The Thrifty Mama's Guide to More Life for Less!

Things have been happening here at Thrifty Manor (Thrifty Manor may look like a small tumbleddown cottage to you, she’s still our Manor!). Well things have been trying to happen. Our business is looking to expand, it is solid and there is a market we have tested out in the big city, just waiting for us to get our hot little hands on. As you know I wouldn’t be throwing my cash around without just cause but we have been trying to buy a property for another (second) business premises in another city.

We found the place (Yay!) It valued well (Yay!) and we took this to our bank. You may know them. They are a major player in the world of banks and at the moment they are swamping us all with gorgeous, evocative advertising telling us “Yes We Can”.
I love the ad with Toni Collette reading that Dr Seuss-esque poem telling us we CAN! The website tells us:
“The greatest impediment to progress is the word Can't.
Can, on the other hand, makes things happen.
Can helps us move forward.
Whatever you want to achieve, our technologies and know-how will help to get you there.
Discover the power of Can.”

Even the bottom of the email they sent us said:
“Our vision is to be the best client focused business bank that CAN, wants to and will deliver for our customers.”

The bottom of the email which says; "Sorry- you don’t have quite enough equity in your existing property portfolio (after we take a 20% margin off for arbitrary reasons) so we can’t help you at all." Obviously this positive Can attitude only applies if you have so much money right now you don’t actually need any financing.

Essentially this says: “You don’t have enough of your own money (actually we only looked at the property and completely ignored the worth of the business and haven’t even looked at the figures and assets of this) but anyway, you don’t have enough of your own money right now to fund this whole shebang so we won’t lend you any money. End of story. Maybe we can, but we won’t”.

This is possibly the most conservative and can’t do approach a bank could possibly take in the circumstances. It shows that far from being a “Can” bank they are a “Won’t” bank. There was no “Now let’s see how we can make this work by looking at your other assets or other loan products” There was no “In these economic times it is time we looked at how we can make things happen. For many small businesses the property market has hit a slump so bad that we really need to look at how we can help you to improve growth in other ways” No, the Small Business Bank of the year simply said,
“Computer says No” and went back to staring at the monitor.

Shame, Commonwealth Bank, you have not got the innovation and vision to support your very pretty advertising, our dealings with you have shown you to be misrepresenting yourselves, on top of the failure to pass on full interest rate cuts; so we won’t be able to be your loyal customers any more, we will take our assets, our loans, our merchant facilities, our business accounts and personal ones, even the high interest online ones, the ones for our little kiddies and our gold cards and we will find someone who will deliver on their promise, who does pass on rate cuts and most of all someone who actually can and we will move our whole business elsewhere. We are only a small business but Small Businesses are supposed to be their focus and their reason for being!
If The Commonwealth Bank treat us (reasonable tangible assets and all our business and personal accounts with them) like this, what hope for the one house family who goes to them wanting to finance an extension, or try a small business venture, what of the family wanting to buy a first home in a depressed market?
Please make sure when you trust your financial assets to a bank, that the institution has the courage and integrity required to look after your family and not just a flashy campaign!

Thanks to the team at Effective Naturally for making me more brand aware, it won’t surprise me at all if we see the CBA on the BooBoo of the week!