Patricia is going without food to feed her cats, as she struggles to pay her mortgage — and she is not alone
"It was just my dream home and I was so happy to find it," she tells the ABC from her lounge room, which is full of trinkets in her favourite colour, purple.Ms McGarry purchased the property for just over $200,000 around eight years ago and now has about $70,000 left to pay on the mortgage.
But when the 68-year-old had to quit her supermarket check-out job due to several health issues, she started to fall behind on her home loan repayments.
"When that all happened to me I went on Centrelink payments, just more or less the JobSeeker, which was about $384 a fortnight. I could not pay my house payments then," she says.
She is among tens of thousands of Australians falling behind on their mortgage repayments, a phenomenon made worse by a string of interest rate rises alongside rising cost of living pressures.
The proportion of borrowers in arrears grew to 1.7 per cent in the first quarter of this year, according to housing research firm Cotality.
With costs tight, Ms McGarry told the ABC she spends most of her time at home working on her craft projects and tending to her four beloved cats.
"I don't buy too much for myself. If I do it's for my crafts, which I love doing," she says, as she puts the finishing touches on the windows for a doll's house.
"I think the world of my cats, they're my life … They're more important than anything. They are the best little creatures in the world."
Making ends meet is a day-to-day proposition for Ms McGarry, whose cats often take priority when there is little money left for the weekly grocery shop.
"I do my best. I've gone without to make sure that they get their goods. And when I did my shopping last week, all I bought was cat food. I'm living off what's in the cupboard."
After she stopped work, her bank put her on a reduced payment schedule and she now pays around $1,000 a month, but she is still in arrears and worried she will be forced to sell her house and move into a rental property, which at her age she is not keen to do.
"I don't want to go into a little unit. I want to stay here because everything in this house I have got so that if I need to be in a wheelchair at any time, I can make it possible," Ms McGarry explains.
"I've got a ramp at the back that I can use to put my wheelchair up. Why would I move? My bathroom's designed for me … I did all that to help me with my health so that I could live the way I'm living, and keep living."
After the ABC contacted Patricia McGarry's bank about the story, Ms McGarry says they reached out to her and offered to extend the life of the home loan and further reduce her monthly mortgage repayments.
She has just under $70,000 remaining on the loan.
Claire Tacon from the National Debt Helpline says the service has been receiving more calls from people like Patricia McGarry since interest rates started to rise in 2022.
Her advice for anyone struggling to pay their home loan was to first call their bank
'All the banks have hardship departments," she explains.
"A lot of people don't realise that there are actually rights written into the credit legislation that if your circumstances have changed and you're not able to maintain your payments on your mortgage or any credit contract that you have.
"You have the right to request a variation to that contract, your bank needs to consider your request, and they need to let you know whether they accept what you're asking.
"And, if they don't accept it, you have the right to make a complaint to the ombudsman."
