Business Worries

Eighteenth century English writer and printer Samuel Richardson once said, “Necessity may well be called the mother of invention but calamity is the test of integrity,” and while there is no doubt the calamitous circumstances of recent years have necessitated a certain amount of re-invention on my part, it has been the loss of my financial integrity which has caused me to suffer the most.

A little more than four years ago I was living the life of a stay at home mother of five children and wife of a successful property developer. We resided in a beautifully restored sixteenth century barn on the banks of the river Severn and enjoyed regular visits to the Costa del Sol where we stayed in our equally beautiful Spanish apartment.  Often hosting gatherings both at home and abroad for friends and family while organising and attending fund raising activities for the school, I endeavoured to be an upstanding and contributory member of our small community and a supportive silent partner in my husband’s business.

To my horror, I learnt the credit crunch of October 2008 was not just something which was happening to other people and quickly found being a victim of it meant losing our home, our business and our financial future. While errant bankers were using the sub prime mortgage market to prop up their balance sheets, my husband had, without my knowledge, endeavoured to prop up our own business by borrowing to the hilt. The subsequent and some would say calculated collapse of the property market along with the demise of our business bank Heritable not only meant we were unable to service our loans but we were without the means with which to repay our creditors. I was crippled with the shame from the demise of our financial integrity and made full disclosure of all future financial matters a condition of our marriage’s survival.

During the years which followed I have struggled to trust my husband despite guarantees he will never again exclude me from his decision making. Thankfully our lives, and my self esteem, have tentatively pieced themselves back together and gradually I have relaxed into some semblance of normality. Once again, I live in a beautiful house (albeit rented through friends and shared with lodgers), my children remain in independent schools (albeit through bursaries for which I have gone cap in hand to secure) and through the generosity of our family, we still visit the Costa del Sol from time to time. I have even started to organise and attend charitable events in an effort to once again be an upstanding and contributory member of the community. However, I also spend many a covert hour communicating with our creditors and their regulators and I continue to find tasks of this nature excruciatingly painful.

On the other hand, I am delighted to report that these days life is far from all bad. There are even moments of immense pride and pure joy. Only recently, for example, my eldest son, at the age of seventeen, secured a place at university to read English and Creative Writing only to discover, because of his young age, he would be unable to take up his place in hall without a parent present when collecting the keys. Thanks to the kindness of my older daughter who suggested she drive us, not only did this allow me to relax in the knowledge her company car’s satellite navigation would deliver us to our destination without out issue, but it also gave me a very welcome but all too rare chance to play my part of exceptionally proud mother while, for the first time in twenty five years, enjoying a fascinating afternoon’s sightseeing in London. It was unadulterated bliss.

Four years on from the onset of our personal financial crisis, I am very pleased to find our modest income, with the help of tax credits, continues to cover our outgoings and although my husband’s job with M & S is a menial one, it provides him the opportunity to study via the Open University. Without the worry of creditors hurling abuse at the door, over the phone or via the post I have become settled in a way I would have struggled to imagine in the days which followed my discovery of our true financial position. I have even begun to believe that one day our financial integrity may well be fully restored and allow us to lay to rest the ghosts.

However, this morning’s revelations have blown all thoughts of domestic bliss and hopes for a future of financial integrity to smithereens and I am consumed with fear for what may be to come because,

My husband tells me he has started a small business.

He has opened a bank account and made his first trade.

He tells me there is to be no borrowing and no stock holding.

He insists he will not give up his day job nor will he let this venture interfere with his studies.

He believes this is the only method in which to secure us a reasonable financial future.

He regrets he did not choose to tell me sooner but was concerned I might discourage him or it would cause me unnecessary worry.

He assures me he knows what he is doing.

He promises me everything will to be alright.

The trouble is.....

I’ve heard this all once before!

American actress, playwright and sex symbol Mae West once said, “People who are surprised easily need to be surprised more often” and I am most certainly guilty of being shocked to hear my husband, after eighteen years of marriage, four years of which were endured in the grips of an integrity stripping calamity, has now, without any mention or discussion, embarked upon another business venture. While I have no doubt he views my concerns for what amounts to little more than his opening a bank account as an over-reaction arising from my being over-sensitized to the consequences of debt, I unlike Mae West do not believe the solution to this is to be surprised more often.

