I continued to work on the website with the guy who knew Drupal. Hosting transferred to him as it would make it easier to manage. More and more people were starting to post comments (nasty vindictive ones as well as cries for help) and it was starting to become apparent that the IoM Government didn’t have a clue what to do. With a populated of just 80,000 their political leaders are not going to be the strongest leaders in the world (although by that measure the UK should have much better leaders - across all parties - than the spineless self-serving liars it has) and so things didn't look good.
Penny, with the kids helping, started to get a Garage Sale together. The kids could keep three of their favourite toys each and the rest would have to go. This was just tearing us apart; how could a decent parent take kids toys away from them for no good reason? The family was on a terminal slide and both Penny and me knew it.
After the sale, we would take the rest of the stuff to the local recycle depot and start to prepare for Penny and the kids departure. The car (a beaten up Ford Focus) would have to go but we would leave that until the last moment - as usual in western society, public transport cost means it is a domain for those with disposable income.
The kids were getting more and more upset so Penny would have to go to her folks sooner rather than later. D-Day would be coming very shortly and it was just killing us.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
Money starts to run out
Money started to run low very quickly for the family. Before the UK banks had forcibly closed our accounts we transferred small amounts (as they took huge commissions and therefore wasn’t economical to do it that way) to help with setup expenses - food, rent, transport, clothes, school kits etc... When that stopped - after the accounts were forcibly closed - the clock started ticking; i had transferred a couple thousand pounds to tied us over but it was only a small amount, as i knew it would only be 3-4 weeks maximum before the savings money was either available or had been transferred. As soon as the money was taken (by Mr Darling of the UK Government) we stopped ALL spending. Around here at this time of years lots of fruit trees in the parks are dropping and a number of local shops waste vast quantities of food that is out of date. At night I'd started getting food from the bins and fruit from the trees. It felt shameful, but hearing the kids saying they were hungry was worse. We couldn't go to the social here as we didn’t qualify (why should Aussies pay for someone who has just arrived and never paid a dollar in Australian tax?!) and charities are obliged to inform the authorities. The neighbours had found out very quickly from the kids chatting to kids and clubbed round to fill the fridge with food – and even a 6-pack of beer! – to help out. While a God-send, it was sheer humiliation; with all the local neighbours in the living room I had to stand and fully explain what had happened. All the sympathetic noises were very ‘nice’ but I just squirmed; I/we had always paid our way through life and had never had to be dependant on anyone else. I just wanted the ground to open up and swallow me up.
Penny and myself sat down that night and getting slightly hammered on the beer and wine (another neighbor had brought a bottle of Shiraz for us) we made the dreadful ‘default’ plan. A lot of tears were shed that evening. We were surviving on my scrounging but we couldn’t carry on like this – for the safety of the kids more than anything – and the rent would become a real problem. Penny and the kids would return to the UK, using the last of our money and any we could borrow from her parents. Penny’s parents were not well off but had said we could have a couple of thousand pounds if needed. I would not return with them. It was a very hard decision but we could not afford to fly me out as well and Penny’s folk didn’t have much room. My parents did not know about our situation and, on the advice of my brother - my father was not in good health , we did not want to stress them. It also meant that if we did get the money back before Christmas (we didn’t believe the IoM and UK Governments would allow British families to suffer so much once they found out what was really happening and that we had had no choice in using offshore banking) then the Visa would not be invalidated by my leaving the Country. I would just have to live rough. I’d done it as a grubby backpacker twenty years previously, so could do it again; wouldn’t be pleasant but I certainly wouldn’t die of hunger and St Vincents could supply a roof some nights. It was a miserable and sleepless night. We loved each other so much and neither of us wanted this, but there was nothing we could do, the kids safety had to come first.
