Truth and Truman

Christof, the fictional allegory of the omnipotent programme maker in TheTruman  Show once said, “If his was more than just a vague ambition, if [Truman] was absolutely determined to discover the truth, there’s no way we could prevent him” and as I enter my sixth year of battling  with HBOS over my miss sold mortgage and its resulting £217,000 shortfall, I can not help but wonder  if  I too have unwittingly secured a  leading role in my own real life reality show. If only a little more effort and absolute determination was all it would take to unearth the truth and nothing but the whole truth about the underwriting of my HBOS mortgage.

To date, despite my best efforts, I am still without copies of  the mandatory compliance documents which should have accompanied the sale of my HBOS mortgage and all I have to show for my endeavours is yet another notch on my FOS complaints file as a result of the second complaint I have lodged, and won, against yet another biased and incompetent Financial Ombudsman adjudicator.  However, I am delighted to report that my absolute determination to confront and overturn the FOS’s unfair ruling has rewarded me with the following:

·         An investigation into the actions of the adjudicator who made the ruling in favour of HBOS without allowing me to submit further evidence

·         An apology from the FOS adjudicator for repeatedly ignoring my emails over a period of three months

·         A  retraction of the unfair FOS ruling of  November 2013

·         An extension until  31 January 2014  to allow me time to submit my additional evidence

With a traumatic year and an unwelcome house move firmly behind me it appears absolute determination in 2014 has afforded  me some more very welcome news. I am now in receipt of a very apologetic letter from HBOS stating a copy of my mortgage conveyance file  is finally on its way as well as notification from the Information Commissioner's Office advising me HBOS is to be investigated for failing to supply me with the compliance documentation  I requested under my DSAR a year ago.

Christof also said,  “I am The Creator - of a television show that gives hope and joy and inspiration to millions” and while I can hardly describe my blog posts or my life as providing hope, joy or inspiration to millions, I, like the viewers of The Truman Show can’t help but be continually wondering, “How [and when] is it going to end?”

Here’s hoping 2014 turns out to be a happy and peaceful one for us all.

International Happiness Day

Self improvement guru, lecturer, and author of How to Win Friends and Influence People Dale Brekenridge Carnegi once said, “It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it” and today, on International Happiness Day, I could not agree more.

Once devastated to the point of ill health I am relieved to say I am no longer the woman who could once be found underweight, completely bald from stress and cowering in her soon to be repossessed home. Police officers from the Armed Response Unit do not now frequent my drive to discourage angry tradesmen from laying siege and the threat of a claw hammer to my husband’s head is not what I think of when I hear a knock at my door. No more do I endure the involuntary stomach flips which used to go hand in hand with a glimpse of the postman approaching my house and neither do I answer each and every phone call with the trepidation of a woman braced for the onslaught of hard line debt collectors and their verbal abuse.

It has taken almost five years, upwards of three hundred and fifty letters, forty or more debt counselling consultations, three full blown Financial Ombudsman Service investigations, one hundred and fifty five blog posts, twenty thousand two hundred and ninety four page views,  one thousand nine hundred and ninety six tweets,  an inordinate amount of political and economic reading,  numerous phone calls, countless comments on facebook together with thousands and thousands of man hours to discover that although happiness is not dependent on what I have, where I am or what I am doing, happiness is definitely about having something to hope for.

American author and essayist Elizabeth Gilbert once said, “Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it” and although financially our circumstances have remained unchanged, I am very pleased to report that by fighting, striving and insisting I have not only discovered that I have been a victim of mortgage fraud but I have also found someone who investigates financial fraud on behalf of clients trapped by the wrongdoing of lenders and their associates who is prepared to take my case.

Because of this I now most definitely have hope and it is for this reason, today on International Happiness Day, I feel truly happy!

Malice, Manipulation and Aforethought

American business magnet, investor and philanthropist Warren Buffet once said, “Economic medicine that was previously meted out by the cupful has recently been dispensed by the barrel. These once unthinkable dosages will almost certainly bring on unwelcome after-effects” and, as is the case with so many victims of the current global economic crisis, it seems unwelcome after-effects are precisely what those of us who have suffered at the hands of fraudulent banksters are expected to endure.

It is now fast approaching three weeks that I have been waiting for a response to my letter accusing the Financial Ombudsman Service of favoring Halifax Bank of Scotland in their investigative practices. It seems I am, along with numerous other victims of banking malfeasance, not only expected to swallow said "economic medicine" by the barrel but feel heartily reassured in the knowledge that the very same people who stripped us of our livelihoods and our homes have now, under the watchful eye of our regulators, kicked their culture of greed into touch and will henceforth be operating with our well being at the very core of their corporations.  Now pious and reformed after inadvertently relieving their customers and the global economy of trillions we, the voiceless general public, are urged to believe the following.

     ·        Rewriting the banking codes of conduct will protect us

     ·        Prosecuting banking fraud is neither desirable, practical or good for the economy

 and,

·        New legislation along with revised incentive packages will thwart any bankster’s fraudulent inclinations in the future.