Quite frankly I find the prospect of repeating the last four, however remote, nothing  short of terrifying.

Fall Guys

Napoleon Bonaparte once said, “The people to fear are not those who disagree with you, but those who disagree with you and are too cowardly to let you know”.  After reading last week’s report that Swiss bank UBS have found someone to blame for their two billion dollar losses, along with many an article lamenting the government’s tepid support of banking reform, I cannot help but reflect on the impact the cowardly fears of the greedy have had on the current economic crisis both at home and abroad.  Feeling aggrieved that regulatory bodies and governments alike prefer to leave ethics and moral obligation out of their investigations, I can only conclude their cowardly consent to banking malfeasance is set to continue while the perpetrators remain unchecked.

Not wishing to follow suit or suffer at the hands of HBOS in silence while believing that disobedience is the rarest and most courageous of the virtues, I have decided not only to disagree with the Financial Ombudsman Service’s recommendation to accept their findings, but also to insist they reply to the many unanswered questions they saw fit to neglect within my original compliant.

Fully aware that it seems to be common practise amongst regulators to leave out more than they put in when it comes to contentious banking issues, I have asked the Financial Ombudsman to address the following simple questions,

·        Why did HBOS choose not to inform me, at outset, of the arrears on my mortgage?

·        Why did HBOS neglect to offer me any form of debt counselling in an effort to explore the merits of alternative solutions other than forcing a sale on my home?

·        Why did HBOS refuse to allow me to secure a three year tenant whose rent was more than enough to pay my mortgage interest plus regular and substantial sums towards the arrears?

·        Why did HBOS choose to force me to sell my home and create a massive unrecoverable shortfall as opposed to follow their own guidelines which state they must secure the best return possible for their shareholders?

I await the Ombudsman’s reply.

In addition, I am delighted to report that sending my “All I need is you letter” to Antonio Horta Osorio and the HBOS company secretary Harry Baines (at Ian Fraser’s suggestion) has at last secured me a meaningful, albeit incomplete reply.

 It appears HBOS’s Mortgage Recoveries Team leader plans a full investigation into their appointed solicitor, Merrils Ede’s handling of my case.  Having been greatly relieved on receipt of the Ombudsman’s news that Merrils Ede are to be removed from my case, it didn’t occur to me that Merrils Ede might actually be the subject of an investigation themselves.  Remembering all too clearly the two years of verbal assaults I have endured at the hands of Merrils Ede’s resident Rottweiler, I cannot help but raise a smile as write these words.

So, with many things in hand but still awaiting the replies, I am all the more determined not to let regret for the past and fear of the future steal my life. To this end I am embarking on a number of  more domestic issues for next few days as I wait hopefully, but not very patiently, for some resolution on the debt fighting front.

This week I plan to,

·        Write “Friends of the school” letters of welcome to all parents letting them know of our numerous forthcoming fundraising events.

·        Escort my daughter, her two overseas school friends who board, and my mother to a local fashion show.

·        Take delivery of a kindly donated and much needed garden shed

And

·        Battle with our insurance company because we have no independent witnesses to the fact that we were stationary when another vehicle piled into the front of our car.

Hoping that my ongoing trials and tribulations at the hands of HBOS have not prevented me from learning more from looking for life’s answers rather than finding the answer itself, it has amused me to read that “democracy is the process by which people choose the man who’ll get the blame”. While, for the moment, my personal concerns rest with whether or not our insurance company will accept we are not to blame for the damage to our car, I cannot help but wonder who really believes, in the case of the UBS fraud or the HBOS Reading scandal that these examples of gross misconduct are truly the responsibility of a few misguided individuals rather than a greedy but cowardly corporate banking initiative.

Off Limits

I have heard it said that limitations live only in our minds and if we use our imaginations, the possibilities become limitless. This point was illustrated to perfection today by my ten year old son when expressing, yet again, his desire to keep chickens.  On this occasion he did not attempt to seek permission to own a chicken but merely stoked a lively discussion as to how many chickens would be required to fulfil his ambition to keep our family in eggs.  Changing tack like this has smoothly shifted the debate from if to when he can have chickens and has made me wonder if taking a leaf out of his book in my dealings with Lloyds and HBOS’s might render me greater success.