Penny and myself sat down that night and getting slightly hammered on the beer and wine (another neighbor had brought a bottle of Shiraz for us) we made the dreadful ‘default’ plan. A lot of tears were shed that evening. We were surviving on my scrounging but we couldn’t carry on like this – for the safety of the kids more than anything – and the rent would become a real problem. Penny and the kids would return to the UK, using the last of our money and any we could borrow from her parents. Penny’s parents were not well off but had said we could have a couple of thousand pounds if needed. I would not return with them. It was a very hard decision but we could not afford to fly me out as well and Penny’s folk didn’t have much room. My parents did not know about our situation and, on the advice of my brother - my father was not in good health , we did not want to stress them. It also meant that if we did get the money back before Christmas (we didn’t believe the IoM and UK Governments would allow British families to suffer so much once they found out what was really happening and that we had had no choice in using offshore banking) then the Visa would not be invalidated by my leaving the Country. I would just have to live rough. I’d done it as a grubby backpacker twenty years previously, so could do it again; wouldn’t be pleasant but I certainly wouldn’t die of hunger and St Vincents could supply a roof some nights. It was a miserable and sleepless night. We loved each other so much and neither of us wanted this, but there was nothing we could do, the kids safety had to come first.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Ozforex
The weekend and Monday didnt bring any promising news. The IoM and UK Governments were firmly sticking their heads deep in the sand and i was obvious that this would not be quickly resolved.
I phoned Ozforex, fighting to keep back from breakdown on the phone, explained the situation (to which the person on the other end said he was aware of thankgoodness) and said that I would have to 'close-out'. He agreed and said that Ozforex would do the reverse exchange; I had a terrifying 20 minutes waiting on the phone - I could be liable for thousands of pounds here, it was just sheer terror. He came back to me, luckily for me the pound had fallen again and Ozforex were able to exchange back with no loss. I thanked the guy, hung up and just broke down uncontrollably.
That was the first time my wife or kids had ever seen my cry. Both kids joined in the wail, but Penny was able to keep it together. What the hell was happening? The family was falling apart and there was absolutely nothing I could do. I have never been a control-freak but always liked to think I could help bad situations. But this was so very different; I had got us into this mess and couldnt do anything to help. Yet again I had to run to the loo and be physically sick.
I phoned Ozforex, fighting to keep back from breakdown on the phone, explained the situation (to which the person on the other end said he was aware of thankgoodness) and said that I would have to 'close-out'. He agreed and said that Ozforex would do the reverse exchange; I had a terrifying 20 minutes waiting on the phone - I could be liable for thousands of pounds here, it was just sheer terror. He came back to me, luckily for me the pound had fallen again and Ozforex were able to exchange back with no loss. I thanked the guy, hung up and just broke down uncontrollably.
That was the first time my wife or kids had ever seen my cry. Both kids joined in the wail, but Penny was able to keep it together. What the hell was happening? The family was falling apart and there was absolutely nothing I could do. I have never been a control-freak but always liked to think I could help bad situations. But this was so very different; I had got us into this mess and couldnt do anything to help. Yet again I had to run to the loo and be physically sick.
Friday, October 10, 2008
And continues to collapse
The 10th was spent glued to the Computer. Penny took the kids out for the day and I worked on the website. It was a Drupal based forum and completely new to me. I sent emails to Drupal asking if they could possibly help, but never did receive any reply.
I received some offers for help from others claiming to be in the same position but had to be careful as money was involved and the risk of fraud quite high.
More news of the collapse drifted in. Seems that the UK Treasury had deliberately forced Kaupthing UK into administration and had taken control of the assets. Maybe all was not lost as the Isle of Man bank was actually solvent except for the £550Million in London which was now being controlled by the UK Government. Surely they would realise what was happening and get the 550 Million back to KSF so that it could continue to operate.
The next few days would bring more bad news as the UK Government completely ignored the loud screams of agony from a number of KSF depositors and the IoM Government (Tynwald) just semed to run round like headless chickens.