However, if my personal experience of battling with the banks for the past four years is anything to go by, nothing could be further from the truth. In the real world customer well-being is definitely not paramount and irresponsible banking is unlikely to be a thing of the past when I am regularly told by financial regulators,

    ·        Flaunting banking codes of conduct are perfectly permissible as adherence to      them is optional

    ·        Prosecuting a bank is nigh on impossible because it is too difficult to prove intent

    ·        Duty of customer care is not a requirement in law

In the real world, a far off place banksters and their puppet regulators rarely visit,

·        Anglo Irish Bank’s “insane recklessness” not only contaminated the underwriting policy of fellow lenders but was pivotal to a property crash which lost millions of people their homes, their livelihoods, their pensions and in some cases their lives. Needless to say not one iota of reform or regulation has provided restitution for those who paid the price of a calculated manipulation of the property market for elitist personal gain.

In the real world,

·        Loyal Royal Bank of Scotland's commercial borrowers continue to fall victim of “knavish manoeuvres” expressly designed to hijack their assets. By shifting billions in commercial debt and concealing losses via balance sheet manipulation, RBS's bad loans and liabilities have been miraculously transformed into the assets CEO Stephen Hester so desperately needs to successfully implement his recovery programme.

In the real world,

Libor manipulation is not just inappropriate conduct which the banking industry and their regulators have been fully aware of from as early as 1990's , but a manipulative rouse to steal people's hard earned cash and escape unpunished to bask in the profits.

·   And, in the real world,   

·        HBOS are perfectly at liberty to willfully neglect their duty of care, over-sell a discounted, interest only mortgage secured against a family home they vastly overvalued, exclude me from all discussions from the outset, start repossession proceedings without making me aware the loan was in distress, ignore my offer of rental income to service the interest, force a sale which created a £217,000 shortfall and hound me for the re-imbursement of a deficit which came about as a direct result of their highly dubious business ethics and wanton recklessness.

Nineteenth century Civil war veteran and American political leader Robert Green Ingersol once said, “Happiness is not a reward-it is a consequence and suffering is not a punishment but a result” however, if those whose greed resulted in our suffering remains unpunished and regulators are increasingly happy to repackage captured reforms as a solution to an economic crisis which has left millions in financial purgatory, I suspect suffering is destined to be both the consequence and the result for a great many victims of banking criminality for the foreseeable future.

I sincerely hope I am wrong.

Great Expectations

When American novelist Nicholas Sparks said, “I’ve often over-estimated what I could accomplish in a day [but] under-estimated what I could accomplish in a year” he portrayed my own expectations in the role of a one woman debt fighting machine precisely and it did not occur to I would still engaged in a battle for the facts behind my families financial demise four whole years later.

Despite a background in financial services and one hundred and thirty six years of industry experience amongst my immediate relatives, I was unable to comprehend the logic of the way HBOS chose to deal with the suffering and hardship of my family during the banking crisis of 2008. This only made me all the more determined to embark on a quest for as much information about HBOS as I could possibly lay my hands on.

At first I believed I was alone in my distress; my research soon revealed nothing could have been further from the truth. While I had been consumed by the shock of our financial demise and the effect it was having on my children, the media had been awash with the devastation bankster's criminal avarice had reaped on the global economy. Initially hoping government promised rescue packages, interest rate cuts and lenders forbearance combined with a substantial offer of rental income to service our mortgage would begin to ease our difficulties, it soon became clear HBOS had no intention of behaving with compassion or forbearance and were instead intent on recapitalising their coffers with the forced sale and repossession of many people’s residences including our own.

Once my home was no longer mine, I was convinced HBOS would, like 80% of the other banks my husband owed, write off the £217,000 shortfall created by their fire sale when I and the CAB reminded them of our dire financial circumstances. Sadly, instead relentless pursuit at the hands of their debt collectors was the route HBOS chose so, with nothing further to lose and much to the delight of the CAB, my solicitor, several good friends and some very sympathetic bankers, I decided to go public by posting my story on the Internet.

A complete newcomer to blogging little more than a year ago and now the proud recipient of 10,000 page views, I originally embarked on my social media journey to expose HBOS’ brutish behaviour. However, during my subsequent voyage of economic discovery, I realised my suffering as a result of HBOS avarice was far from an isolated incident. Endemic of a light tough regulatory banking system which rewards greed, criminality and failure with untold wealth, the list of those on the receiving end of the bankster’s big stick was all but never ending.

Disillusioned with the reluctance of the FSA, FOS and the government to get to grips with widespread banking fraud I have, over the last year, documented every irrational and often sexist remark I have encountered from Lloyds, HBOS and their regulators during my campaign for a financial future. In the process I have learned the following.

·        Resolving the banking crisis will require radical surgery and quiet determination

·        Britain ignores this wave of financial crime at its peril

And we must all,

·        Emancipate ourselves from slavery

Now, almost eighteen months since I first started writing about banking skulduggery, I am nothing short of delighted to hear the New Wilberforce Alliance has been launched to instigate change. Brain child of whistle blower Paul Moore, former head of HBOS risk management, this organisation promises to campaign for radical reform in our banking sector and a return to corporate values which embrace ecologically sound motives as well as moral ones. I wish every success to the honourable endeavours of the New Wilberforce Alliance and hope, with the help of its growing number of supporters, the volume is raised on the public’s repeated demands for a brighter and ethical future.

