Twiceshy - you seemed to have changed your mind overnight? Perhaps you need to re-read my original post? I have never claimed to have lost the lot and indeed I did retain part of my original investment. I use the word investment as units in a managed fund run by Challenger that invest exclusively in the All Ords 200 certainly qualifies as an investment in most people's opinion - if not yours. It has never been the nature of the investment that was questionable - and indeed it would have consisted of quite a few BHP shares, amongst other blue-chips that make up the top 200.
Your original post led me to believe you were confusing a home loan as being short-term, in comparison to a margin loan which certainly could be. I had both. I had a comfortable level of gearing prior to the market downfall and did not receive a margin call - all of this is in my original post.
As I have already stated (again in my original post) where I feel I was "taken down" - and I would prefer to use the words "misled" or perhaps even "deceived" was in the CBA re-valuing my home without my request using a highly questionable method and making that valuation available to Storm with the express intent to lend me more money - I relied on the valuation as being accurate and having been done on the same basis as prior valuations by a registered valuer in my area, who actually at least drove past my home. The hand-in-glove nature of the relationship between the branch of the CBA and Storm operating together as a sales force is what I object to, as I had been given no reason to suspect that my advisor and my banker had any other than the usual arms-length business relationship. The lending practices employed by some (if not all?) of the banks involved is where I feel let down.