While arrears rates have been rising, ratings agency Fitch noted in a recent report that the two interest rate cuts so far this year, as well as predicted further cuts, should help home owners who are struggling to pay their mortgage, eventually pushing arrears rates down.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
16 minutes ago
- News.com.au
‘Darkness was closing in': Influencer Kerwin Rae's death leaves uncomfortable legacy for fans
WARNING: Sensitive content When Kerwin Rae suddenly passed away on October 18 last year, the popular motivational speaker and business coach left behind a shocked and grief-stricken community of fans and dedicated members of his Business Mastery organisation. Over more than a decade, the 50-year-old entrepreneur from Byron Bay had amassed millions of social media followers and claimed to have helped more than 100,000 businesses around the world with his inspiring life story and 'revolutionary, no bulls**t approach to business growth and personal transformation'. But as the shock fades more than six months on from his death, members of Mr Rae's $50,000-a-year club known as K2 Elite Business Accelerator are asking uncomfortable questions and even requesting refunds or early exits — flatly refused by the company which has vowed that the 'K-Team' will carry on his legacy. 'Kerwin's greatest passion was being a devoted father and his life's mission was to help people succeed,' the website's dedication reads. 'In 2024 Kerwin passed away but his legacy and positive influence will live on forever. His team continue to honour his mission by sharing his inspiring lessons and blueprint for success with the K2 Elite Community and with business owners around the world.' 'I find it weird they've never mentioned he [allegedly] took his own life,' said one long-time associate of Mr Rae, who was not a Business Mastery member. The man, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue, 'knew Kerwin before he was Kerwin' and said he was deeply saddened but not surprised to learn of the motivational speaker's reported suicide. But he said Mr Rae's troubled final years, and the manner of his death, were directly relevant to the product still being sold by K2. 'It's terrible he did, but to perpetuate the lie after his death … the life coach, the success coach — if you're a swimming teacher and I'm paying you to learn to swim and you drowned, why the f**k am I still turning up to swimming lessons?' he said. Before his rise to fame Mr Rae had taken a 'course in how to hypnotise people onstage' and had 'modelled himself off Tony Robbins', the man claimed. But after attending one of K2's workshops, and observing Mr Rae's flashy displays of wealth, the man said he was left with the impression that much of the entrepreneur's success was a facade intended to up-sell attendees into more expensive seminars and ultimately the $50,000-a-year membership. '[Mr Rae] was like, 'We do $1 billion a year.' [I thought], you mean you've got 1000 people in K2 doing $1 million a year,' he said. 'You frame it that way so everyone in that room thinks you're super-successful. It's a bit like me owning a movie theatre, taking everybody's combined earnings and saying, 'Last night our audience did $20 million.' What I saw [onstage] was someone who desperately needs to make payroll.' Fiona Morris, 46, a cleaning business owner and industry coach, said it was a 'really difficult situation'. 'Kerwin was part of a coaching product that I purchased — a wonderful, charismatic, robust, group coaching but a product nonetheless — and in a similar way that we might be attracted to purchase something from a business, we're led there for reasons and those reasons can sometimes disappear,' she said. 'The wheels were falling off for a long time before he passed away. I remember raising issues in August when he didn't show up [to an event] on the Gold Coast.' Ms Morris, who spent $56,000 with K2 Elite and has an outstanding bill of $7000, said when Mr Rae died the roughly 300 members and thousands more seminar attendees were 'told very little'. She asked to be released and possibly return at a later date. 'I wanted to finish my commitment but the product for me stopped working,' she said. Around two weeks after his death, Business Mastery hosted a Zoom meeting where those leading the discussion 'talked in circles', according to Ms Morris. 'I got off these calls more confused and our businesses certainly were not the focus — I waited over a month for this to change and it did not,' she said. 'I think they took advantage. There was a lot of talk about 'we are family'. I'm not his friend, I didn't get invited to his funeral. They all keep talking about 'legacy', they can't even tell me what his legacy is. It's such a dumpster fire but there's just not enough Kool-Aid to put it out anymore.' As tragic as it was, Ms Morris believes the fact that Mr Rae may have committed suicide 'changes a lot for a lot of people'. 'I want to be in a room where I know the truth and values and it became evident watching the leadership behaviour,' she said. 'I was hoping an open and honest discussion about burnout and mental health may have opened up and it just didn't come. Unfortunately I think Business Mastery are for whatever reason … gatekeeping the truth, [the legacy] they are pretending exists, but the reality for most people is they have left confused, and not having worked on their business.' Ms Morris stresses that for the first six months of her membership while Mr Rae was actively participating 'I got a lot of value'. 'I learnt a lot, I did alter my leadership, I changed in ways that aren't monetary,' she said. 