It is said, “When the world whispers, give up, when hope whispers, try one more time” and because I remain hopeful of a better future, not only for my family but for generations to come, Paul Moore has my whole hearted support.

Conscientious Objections

American president Thomas Jefferson said, “All tyranny needs in order to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent” and while I wait, without patience, for a reply from the Halifax Bank of Scotland with regard to the overvaluation of my home, I continue to smart from the knowledge there are many people of good conscience who would prefer to accuse me of irresponsible borrowing rather than consider the unpalatable possibility their banks are participating in a reign of financial tyranny to feed elitist avarice from the modest means of the least fortunate.

While banking sins of the past continue to surface in the public domain and CEO’s like Stephen Hester of RBS admit their parents believe they already earn too much, recent reports reveal the world’s top bankers are set to enjoy a double digit increase to their remuneration this year, excluding bonuses.  Despite banking profits and share prices plummeting, the top fifteen anticipate as much as 12% will be added to their personal bottom line and Barclay’s Bob Diamond and Lloyds banking Group’s Antonio Horta Osario are but two of the lucky chief executives set to benefit. As this award comes hot on the tail of an unprecedented number of customer complaints, the huge toll of PPI compensation payouts, a well documented hard line approach to both in house redundancies and debt forgiveness for the vulnerable, one could easily say for many banking executives, there remains good reason to fiddle while the economy continues to burn.

In contrast, the impact of this hard nosed, self serving banking culture on the individual has been further revealed during an open high court hearing into the collapse of Christmas savings company Farepak.  However, this investigation has only served to illustrate there is little the law can to do to arrest banking tyranny at any level  as HBOS’s penchant for lining their own pockets at the expense of others has not only left the Farepak’s directors and their customers to suffer the consequences of HBOS's actions, but also proved that HBOS is adept at remaining beyond the grasp of the strong arm of the law.

In the case of Farepak the court was told “for a year, 116,400 of the country’s poorest families had been putting aside a little bit of cash, saving up for Christmas” only to be left with nothing because, rather than putting together a rescue plan to save the company from collapse or cutting their losses when the writing was on wall, HBOS insisted Farepak directors continue to collect customer’s monthly subscriptions in an effort to eliminate the bank’s exposure. While Mr Justice Peter Smith, not unlike FSA investigators earlier this year, condemned the actions of HBOS, he also “implored” them to redress the situation for Farepak’s customers on moral grounds as he was unable to find the transferring of HBOS losses onto the shoulder’s of Farepak’s customers in this way, illegal. Needless to say HBOS, who infamously referred to the revenue the Farepak customers were providing them as "Doris money", insist they made “entirely reasonable decisions” based on the information they had at the time.

Italian writer, statesmen and Florentine patriot Niccolo Machiavelli once said, “Good morals, if they are to be maintained, have need of the laws, so the laws, if they are to be observed, have need of good morals” yet despite the ongoing distress of those caught up in a global economic crisis some five hundred years later, there remains little evidence of morality or the law playing its part in bringing errant banking practises to heel. Left endlessly waiting in purgatory and with little hope of the law or morality coming to my rescue, if the Farepak case is anything to go by, it is my plan, with good conscience,

Never to remain silent on the matter.

High Anxiety

While EU politicians deliberate over how best to prop up the Italian economy's 1.8 trillion euro debt mountain, a Tuscany vine yard owner told Ian Fraser “all that matters is family, good wine, good food and sex” and having recently read former Chief Executive of HBOS, Andy Horby has decided to take time off from corporate life, I am beginning to wonder if it is because he too shares the Tuscan vineyard owner’s views.

According to Rupert Steiner in the Mail online, Hornby has experienced a tense five years from which he has required a much needed four month stress free break before make a career move into gambling, this time at the helm of Coral the bookmakers. To facilitate this, former employer Alliance Boots, the firm behind Boots the Chemist, has seen fit to make him a payout of ”£842,000 in salary, a £750,000 bonus, a £337,000 pension payment plus £41,000 in other benefits” on his departure. In addition the firm’s accounts also reveal Hornby was paid an additional £450,000 as compensation for not being allowed to join a rival health care company where he would have been at liberty to divulge Boots secrets.

It is said Andy Hornby is in need of a "sabbatical" because he has been “a worried man who cannot concentrate on anything” and having suffered from extreme levels of debt related stress throughout the last few years myself, I can certainly appreciate exactly how this feels. However although the nation is understandably still up in arms with regard to Hornby’s contribution to the collapse of HBOS and the cost of the subsequent government rescue, my question is not directly related to this. Instead I wish to know about what it is that Andy Hornby has been worrying?

·        Is it the worry of a guilty man who is hoping he will not be discovered and, like some former HBOS employees, face the consequences with a prison sentence?

·        Is it the worry of a bought man who is between a rock and hard place because his silence has been purchased?

·        Is it the worry of a patriotic man who wishes he hadn’t played a part in bringing this country to its economic knees?

·        Or maybe, it is the worry of a man who knows I, and many more like me, have lost their homes, their health and their livelihoods as direct a result of risk management policies he supported.

