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!

                              

                         

Enough is a feast

Although life has moved on since the "grand opening" my experiences at the hands of creditors throughout my most difficult months continue to visit me when I meet the people who were in my life at the time. These moments of recall have provided me with a sizable store of character assessments which leap into view as soon as a name or face comes to mind.

Over the extended bank holiday weekend we received a number of invitations which, this year, I have felt able to accept. and it has resulted in rubbing shoulders with many friends and neighbours from our more affluent past. While chatting with them I found myself thinking of their reactions at the height of our financial crisis and I realise many of them have undeservedly not had a mention. So here goes.

• A friend from the financial service industry, in spite of being overwhelmed with serious health issues himself spent numerous hours listening to me while he and I poured over my action plan for the reassembly of my family's life. When I repeatedly broke down distraught, he paused to give me a hug and once I had regained my composure, pressed on. It was on this day and from his and his wife's peaceful home I made my most difficult phone calls. It enabled me to cry and be comforted each time I put down the telephone. His wife gave me jumpers to wear as I shivered from the cold brought on from shock and made lots of hot comforting tea. Later she encouraged me to ride out with her on their horses to give me respite from the onslaught of our creditors for the sake of my sanity. I cannot begin to explain how much their rock like support helped me in those early days and while we had a simple supper at their house last night and I was warmed by these memories.

• A single working mother of three, with a great deal of sadness in her own heart at the time, regularly opened her doors at unearthly hours of the day and night to me. I was distraught with the size of the financial problems I was discovering on a daily basis and needed sanctuary the seemingly unrepentant and uncaring attitude of my husband. It was her faith in God and her passionate belief the family unit is paramount which helped me stick with my marriage at a time when I felt compelled to throw in the towel in disgust. As I watched all our children have water fights in her garden over an al fresco lunch I remembered the hours of compassion she showed me in my hour of need.
• A couple in a neighbouring village who realised Christmas 2008 was likely to be very bleak for our children, sorted out their children's unwanted toys and put together a few things that I could wrap and present on Christmas morning. This act of kindness made it possible for our lack of funds, at an expensive time of year, go unnoticed by our three children on Christmas day. This same couple two weeks later lent us their car and their horse box to move house and supplied us with furniture to make it possible for us to have our first lodger. As I sat amongst their closest friends this weekend while enjoying a barbecue at their house, I remembered how pivotal they were in getting us back on our feet again in those early days.

Not everyone in our lives behaved so caringly and a glimpse of these other people can transport me to much less savoury recollections.

• A friend with whom I had spent a great deal of time supporting during a period in which she was suffering a stress related to a bullying incident at work made a comment which left me both speechless and hurt. In spite of knowing full well  we had lost our home only days before, she said she was very angry she had been forced to forgo her holiday because it had taken me six months to pay £700.00 we owed her husband for work done in our property business. He comments      left me reeling, emotionally exposed and let down. I had no idea she wasn't sympathetic to my plight or appreciate the efforts to which I had gone to ensure she and her husband were not amongst the £1,000,000 creditors who have remain unpaid.
• Someone I formally regarded as one of my closest friends refused a dinner invitation because unbeknown to me, my husband had previously owed her £250.00 for over a year. Although I immediately paid her from the little money I had at the time, she has never spoken to me since. I wept for many weeks as I felt bereft of the close friendship I thought we had enjoyed for ten years.
• A long standing friend became embarrassed by my frankness about our financial position but quickly switched to being incensed by the fact I was offered bursaries for my three children's independent education. She too has declined my many invitations to socialise. I was deeply saddened this twenty year friendship did not withstand our financial demise.

Believing the old adage that, "books like friends should be few but good" I have thankfully let go of these images of rejection. I am happy and content to bask in the love of the resilient people who have helped us through thick and thin in the knowledge these caring souls will always qualify as friends. Because of these experiences I am wholeheartedly able to confirm, in my case, enough is definitely as good as a feast.

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.

Silence is not golden

On waking this morning I looked from my bedroom window to see my husband tending the plants in our walled garden. While watching him go about his tasks, I realised I could not imagine myself, twenty years from now, living a life without him. This revelation came as quite a surprise to me as, in recent months, I have struggled to imagine how I can possibly live the rest of my life with him. From my vantage point I could clearly picture us together, him in his dotage, pottering about in a tiny courtyard garden while I continue to write. I visualise myself, periodically glancing out at his endeavours from a small comfortable house where the days are long, stress free and always sunny.

