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.

I'm still standing

Recently someone I have never met gave a critique on my writing. On reading this blog she remarked I must be very strong.  Never having thought of myself in these terms, it inspired me to search for a word which described the perception I have of myself. The word resilient was the only one which came to mind.

The Japanese describe resilience as someone “who falls seven times and gets up eight” and without a doubt this resembles the daily routine I have endured for the last two and a half years.  I cannot begin to count the number of times I have been knocked down during this period nor can I recall what mechanism I have employed to get to my feet but thankfully always, within a day or two of all manner of blows, I have been able to find the resources to regain my footing.

This week has been no different. 

On top of the normal madness of running a family with three school age children, arranging a prep school ball for one hundred and fifty people, together with a fair of amount of lodger “patting” and a couple of visits to my eighty four year old mother, I have been asked three enormous questions by our creditors over the last forty eight hours,

·       Heritable bank have asked if I would I like to consider entering into IVA in an effort to thwart the Bank of Scotland’s continued bully boy tactics.

·         Merrils Ede would like to know if I am prepared to be made bankrupt “without further notice” by the Bank of Scotland for not complying with yet more demands relating to making a payment arrangement.

·        The Capital Gains arm of the Inland Revenue would like to know if I am in agreement with the retrospective calculations for a tax demand they have prepared covering the last ten years of non payment.

With resilience as my master, I have begun to assess the pros and cons of going into an IVA and, along with the help of my trusty friend Chris I have, yet again, resisted the underhand comments of the Bank of Scotland’s solicitors Merrils Ede.   I have not, however, done anything with my letter from the Inland Revenue.   For this I require something more than just resilience and for the past few days this attribute, whatever it may be, appears to have deserted me.

My fear is the Inland Revenue will, with one flourish of their bureaucratic pen sweep us into bankruptcy if I am unable to meet their demands.  It is my understanding they take no prisoners and it is for this reason their letter lies neglected in the dark of my office cupboard waiting for strength to join forces with resilience and give me the wherewithal to tackle the six pages of Inland Revenue calculations.  I know I must at all costs produce a reply which avoids another demand for money we do not have. 

I have always believed harnessing resilience will help me acquire the ability to work with adversity in such a way I may come through it unharmed and perhaps even better for the experience. I haveve learned to accept I must face life’s difficulties with courage and patience by refusing to give up so I can rebound from these misfortunes, hardships and traumas to face overwhelming odds again and again. While I appreciate I can never go back to start a new beginning today or any other day I am, at least, able to take solace in the knowledge there is always tomorrow.

Today I am completely overwhelmed but tomorrow I will start a new day and make a new ending.

My debt shame

Today it was my intention to recount, from the beginning, the sorry tale of our suffering at the hands of HBOS. In the belief I had sufficiently distanced myself from our financial distress and regained the strength to put pen to paper I planned to inform the Financial Services Authority and the Financial Ombudsman Service precisely what the Bank of Scotland has done and the impact it has had on my family. I woke up determined to describe, in detail, how spotting us adrift with our three young children and fully aware we were fighting for our lives aboard a sinking ship, they ignored all government guidelines and instead chose to completely remove the wind from our sails, strip us of any chance of recovery and force us onto the rocks where their appointed debt collector now persecutes us for sport.

It was my intention to explain that a former career in the financial services industry did not prepare me for the pain a "too big to fail" giant was prepared to inflict. I wanted to make sure the Financial Ombudsman Service knew I had been rendered powerless against a banking machine which was deaf to my proposals and what is more, intent on wrecking the financial future of my whole family.  I believed it should be common knowledge the Bank of Scotland was unhindered by their own codes of conduct for customers in financial distress and intent on serving their own ends regardless of the cost to my family.

I was sure I could go back to the beginning and illustrate articulately and accurately how the Bank of Scotland chose to multiply our financial difficulties ten times over and, after stripping us bare, proceeded to persecute us for being unable to reimburse them. Sadly I was unable to do any of this.
Instead, all I could do today was cry.

.

  

International Women's Day

Thirty-eighth American vice president Hubert Horatio Humphrey once said, "The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously" and despite many years of women's the best efforts to attain both, today, on International Woman's Day, I continue to battle with HBOS without the benefit of either. 

