)
ONE of the city’s fast growth business gazelles has been crippled with debts of $2.5 million.
Wayne Ormond’s (pictured) Refund Home Loans business had annual turnover of almost $20 million in 2010, but he is now fighting to keep it afloat after voluntary administrators SV Partners were appointed.
The 38-year-old was flying high even through the bleak GFC period, but it is understood a bank debt has brought the company and its 350 franchisees to its knees.
Ormond’s vision to offer up to 50 per cent commission refunds on home loans turned his dream into a national franchise in just six years.
Residential property has taken a valuation hit, but Refund Home Loans had been able to thrive on a business model that undercut brokers through low-cost practices.
Talking to Brisbane Business News last year, Ormond, a 2010 Brisbane Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist, attributed the company’s growth to an increasingly financial-savvy population that wants better value for money, combined with the business’ expansion into the financial services industry.
“The market isn’t going well but people still need home loans and they might need to add an extension or they’ll be building a pool, whatever it is – people need to move forward in life, to build on their position,” he says.
The company started an alliance with the Gold Coast-based PIS (Professional Investment Services) to develop a group to start franchising financial planning.
In April last year orders were made by consent with the Federal Court that Ormond made misleading statements to franchisees about approvals from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in 2009, but he’s putting the past behind him.
Ormond did not return calls to Brisbane Business News today.
Get our daily business news
Sign up to our free email news updates.
)
)
)
)
)