Over the last week I have;

·        Received another demand from Lloyds debt collectors

·        Received no reply from Antonio Horta Osorio to my original letter of 4 August

·        Received no reply from Antonio Horta Osorio to my ”chase up” letter of 19 August

This leaves the Irish and the Elite continuing to enjoy preferential treatment for mortgage shortfall forgiveness and me continuing to suffer in purgatory purely because I live in England and do not have a high enough profile to be heard.

I have, however, received another letter this week. The Financial Ombudsman has given me two remarkably good but unexplained piece of news.

The henchwoman at Merrels Ede Solicitors has been called off as a direct result of my compliant and HBOS have, at last, agreed “not to pursue” for the time being, namely eighteen months.  This has come as a complete surprise to me because, in their last letter, my caseworker informed me they could not proceed without seeking agreement from HBOS to investigate my complaint leaving me under the impression the Financial Ombudsman's Service was about to prove completely toothless yet again.

So where does this leave me now?

It leaves me with eighteen months of limitless possibilities.  I don’t know what they are yet but it will be a relief to be able to put my case to whomever I wish without continually having to deal with the bully boy and brow beating tactics of HBOS’s Rottweiler, Merrils Ede solicitor’s. It also leaves me some unencumbered time to consider the merits of a ten year old boy keeping chickens.

Infiltrations

Having read that the Smurf’s have recently been seen on Wall Street opening the New York stock exchange, I am beginning to wonder if, far from being a new development, Smurf’s have in fact been quietly infiltrating our financial institutions for quite some.  If this is indeed the case, the meaningless correspondence I continue to receive from Lloyds Bank is perfectly understandable when one considers it may well have been written by a large blue fluffy creature with very little between its ears.

Amidst the comings and goings that go hand in hand with children at home for the summer holidays, it appears I am now be subjected to a Lloyds Banking Group “pincer action”. On the one hand Merrils Ede Solicitors are waiting like vigilantes to pounce in the hope that the Financial Ombudsman will throw me to back to these HBOS wolves, while on the other, Lloyds TSB’s credit card and small loans department are bludgeoning me to distraction with their stupidity. The frustration of getting nowhere in both directions at once is nothing short of infuriating and, as ever, threatens me with yet another migraine melt down.

The crux of the matter is this.

I and the CAB have only ever corresponded with Lloyds TSB to ask them to forgive my husband’s credit card debt and personal loan (amounting to approximately £20,000) on the grounds of an inability to pay, combined with compassionate reasons. Lloyds TSB have spent two years ignoring these letters and then, just over twelve months ago, invented a communication in which it was agreed a payment arrangement should be set up. I have no knowledge of making an arrangement with them of any kind and nor haas the CAB so have I repeatedly asked for the documentary evidence on which they have based this assumption.

A multitude of letters later and almost year on, Lloyds continue to fail to supply me with anything. My exhaustive efforts have managed to ascertain nothing more than their repeated confirmation that a payment arrangement has definitely been made. Today’s letter states, yet again, this is their final response and advises me to deal direct with their collection agents in the future. This is, I am told, customary with debts that are in default of a payment arrangement.

Stupidity of this magnitude has led me to believe this level of stupidity can only be the work of ungoverned Smurfs if Smurf history is to be believed.

In 1964 when the first of their adventures were being heard, Smurfs were experiencing a leadership struggle following the disappearance of Papa Smurf. Although two potential leaders were soon indentified the Smurf population quickly became disenchanted when trying to arrange a vote because Smurf’s, as a rule, prefer only to vote for themselves. The community continued to struggled between choosing one candidate who was intent on making empty promises and using demagogical tactics and another who was arrogant and opinionated. Order and productivity ground to a halt while battle broke out between the independent factions. Thankfully, after much discontent and disruption amongst the entire Smurf population, Papa Smurf returned to save the day immediately restoring harmony and industry in the Smurf village once again.

If my suspicions are correct, the reason my requests are being continually ignored is because they are falling on the ears of ungoverned Smurfs within the Lloyds Banking Group. If this is truly the situation, Papa Smurf must return to restore order and productivity amongst these Smurf dissenters as a matter of urgency. I believe his presence is imperative I am to have any hope of procuring some sense out of Lloyds Banking Group and the tax payer is to avoid paying the price of banking lunancy once again .

