The average Englishman, in the home he calls his castle, slips into his national costume, a shabby raincoat, patented by chemist Charles Macintosh from Glasgow, Scotland. On route to his office he strides along the English lane, surfaced by John Macadam of Ayr, Scotland.
He drives an English car fitted with tyres invented by John Boyd Dunlop of Dreghorn, Scotland, arrives at the station and boards a train, the forerunner of which was a steam engine invented by James Watt of Greenock, Scotland. He then pours a cup of coffee from a thermos flask, the latter invented by Dewar, a Scotsman from Kincardine on Forth.
At the office he receives the mail bearing adhesive stamps by James Chalmers of Dundee, Scotland.
During the day he uses the telephone invented by Alexander Grahm Bell, born in Edinburgh, Scotland.
At home in the evening his daughter pedals her bicycle invented by Kirkpatrick MacMillan, blacksmith of Dumfries Scotland.
He watches the news on his television, an invention of John Logie Baird of Helensburgh Scotland, and hears an item about the US Navy, founded by John Paul Jones of Kirkbean, Scotland.
He has by now been reminded too much about Scotland and in desperation he picks up the Bible only to find the first man mentioned in the good book is a Scot, King James VI, who authorised its translation.
Now where can an Englishman turn to escape the ingenuity of the Scots.
He could take a drink, but the Scots make the best in the world. He could take a rifle and end it all but the breech-loading rifle was invented by Captin Patrick of Pitfours, Scotland.
If he escapes death, he might find himself on an operating table injected with penicillin, which was discovered by Alexander Fleming of Darvel, Scotland, and given an anaesthetic, which was discovered by James Young Simpson of Bathgate Scotland.
Out of the anaesthetic, he would find no comfort in learning he was as safe as the Bank of England founded by William Paterson of Dumfries Scotland.
Perhaps his only remaining hope would be to get a transfusion of guid Scottish blood which would entitle him to ask "Wha's like Us
Thursday, 25 February 2010
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
STOP THE PRESS - HERE's AN UPDATE
Re our blog "Can You Trust the Banking System?
The couple referrred to in Issue 1 of the blog have now informed me that they have just received another letter, this time from the Debt Collectors who were going to visit them. The letter was from that companies Litigation Companyadvising them that as they "failed to reach a repayment agreement with the debt collectors, that they were "reviewing the account prior to any possible legal action by external solicitors acting on behalf of their client".
All very well, but the latter was written on 19th January,and advised that failure to contact them by 26th January may result in legal action. The letter was recieved today 16th February - How's that for efficiency. The offer of a discount was written on 2nd Feb and was received first. Either the litigation warning was sent by pony express (pigeon post is qicker) or it's just another scare tactic. You make up your mind and let us know. All interesting responses will be posted as full blogs.
The couple referrred to in Issue 1 of the blog have now informed me that they have just received another letter, this time from the Debt Collectors who were going to visit them. The letter was from that companies Litigation Companyadvising them that as they "failed to reach a repayment agreement with the debt collectors, that they were "reviewing the account prior to any possible legal action by external solicitors acting on behalf of their client".
All very well, but the latter was written on 19th January,and advised that failure to contact them by 26th January may result in legal action. The letter was recieved today 16th February - How's that for efficiency. The offer of a discount was written on 2nd Feb and was received first. Either the litigation warning was sent by pony express (pigeon post is qicker) or it's just another scare tactic. You make up your mind and let us know. All interesting responses will be posted as full blogs.
Can You Trust the Banking System ?
I read an interesting blog recently about the attitude of the banks towards their customers and felt compelled to follow up on this with some real life events.
As background, I am a former Credit Management Consultant and am fully conversant with the subject matter this blog contains.
Issue 1
A couple visited their local bank to advise them that they were moving abroad and to cancel all Direct Debits on the account. The Branch Manager advised them that she would also cancel the account Maintinance Charge as they would no longer be able to utilize the facilties this provided. - A happy customer, but not for long. They soon started receiving notification that their account was overdrawn and that additional bank charges were being raised. How this arose was the bank did not cancel one of the direct debits and as there was insufficient funds in the account, were "bouncing the DD" This of course incurred additional charges and so the overdraft continued to rise, attracting more and more charges. To make matters worse, they continued to charge the maintainance fee so adding to the debt.