Working my way up in the UK's financial service industry throughout the 80's and 90's, it did not occur to me that one day my gender would not only make me invisible but also prohibit me from being heard. Now, some twenty years later, as a result of my extensive communications with HBOS, it has become uncomfortably clear that as a married women, I should not have expected to enjoy the same right to information about the status of my residential mortgage as my husband. Not knowing this has cost me my home, my health and my financial future.

Furthermore this"too big to fail" banking giant Halifax Bank of Scotland is far from coy about it's anti-female stance and instead are more than happy to put, in writing, they have no obligation to discuss arrears on joint borrowings, debt advice and court proceedings with me as long they have discussed them with my husband. So, ladies be warned, this means your lenders will effectively support your husbands if they choose to keep financial difficulties from you  and you could, like me, find the banks are forcing a sale on your homes without giving you the opportunity to find out why they would wish to do so in the first place.

According to the Bank of Scotland's complaints department, they are under no contractual obligation to discuss any aspect of a mortgage with all the named parties on the loan and although government initiatives have publicly urged them to give people in difficulties debt counselling before legal action is taken, this is merely a guideline which a lender may, or may not, chose to abide by. Nothing more. In short HBOS do not consider it their role to include all parties to a mortgage in discussions concerning forcibly repossessing a family home and no regulator has the power to make them. Nor will banks who chose to flaunt regulatory codes and guideslines be penalised.

Sadly, I only became aware of these facts once the repossession process had already begun. It was only then that I discovered my husband had been unable to bring himself to divulge the unpalatable truth about our financial situation to anyone, let alone me. Remarkably, I could have remained in the dark even longer had I not become suspicious and beaten him to the post one day only to discover his property business had failed, our business bank had gone into administration, the bank of |Scotland were taking us to court  to repossess and, to my absolute horror, we were £27,000 and eight months in arrears. Little more than two weeks later a possession order was granted to HBOS for our lovingly restored sixteenth century tithe barn and home of ten years and there was nothing I could do about it.

However, it didn't stop me trying.

Desperate to address the problem the moment I became aware of our position, I soon secured a tenant to cover the interest payments on mortgage. However, the Bank of Scotland refused to allow me to save my home with rental income on grounds it was too late. Instead they insisted I accepted a forced sale offer of well below market value and in doing so turned our sizable £27,000 into a staggering mortgage shortfall of £217,000. Now I am reliably informed by their solicitor I must conjure the shortfall from out of thin air and, despite numerous letters from the Citizen's Advice Bureau (CAB) explaining we are financially finished, (a situation HBOS were wholly aware of well before they issued proceedings) my instructions are to produce a solution within seven days.

Outraged at the callous and unprofessional attitude of this calculated example of sexist banking avarice, it beggars belief the untouchable Bank of Scotland are also happy to state that married women do not count when it comes to providing them with information and making decisions about their homes when their mortgage accounts get into difficulties. 

I still strongly suspect I could have rescued my home had I been given the opportunity, but as a married woman, I was denied the chance to try. Now, nearly two and a half years on, the Bank of Scotland are more than happy to grant me equal rights to my joint and severally liable shortfall but remain deaf and blind to the fact that by failing to keep me informed, it was they who created the shortfall in the first place. It for this reason I say to each and every banksters who played a pivotal role in the financial downfall of both myself and no doubt numerous other married women, 

"How will you be marking International Women's Day?" because, I for one, plan to mark it by fighting back!

Long John No Silver

At times I feel like I have a faithful parrot sat upon my shoulder in observation of my Long John No Silver-like limping around while endeavouring to piece together a life which remains is in both financial and emotional tatters.  Every now and then I look up from my task to find he is still there, on his now familiar perch, waiting to see where I plan to lead him next. On occasion, I wonder how many parrots have single handedly sunk their loved ones ship and still kept their lofty perch, but there lies another story.

It was to parents evening I took him last night. As ever, he sat patiently waiting for an opportunity to impart some of his beautifully memorised knowledge.  Only the Head, his wife and, of course I, are aware of the devastating effects that a reckless life on stormy waters has had on me in this role as parrot keeper.  To the rest of the world, and certainly everyone else at parents evening, I am, without a doubt everything one would expect to see in a fellow parent.  I wait patiently in line hoping to hear my children are happy and untouched by the wreckage which is now all that remains of our lives.

To almost everyone present there is no evidence to lead anyone to believe that I am anything other than the woman with a knowledgeable husband faithfully perched at her shoulder waiting for an opportunity to speak.