Teena,
Yes! You do have cooling off period, and No you don’t need to hand deliver anything!Don’t sign anymore paperwork if you feel uncomfortable.Just tell them no thanks and walk away.The contract you signed possibly could be a PROPOSED CONTRACT, which is on pending finance approval. They will of cause tell you that they need the deal and anything else just so you fold and continue.Nothing is set in concrete at this point.You also have the choice to refuse finance but that may come at a cost to you? Its not to late. Yes! They tell you everything is safe, think about it,if the banks need to recoup money they will regardless of what they tell you it just takes a little longer, in effect you have 2 separate contacts with the bank,one for your home and one for the IP. By that time its not in Members Alliance hands anymore so they have nothing to do with it. They have made their commission and have just set things up for you,so not their problem. Don’t believe to much of what they tell you.If your not 100% happy and understand the process walk away.At the end of the day ITS YOUR MONEY!!!What a great web-site. Cautious from day 1, played along , met them today for my 4 hr chat , sounded Rosie but never sign on the first date. Will not return after this review . I’ll find my own solutions. Thanks everyone.
Hi everyone,
Could we please encourage everyone to like this FB page if you have had bad experience with Members Alliance:
https://www.facebook.com/FightmembersallianceThanks!
Can’t access. It seems like there’s no link.
Hi can someone please help, we just sat through a members alliance meeting and they got us to sign up for a property in hervey bay? does this mean we have now purchased the property? We have next given them our fiancials and we have told our accountant not to give them any of our information? Please help….
Mate. Don’t trust them. Get out of whatever you have started
You should have a 14 day cooling off period. Just cancel it mate – they can’t be trusted. We are now sitting with an investment property we have lost about $150K on for various reasons.
Hi Mccormack,
Just be aware – in Qld I think the cooling-off period is just FIVE days, not 14. Anyway, DON’T sit on your hands if you want to be out of this deal. Have your solicitor drive it – tell him you want it stopped, and have him tell you HOW !!Benny
I don’t think you have purchased this property yet, it seems to be just an expression of interest (EOI). Just send them an e-mail saying that you want to cancel, that should be enough. Check the copy of the form you signed; it must say that as a customer you have the right of a 7 day cooling off period or something in those lines. Even though it doesn’t say anything (it should) you still have this right.
Is never a good idea to deal with these type of companies. You have no control over what you buy and also they are paid by the developers. Even though they try to make it look tailor made they sell the same home and land packages to everybody. The only thing that matters to them is your borrowing capacity and whether you have savings/equity for the deposit (that’s why they ask you for your financials).
Ask the sales consultant/s that helped you along the process if they have a retirement plan or how many of these investment properties have they bought for themselves and you’ll be surprised with the answers. Its better to spend some time, educate yourself and then buy.
Has anyone signed up with MA in Perth for a property in Queensland & successfully broken the contract? There is a 5 day cooling off period for property purchased in Queensland…does that mean even though we signed paperwork in Perth we are still legible for the cooling off period? We haven’t paid a deposit, the signing of everything was yesterday. As soon as we got home we sent an email to say we don’t want to go ahead with everything. Please no “why would you sign up?!!” comments – I feel sick enough as it is after reading all of this! We have an appointment with them Monday arvo. Thank you in advance for your advice
Yes Mel the “cooling off” period of 5 days is state based legislation and relates to where the property is located not where you are.
In saying this just understand that if you terminate using the Cooling Off clause there is a 0.25% penalty which the seller can claim,
Might be better to terminate under the finance clause where there is no penalty. Your broker will just have to do a letter to this effect.
Cheers
Yours in Finance
0-40 Properties in a decade. Ask me how.Richard Taylor | Australia's leading private lender
Thank you so much Richard – this makes me feel a bit better. Pardon my ignorance – but what is a finance clause? As we have the meeting with MA tomorrow I want to be able to go in there with correct information so they cannot back us into a corner. Once again, thank you for taking the time to reply.
I just did a brief Google search and it seems as though this finance clause (‘subject to finance’) can be used against us. The way I understood it: if we don’t make every endeavour to get the finance then we can end up owing a lot more money than the 0.25% penalty. Does this sound right to you? Thank you again for your advice.
Three and a half years after settlement we still have an unfinished house. The building finally reached lockup early 2015 after 2 1/2 years before the builder, Image Building Group, had their licence cancelled by the QBCC. Members Alliance then offered another builder, Silverback Constructions, to complete the house but they to had their licence cancelled by the QBCC before undertaking any work. Interestingly enough, both building companies were subsidiaries of Members Alliance with the Directors being the usual players, Domingo, Macvicar etc.
We have now started the costly & time consuming process of terminating contracts and lodging a claim with the QBCC in an effort to get the house completed. Once we have sorted through that we will be lodging a claim for our not inconsiderable damages through the Courts.