All I need Is You

It has annoyed me intensely to be repeatedly accused of “using delaying tactics” and “ignoring a problem which is not just going to go away” by HBOS’s henchwoman at Merrils Ede Solicitors.  It is a statement which could not be further from the truth. I have never enjoyed a disposition which allows me “a head in the sand” approach to anything.  Nor do I have the patience for delaying tactics.

Despite my best endeavours over the past three years, my HBOS trouble's have not only remained unresolved but I have been aggressively pursued by their solicitors for a shortfall which arose from their fire sale of my home. Racking my brains for a solution which would allow me to move on with my life while despondently sifting through the numerous letters both written and received from HBOS, I have concluded it is probably time to write one more, This is because, in my heart of hearts, I know full well the toothless Financial Ombudsman Service will do one of three things, 

• Sidestep the issues I have outlined in my complaint, 
• With-hold their opinion a on a technicality or
• Wriggle out of making any meaningful judgeme 

However strong my argument against HBOS is, I can not see the Financial Ombudsman’s Service setting a precedent which would open another set of misselling flood gates hot on the tail of the recent PPI ruling and, without a face that fits or a high profile case currently in litigation (and supported by a lengthy list of fellow victims) I still believe I am extremely unlikely to be heard. It is for this reason I have decided to give writing to Antonio Horta Osorio chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group another shot. I am, after all, one of “his dead” and I have been waiting without patience to be brought out “from under the drain cover” for a very, very long time.

I strongly suspect Mr Horta Osorio, if made fully aware of my case might well agree that spending more taxpayer and investor money chasing people like myself (who have been left penniless as a result of the banking crisis) for mortgage shortfalls which have already been proven to be unrecoverable, is not good business practice. My problem is not what to write but how to get my message in front of him. 

My previous attempts have repeatedly failed.

However, in the unlikely event that Mr Horta-Osorio's inner circle might finally allow my message to reach him, this is what I would say,

Dear Mr Horta-Osorio,

In October 2008, having previously been kept completely in the dark by my husband and having had no contact with HBOS until this time, I was informed by Dryden’s (HBOS' solicitors) of their plan to repossess my home.  I immediately contacted HBOS to discuss my options and informed them I had secured a tenant who was willing to sign an assured shorthold lease and pay £2,200 a month to rent our property for a three year period. By the time the HBOS' possession order was due to take effect, this sum not only covered the mortgage but would have provided a substantial contribution towards paying off the arrears.  However, HBOS flatly refused to accept this solution when we found ourselves without an income (as a consequence of the banking crisis and our Icelandic business banks collapse) insisting my proposal was made too late for them to consider. 

In November 2008 HBOS to us to court, secured an order for possession which came into effect in January 2009 and completed a forced sale on my home in April 2009.
They were aware from outset neither my husband or I had the means with which to pay any shortfall arising from the discounted sale yet we are now being pursued aggressively for a shortfall which was not only of HBOS' making but for funds they know full well we do not possess.

Furthermore, HBOS’s actions escalated an arrears problem of £27,000 (which I could have been resolved by my proposal) into an unrecoverable mortgage shortfall of £217,000. Despite this, I am now being hounded for this shortfall by HBOS' appointed debt collection solicitors Merrils Ede.  Both HBOS and Merrils Ede have repeatedly been told by both myself and the Citizens Advice Bureau that my husband’s income of £15,000 plus assorted state benefits is simply insufficient to service any of the £1,000,000 unsecured debt we were left with when our property development business failed in 2008.

Following the receipt of our financial evidence from the CAB, the Bank of Scotland has already very kindly offered to write off my husband’s Bank of Scotland credit card (amounting to £15,000) on compassionate grounds, but your  mortgage collections department say that a shortfall of £217,000 can never be written off  whatever our circumstances.  I cannot understanding the thinking behind this let alone work out a solution for demands which are simply beyond our means.