An email came in from a person, who seemed genuine, saying was also affected and that he had experience of webmastering Drupal based sites. I tentatively agreed and started to bring him up to speed on what i'd been doing. It was quite a God send as I was struggling - both emotionally and technically with the site - with no experience of Drupal or even of Webmastering; I was a Developer, not a website administrator! The guy who started to take over the management of the site continues, to this day, to do a good job.
Life started it's inextricable slide. Made all the more frightening by the total disregard for our plight by the Isle of Man and UK Governments. I will always look back on October 2008 as a shameful month for both the UK Parliament - the opposition parties as well as the incumbants are equally at fault - and Isle of Man Tynwald. Both Governments could have averted this disaster in the golden couple of weeks after the UK Treasury acted but, for whatever reason, didn't.
I received some offers for help from others claiming to be in the same position but had to be careful as money was involved and the risk of fraud quite high.
More news of the collapse drifted in. Seems that the UK Treasury had deliberately forced Kaupthing UK into administration and had taken control of the assets. Maybe all was not lost as the Isle of Man bank was actually solvent except for the £550Million in London which was now being controlled by the UK Government. Surely they would realise what was happening and get the 550 Million back to KSF so that it could continue to operate.
The next few days would bring more bad news as the UK Government completely ignored the loud screams of agony from a number of KSF depositors and the IoM Government (Tynwald) just semed to run round like headless chickens.
An email came in from a person, who seemed genuine, saying was also affected and that he had experience of webmastering Drupal based sites. I tentatively agreed and started to bring him up to speed on what i'd been doing. It was quite a God send as I was struggling - both emotionally and technically with the site - with no experience of Drupal or even of Webmastering; I was a Developer, not a website administrator! The guy who started to take over the management of the site continues, to this day, to do a good job.
Life started it's inextricable slide. Made all the more frightening by the total disregard for our plight by the Isle of Man and UK Governments. I will always look back on October 2008 as a shameful month for both the UK Parliament - the opposition parties as well as the incumbants are equally at fault - and Isle of Man Tynwald. Both Governments could have averted this disaster in the golden couple of weeks after the UK Treasury acted but, for whatever reason, didn't.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Our world collapses
The 8th of October 2008 had been a wonderful day. The kids were happy, the sun was shining and the comming summers warmth just made us feel good. It was a Thursday, so I decided that once the money had been transfered on Friday I'd transfer it in thirds to our two other accounts here that I'd setup to spread the load.
There had been ups and downs in the move to Australia, but that was all behind us and the future looked rosey indeed. I had 2 job interviews the following week to look forward to and other Agencies were started to ring with possible offers. It really was a fine day to be alive.
I will look back on the 8th as the last day we were a happy family with a good future, great kids and hard working sensible (but very slightly eccentric) parents. When life begins to go and I look back at a lifetime the 8th of October will be the peak of my life, with a sheer cliff plumet into oblivion.
At 9.14am on October the 9th 2008 I received an email from Ozforex saying that they still had not received the payment and that they would not release the Australian dollars until they had the Sterling. A little concerned, i went to the KSF website (as it would be late in the evening in the UK and therefore no point phoning); nothing to worry about there. I didnt try to login as i had not setup internet banking as the money would be in the account so short a time. A little puzzled, i did some Googling... And then, at 9.34am I stared for the first time at the depths of hell - there in black and white on the IOM Today website was the headline that KSF had been taken into administration.
I was trembling. Physically shaking. Mouth was dry and a slightly prickly feeling on my skin. Penny had taken the kids out to the park so I was on my own and very slightly panicking.
I made a cup of tea and and sat back at the computer. Dont be silly, there was nothing wrong with the bank so the headline must have been about something else. I read the full article. Oh my God!! It seems that on the 7th the UK Government had forced Kaupthing UK into liquidation using some emergency law they conjured up and that KSF had had £550Million in Kaupthing UK which because it was now under administration was not available and therefore KSF could no longer operate as a bank. This just couldnt be right surely!