'Yes, we've grown. It's not one or the other, it's both — I had a wonderful experience, I loved Kerwin and all the people in that room but I'm also a bit angry and a bit hurt and decided to move away from it until I know who and what is exactly this 'legacy'.' Business Mastery has been contacted for comment. Announcing his death on social media in October, Mr Rae's family described their 'unimaginable sense of loss' but provided few answers for his grieving followers. 'Kerwin was a force of nature, there are countless stories to be told and so many words that could describe the epic human he was, but right now we are too overwhelmed to express them,' the family wrote. 'To everyone who had the privilege of knowing him — whether as a friend, mate, mentor, or family member — please keep this extraordinary soul in your thoughts and hearts.' No cause of death was given. Rumours of Mr Rae's suicide had been swirling for months until Kristen Veronica, his ex-wife and mother of his son Noah, shared a lengthy letter to his community in April detailing Mr Rae's troubled final years in tragic detail. 'Kerwin was very open in recent years about his mental health struggles since his second stroke in 2021,' she wrote. 'Personally, I saw the greatest impact on his mental health after he had Covid in April 2022. It was then that the suicidal ideation began. He went through incredible darkness for several months and I was afraid for his life. 'He took time away from the business and put 100 per cent of his energy into his recovery. Kerwin never did things by halves — and this was no exception. His weeks were full of a myriad of therapies, gym sessions, and doing his best to get his health, capacity, and his life back.' Ms Veronica said during this period when Mr Rae was unwell he was unable to have their son for several months, 'so instead we invited him over to our house for weekly family dinners'. 'Kerwin would often cry during these visits,' she wrote. 'It was the most broken I had ever seen him, however it was also the most real. The mask was off, the walls were down, and he was baring the truth of his soul. We spoke on the phone daily during this time, and he shared many of his most tender and vulnerable feelings about himself, his life, his purpose, his confusion, his despair, his love for Noah, and his regrets. It was heartbreaking and beautiful to witness him in that state.' Mr Rae's mental and physical health slowly recovered but 'sadly, it didn't last, and early last year he felt himself slipping again'. 'He wasn't sleeping, he was cognitively declining, his body and his health were failing him, and his suicidal ideation returned with a vengeance,' she wrote. 'He was scared. He was losing hope. The darkness was closing in on him. The tools that had helped him recover the first time around weren't having the same effect. He still persisted and put everything he had into getting well. 'He explored new approaches, and had a handful of dedicated friends who put in so much care and love supporting him through those final months. This was a dark time for Kerwin. Tragically, the darkness took hold, and in the early hours of Friday, October 18, 2024, Kerwin took his life.' Ms Veronica went on to discuss the status of the business since Mr Rae's death. 'Since his passing, I am aware that there's been some speculation around how he died and some criticism of his team continuing the running of events,' she wrote. 'I feel comfortable sharing with you how he passed, as Kerwin openly share of his struggles with depression, suicidal ideation and health challenges over the last couple of years. He loved helping people, and I believe that Kerwin can still help people in his death, as he did in his life. 'He has a legacy that has supported hundreds of thousands, if not millions throughout his lifetime, and he was at the helm of a community who overwhelmingly want to continue on, in his honour.' She added that Mr Rae's estate 'has a lot of complexity to it'. 'Legally the business needs to remain open as 'business as usual' while the legal formalities (that take AGES) ensue,' she said. 'In addition to this legal requirement, it's also in the best interest of the beneficiaries of Kerwin's will. I know the reasons why these decisions have been made and am in support of them. As Noah's mother, I respectfully ask that the boycotts and harmful remarks about the continued operation of the business come to an end. Kerwin's team, his community, his friends, and his family are all still grieving this tremendous loss, and further division is unhelpful and damaging. 'Kerwin was a complex man. There were many sides to him that most people don't know — even the few people closest to him didn't know all of him. Unfortunately, I've witnessed a lot of blame and anger being misdirected, and misinformation being shared by some family members and close friends that has added fuel to an already emotional community, each grieving in their own way for the loss of who Kerwin was to them. Kerwin wouldn't want this. I know that.' Ms Veronica has been contacted for comment. Consumer advocate Adam Glezer, who is seeking refunds or cancellations for a number of Business Mastery clients, said those in Mr Rae's course 'were treated no differently from the general public, despite believing they were part of a 'family''. 'To me, that shows the 'family' narrative was simply a tool to extract as much money from people as possible,' he said. 'Once Kerwin passed, that angle was all that remained. I believe the decision-makers need to take a long, hard look at themselves. If they're selling the idea of being one big family, is this really how they'd treat their own? If so, that says a lot.' Mr Glezer said whether clients had a right to be upset at not being told about the manner of Mr Rae's death 'comes down to personal opinion'. 'If people found value in the courses and felt they were helpful, then how he died or what happened in his private life is irrelevant,' he said.