Of course, I cannot begin to guess the real trigger for Andy Hornby’s worries, but in the unlikely event the latter is true, then, as far as I am concerned, absolution is simple. If Andy Hornby would just tell someone of influence in his “ old boy’s” net work that I genuinely have no means with which to repay a mortgage shortfall of £217,000 which was created by HBOS unnecessarily requesting the forced  sale of my home in 2008, I might be able to get agreement to a write off and then I could enjoy some much needed stress free time myself. 

Assuming Mr Hornby could help me get his HBOS successors to listen, I would happily forgive him the legacy of financial persecution he left behind for me when he ran for hills leaving my family and I to suffer the consequences of his board’s reckless policies towards lending and heartless directives for the people caught up in its aftermath.Unfortunately I cannot speak for the many other individuals who have suffered at the hands of an HBOS led by Andy Hornby. However, my philosophy has always been to endeavour to consume ones elephants a little bit at time and helping me could well be the first mouthful of redeeming humble pie and absolution for the allegedly stress troubled Mr Hornby as he takes up the reins in another career based on a gamble.

They say love looks forward, hate looks back and anxiety has eyes all over its head. Having been in the grips of anxiety over the welfare of my family’s future since the very beginning of the economic downturn I have come to believe worry is most definitely interest paid on trouble due before it arrives. If this is the case  I can only hope Andy Hornby’s pockets are very deep.

Guilty Secrets

One hundred years ago Theodore Roosevelt said, “Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people” and as I catch up on my reading with the blogs of journalist Ian Fraser and Stop HBOS campaigner Nicolette Turner, I am provided with yet more evidence to support Roosevelt’s statement.

It appears that Thames Valley Police’s plan to limit their enquiries into the HBOS Reading scandal means they will not be investigating any high level corporate involvement of former HBOS executives despite ongoing allegations of in house fraud at board level. While victims of the HBOS Reading scandal are naturally up in arms about this decision, ex- HBOS risk management executive and whistle-blower Paul Moore has expressed additional concerns at the way LLoyds Bank is responding to this investigation.

Moore said,” I have even been told by very reliable sources that Lloyds Banking Group is not voluntarily offering to help the police with their enquiries. If this is so, it is scandalous. This alleged fraud is a matter of extreme public importance and interest and it is vital that parliament keeps very close eye on how the police and the FSA are doing their jobs and working together with what is going on, through the Treasury Select Committee and the Justice Committee.”

As ever, when it comes to power and money, smoke and mirrors seem to be the first line of defense.  Learning that at least fifty five people have lost their livelihoods along with their companies, as a result of the dishonesty within HBOS, I can’t help wondering how I am ever going to harvest any success in my battle with Lloyds and HBOS myself.  Nicolette Turner and her fellow victims of the HBOS Reading fraud have fought for years with very little success in spite of police involvement and repeatedly lobbying both past and present governments for help.

Today I took two of my children for an eye test and when my ten year old son, always ready with an impromptu question, asked the optician,” What is the most disgusting thing you have ever seen?”  I found myself searching for a subject that would sit at the top of my own “most disgusting” leader board.  I concluded the following,

·        Self-indulgence to the detriment of others

·        Absence of integrity

·        Not taking responsibility for ones actions

In the words of Theodore Roosevelt’s niece Eleanor, “In the long run we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends and the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.” As the wife of an individual whose business failed due to the economic climate and the simultaneous demise of both Heritable Bank and the property development market I am, according to HBOS, supposed to accept that I am jointly and severely liable for the choices my husband made even though HBOS aided my husband’s decision to keep me financially in the dark.

However, when it comes to Lloyds and HBOS executives, it is evident that they are totally unprepared to embrace their responsibilities with integrity and are pleading that they shouldn’t be held responsible because, allegedly, they were, like me, kept in the dark and unaware of what was going on within their bank. Even though this outrageous double standard is both elitist and downright unfair, there appears to be no governing body prepared to make these "untouchables" accountable. Because of this, social justice is unlikely ever to be attained and the greater good is destined to remain second place to the indulgences of the high ranking corporate individual.

      This I find truly disgusting.

God's banker

Finding myself in need of some respite from my role as Battler of the Banks, I embarked on some recreational research. In doing so I discovered Ian Fraser’s article of March 2009 about God’s Banker. Without reading any further I knew immediately this piece was about Stephen Green, Chief Executive of HSBC.

Having asked the Citizen’s Advice Bureau in January 2009 to help me deal with our creditors I was still sinking under the weight of the abusive correspondence from HSBC. Despite a full CAB explanation of our circumstances, the correspondence from the debt collection agency appointed by HSBC was becoming increasingly threatening in its nature. In desperation I went into the local HSBC branch in June 2009 to explain our position only to be met with the staff’s expressions of hopelessness along with apathetic comments which got me nowhere. I arrived at my friend Chris's house in tears believing there was to be no end to HSBC’s demands and my plight was indeed as hopeless as intimated by the branch employees.

