Re:Scottish Widows Bank PO Box 12757 67 Morrison Street Edinburgh EH3 8YJ I wish to inform potential customers about the disgusting and underhand practices of this Bank. The situation was that we were already existing customers of Scottish Widows bank and held a so called exclusive 'Professional Mortgage' with them as I am a doctor and my wife is a Pharmacist. We were not sure of our financial position so we contacted Scottish Widows Bank prior to formally applying for a remortgage to check affordability and entitlement. After several phone calls with a Mortgage Sales Officer providing all our financial details (the same as you would on an application form) who was liaising with Credit Managers, we were later pleased to be told that the remortgage was agreed. However, after submitting our formal application I received a phone call by Shahida Aslam - Mortgage Underwriter for Scottish Widows bank who was ringing to clarify some details regarding our application. For some reason the records they held at the time did not match the details we had provided, this was later found to be an error by the Credit Reference Agency. But unbelievably her explanation to this discrepancy, was to imply and accuse me of trying to defraud Scottish Widows bank as this situation had presented to her before and it was discovered that this particular individual had attempted to defraud the company! Despite having pre-approval of the remortgage, Ms. Aslam later then said they [Scottish Widows bank] are now refusing to remortgage us. I complained about this as well as the disgusting accusation which was made against me. As I was so incensed about my treatment, rather than contacting Customer Services, I wrote directly to the Managing Director-Graeme Hortop on 7th December 2005 outlining my complaint at the outset. Due to our financial situation, the delay caused by Scottish Widows in firstly accepting to remortgage us and then refusing, we had to go to an alternative mortgage provider, this consequently, caused us to incur some financial costs. I went to seek compensation from Scottish Widows for these documented costs alone without seeking any compensation for all the upset caused by their ill treatment and lack of respect. In the meantime we had secured a remortgage very easily with Nat West Bank that was absolutely straightforward and completed within an amazing 3 weeks! Furthermore, the Account Manager even commented she could not understand why we were refused by Scottish Widows bank for a simple remortgage. Mr. Hortop-Managing Director replied and said the matter would be dealt with by Alexandra Sherry-Operations Manager. She however eventually replied in a disrespectful and untimely fashion despite a previous letter dated 4th January assuring me they would 'issue a full reply shortly', or provide an update at the latest by 30th January 2006. We eventually received the reply that was actually dated 1 February 2006 but was not actually received until 12 February 2006. Ms. Sherry, stated that 'I have now had the opportunity to investigate this matter further'...'the calls between yourselves and Shahida have been listened to and I can confirm Shahida has followed standard Scottish Widows procedure'! We were extremely disappointed by this response and requested copies of all our conversations under the Data Protection Act. We eventually received transcripts and noticed the first and main conversation I had with Shahida Aslam whereby she had accused me of trying to defraud Scottish Widows Bank was missing. Interestingly, this conversation obviously existed as the transcripts of the subsequent conversations referred to it repeatedly! I wrote again, requesting the transcript for this conversation and a copy of the actual tape recording as I could no longer trust them. I received a reply dated 12 June 2006 from Alexandra Sherry-Operations Manager stating 'I would take this opportunity to confirm we have not been able to trace records of any further telephone calls'...'I do appreciate several other telephone conversations may well have taken place between yourselves and out team, however I am unable to comment on the possible content of them' This all seems rather convenient. Surely in this age of digital technology there would be back up systems for such important telephone calls which are the core element of their business. You will hopefully understand from our experiences how unacceptable and despicable the manner in which Scottish Widows bank conducts its business. Full copies of any letters and documents are available for viewing as documentary evidence. I will be writing to the Financial Ombudsmen and various other bodies over this matter, as I in particular want to raise the issue over conveniently 'lost' recorded telephone conversations. Yours sincerely Dr. Andrew Lee MB ChB DRCOG DCH MRCGP