News.com.au
34 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Geelong: The best time to sell in your suburb revealed
New data blowing the myth that spring is the best time to sell your house reveals when homes in each Geelong suburb achieves top dollar. The Ray White research found a handful of major Geelong suburbs scored their best prices in the spring months of September, October and November. The research, analysing 10 years worth of residential property sales to detail the months with the highest and lowest median home prices for 77 localities across the Geelong region, reveals February, March and April were the best time to sell in many areas. Ray White chief economist Nerida Conisbee said while improving weather and a season where gardens can look their best made sense for many people, the research revealed the drawbacks of selling at the busiest time of the year. 'It makes sense. People traditionally like to sell in spring is because their homes look better and they want to get in before Christmas,' Ms Conisbee said. 'All these things lead to a higher level of activity in spring. 'But the reality is that trying to sell in a very busy market or a very well supplied market is a bit more challenging, so selling at other times can make sense.' The data revealed homes in Highton, central Geelong, Rippleside and St Albans Park scored their best results in spring. Among the 15 areas where the best prices were in spring were areas such as Lethbridge and Bannockburn, Curlewis and Charlemont and Fairhaven and Anglesea on the Surf Coast. January was the best month to sell in coastal areas such as Bellbrae, Breamlea and St Leonards, along with inner city Geelong West and South Geelong, the research revealed. February, March and April were the best months for 32 suburbs, including Lara, Corio and Bell Park in the north, to Grovedale, Newtown and Leopold and Torquay and Ocean Grove on the coast. Ray White Lara agent Matthew Wade-Taylor said sellers faced more competition for buyers in busier spring months. 'A lot of people do want to go to the market in spring. They think the weather's great, the plants, the garden, everything's looking perfect,' he said. 'Coming into spring, you've got a lot more competition you're working against. 'I'm seeing a little bit more of a spike in the cooler months. There's not a lot on the market, therefore, the competitions with the buyers.' But Mr Wade-Taylor said most buyers don't pay much attention to when they sell. 'I always say to my clients, the best time to go to the market is when you're ready.' While winter was the best time to sell in Armstrong Creek and Belmont, the research revealed the season was the slowest market for many suburbs, with 17 recording their lowest median sale prices in August, followed by 14 in August. Ray White Highton agent George Politis said quiet months such as June can be strong. 'People will go after that house that might be 90 per cent correct for them, rather than the 100 per cent, so they'll accommodate what's on the market at that time,' Mr Politis said. 'At spring, you've got an influx of homes, so the buyers' desires are a little bit more fluid because of instead of looking at say five properties, they are looking at 15 during the spring market.' THE BEST TIME TO SELL IN YOUR SUBURB Suburb High Price Month High Price Low Price Month Low Price Geelong West January $845,000 June $685,000 South Geelong January $882,500 March $575,000 Lara February $640,000 September $585,000 Waurn Ponds February $713,000 January $609,000 Barwon Heads March $1,330,000 July $945,000 Bell Post Hill March $590,000 June $485,000 Corio March $415,000 July $370,000 Grovedale March $599,000 September $510,000 Leopold March $595,000 June $526,000 Newcomb March $525,000 October $430,000 Ocean Grove March $850,000 August $735,000 Whittington March $480,000 December $360,000 Queenscliff March $1,320,500 December $805,000 Drysdale April $690,000 June $590,000 Hamlyn Heights April $645,000 August $547,000 Indented Head April $815,000 July $560,000 Newtown April $1,010,000 January $840,000 Torquay April $1,045,000 July $860,000 Manifold Heights April $940,000 August $760,000 Mount Duneed May $710,000 September $641,000 Lorne June $1,675,000 August $860,000 Armstrong Creek June $650,000 January $615,000 Belmont June $630,000 July $557,000 Aireys Inlet August $1,420,000 July $735,000 Apollo Bay September $825,000 July $565,000 St Albans Park September $505,000 January $442,000 Rippleside September $1,185,000 December $775,000 Fairhaven October $1,850,000 February $1,000,000 Bannockburn October $680,000 December $575,000 Curlewis October $650,000 January $581,000 Anglesea November $1,200,000 September $795,000 Geelong November $885,000 June $730,000 Highton November $767,000 August $715,000 Wandana Heights December $895,000 July $725,000 East Geelong December $710,000 April $620,000