After issuing a few comforting words, my trusty friend and comrade at arms fired up her computer with the statement, “I think it’s time to write to the Chief Executive.” Moments later we were reading that HSBC’s man at the top was an ordained Anglican Priest who had spent a year working at a hostel for alcoholics and I allowed myself a flicker of hope. Believing I might be approaching a man of integrity, I wrote to Stephen Green asking for his compassion in the light of our irreversibly dire financial circumstances and asked if he could arrange for my husband’s debts with HSBC to be written off rather than relentlessly and heartlessly pursued. Mr Green did not disappoint.

In reply to my letter, the Head of HSBC Customer Relations advised me they would not only be writing off the £45,000 my husband owed them directly but they were also able to write off a further £15,000 of credit card debt which was under their management. They concluded with the words they “hoped their decision would bring me comfort and it would go some way towards allowing you and your family to make a fresh start without the worries of the past.” This time I was crying with relief.

Ian Fraser says, “At last an honest banker,” and quotes Stephen Green as saying,
“It is as if, too often, people had given up asking whether something was the right thing to do, and focused only on whether it was legal and complied with the rules. The industry needs to recover a sense of what is right and suitable as the key impulse for doing business” and while Ian founds his remarks “hugely refreshing” I found his actions hugely humane.

However, I find it hugely inhumane HBOS and Lloyds Banking Group still chose to operate in heartless contrast to the kind and logical words, and actions, of God's banker while two years on from the release of my husband’s obligations to HSBC I am still struggling to make any kind of “fresh start” because of their persecution of us.

How much is enough?

Recently Ian Fraser, reporter and BBC journalist introduced me to William Hopper’s financial observation “The credit crunch is like an atomic bomb”.  My attention was immediately captured by his succinct explanation of how a shift in attitude over a four hundred year period has produced the unstable economy we have today.  In his article Hopper praises the legacy of the migrating East Anglian Puritans who, in the 1630s, moved to the USA with their “gift” of good management. This gift was an ethos grounded in the belief pursuit of an ideal society with a focus on the common good is paramount.

Hopper goes on to lament our current global trend which rewards hot-housed qualifications in favour of the hardworking endeavours of our economically sound ancestors.  In contrast to today’s executive, these fore bearers were prepared to work hard to make their way up the ladder of expertise to gain valuable shop floor experience before taking their place in the board room.

It appears the most significant shift in attitude came about in the 60s and 70s when managers became hired hands who no longer came up through the ranks but instead arrived with MBA’s from business schools who taught them to focus on deals and numbers. This new age administrative managerial authority entered the market place believing short term shareholder value was the executive’s number one goal and these values bred a culture which, at best, condoned individual self interest and in the case of the banks, whole heartedly embraced it. The move away from what was perceived as old fashioned Puritan ideologies led to “incompetence on an unprecedented scale that has extended over much of society” and is particularly rife in the banking industry today.

The worship of self interest was further fuelled by the expanding of a credit funded economy where ethical considerations within the banking fraternity were waived in favour of a promise of wealth creation for the masses. In reality this bubble of self-deception produced nothing of the sort and only widened the gap between rich and poor leaving the poor even poorer and high ranking banking executives with a taste for unprecidented riches. William Hopper says, “Banks that are seen as too big to fail are too big to regulate and therefore too big to live. I would add Lloyds and HBOS are also too big to know when they are flogging a dead horse or much less care about the impact their "double standard" acts of cruelty are having on my family.

No doubt it is also the reason HBOS were also too big to consider it worth their while to intervene and prevent the destruction of twenty two families lives when they learned, from the victims, long before the police made their arrests, of a long standing fraud which is now referred to as the HBOS Reading Scandal. I was once asked by a financially independent workaholic, “How much is enough?”It appears, for the powers that be within HBOS, the obscene multi million pound bonuses paid out year on year are still not enough to secure ethical policies, compassionate solutions and the forward thinking integrity of our Puritan forefathers. I can only wonder with trepidation, what it will actually take to affect the necessary shift in attitude when a credit crunch, which has been compared to an Atomic Bomb, has had little impact on how HBOS thinks and behaves.

It was Albert Einstein who once said "relativity applies to physics not ethics" and sadly  I can see this is precisely the case when it comes to the attitude of our casino  banksters who have without apology, brought this economy and my family to its knees.

It's a mad, mad world

Along with the other Mum’s of the year five children at my son’s prep school, I am nearing the completion of their longitudinal study.  I am expecting to do quite well, in a nine year old boy sort way, but can’t for the life on me understand why, each year, the unwritten school law dictates this project should be produced. If the Mum’s are hard at work producing it then surely it is beyond the ability of the vast majority of the pupils for whom it is set.

 There is however, a bi-product.  The expectation for me to turn a small boy’s efforts into something the school can be proud of has allowed me to become an expert on Lord Kelvin the mathematician and physicist.  When, during my research, I discovered Lord Kelvin said “you can understand perfectly if you give your mind to it,” I found myself sighing in exasperation at my endless, and so far fruitless, attempts to have a meaningful dialogue with Lloyds TSB and HBOS.