Over the last two and a half years I have been persistently harassed by Merrils Ede Solicitors on HBOS’s instruction. I can only assume our file has proved a means of milking the HBOS cash cow because Merrells Ede, like HBOS, know full well there is no financial resolution I can offer them. Merrils Ede have repeatedly advised me of your plans to issue legal proceedings towards bankruptcy “without further notice” which I can only see as another illustration of how happy they are to recommend the unnecessary spending of HBOS money when both I and the CAB have made it crystal clear we have no capital wealth to offer and no income with which to make a payment arrangement.

On previous occasions I have,

·   Written to your predecessors to explain our circumstances asking for a compassionate write-off in the light of our financial demise.  It has been repeatedly denied.

·   Asked why HBOS did not contact me about our arrears, nor sought to offer me any debt counselling advice or even include me in any conversations at either the inception of our mortgage or later when arrears became a problem. I was told that people in debt rarely want to talk to their creditors and because I am a married woman, they assumed my husband dealt with our finances.

·   And, I have repeatedly asked myself why I was not allowed to save my home and our financial future by renting out our property but I struggle to understand the logic behind an HBOS decision that turned £27,000 of arrears into a shortfall of £217,000.

When you took up the helm at Lloyds banking group this year you famously commissioned your executives to “bring out your dead” asking them to leave no stone unturned.  A “sense of humour failure” was promised if, in twelve months time, more skeletons were found in the Lloyds and HBOS closets. However, I and my family remain one of your concealed dead, festering on an HBOS desk where I lie in a purgatory which has not only put my life on hold but consists of repeated and relentless financial persecution for money I simply do not have.  I have remained in this position for nearly three excruciating years while those at the Lloyds Banking Group move on with their lives. I desperately need the luck of the Irish buy to let borrowers or perhaps the vision of HBOS funded businessman David Murray in order to secure a mortgage shortfall write off and free my family from the continued bullying of HBOS debt collection agents.

On the other hand, if this letter does ever reach you, all I may need is you.

Yours sincerely

Life after Debt

Learning curves

They say that you should learn everything you can from anyone you can because there will always come a time when you need it. Today I couldn’t agree more as I reflect on just how far I have come since first finding out about my husband’s debts all but three years ago.

Having recently returned home from a much needed holiday from my debt fighting duties and chairmanly responsibilties of our recent school Summer Ball, I am now firmly back in harness again on all fronts.

It appears, while I was away, there has been some fallout from the Friends fund raising efforts following our Summer Ball.

·        Our treasurer forgot to pay some of our service providers for the Ball before departing for her holiday abroad

·        The Head’s wife is unhappy that the “thank yous” to all concerned have not been sent out sooner

·        The caterers feel aggrieved that they had to tender for our business  rather than having “cart blanche” to agree their remuneration without commercial comparisons as per previous years.

Whereas once I would have been instantly on the phone to make sure everyone was consoled by me personally and ensured every situation was resolved to the best of my ability regardless of my own energy levels and time constraints, on this occasion I have,

·         Expressed my sympathy to the lady handling the unhappy creditors in the treasure's absence but left her to handle the situation

·         Put an all encompassing “thank you” in the school magazine, without consultation with anyone, to keep the head's wife happy

·         Emailed the caterers to ask them for an appointment in September to discuss next year’s booking in the hope that they redirect their focus to securing future business rather than lamenting their treatment in the past.

In my absence, the postman has also served up a generous helping of debt fighting hassle,

     ·     Merrels Ede have written to explain themselves in a way that is nothing short
          of peculiar

·       Lloyds Bank have demanded I repay their outstanding balance in full and asked again if I wish all future correspondence to be in Braille

·        The Financial Ombudsman has done a complete about turn with regard to my complaint against the Bank of Scotland and written to say she cannot proceed with it unless she has the banks agreement.

Whereas once I would have been quaking in my boots ,head in my hands, defeated by fear and frustration I have,

·       Ignored the Merrils Ede letter in the belief they have only written to me because they feel vulnerable about the numerous complaints I have made to their regulatory authority resulting in very thorough and time consuming investigations of their staff and business practises 

·        Written back to Lloyds TSB in enormous print asking if they would like me to put all future requests for information in Braille in an effort to make it clear to them precisely what I would like from them

·        Told my allocated Financial Ombudsman adjudicator that I disagree with her decision to ask the Bank of Scotland for permission to proceed with my complaint and asked her to explain the thinking that led her to make this unusual propsal

I may not have learned everything there is to learn in the last three tempestuous years but, I have certainly gleaned, in the words of Bertrand Russell, “One of the symptoms of approaching a nervous breakdown is the belief that work is terribly important, and that to take a holiday would bring all kinds all kinds of disaster.” I took eleven days off to recharge debt fighting batteries that had been running at full pelt for almost three years.  I have returned from this welcome break having learnt that, not only will much of what has been going on in my life wait a few days to be resolved but, putting some distance between me and my sometimes overwhelming problems empowers me to take control of the situation more effectively and, in so doing, limit the stressful impact it has on my health.

