An investigation by the Commerce Commission has resulted in an Auckland company being fined $400,000 after it falsely claimed to offer a savings scheme to assist low-income families to buy a home.
Home Funding Group Limited (HFG) was convicted in January on two charges under the Fair Trading Act 1986, however the company is in liquidation and did not appear at the hearing.
HFG offered services to prospective home buyers who found it difficult to save for a deposit or qualify for bank finance, the Commerce Commission said in a statement today.
“It claimed to operate a savings scheme which could assist customers to purchase a home with a deposit as low as five per cent, however, customers’ payments were not paid into or treated as being in any form of savings scheme.
Instead, the contracts that customers entered into were for a brokerage and financial coaching service.
Between February 2015 and April 2017 HFG received $316,361 from 149 customers. They typically paid HFG $50-$100 per week, the Commission said.
“The claims made by HFG induced consumers to make regular payments to HFG in the belief they were putting money towards a house deposit. They were not. In fact they were paying for financial services and HFG’s contract allowed HFG to limit or avoid providing those services,” said Commerce Commission Chair Anna Rawlings.
HFG told prospective customers that at the end of the contract term, customers would get back the money they paid to HFG. It also told them money paid to HFG could be used for a house deposit and that the company had special relationships with various banks.
“HFG did not have special relationships with any bank. The money paid could not be used for a deposit, and the Commission is not aware of a single customer who completed the HFG contract and successfully purchased a home,” said Rawlings.
In sentencing remarks Judge Bouchier said it was a “carefully crafted scheme” and the conduct involved “serious offending against vulnerable people”.
Affidavits from four victims were “extremely sad” and “heart-rending,” Bouchier said and that all four complainants “were still unable to purchase houses of their own”.
She directed full refunds be paid to eight complainants named in the Commission’s case and voided their contracts.
Since the company is now in liquidation, the question of whether refunds will be paid is in the hands of the liquidator.
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