Further frustrated at more examples of Lloyds TSB’s mindless and misguided actions when I read journalist and BBC reporter Ian Fraser’s recent blog I can't but be incredulous to discover Antonio Horta-Osorio is being rewarded with a “golden hello” in excess £13,000,000 in recognition of the difficulties he is to face in his new job as trouble shooter extraordinaire. Having written to Antonio Horta-Osorio twice recently I do not rate his chances at living up to the board of Lloyds TSB’s expectations if my experiences are anything to go by. My first letter to him was as Chief Executive of Santander. I wrote in an effort to solicit some support and compassion following an Abbey National campaign of bombardment due to our credit card default.

 On the second occasion I wrote to him in his role as Chief Executive of Lloyds TSB.  In this letter I asked him to intervene with HBOS. They have, over the course of two years, been harassing and bullying me in an effort to collect on a debt they know to be unrecoverable and which still hold they created.   In both cases I did not receive a reply and although I concede I am but a small fish, it does not bode well if organisations cannot communicate with their customers and  instead continue to waste share holders money chasing unrecoverable debt.  If this is too change I, like Ian Fraser, cannot see how paying Executives lavish rewards at any time, let alone in a recession,  can do anything other than massage their egos to the point of deity status.  To pay them obscene amounts before they have achieved any of the anticipated results seems nothing short of ludicrous. 

Lord Kelvin also said, “When you are faced with a difficulty, you are up against a discovery” and after the past two years of extreme financial and emotional hardship I can only agree  I have discovered after much personal difficult with both HBOS bankers and my son's longitudinal study,  the madness is clearly set to continue in both the banking world and at my son’s prep school.

Awakenings

I remember reading somewhere there are no limits to an individual’s fascination for themselves and with this in mind I find myself wondering if it is a self-obsession which drives me to continue to blog about my life. Having given this concept some consideration, I have come to the conclusion my motivation has less to do with me than it has to do with my determination to piece my family's life back together. In the last week two things have happened which have made me feel I might, at last, be making some headway in this respect.

The first was a conversation with Ian Fraser whose supportive words gave me a very welcome sign  my rantings on the subject of the Bank of Scotland have been heard. It was an encouraging indication I might have finally acquired a voice and it offered me hope of eventually being more than a mere whisper to a hand full of much valued friends.

The other major development was my husband not only mustered a smiled in my direction but also initiated several conversations with me which were not about the weather. Any attempt at meaningful conversation on his part recently is a huge breakthrough in what has amounted to a debt related marital silence which has lasted for more than two and a half years. I am not sure what has instigated this subtle move from cool to slightly warm but I know he was asked a question by my twelve year old daughter which might have been the catalyst.

She simply wanted know if he loves me and it is my suspicion it may well be this very question, asked in childish innocence which has promoted a shift in his overall disposition. This, along with his awareness now, unlike any other time during our seventeen year marriage, I am either tapping away on my computer or engaged in a variety of activities which are totally independent of him. Perhaps these small changes in me have at last awakened a realisation some interactive effort is required on both sides if he wishes to remain a presence in my life. Who knows what has prompted this change in my husband but whatever the motivation, a little bit of long awaited warmth has been a pleasing occurrence.

So, with these two developments firmly in mind I continue to be hopeful my perceptions are real and not instead illusions which all too often collide with reality only to be dashed to pieces again along with my expectations.

Never-ending stories

Now I have actually started looking, I have come across many reported stories of the unscrupulous dealings of banking institutions. However it is clear, the Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB take the biscuit every time. I can say this with conviction because I have personally fallen foul of their penchant for persecuting the poor. We are now completely penniless as a direct consequence of their irresponsible lending spree together with a "come what may" attitude to their administrative obligations.

When, in October 2008, I discovered my unenviable financial position it did not occur to me to look for legislation and court rulings made in favour of women in similar circumstances. At the time my life was in tatters and so was I. More recently, I have had both the time and the inclination to explore these avenues and in so doing have unearthed barrister Richard Colbey's article in the Telegraph in 2001.

Mr Colbey talks of a House of Lords ruling which has given the wives of businessmen a right to their share of the equity in their homes. This has come about because it is recognises spouses are in danger of being coerced, by their partners and their mortgage lenders, into agreeing to family homes being taken as security to raise funds for their husband's businesses. Richard Colbey says the courts are to follow the House of Lords' ruling putting the onus on the lender to make sure a husband and wife take separate independent legal advice when taking out, or increasing, a mortgage on a family's main residence if funds are to be raised for non residential purposes. This precaution ensures neither borrower unknowingly finds themselves in a position where they could lose their home in an attempt to support a spouse's business. Richard Colbey says, "In future, lenders who hope to be able to rely on mortgage deeds signed by a wife will have to prove she was seen by a solicitor who was not acting for the bank or her husband before they can repossess the whole property."

There are two areas of concern which apply to me;

Firstly, at the time of signing our mortgage document, I was not advised by the Bank of Scotland to seek any legal advice independently and separately from my husband and the mortgage company. This does not surprise me in the slightest as this nonchalant view the Bank of Scotland have of co-signing spouses has been evident throughout my dealings with them. When, unbeknown to me, the arrears on our mortgage started to build up, the Bank of Scotland made no attempt to contact me personally. This neglect directly resulted in the loss of our family home because the Bank of Scotland denied me an opportunity, at the start of any problems, to rectify the situation.