Today my husband has taken our three children to their respective schools, brought me five unsolicited cups of tea and watered a multitude of M & S waste sale plants recently procured for our garden. All this has been achieved before 8.30 am and before having his breakfast. Although none of these tasks have been at my request, I am in no doubt all he has done, has been in an effort to please me, to help me and to show me he cares. However, in spite of these admirable motives, no words have escaped his lips and no smile has surfaced on his emotionless face. As ever, he has gone about everything in complete silence without any visible signs of warmth towards me and not even the slightest flicker of animation has entered his blank expressionless exterior.

This absence of interaction with me has become the norm and I know he does not see it as unloving or neglectful. He is secure in his belief his actions speak louder than any words he could possibly utter. He sees these homely duties as a declaration of his love and in his mind, this declaration is at full volume when he is being at his most helpful. It has not occurred to him  this understated way of maintaining a relationship might not be enough for me. He gives no thought as to whether or not I can hear his silent proclamations. Nor does he wonder if I am, in fact, aware of his mute, dead pan devotion.

Once upon a time, before irresolvable debt screamed louder than any silent acts of affection, I loved this man for his quiet understated need to silently nurture all things, including me. Now all I see is a man who continues to be helpful by ordering oil for my Aga, arranging our insurance and even cleaning the kitchen bin rather than tell me he loves or cherishes me. However, our harsh reality dictates my idyllic vision is unlikely to be only twenty years hence but nearer a million light years away from where we are now.

It seems beyond him to offer me an occasional kind word or small sign of appreciation. A smile in greeting or in understanding, an acknowledgement which is vital to me, is simply not part of his repertoire. Every day I wonder if he has realised it is the withholding of these simple but priceless things which will eventually cost us our marriage and not the undisclosed and irresolvable debt.

Simple Truths

It appears, in my case, the Financial Ombudsman is not a man but instead a woman. I know this because she has written to me today advising me unless I have a strong argument to the contrary, she will not be able to investigate my complaint against the Bank of Scotland. Apparently, this is not because I have no case, but merely because it is more than the six months since I have, so say, received the Bank of Scotland's letter of final response.

Thankfully, my knowledgeable friend Chris has a different take on this and has spent a whole afternoon with me writinge a reply which hopefully illustrates I am entitled to be heard. After all, the Bank of Scotland's agents Merrils Ede have been in correspondence with me on the Bank of Scotland’s behalf, both via the CAB as well as directly with me, as recently as January 2011. I can only hope this argument of mine (and Chris's) carries weight so I able to make use of the Ombudsman's service to get to the bottom of the three questions I have been asking the Bank of Scotland since October 2008.

1. Why did the Bank of Scotland proceed with forcing the sale of our home?

• in spite of new government guide lines discouraging this heavy handed approach,
• in spite of their actions escalating £27,000 of arrears into £217,000 of shortfall
• in spite of knowing we had a long term tenant willing to pay rent which covered the interest payments.

2. Why has the Bank of Scotland persisted in repeatedly seeking a payment arrangement to recover the shortfall?

• in spite of knowing full well we have no means with which to do so
• in spite of knowing the FSA guidelines specifically recommend lenders should not pursue people who have no money
• in spite of having already written off our credit card on compassionate grounds because of my husband’s breakdown

3. Why has the Bank of Scotland repeatedly ignored letters from me asking for information to support my case against them?

• in spite of being requested to do so three times in the last six weeks
• in spite of being repeatedly sent reminders
• in spite of being told, at their suggestion, I am taking the case to the Ombudsman

I can only hope my Ombudsman has teeth because the truth of the matter is I cannot afford the alternative. I am told it will cost £40,000 to take the Bank of Scotland to court and although I have it on good authority I do have a case against them, sadly, it does not qualify for "no win no fee" status. If this is the norm there is little wonder the Bank of Scotlands of this world have grown accustomed to riding roughshod over us mere mortals, safe in the knowledge we have no means which which to fight back. It suspect it may well be the subject of much amusement for them knowing people in my position have no real chance of being heard. 

There is, however, one aspect the Bank of Scotland has felt perfectly able to write to me about and while one might think it is some form of debt counselling or perhaps even legal or bankruptcy advice, the truth of the matter is the Bank of Scotland is extremely comfortable writing to confirm they have, at last, noted my new address. They have done this no fewer than eight times. According to the American author Henry Thoreau, it takes two to speak the truth, one to speak and one to hear. With this in mind, maybe I should stop lamenting that which the Bank of Scotland seem unable to hear and I should, instead, be taking solace in the simple truth I have, nearly two years down the line, succeeded in getting the Bank of Scotland to realise because they forced the sale of my home two years previously, I now have a new address.

