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Distressed Blue Chip investors were encouraged yesterday to ask their banks to freeze mortgage repayments so they could save their properties.
About 200 investors caught up in the $70 million liquidation of Blue Chip companies met in Remuera yesterday and were encouraged to stave off losing their family
home and their investment apartments by asking bankers for clemency.
Jeff Meltzer, one of three liquidators of 20 Blue Chip companies, encouraged investors to do whatever they could to keep the banks at bay for eight weeks, because he hoped to find money to help the investors.
"See how you can bridge your loan repayments in the next two months. Is there a family member who might be able to help? Can you get a freeze on interest for a month?"
But one investor told the meeting Tasman Mortgages had flatly rejected her application for a mortgage holiday.
Mr Meltzer said many state entities were watching the Blue Chip situation closely and he would brief Commerce Minister Lianne Dalziel after the meeting.
The Securities Commission was getting regular updates and Ms Dalziel was taking a close interest, he said.
"This is being taken very seriously at Government level."
Some money might be available by May but Mr Meltzer could not say how much, where it would come from or who would be paid first. He encouraged the investors to seek help from experts.
Nineteen Blue Chip companies owe creditors $58.1 million, and Blue Chip's franchise business, Mide Ltd, owes a further $11.6 million, taking the total amount owed to creditors to about $70 million.
Mr Meltzer said the total could be in the "hundreds of millions of dollars" but the liquidations were complex and would take a long time.
Ian Varley of the Serious Fraud Office said that while it was not the SFO's role to recover money, it had been supplied with information on Blue Chip.
"We are collecting, collating and analysing information from sources, including from you and your representatives," he said.
"We're liaising with the Commerce Commission and the police and most importantly Mr Meltzer. The information is being assessed to ascertain whether a criminal fraud has occurred and it's very early on. The director is the one that makes the call on the criminality as the result of that information"
Hannah McQueen, of EnableMe, invited investors to a free seminar on mortgages at 7pm tonight at the Auckland Bridge Club in Remuera and said her business sought to save clients at least $100,000 on the life of a mortgage.
She also wants to help Blue Chip investors.
"We want to make what appears to be a dire situation a little more bearable," McQueen said.
Yesterday's meeting was organised by Suzanne Edmonds of the organisation Exposing Unacceptable Financial Activities.
She encouraged Blue Chip investors to join her organisation, and sought donations for the $200 meeting venue fee.
Gray Eatwell, Ms Edmonds' brother and a dairy farmer, said he had been destroyed by financial activities.
The meeting might prevent some from committing suicide, he said.
Losses for many investors were so serious that it could affect the wider economy and Mr Eatwell called for Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard to "freeze the situation so no one would go broke."
Barrister Paul Dale, representing many investors, said people might have been stupid, naive or told a lie but whether they had a legal case was another matter.
He called for all Blue Chip companies to be put into liquidation, but Mr Meltzer said he had access to all the companies so there was no point in blanket liquidation.
The SFO and Companies Office were pleased about this unrestricted access, he said.