In addition, the Bank of Scotland unashamedly excluded me from all debt counselling conversations they had with my husband through our difficulties. They even levied a charge of £100 for a final debt counselling consultation which my husband was supposed to have had when neither of us was even in the country. The Bank of Scotland says they based their decision to repossess our lovingly restored sixteenth century home of ten years on the findings of this consultation. On enquiring why I was not included in any discussions at any stage, the Bank of Scotland said, "it was not their responsibility to make sure husband and wife communicate" and in the case of a married couple, they believe speaking to one person is enough. They stated in most cases where there are arrears, it is unusual for either borrower to want to speak to their lender in the first place and because of this statistic they had no reason to believe I would be any different. I was, and still am, outraged at this laissez faire attitude to joint and severally liable spouses on Bank of Scotland mortgages.

Secondly;

If this House of Lord's ruling was in place and being reported in 2001 why was I rail-roaded by the Bank of Scotland and the courts in November 2008 into thinking I had no grounds on which to halt the repossession process? I was in touch with the Bank of Scotland several times a week from 2 October 2008 trying to explain my predicament in an attempt to explore all the options. However, the Bank of Scotland insisted, other than making full monthly interest payments immediately, as well as offering a substantial monthly sum via a payment arrangement towards paying off the arrears, I had no alternative other than agree to sell at a forced sale value unless I wished be repossessed. As my husband had not found employment at that stage, I agreed to sign their power of sale terms. The Bank of Scotland insisted the court case go ahead and, in November 2008, the judge ruled in support of the Bank of Scotland's application for a repossession order. If I did not remain in agreement to the forced sale of my home, the order was to come into effect on 5 January 2009 and give the Bank of Scotland the power to proceed with a repossession. The Bank of Scotland valued our home for mortgage purposes in May 2006 at £925,000 and it was sold, under duress, for £245,000 less in April 2009 for a mere £665,000 creating a £217,000 shortfall.

I can see now my sorry tale is just another example of the compassionless lending policies employed by the Bank of Scotland. It can be added to the ever increasing list of the Bank of Scotland's unashamed and callous attitude towards their customers, their investors and their shareholders. Along with the Reading scandal which is reported in depth in BBC reporter and journalist Ian Fraser's article, it is yet another example of a directive which has been rolled out by HBOS executives to push high risk lending out to small businesses regardless of the cost to the families of those concerned.

When the Bank of Scotland's commercial risk backfired, unlike the many other lenders I have had dealings with, they have happily laid the blame at somebody else's door expecting the individual concerned, the tax payer, the investor and no doubt anyone else they can think of to pay the price.
As well as a catalogue of offences in Ian Fraser's report HBOS the Worst Bank in the World, the Bank of Scotland's attitude to selling money in this irresponsible manner has legitimised a greed for the massive introductory fees that go hand in hand with the marketing of high risk lending. The fees which were generated from placing our mortgage with the Bank of Scotland in May 2006 were £3,931.25 to the introducer plus an additional £699.00 which the Bank of Scotland awarded themselves. These figures do not include any commissions earned by selling supporting life assurance and repayment vehicles both of which can add thousands to the introducer's financial remuneration.

Sadly, I continue to be advised although I probably do have a case against the Bank of Scotland, it will cost £40,000 to bring it to court. No doubt the knowledge of the dire financial circumstances  many of their victims now face, allows the Bank of Scotland to continue with their persecution of the poor, safe in the knowledge as individuals we will not have the means with which to make them answerable for their dirty dealings whether they be in Reading, or in the sleepy back water I once used to call home.

Hogwash and other things

Late one wintry evening whilst silently racking my brain and the internet, for answers to our untenable position, I typed "HBOS complaints" into my google search engine. After the initial surprise, relief, shock and horror at what I found, my blood  began to boil. Because I had been completely consumed by the impact the financial crisis was having on my families life, the fraudulent dealings of HBOS had totally pass me by. 

For two and a half painful years not only I had remained unaware I was not alone in my suffering but I was also oblivious to the fact the Bank of Scotland were the subject of the majority of mortgage complaints made to the Financial Ombudsman Service. I was astounded to find 40% of these mortgage complaints were found in the complainant's favour. Not only was it a relief to know I shared my desire to expose the Bank of Scotland's skulduggery with other victims but I also discovered there were a bloggers, such as Stop HBOS, and the BBC broadcaster and reporter Ian Fraser who were also revealing a catalogue of scandalous dealings within this too big to fail bully boy bank. I am now following  both in an effort to keep abreast of any new developments.

However as a result of further internet searches, I have been further shocked by the report that the Bank of Scotland moves to restructure buy-to-let debt - The Irish Times - Thu, Feb 10, 2011.  It appears the Bank of Scotland, in exceptional circumstances, is to offer some buy to let investors who have fallen into deep negative equity an opportunity to sell at less than the value of their mortgages without come back.  The Bank of Scotland says that they will not be burdening these people with any shortfall obligation.

It goes without saying I am truly happy a solution has been arrived at for those in Ireland who are experiencing mortgage distress and shortfalls but because of HBOS' blatant double standards, I find it nothing short of outrageous that those of who are suffering in the same way in the UK are not enjoying similar treatment. Instead of forgiveness we have been forgotten and this is simply unjust.

