THE plans of a south-west family have been put on hold after their savings were swallowed by the collapse of Banksia Financial Group.
Corey McBain had been planning to travel overseas next year on funds saved with the company.
Originally from Warrnambool but now based in Perth where he works as a TAFE lecturer, he conceded it could be a long time before he goes anywhere. Mr McBain and his siblings decided to invest $4000 they had each received when a relative had passed away.
Over time, the entire fund reached $40,000.
But yesterday it was nothing.
“We’re devastated, we really are,” Mr McBain said.
“We’ll probably never see it again.”
Life plans underpinned by the money are now in limbo and the family, like thousands of others, have little idea what will be returned to them. “My brother was planning to buy a car, my other brother was going to use it for a home deposit and my sister was going to move to Melbourne,” he said. “We’re extremely angry.
“$40,000 is a lot of money for a family.”
The 30-year-old said he was “absolutely disgusted” that managers of the company had allowed the disaster to unfold.
“That’s just pure mismanagement,” he said. “I’d like to see all the investors get all or most of the money back when they sell off the assets.”