More and more letters were sent, then it was the turn of the debt collection company. Despite advising what was happening, the debt collectors nor the bank done anything about it. Then it was the turn of the solicitors advising that they were being taken to court. Again, the response was ignored, and the account passed to another 2 different debt collectors. Again they were advised that the problem lay with their client and were also told that a letter was sent to the solicitor over a year prior stating clearly the nature of the dispute and that any legal action taken would be defended in court. Next they receive a reply stating that the bank had no record of the letter sent to the solicitor and that if the debt was not cleared, then legal action would be taken. The couple told them "Go ahead with your legal action and we'll see you and your client in court." They told them they would be counter claiming for harrassment both by the debt collectors and the bank. Can you guess what happened next - I doubt it because this defies logic. A further letter was received from the debt collector stating that the case was now beng passed to their "Home Collections Depatment" who would be visiting them shortly. However, the piece de resistance was that their client had agreed that they would offer a "Subsantial Discount" if the account was settled. Very kind of them, but why offer to discount a debt if your charges are correct? Also, a nice little break for the "Home Collection Department" - a nice little trip to SPAIN. I'll see them in court.
Issue 2
Another couple found themselves in some financial difficulty and could not afford to keep up with their Credit Card repayments. They asked the bank to freeze the interest so that they could get things sorted out. The response was NO. They wrote asking them to reconsider as this was causing them much distress as they had never been in this sort of position before and had always paid their bills on time. The bank never replied and eventually a notice of summary proceedings was received. In between times, letters were being received from the bank advising them of how much was outstanding. The funny thing about this is that each letter - which were received on almost a weekly basis showed differing amounts - yes " added interest you may say" but NO. The amount outstanding was on numerous occasions LOWER than what was stated the week before. Letters were also received from Credit Reference Agancies advising that their credit status was being affected due to the outstanding debt. Fair enough you may say but when the debt was against a Personal Account and not a JOINT one, why was the partner's details passed to the reference agency and why was their credit rating being affected for a debt (which we hasten to added was accpted) was not in their name. In response to the notice of court action, they again responded explaining the situation and also stating that the bank had broken the law by referring the partners details to the Credit Reference Agency - what was the response from the bank. Yes you guessed it - NOTHING - instead a further notice advising that the next stage in litigation was being started and that they should get a solicitor. My advice to them was don't worry about it, by the time I've finished with them, the ones who will need the solicitor is the bank. I look forward to the next stage of litigation starting when I can represent this couple in court.
Issue 3
Finally one of them get it right.
Another couple discovered to their horror that instead of being given a credit card which they would be able to pay off at a certain amount each month,they were given a short term loan payable in full a few months later. There were insufficient funds in their account to cover this but the bank took what they had and put through a "Dummy Payment" on the "Credit Card" to clear the debt. The couple found it hard to meet the terms but this time instead of pursuing them through the courts, the bank done the right thing and "Wrote off the Debt" as they realised that the situation was caused by a mistake on their part. Well Done this bank - you got it wrong but done the decent thing about it, but it should never have happened in the first place.
So Can You Trust the Banking System?
As background, I am a former Credit Management Consultant and am fully conversant with the subject matter this blog contains.
Issue 1
A couple visited their local bank to advise them that they were moving abroad and to cancel all Direct Debits on the account. The Branch Manager advised them that she would also cancel the account Maintinance Charge as they would no longer be able to utilize the facilties this provided. - A happy customer, but not for long. They soon started receiving notification that their account was overdrawn and that additional bank charges were being raised. How this arose was the bank did not cancel one of the direct debits and as there was insufficient funds in the account, were "bouncing the DD" This of course incurred additional charges and so the overdraft continued to rise, attracting more and more charges. To make matters worse, they continued to charge the maintainance fee so adding to the debt.