Learning this lesson has not only rewarded me with a clearer head which hopefully in turn will deliver better results but, after  nearly three years of being completely bald due to stress related alopecia, it appears I am also to be rewarded with almost a full head of hair. At last it is finally showing signs of growing back. For this wonderful development I am truly grateful.

Dead and buried

Finding myself in something of a debt fighting lull as I await the Financial Ombudsman’s findings with regard to my complaint against HBOS, I have used the time to glean as much information as possible about HBOS's dealings to date. To my surprise, my HBOS Harassment page on face book has put me in contact with two other victims of Lloyds and HBOS skulduggery and I have been amazed to hear how much they too have suffered at the hands of this giant, too big to fail institution.

While greatly sympathising with their cases, I cannot pretend to have a full grasp of the detail. However, one thread of commonality runs throughout all. It appears no amount of communicating with HBOS or Lloyds has done anything to encourage these ivory towered bully-boys to either look objectively at what is being disputed nor embark on any remedial action for the sake of the individual.

It would seem HBOS has, for some time, had a reputation for steam rollering legal proceedings towards bankruptcy even when they are fully aware of people’s inability to pay. Reports revealing 8 out of 10 such cases should not ever have reached court in the first place do not appear to deter them and  HBOS are equally happy to bring proceedings to court for debts which are in dispute.  I understand from one lady I spoke to HBOS have attempted to repossess her home, through the courts, twenty two times.  Her dispute involves the Reading branch of HBOS where there is an ongoing police investigation which has resulted in several arrests for fraud.

Having already been taken to court to enable HBOS to obtain a possession order with which they beat through a fire sale on my home, I have been told, on more than one occasion, by Merrils Ede, their appointed solicitors, they plan to start legal proceedings towards bankruptcy because I am unable to pay the £217,000 shortfall that the HBOS instructed fire sale created. Like so many other victims of HBOS out there, it seems to be of no relevance this shortfall is in dispute and I am penniless anyway. Baring in mind how much it costs to action these proceedings I did not, until recently even begin to understand the thinking behind court cases of this nature.

However, I am now wondering if the reasoning behind a course of action such as this is simply an attempt by the individuals within HBOS to avoid losing face. I believe its quite possible I, together with all the other victims of HBOS who have disputes, have become an embarrassing legacy which needs to be dispatched, like cannon fodder, through the courts and then buried under an epitaph of “ bad debtors” in the balance sheets. I can only assume dealing with an individual’s dispute or unrecoverable debts in this way is less embarrassing to those at HBOS who have had a part in our creation and perhaps it is for this reason we have been ear marked for legal persecution. I cannot think what other reason there could be behind blindly spending taxpayers and share-holders money on cases which are doomed from the start to reap no reward.

Antonio Horta Osorio may well have asked his executives to bring out their dead but it is my belief  some of these very same people have in fact decided to bury us alive, on mass, in our trenches, without Antonio Horta Osorio ever knowing.

Middle Management Blues

I appreciate expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a nice person is not dissimilar to expecting a bull not to attack because you are a vegetarian and I believe Lloyds and HBOS's perseption of themselves as a bullish concern within the banking industry, has empowered them to feel free to continuously side step my issues with them and bludgeon me with their demands for payment. I am repeatedly told an individual should always be responsible for a debt regardless of how it arose.

I have just read Patrick Jenkins and Sharlene Goff’s  FT article discussing the reasons behind Lloyds shares recently rallying by 9% after a former 30% nose dive when Antonio Horta Osorio spoke of Lloyds problems soon after his appointment. I was interested to learn that renewed confidence has come from Horta Osorio’s announcement that operating costs will be addressed by cutting 15,000 middle management jobs across HBOS and the Lloyds group in order to make 1.5 billion in savings.