As i read more articles and discovered the full story, which was much as IOM Today had written it, I started to worry. What about the £150K i owed Ozforex? This was terrible. I phoned Ozforex imediately and told them what had happened. The woman at Ozforex was very sympathetic and said that they would hold on until Tuesday the 14th of Octoer; if the funds had not arrrived by then then they would 'close out' whereby they bought back Sterling at the current exchange rate using the Dollars I had bought. I would be liable for any shortfall. This was a living nightmare.
At 10:47am Penny arrived back with the kids who just, still full of beans, went straight into the back garden. I was sat at the dining room table and she just said, "Whats wrong? Who's died?".
I couldnt lie - she see's straight through any fibs i try anyway - so i just said it straight, "Kaupthing has gone bust and we have lost everything.". I wasnt expecting the response i got as Penny just doubled up laughing.
"Now thats funny!" she said, "you actually had me going for a millionth of a second, how DO you keep such a straight face". Oh God, the cry wolf thing. I was always good at having laugh, parking the car run the corner and walking in saying that i couldnt remember where i'd left it etc..
"I'm sorry. It is actually true." I slid the laptop round so she could see the headline. I have never seen Penny go that white before! Years ago she had some of a Joint at a party and went white (before running to the loo and throwning up) but this was a different white, I could almost see the blood run from her face.
"What are we going to do?" she said. "Surely we cant just lose the money it must be somewhere". Then Ozforex hit her. "Christ, what about Ozforex?! What do we do about that? We havent got another £50 let alone £150,000!". I explained about the closing out and how we would be liable for any shortfall. "Fucking hell Jack...", I had only ever heard Penny swear once before when she caught her finger in a draw, "... what are we going to do? Please say you are joking and i'll only hurt you a little."
"I dont know" I replied. I know as much as you now.
At that point the kids came running for a drink of squash. "Mummy, whats happened?"
.
.
.
I cant write what the next two hours brought as it is still too painful. We had always been honest and open with the kids but this was probably one of the hardest things we had even done. Kids being kids ask the worst, but spot on questions. Things like 'will we have to sell the car?', 'how will you pay the rent?', even 'will i have to stop going to school and go to work?'. I kept to the 'things will be all right' theme and just said that we would wait until next week to see what happened.
That afternoon i searched for more information and stumbled on a moneysupermarket post where someone was asking for help to setup a website for KSF depositors. At least it would take my mind off things and give me something to do. For the rest of the afternoon and evening I worked on the site. The original guy had started with forum site i didnt recognise so it was a quick learning curve but by midnight the site was functional and some folk had already posted comments!
I went to bed and just lay there. Penny couldn't sleep either and neither of us felt like the traditional way of getting to sleep. Thousands of questions just whirled round our heads; What would happen with Ozforex? Had we really just lost 150 thousand pounds? How would we pay the rent which was due in two weeks? Would we get thrown out of Australia as the visa depended on my assets!!!?
There had been ups and downs in the move to Australia, but that was all behind us and the future looked rosey indeed. I had 2 job interviews the following week to look forward to and other Agencies were started to ring with possible offers. It really was a fine day to be alive.
I will look back on the 8th as the last day we were a happy family with a good future, great kids and hard working sensible (but very slightly eccentric) parents. When life begins to go and I look back at a lifetime the 8th of October will be the peak of my life, with a sheer cliff plumet into oblivion.
At 9.14am on October the 9th 2008 I received an email from Ozforex saying that they still had not received the payment and that they would not release the Australian dollars until they had the Sterling. A little concerned, i went to the KSF website (as it would be late in the evening in the UK and therefore no point phoning); nothing to worry about there. I didnt try to login as i had not setup internet banking as the money would be in the account so short a time. A little puzzled, i did some Googling... And then, at 9.34am I stared for the first time at the depths of hell - there in black and white on the IOM Today website was the headline that KSF had been taken into administration.
