced in the County Court of Victoria after a jury found them guilty on 14 July 2025.

On 10 March 2026, her Honour Judge Quin handed down the following sentences:

Smith was sentenced to six years and two months’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of three years and six months.
Khodr was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of three years.
Mano was sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment, with 18 months to serve followed by a recognisance release order requiring her to be of good behaviour for 12 months.
Between 2019 and 2021, Remedy Housing received deposits from approximately 107 customers totalling $1.83 million. Smith and Khodr were found to have jointly misappropriated $754,574, while Smith was also found to have misappropriated an additional $19,500.

According to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Smith and Mano dishonestly represented to consumers that Remedy Housing would provide an interest-free mortgage within 12 months after a deposit of at least $10,000 was paid.

They also claimed deposits would be refunded in full if the mortgage was not provided within that timeframe.

Consumers were further told that Remedy Housing was financed by overseas investors, including funding from a former Samoan international rugby union player, Trevor Leota. He was not charged in relation to the offences.

It was found that Remedy Housing had no investors or funders and never provided any mortgages. Funds received from customers were instead used to operate the scheme or transferred to the personal accounts of Smith and Khodr.

ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said the case highlighted the regulator’s focus on misconduct in the financial services sector.

“The conduct of Mr Smith, Mr Khodr and Ms Mano relied on building and maintaining trust with customers over long periods of time. This trust was significantly breached,” Court said.

“This matter demonstrates ASIC’s commitment to ensuring dishonesty in the credit and financial services industry is penalised.”

In sentencing, Judge Quin noted the scheme was sophisticated, targeted vulnerable customers, and involved the misuse of a significant amount of funds for personal use.

The court also granted reparation orders, requiring Mano to pay $106,950 to seven victims and ordering Smith and Mano to jointly pay $85,000 to four victims.

The matter was investigated by ASIC and prosecuted by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Background

Remedy Housing was operated by Smith and Khodr as director and secretary respectively. Mano was an officer of the company and, together with Leota, promoted the business to consumers, primarily within Pacific Islander communities in Australia and New Zealand.

On 17 June 2021, ASIC moved to shut down Remedy Housing and obtained interim orders and injunctions from the Federal Court against Smith, Khodr, Leota and Remedy Housing.

On 16 June 2022, Smith, Khodr and Mano were charged with criminal directors’ duties breaches relating to interest-free mortgages offered by Remedy Housing and were later convicted of dishonesty offences on 15 July 2025.

04/03/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18QyKZrZbo/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Someone might be earning enough to come across a $100 note 😉. These seem not to be the movie prop ones going about so always just double check.

03/02/2026

As expected rates have risen. The 1st rise since Nov 2023 for the cash rate.

28/01/2026

Interesting to see another lender increasing their fixed rates after NAB did last week.

Inflation figures out and it’s risen. Not a good sign for rates next week.

Maybe the economists and the likes of Mark Bouris had it wrong yet again if they do rise.

04/01/2026

Reserve Bank Meeting Schedule for 2026 (Announcement Dates are the 2nd date in range)

February 2-3, 2026
March 16-17, 2026
May 4-5, 2026
June 15-16, 2026
August 10-11, 2026
September 28-29, 2026
November 2-3, 2026
December 7-8, 2026

19/12/2025

Whilst still visiting the lovely nurse and Docs at the Austin here and there, I’m back on deck and thankful I’m not as bad off as some others.

27/10/2024

Will be undergoing a grease and oil change over the next 4-6 weeks in the Austin Hospital.
That’s likely to mean no posts or slow on any replies.
A slow recovery afterwards I’ve been told but remaining positive.

15/10/2024

The latest Victorian property update from CoreLogic .

Watch the latest Housing Market Update for Melbourne. The housing and economic data is derived from the CoreLogic Hedonic Home Value Index for the month of September,…

25/09/2024

RBA likely to disregard August CPI
By Adrian Suljanovic
25 September 2024
Although the August CPI figures showed annual inflation entering the RBA’s target band, the central bank will likely look through this data until the release of the Q3 inflation reading.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has revealed that the monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) indicator rose 2.7 per cent in the 12 months to August 2024. This reading was down from the 3.5 per cent recorded in July and is the lowest reading in three years, according to ABS head of prices statistics Michelle Marquardt. The ABS revealed that the top contributors of this annual movement were housing at 2.6 per cent, food & non-alcoholic beverages (3.4 per cent), and alcohol & to***co (6.6 per cent).

Transport (-1.1 per cent) partly offset the annual increase, according to the ABS. The significant moderators of annual inflation in August were declines in automotive fuel and electricity, with fuel sitting 7.6 per cent lower than in August 2023 following recent price falls, while the combined impact of Commonwealth Energy Bill Relief Fund rebates and state government rebates in Queensland, Western Australia, and Tasmania resulted in a record annual decline in electricity prices of 17.9 per cent. “The falls in electricity and fuel had a significant impact on the annual CPI measure this month,” Marquardt said.

“When prices for some items move by large amounts, measures of underlying inflation like the CPI excluding Automotive fuel, Fruit and vegetables and Holiday travel, and the Trimmed mean can provide additional insights into how inflation is trending.” Meanwhile, CPI inflation excluding volatile items was 3 per cent in August, down from 3.7 per cent in July, with annual trimmed mean inflation sitting at 3.4 per cent in August, down from 3.8 per cent the previous month.
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Marquardt said both measures of underlying inflation in August are the lowest they’ve been for 2.5 years. While the August CPI figures look promising as they fall within the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) coveted 2–3 per cent target band for inflation, the RBA is likely to disregard this reading in favour of the September quarter CPI figures due next month. Dr Dwyfor Evans, head of APAC macro strategy at State Street Global Markets, said that the RBA “remains wary of inflation trends for now, so monetary policy will look through this one month of abnormal price data”. Indeed, the RBA governor herself said yesterday (24 September) following the monetary policy decision announcement that the board must be confident that inflation will “sustainably” remain within the target band. Michele Bullock said in the press conference yesterday: “There’s two things going on here. There’s what we’ll see in headline inflation, which is going to be affected by one-off factors and [volatility], and then there’s underlying inflation. “Over time, the two things will converge to be together, but quarter to quarter, they can diverge. “…the point I would make is that if tomorrow (25 September) we get an inflation number which has got a ‘two’ in front of it… that doesn’t mean we’ve got inflation under control. It doesn’t mean that inflation is sustainably back within the band. “We need to see that there’s a consistent trend down to the band, and it’s going to stay in the band rather than dip in and out.” Reacting to the data, CreditorWatch chief economist Anneke Thompson said the results provide “no surprises – on the upside or downside – to the RBA” and it is unlikely to shift its thinking around when rate cuts will occur. “Given household consumption is likely to stay very subdued for the remainder of the year, it is likely that trimmed mean monthly inflation will continue its slow trend down over the next few months,” Thompson said.

Chief economist at Bendigo Bank, David Robertson, said while this data is only a "subset of the full 3Q24 CPI report", the numbers are "very encouraging for rate cuts in 2025, and certainly brings a February rate cut back into play".

“Bendigo Bank’s forecast for the easing cycle to commence in 2025 and not earlier has been unchanged since January 2023, although the precise timing (February or May 2025) remains a close call.

"Today’s data certainly helps the case for a February cut, however upcoming data and events will keep markets guessing between now and then, including the US Presidential election in November. We continue to expect at least three rate cuts next year," Robertson added.