My interest in the prospects of soon to be ex-Lloyds and HBOS middle management  employees stems purely from my experiences at their hands as I can only surmise it was to middle management staff Lloyds and HBOS Chief Executives delegated the replies to my many letters asking for their help.

I do not doubt some of these people have had a hand in denying me an opportunity to save my home and  I believe, without question, they instructed Merrils Ede solicitors to pursue me with "sustained contact” despite my C.A.B. proven status as a “can’t pay” but most of all, I am convinced it has been middle management who have repeatedly told me mortgage shortfalls never get written off while insisting HBOS have no intention of ever writing off mine.

I can only assume of the people who are to be made redundant many, like me, will have young children and a mortgage from Lloyds or HBOS.  They, like me, will now be faced with arrears if finding employment is not immediate or in some cases notforthcoming at all. I wonder how they will feel when their peers continue to tow  the Lloyds and HBOS company line and dish out the same heartless replies they have given me.

·       Where will they live when they, like me, are unable to pay their mortgages because of an economic crisis?

·        How will they cope when they, like me, suffer from stress related ill health while they watch the effects of the financial crisis take hold on the demeanor of their children and their relationships?

·        What will they do when they, like me, are not allowed to rent their houses to cover their interest payments and instead lose their homes?

·        How much will they weep when, like me, HBOS and Lloyds force a sale on their homes and create shortfalls for which they have no means of repaying?

·        How many letters will they, like me, write asking for debt forgiveness only to be denied time and time again?

·        How will they feel when they, like me, try to explain to Merrils Ede solicitor’s henchwoman their circumstances and attempt to procure a workable solution only to be met with deaf and judgemental ears?

·       What will they do when, like me, they are told “people in your position should not be talking and explaining but, instead, be listening and repaying?"

·       What will they do when, like me,they are faced with the harsh reality their financial reputation and any hopes for a secure financial future are to be dashed against the rocks and lost forever?

It is said what goes around comes around and no doubt knowing what faces these poor people could indeed be seen as a form of poetic justice, especially if they are indeed the very same people whose decisions have ruined me. However, despite the ongoing harsh and condescending words of Lloyds and HBOS middle management,  my campaign is entirely about encouraging this immensely powerful banking fraternity to be Fair and Just.

It is not fair,

•  to pursue and persecute any individuals who have no way of repaying their mortgage shortfalls

• Fair to disregard the hardship suffered by any individual,

But it is definitely not just,

• to ignore workable solutions which could save a family home in favour of  bailouts for the corporate elite.

I cannot help but wonder if any of these imminently redundant employees of Lloyds and HBOS might be reminded of my letters of distress when their ex- employers take them to court to repossess their homes.  

Tough times

When I say I’ve had a tough week I do not mean,  

·        I have lost my husband and soul mate to a fatal heart attack at age forty nine

·        Nor have I had to face the man who stabbed me twenty one times in court

·        Neither have I had get through my life knowing I am a victim of violence and sexual abuse as a child

But, for three of my friends, this is their reality and I am so proud they have risen to their challenging lives with such stoicism and dignity.

Losing my home, my hair and my money pales into insignificance when compared with what life has dealt these women yet when we meet, we rarely do anything but laugh.

My thoughts are with you girls.

Beat and retreat

During the past two years it has been difficult to remember happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but instead emerges from the recognition and appreciation what we do but these days, when anyone asks why I remained at my husband's side in the light of such adverse circumstances, I always say with conviction, “Because I am not prepared to lose any more than I already have”.Fully aware my life is far from perfect, I am regularly able to rejoice in the knowledge that, despite the constant prevailing and ill wind from HBOS I have succeeded in keeping my family together but it does not allow me to ignore ever emerging evidence of greed, irresponsible behaviour and double standards employed by Lloyds and HBOS

Annoyed it has proved necessary for Steve Baker to campaign for a parliamentary bill to force banks to prepare accounts reflecting a true and accurate illustration of their previous years trading, which have on occasion been as much twenty five million adrift, I have been nothing short of incensed to discover, despite insisting to me they never write off debt, HBOS have been doing precisiely this for the last two years for debts in Ireland amounting  to 7.2 billion. Yet still Eric Daniels, who has recently declared his remaining Irish loan book 54% impaired, has continued to see fit to ignore my personally addressed letters to him asking for debt forgiveness and instead, sanctioned Merrils Ede to crank up their persecution of me. While I am left crushed under a residential shortfall of £217,000, Eric Daniels has, in contrast, cunningly escaped from under Lloyds and HBOS’s own 289 billion shortfall, happily clutching his 1.45 million pound reward for failure on the back of scurrolous accounts and his “very good year” remark.

