Given the financial skills and acumen displayed by most believers, I suspect that the scheme will soon collapse anyway. Whether the subscribers' money merely disappears, or goes into the pockets of the founders, will depend on whether they are corrupt or merely naive. Piety and due vigilance don't seem to go together somehow:

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/legal-briefing-execs-at-faith-based-integrity-bank-charged-with/19469736/?icid=sphere_copyright

http://www.smh.com.au/national/feuding-vinnies-undergoes-fivemonth-inquiry--but-little-change-20110715-1hhql.html

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/you-deserted-me-nuttall-tells-labor-mps-20110511-1eipt.html?from=smh_ft

http://www.smh.com.au/national/mission-australia-kept-funds-from-staff-20110220-1b13q.html

http://m.smh.com.au/national/anglicans-warned-church-is-on-its-knees-20101012-16hsp.html

I had a quick look at the business model, and it is a work of pure genius.

http://www.libertytrust.org.nz/better-way

"...if you contributed $65 per week to Liberty Trust for 18 years you could borrow $300,000 and repay it over 15 years at just $385 per week!"

(The genius, of course, is in that exclamation mark at the end)

So you contribute, effectively as an advance, around one-fifth of the loan amount, that you never see again. You then, after eighteen years of contributions, "borrow" $300k, and repay it all over 15 years.

According to my trusty calculator, if we assume a 250 basis point differential between borrowing and lending costs, the net benefit to the organization is a princely $67,000.

Which they take in advance!

(Couldn't resist a little exclamation mark of my own)

All under the guise of "releasing God’s community into greater financial liberty"

I'm in awe.