Surely the Bank of Scotland's UK residential customers are equally deserving of an opportunity to move on with their lives. Yet, instead they have chosen the buy to let sector to bestow their compassion and are romancing the Irish press with statements which show them in the warm compassionate light of benevolent benefactors.  "Exceptional circumstances" should apply to people in my position. People with three small children who have had their homes, their livelihoods, their health and their hope of ever having a debt free or (even debt manageable)   financial future.  What about our struggle with a £1,000,000 unsecured debt, ill health, bereavement and my husband's suicide plans?

The article states they cannot get "blood from a stone" yet this is precisely what they have been trying to get from us via their Merrils Ede appointed henchwoman. Merrils Ede state on their website that they treat debt collection as if it is their own money and make no differentiation between "can't pay" and "won't pay".  It is for two and half years I have woken every morning wondering if my husband is to recover from his beating at the hands of the Bank of Scotland. I repeatedly rack my brains as to how I can put a stop to the Bank of Scotland's ongoing persecution of my family.  Beside myself with anger and frustration to find their callousness is set to continue because they can only empathise with Irish clientele with second homes and investment properties.

It is now abundantly clear to me all I and the CAB have ever received from the Bank of Scotland in reply to our frequent and lengthy letters explaining my family’s desperate plight, is complete and utter hogwash. 

The Bank of Scotland has  definitely not heard the last of this!

                              

                         

Eating elephants

Anne Elliot in Jane Austen's Persuasion says women, more than men, feel the pain of tragedy for longer. I can only concur, as in my case, this appears to be only too  true. Where my husband has put the agony of our financial failure behind him, I am still, on occasion, haunted by the horrors of our demise along with the painful, frightening experiences which went with it. The memory of the vicious verbal attacks I received, together with the shame and discomfort I felt in our disgrace, can still make my stomach churn nearly three years later.

Never before have I ever had to explain to anyone, although substantial funds were owed to them, there was nothing in the pot with which to pay them. I saw this unpalatable disclosure as an act of "reneging" on our part and it was totally alien to me. I have always previously paid my way in full and I was tormented by the impact our downfall might have on other people’s lives. It was a phone call to an insolvency practitioner which helped me order my feelings about our circumstances. He did this by asking one simple question.

"Who took the commercial risk?"

This uncomplicated approached produced a healthy shift in attitude which enabled my almost instant recovery from a paralysis, self loathing and guilt which until this point enveloped me. Amidst the panic and chaos of discovering we were not only penniless but £1,000,000 in the red, I could finally see it certainly wasn't me who had taken a commercial risk and bizarrely enough it wasn't really my husband either. Applying this simple principal to each debt enabled me to start thinking rather than reacting. I immediately calculated, out of all the people we owed, who had and who had not taken a commercial risk. When it came to it, almost all our creditors had, while in full possession of all their faculties, entered a business arrangement with my husband which had not worked out. Unfortunate it may well have been, but nevertheless the decision to extend a line of credit to my husband was taken by business people who knew full well "you cannot win them all".

So if I, a fifty three year old house wife and mother of five, while suffering from shock and a debilitating grief has managed to grasp this basic principal, why are the business savvy high fliers at LLoyds TSB and the Bank of Scotland struggling to get a grip on the details of our situation and the futility of their pursuit?

I have recently discover the answer to this question in is BBC broadcaster and journalist Ian Fraser's report of February 2010. He explains why Halifax Bank of Scotland is the worst bank in the world and relays "it's calamitous seven year history". Not only were their executives "dangerously out of control and probably fraudulent" in their single minded high risk pursuit of short-term profits, but their initiatives held no regard for the long term cost to their share holders nor did they consider how their lending decisions would harm their customers. The executive directive appears to have been to achieve short-term profits regardless of the consequences. With this course set, Halifax Bank of Scotland's reckless and irresponsible behaviour was ultimately aided and abetted by the decision of the FSA to turn a blind eye to the banks blatant wrong doings. This created a toxic recipe was not only the undoing of many individuals but provides the back drop to my ongoing attempts to communicate my resulting financial distress to HBOS who, instead of showing understanding, have now become out tormentors.
More recently the Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB's have both adopted a pious public disposition to what they now choose to view as "other people's indulgences". It has made them impossible to reason with them over a £217,000 shortfall which they refuse to admit their own actions created. Unlike me and the our other creditors (totalling £600,000) all of whom have accepted we are without the means with which to repay them, these too big to fail banking institutions seem unable to comprehend they are merely dealing with a misjudged commercial risk from which they must move on. However I know this holier than though attitude is merely an elephant in the HBOS room which, if I am to enjoy any hope of a debt free future with my family, must be consumed. Thankfully I have it on the very best authority this task is a perfectly feasible one if I am prepared to approach it with one bite at a time.

With the help of some much valued prompting from friends and sympathetic bankers who have already written off our debts, I can see it is most definitely time to invite the media to the table. Here's hoping Ian Fraser, Jeremy Paxman, Jeremy Vine and anyone else who is prepared to listen have a penchant for a banquet of HBOS elephant.