If HBOS had not forced the sale on our 16^th century tithe barn during our period of crisis in 2008, we too could have had a retirement to look forward to. Assuming we  sold up when my husband reached age 65 (twenty years hence), its anticipated value would be 3.2 million assuming an average annual compound growth of 7% and a current value of £800,000.  Even with a £795,000 mortgage to deduct and £27,000 of arrears we too could have been looking forward to a substantial lump sum to support us in our old dotage.

Some people may well be enjoying the benefit of HBOS and Lloyds “pray and delay” or “extend and pretend” policies while others appear to have experienced the relief of a “forgive and forget” write offs. For me however, it remains HBOS’s policy only to “beat and retreat” behind their Rottweilers at Merrils Ede Solicitors

And 

At present I am at a complete loss to fathom how I can ever change this.

Good News Day

In 1814 Napoleon Bonaparte is reported to have said, “Never awake me when you have good news to announce, because with good news nothing presses; but when you have bad news, arouse me immediately for then there is not an instant to be lost.” Nearly two hundred years on I can whole heartedly relate to these words because for the past two and a half years I have awoken, every morning, with a sense of urgency in the knowledge there is not an instant to be lost when it comes to battling the banks for my family’s future.

During the last three months, if I have not been engaged in combat with HBOS and Lloyds, fulfilling the needs of my children, arranging a fundraising Ball or playing Mrs Mop to my lodgers, my focus has been on writing my blog.  My blog has become my platform and even a point of reference when trying to explain my position to others. Most of all, however, blogging has provided a vehicle by which to record the frustrations of not being heard in the hope that one day I will be.

This weekend, at last, I received not only good news, but evidence I have indeed been been heard and not just on one occasion.  

·        The Financial Ombudsman’s Service confirmed they are happy to receive additional evidence of the ongoing harassment I am still subject to from Merrils Ede solicitors. They have also informed me they anticipate their investigation will take at least eight weeks. This is very encouraging news because, not only does it give me written evidence they are taking my complaint seriously but it also offers my family and I some much needed sanctuary during this summer’s school holidays.

·        My legal friend JS tells me Merrils Ede’s refusal to supply me with the promised internal investigation report into my original complaint about them, warrants a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman. This news is also refreshing because in the past I have been unable to illustrate Merrils Ede’s vindictive attitude and incompetent nature  and because of this have been left completely exposed to their continued harassment.

·        The Office of Fair Trading at Cardiff County Hall has not only replied to my letter of 2009 and apologised profusely for their delay, but expressed grave concern Merrils Ede are, as I informed them, collecting debts without a consumer credit licence as well as flaunting many debt collecting guidelines. Armed with the evidence I have provided them, they plan to investigate Merrils Edes and report their findings to the Law Society. Words do not explain how relieved I am to be finally gathering some officialdom in my arsenal against HBOS and their henchwoman.

However, while every one of these instances has strengthened my resolve to return to the fight fortified, nothing has lifted my spirits more than the email I received this weekend from journalist, broadcaster and reporter Ian Fraser. In it was the link to his latest blog which was, for the most part, about my continued persecution at the hands of Lloyds and HBOS. He urged Chief Executive Antonio Horta Osorio to address “the sins of the past” if he is to live up to his comment “bring out your dead” as the pre-requisite to the massive clean up operation he plans to implement at Lloyds and HBOS.   I cannot thank Ian enough for illustrating my circumstances and can only hope through his words I may finally be heard.

For me, this weekend has most definitely been one which has been packed with good news and if Napoleon Bonaparte believed this warrants a lie in, who am I to argue? Here’s hoping Ian Fraser feels he’s earned a lie in too.