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
‘Makes no sense': South Australian ban exposed
Soy milk, rice cakes and ham salad sandwiches aren't usually the first things that come to mind when you think of 'junk food'. Yet, here we are, in the first week of the introduction of the South Australian food and beverage advertising bans on government assets, still debating what has been banned and what has not. Confusion and uncertainty reigns as businesses, the public and even nutritionists are scratching their heads as to why everyday nutritious food and drinks have been caught by the ban and whole groups of food are permitted. Let's look at the facts. Under these new rules, everyday products like some soy milk, oat milk and rice cakes are banned from appearing in advertising on South Australian government assets. This is because these products contain small amounts of added sugar and that is enough to land them on the blacklist. Under the new regime, if any sugar is added, it is banned. That means a number of plain, unflavoured soy milks with only 1 gram (per 100ml) of added sugar cannot be advertised. On the other hand, according to the South Australian Government Implementation Guide, all condiments (including dips), and all jams and spreads are considered acceptable. Ham salad sandwiches were banned. Then they were not – if the ham was incidental to the advertisement. But, you need to submit the advertisement to a departmental panel for approval, creating more unnecessary bureaucratic red tape. Sound confusing? It is. This simply doesn't pass the pub test and is creating confusion and uncertainty for business and the community. We agree with the government that this needs a commonsense approach. The problem is the current approach doesn't make any sense. The fact that we are still having this conversation about which foods are objectively healthy and which are not, points to the flaws in this policy. All the industry is asking for is a credible independent nutritional test that creates certainty about what food and beverages are permitted to be advertised by the South Australian government. The industry is not asking for a free pass. We are asking for a fair go. That is why we are calling on the South Australian Government to adopt the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) Nutrient Profiling Scoring Criteria – a nationally consistent, scientifically rigorous framework – developed by an independent government agency under the Federal Government Department of Health. It is already used by all States and Territories as a credible tool to assess the nutritional value of food. The next step surely is collaboration. The industry, public health experts, and government need to come together to empower Australians to make healthier choices – not through ad bans and confusion, but through smart policy, positive messaging, and evidence-based regulation. The food and beverage industry is already taking steps to help consumers switch to healthier options through product innovation and reformulation. Australia also has some the strictest rules in the world around food and beverage advertising, which effectively ban the advertising of unhealthy food to children, across all advertising and all media, at all times. So here is our ask: pause and review this broken system and replace it with a better one based on nutritional science. Let's work together to promote healthier choices, through clarity, consistency and commonsense without throwing healthy foods under the bus. And let's put an end to policies that confuse the public and businesses and, fail to deliver results. Because if soy milk and rice cakes are the enemies in this fight against obesity, we are targeting the wrong culprits.