I was trembling. Physically shaking. Mouth was dry and a slightly prickly feeling on my skin. Penny had taken the kids out to the park so I was on my own and very slightly panicking.
I made a cup of tea and and sat back at the computer. Dont be silly, there was nothing wrong with the bank so the headline must have been about something else. I read the full article. Oh my God!! It seems that on the 7th the UK Government had forced Kaupthing UK into liquidation using some emergency law they conjured up and that KSF had had £550Million in Kaupthing UK which because it was now under administration was not available and therefore KSF could no longer operate as a bank. This just couldnt be right surely!
As i read more articles and discovered the full story, which was much as IOM Today had written it, I started to worry. What about the £150K i owed Ozforex? This was terrible. I phoned Ozforex imediately and told them what had happened. The woman at Ozforex was very sympathetic and said that they would hold on until Tuesday the 14th of Octoer; if the funds had not arrrived by then then they would 'close out' whereby they bought back Sterling at the current exchange rate using the Dollars I had bought. I would be liable for any shortfall. This was a living nightmare.
At 10:47am Penny arrived back with the kids who just, still full of beans, went straight into the back garden. I was sat at the dining room table and she just said, "Whats wrong? Who's died?".
I couldnt lie - she see's straight through any fibs i try anyway - so i just said it straight, "Kaupthing has gone bust and we have lost everything.". I wasnt expecting the response i got as Penny just doubled up laughing.
"Now thats funny!" she said, "you actually had me going for a millionth of a second, how DO you keep such a straight face". Oh God, the cry wolf thing. I was always good at having laugh, parking the car run the corner and walking in saying that i couldnt remember where i'd left it etc..
"I'm sorry. It is actually true." I slid the laptop round so she could see the headline. I have never seen Penny go that white before! Years ago she had some of a Joint at a party and went white (before running to the loo and throwning up) but this was a different white, I could almost see the blood run from her face.
"What are we going to do?" she said. "Surely we cant just lose the money it must be somewhere". Then Ozforex hit her. "Christ, what about Ozforex?! What do we do about that? We havent got another £50 let alone £150,000!". I explained about the closing out and how we would be liable for any shortfall. "Fucking hell Jack...", I had only ever heard Penny swear once before when she caught her finger in a draw, "... what are we going to do? Please say you are joking and i'll only hurt you a little."
"I dont know" I replied. I know as much as you now.
At that point the kids came running for a drink of squash. "Mummy, whats happened?"
.
.
.
I cant write what the next two hours brought as it is still too painful. We had always been honest and open with the kids but this was probably one of the hardest things we had even done. Kids being kids ask the worst, but spot on questions. Things like 'will we have to sell the car?', 'how will you pay the rent?', even 'will i have to stop going to school and go to work?'. I kept to the 'things will be all right' theme and just said that we would wait until next week to see what happened.
That afternoon i searched for more information and stumbled on a moneysupermarket post where someone was asking for help to setup a website for KSF depositors. At least it would take my mind off things and give me something to do. For the rest of the afternoon and evening I worked on the site. The original guy had started with forum site i didnt recognise so it was a quick learning curve but by midnight the site was functional and some folk had already posted comments!
I went to bed and just lay there. Penny couldn't sleep either and neither of us felt like the traditional way of getting to sleep. Thousands of questions just whirled round our heads; What would happen with Ozforex? Had we really just lost 150 thousand pounds? How would we pay the rent which was due in two weeks? Would we get thrown out of Australia as the visa depended on my assets!!!?
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Transfer is made
On the 7th of October 2008, with all the money in the KSF current account, I phoned the bank to ensure I could perform a Bank Transfer by fax. They confirmed it was ok, gave me my pass phrase and assured me it would be fine.
Early in the evening, I checked the exchange rate had not done anything daft (in fact it had improved. I'd get A$2.71 to the £ whereas a week earlier it had been only A$2.25!! Fantastic, lady luck was really smiling on me!) and phoned Ozforex, buying just over A$400K. They gave me the refernce code and i sent a fax to KSF.