More and more letters were sent, then it was the turn of the debt collection company. Despite advising what was happening, the debt collectors nor the bank done anything about it. Then it was the turn of the solicitors advising that they were being taken to court. Again, the response was ignored, and the account passed to another 2 different debt collectors. Again they were advised that the problem lay with their client and were also told that a letter was sent to the solicitor over a year prior stating clearly the nature of the dispute and that any legal action taken would be defended in court. Next they receive a reply stating that the bank had no record of the letter sent to the solicitor and that if the debt was not cleared, then legal action would be taken. The couple told them "Go ahead with your legal action and we'll see you and your client in court." They told them they would be counter claiming for harrassment both by the debt collectors and the bank. Can you guess what happened next - I doubt it because this defies logic. A further letter was received from the debt collector stating that the case was now beng passed to their "Home Collections Depatment" who would be visiting them shortly. However, the piece de resistance was that their client had agreed that they would offer a "Subsantial Discount" if the account was settled. Very kind of them, but why offer to discount a debt if your charges are correct? Also, a nice little break for the "Home Collection Department" - a nice little trip to SPAIN. I'll see them in court.
Issue 2
Another couple found themselves in some financial difficulty and could not afford to keep up with their Credit Card repayments. They asked the bank to freeze the interest so that they could get things sorted out. The response was NO. They wrote asking them to reconsider as this was causing them much distress as they had never been in this sort of position before and had always paid their bills on time. The bank never replied and eventually a notice of summary proceedings was received. In between times, letters were being received from the bank advising them of how much was outstanding. The funny thing about this is that each letter - which were received on almost a weekly basis showed differing amounts - yes " added interest you may say" but NO. The amount outstanding was on numerous occasions LOWER than what was stated the week before. Letters were also received from Credit Reference Agancies advising that their credit status was being affected due to the outstanding debt. Fair enough you may say but when the debt was against a Personal Account and not a JOINT one, why was the partner's details passed to the reference agency and why was their credit rating being affected for a debt (which we hasten to added was accpted) was not in their name. In response to the notice of court action, they again responded explaining the situation and also stating that the bank had broken the law by referring the partners details to the Credit Reference Agency - what was the response from the bank. Yes you guessed it - NOTHING - instead a further notice advising that the next stage in litigation was being started and that they should get a solicitor. My advice to them was don't worry about it, by the time I've finished with them, the ones who will need the solicitor is the bank. I look forward to the next stage of litigation starting when I can represent this couple in court.
Issue 3
Finally one of them get it right.
Another couple discovered to their horror that instead of being given a credit card which they would be able to pay off at a certain amount each month,they were given a short term loan payable in full a few months later. There were insufficient funds in their account to cover this but the bank took what they had and put through a "Dummy Payment" on the "Credit Card" to clear the debt. The couple found it hard to meet the terms but this time instead of pursuing them through the courts, the bank done the right thing and "Wrote off the Debt" as they realised that the situation was caused by a mistake on their part. Well Done this bank - you got it wrong but done the decent thing about it, but it should never have happened in the first place.
So Can You Trust the Banking System?
Monday, 8 February 2010
Women by Women
Co-operation not collusion. Education means liberation, to gain knowledge is to gain freedom to become the Well Informed Modern Woman. Consider the successful woman the ones who made it to the top the big names who are responsible for the education of us lesser knowns! Cherie, Hillary Michele, Sarah, Three of them successful lawyers who would if I am correct understand that " where a person has been damaged by a medical treatment they have a right to prove this " many women do not have the means to pay so they apply for legal aid which is withdrawn at the eleventh hour. Talk about cover up! A conversation with a young women who was so obviously in agony" My doctor keeps saying I'm pregnant but I'm on the Pill!She keeps giving me vaginal examinations eight to date." "Tell her" says I you'll sue. Next visit different doctor no more vaginals, hospital referral. Unfortunately a diagnosis of Polycystic Ovaries. More pain of a different nature, trust betrayed. Talk about cover up! Our questionaire has vacant spaces we need them filled and for you to understand the issue. Take Me Time, slow down push away the hassle of the day and fill it in. If we were talking of an isolated incident we should be ignored we are talking thousands who have no voice. P.S. Cherie at least is giving some good advice. Germaine Greer says" experimentation under the guise of medical practise" She's a feminist, no a women seeking truth for all women!
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