Mortgage broker banned for five years
A Melbourne mortgage broker has been banned for five years and his company's Australian credit licence cancelled after breaching credit laws.
According to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Tony Quach was the sole director of TQ Smartchoice when he submitted six home-loan applications to two lenders that contained false or misleading information.
The information related to applicants' income, employment and savings.
In all instances, Quach obtained information and documents from a source other than the applications and failed to verify that information with the applicants.
In some cases, he failed to meet the applicant before submitting an application to a lender and, in other instances, he met the applicant but still submitted applications from a person other than the applicant.
The regulator's investigation is continuing.
"ASIC takes allegations of loan fraud very seriously," ASIC Deputy Chairman Peter Kell said.
"We will continue to remove from the industry those involved in misleading loan applications."
Quach and TQ Smartchoice can appeal the decision with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
ASIC recently lodged a second submission to the Senate Economics References Committee inquiry regarding its role and performance since taking over national responsibility for credit in 2010.
Its recent investigations into loan fraud include Daniel Duy Anh Nguyen, who pleaded guilty to five charges of giving false or misleading information earlier this month.
Before that, permanent bannings were handed down to Edward Richard George (21 August) and Eric Ying Ching Chu (17 July).
The regulator is currently undertaking 20 loan-fraud investigations.
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