We had done it! The kids (who were watching every step) were very excited and a 'Christmas Eve' type atmosphere led to a quite sleepless night. It would be a couple of days before the money showed in our Aussie account but Ozforex were a reputable company and the 8th was a relaxing and enjoyable day.
Early in the evening, I checked the exchange rate had not done anything daft (in fact it had improved. I'd get A$2.71 to the £ whereas a week earlier it had been only A$2.25!! Fantastic, lady luck was really smiling on me!) and phoned Ozforex, buying just over A$400K. They gave me the refernce code and i sent a fax to KSF.
We had done it! The kids (who were watching every step) were very excited and a 'Christmas Eve' type atmosphere led to a quite sleepless night. It would be a couple of days before the money showed in our Aussie account but Ozforex were a reputable company and the 8th was a relaxing and enjoyable day.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Kaupthing Singer and Freidlander
Unable to open even one UK mainland bank account we finally took the decision to transfer our money to Australia. Having paper cheques in the house was nerve wracking as well as daft. So I opened an account with Ozforex, a Money exchange company, and started looking for the best/safest way to transfer our savings. It quickly became clear that I had to have a Sterling account to be able to transfer the money from. So the search started again.
After much searching and making enquiries it turned out that I’d have to open an ‘Offshore’ bank account. A couple of the UK banks had suggested this but I’d always considered offshore banking as a little shady and used by the wealthy to perhaps hide some of their moneys. But after a load more research (and money starting to run very low in Australia – all this had meant I’d not been able to go and find a decent work position here yet) I finally plumped on a bank called Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander on the Isle of Man.
Kaupthing Singer and Freidlander (or KSF as i'll now call it) had good credit ratings, didn’t appear to be caught up in the flow of lending to people who would never be able to repay and had a Parenteral Guarantee to cover all monies if the worst should happen. The Isle of Man had a 'Depositor Compensation Scheme' but the BCCI collapse (where folk who lost money in that were still receiving the odd £10 cheque years later!) showed that to be more sound-bite than a real safety net. No, the money would be there a very short time and the credit ratings and guarantee were good enough for me.
In mid September 2008, I opened a current account with KSF and, using the securest - and costliest! – postal method I could find, sent the cheques to KSF) . As soon as they cleared and the money was available I would exchange the money and bring it to my Australian account before spreading it around a bit here. I was a little nervous at having ALL our money in one place, but it would be for a very short time and we would be very unlucky indeed if the bank went bust as there were no signs whatsoever! Not quite so for its UK sister bank, but that was an entirely different business.
After much searching and making enquiries it turned out that I’d have to open an ‘Offshore’ bank account. A couple of the UK banks had suggested this but I’d always considered offshore banking as a little shady and used by the wealthy to perhaps hide some of their moneys. But after a load more research (and money starting to run very low in Australia – all this had meant I’d not been able to go and find a decent work position here yet) I finally plumped on a bank called Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander on the Isle of Man.
Kaupthing Singer and Freidlander (or KSF as i'll now call it) had good credit ratings, didn’t appear to be caught up in the flow of lending to people who would never be able to repay and had a Parenteral Guarantee to cover all monies if the worst should happen. The Isle of Man had a 'Depositor Compensation Scheme' but the BCCI collapse (where folk who lost money in that were still receiving the odd £10 cheque years later!) showed that to be more sound-bite than a real safety net. No, the money would be there a very short time and the credit ratings and guarantee were good enough for me.
In mid September 2008, I opened a current account with KSF and, using the securest - and costliest! – postal method I could find, sent the cheques to KSF) . As soon as they cleared and the money was available I would exchange the money and bring it to my Australian account before spreading it around a bit here. I was a little nervous at having ALL our money in one place, but it would be for a very short time and we would be very unlucky indeed if the bank went bust as there were no signs whatsoever! Not quite so for its UK sister bank, but that was an entirely different business.
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