Dumb and Dumber

I am aware I shouldn't attribute malice to that which can adequately be explained by stupidity but how else can I explain Lloyds TSBs campaign of "cruelty by correspondence". I have always had faith the art of good communication is the key to being understood and although I can only claim to be a communicating housewife and mother, I am proud to be one with an overwhelming passion for common sense.

Firmly believing the pen is mightier than the sword, it never ceases to amaze me how little store Lloyds TSB seem to value this dying art. My quest to acquire a meaningful dialogue continues to result in the often overwhelming frustration of repeatedly being unheard. I cannot for the life of me comprehend why my letters are always read but never understood nor why I only ever receive nonsensical replies peppered with a sizeable helping of drivel and inaccuracy. Todays post is no exception. It is for this reason I wish to set the record straight once and for all.

I solemly declare I have never made, nor do I intend to make a payment arrangement with Lloyd's TSB for £1.00 per month. If I had chosen this path I would be looking forward to having repaid Lloyds TSB banking group, in full, in a little more than two thousand years time!

However, in answer to my most recant request asking for evidence of this arrangemnet, Lloyds TSB chose to instruct their customer relations department to pen me their non-sensical a reply. After assuring me they are not mistaken  in any of their findings they are, needless to say, are unable to provide me with any documentary evidence to prove it is me that has had a senior moment rather than them. However I hasten to add is no surprise to find Lloyds TSB are in complete denial their administrative wheels could be off kilter when I hear last year’s complaints against them reached an all time high of 40,000 amounting to twice those of any single competitors!

Resigned to getting nowhere, for today as least, it remains clear from my dealings with their adminstrative incompentancy I cannot accuse anyone within Lloyds TSB Banking group of being too clever be half when my personal experience of their customers services is they are, in the words of John Major "too stupid by three quarters".

Live and let die

I am told a person can survive almost anything........ except of course death and having recently returned from my seventy two year old aunt's funeral, it is clear, despite battling with ill health for over twenty years, she had indeed survived many things.

After the inevitably sad formal proceedings, family and friends were invited to her home of thirty years to enjoy afternoon tea in her meadow garden, view the beautiful watercolour illustrations she painted throughout her life and reacquaint ourselves with familiar faces from our formative years. Evidence of my aunt's knack for survival soon took centre stage as we gathered around the hundred foot oak tree which stood next to her cottage. Its blackened frame rose proud and charred over what remained of a greenhouse she had mistakenly set fire to earlier in the year. We concluded that, but for the help of nine firemen and a prevailing wind, she might well have been having her wake somewhat earlier!

As the afternoon wore on some of us reminisced about her cooking exploits which had, on occasion, resulted in exploding chocolate puddings and there was even more to laugh about when it came to her motorbike and side car antics. It was clear there was much to celebrate and enjoy at this impromptu family reunion on what turned out to be a beautiful spring day in a quaint Cambridgeshire village.

When proceedings came to a close, it was evident we had all taken substantial strides towards coming to terms with our loss. My cousins were left to get on with the nitty gritty of dismantling their mothers life while getting on with theirs, whereas I set off for the return home to the continued onslaught awaiting for me at the hands of Lloyds TSB and the Bank of Scotland.

During the journey back it struck me death, sad though it is for those left behind, is not necessarily the greatest loss in life. Instead, it is what we allow to die inside us while we live which is the real tragedy. My aunt had clearly lived her life fully and embraced every moment, to the very last. However, in contrast, I have allowed the Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB's unrelenting persecution of myself and my husband to regularly take away my love of life itself, reaping havoc with both my health and my relationship. If was me who had died rather than my aunt I am sure the mourners would not be laughing and celebrating my humour and zest for all things living but instead, would be lamenting the fact I have lived these past two and a half years as a one woman debt fighting machine locking horns day in day out with the Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB in a fruitless attempt to relay the hopelessness of our financial situation.

Losing sight of the fact Lloyd's TSB and the Bank of Scotland have not, and will never have a heart has cost me far more than monetary sums outstanding. However it is I who have permitted their bully boy tactics to seep into every crevice of my life and take over my existence. The passing of my aunt has brought home to me the simple fact one should never let adversity get in the way of life itself. Life, after all, is no rehearsal and no-one has ever asked for "I wish I had spent more time at the office" to be the words on their epitaph.

In the words of La Bruyere "death is a tragedy for those who feel" but can equally be "a comedy for those who think." I, like my aunt, have been capable of surviving a great many things and her passing has made me realise it is now time to stop feeling and start thinking. I believe it will prove far more fun and, who knows, may well result in some success!