You might want to also consider http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/business/robinaheadquartered-members-alliance-faces-wind-up-over-50000-debt/news-story/59f3dbdc54c907138249fab264a9533f
Lesson learned the hard way.
Also, recently changed names to Iridium Capital or Iridium Holdings.
If it helps, here is a list of a lot of the associated companies tied up with this lot taken from the 1st Home website;
1st Home Pty Ltd is proudly part of Iridium Holdings, a diverse and privately owned financial conglomerate, specialising in integrated financial services.
Iridium Holdings was formed with the clear purpose of providing clients with proven strategies and techniques that will ensure a comfortable and financially secure future.
Other 1st Home associated companies within Iridium Holdings include:
Members Alliance
MM Prime Investment
Capricorn Securities
Iridium Financial Planning
Iridium Mergers & Acquisitions
Image Building Group
Silverback Constructions
Members Alliance Home Loans
Provincial Property Investment (PPI)
Members Alliance Property Services
Members Alliance Education Foundation
Syree EnterprisesGood luck with getting compensation from this company. I lodged a re-emburstment payment for Rental Agreement in October 2015. Yes you guessed it! Im still awaiting!!! I have on a monthly and now weekly bases email requesting payment and each time a different excuse as for the delay. Come on Members Alliance the quicker you pay up the quicker your rid of me. Im so gutter to think that I trusted you and your so call wisdom to put me in a comfortable position for my retirement. I seem to be going backwards, with less Cashflow. This company has really put in in a position where I dont know if I could put myself through this again with someone else out there that could undo all Financial Dept were going through. Good Luck to anyone else so stupid enough to work with this company.
I am hearing that the Members Alliance/Iridium Capital house of cards has finally collapsed with ASIC issuing insolvency notices.
A poster on another forum is advising that Members Alliance/Iridium are in the process of rebranding as http://zenongroup.com.au/
This is true – Zenon Group Pty Ltd domain registration is to Colin MacVicar at Zenon Group Pty Ltd, which in turn is registered with ASIC as:
“ZENON GROUP PTY LTD” (not be confused with “ZENON GROUP PTY LIMITED” which is in liquidation).
According to the ASIC company register, the former company has Trent MacVicar as a Director and Colin MacVicar as a former Director. Colin is reported in the media (Gold Coast Bulletin, February 5, 2016 ) to be one of three Directors in the Members Alliance business at Robina, Queensland, along with Richard Marlborough and David Domingo.
Trent Macvicar is Colin Macvicars son and both Trent and Colin gave the same residential address in Carrara, Qld (10 minutes drive from Robina) to ASIC, which was also the principal place of business of Zenon Group Pty Ltd.Trent states on his LinkedIn site https://www.linkedin.com/in/trent-macvicar-6b88a894 that he is Sales Manager at Zenon Group. Trent says that he previously worked for an unspecified financial services company in Robina, Qld from 2009 to 2014.
Zenon Group Pty Ltd is wholly owned by Malia Meachem (Nee Macvicar) who is Colin Macvicars daughter – residing at Worongary, Qld in another address owned by Colin Macvicar (also 10 minutes drive from Robina) and she is also the Company Secretary.
She says https://www.linkedin.com/in/malia-meachem-73b974113 that she has been Group Director at Zenon Group since last year. Malia lists no role for 2013 and 2014.Members Alliance was one of the biggest “financial services” companies in Robina that, according to the Gold Coast Bulletin report, had 220 employees and 3,500 m2 of prime office space across five floors in “The Rocket”, the old Allconnex water utility building.
Additionally MA owes the Gold Coast City Council $1.1 million in rent arrears.
Gold Coast City Council unlikely to recoup $1.1m rent from failed tenantThe way businesses like Zenon Group, Members Alliance and Iridium Capital operate is beyond 3 types of shady.
Under the guise of providing financial advice – they implement high pressure sales tactics to spruik overpriced property in low socioeconomic areas with little to no chance of getting the rental return they claim.How they make their money is as simple as it is reprehensible
They do not tell you about the property that you are buying as they do not want you to research it until it is too late…
at the 4 -5 hour meeting, you will be convinced by the “‘strategist” that unless you do as they say you will be living in a cardboard box in Hyde park by the time you retire.They then get you to see the Finance specialist who has already decided which bank you are going to finance with (which is totally against APRA compliance regulations).
They will convince you that you NEED to refinance your home loan…. commission payment number 1
… then do an equity release…. commission payment number 2
…. and then a third loan for the actual property … commission payment number 3
and finally the big payout …. a commission from the developer in the realms of between $30K-$60K+ per property (incidentally very close to how overvalued the property is … surprise, surprise)Like anything in life if you are getting something of value for free (in this case Financial advice) then you are the product!
That said though, these people are unscrupulous, unconscionable and should be in jail for fraud – the only wealth they are interested in creating is their own and they get that by taking from yours.
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