My nightmare with Standard Chartered Bank

We decided to buy our own property in Apr 2002. The time when we signed the contract with the developer, Standard Chartered Bank salesman came in. He pursuaded us to take a mortgage loan from his bank (in fact we didn't need to take it in 2002, our scheme was under the defer payment). He said firstly you'd better to secure a loan when you still had job and secondly the interest rate was low (2.5%) at the time. That gave us a feeling that if we signed then, even though outside interest rate increase, our loan would still be 2.5%. On top of that, we could enjoy one time a free conversion and legal subsidy. We insisted that the offer items were to be written in the contract. They refused by saying the contract was fixed and the bank was a prestigious bank, they wouldn't bluff. We agreed and signed.

Until the following year (2003), our disbursement started. But the market interest rate dropped to only 1.5%. So we contacted the bank to do a free conversion, the manager (he was the one that came with the salesman and signed the contract with us, his name was M) refused by giving the reason "this was not in the contract and I can't remember we promised to offer you a free conversion". We managed to contact the salesman R who had already resigned at the time. He confirmed what we said and told us in fact it was his manager M who taught him to say so. He found this job was not suitable for him, therefore resigned.

After a long and sorrowful fight, finally Standard Chartered Bank agreed to convert for us.

Since the beginning of last year, Standard Chartered started to raise up their interest rate with tremendous speed. Almost every 2-3 month we would receive their letters about their interest review. It became worse from last Sept. Even with our write-in, they stopped writing to us with the exception of their interest review letters and the regular statements. We were furious and finally we decided to change to another bank after we found the interest they charged us were deferred from our calculation, and received no explanation from them.

We gave them 3 months notice based on our agreement. After chasing them for sooooooo many times, we received from them that we could do a full redemption by 16 Apr this year in black and white. they also verbally agreed to give us the detail breakdown of interest they charged for the controversial months. We were relieved and thought our nightmare was over.

We engaged our lawyer to deal with them. The lawyer told us the Bank informed her the final redemption date should be in Jun not Apr. Puzzled we called them with the proof, they admitted they had made a mistake, but that caused quite a handsome delay and we had to pay at a very high interest for their mistake rather than they paying themselves.

Last month I went to their branch in Raffles Place to close my account. Meanwhile I again made request to give us the breakdown detail. Even until today, more that 1 month already, I still haven't received anything from them yet. We made the same requests about 10 times since last Sept, all been ignored. That made us feel very fishy, if there's nothing wrong, why not just reply to the customer? It only takes few minutes, isn't it?

To conclude, learn from my lesson, don't do any business with this bank. I roughly calculated we lost almost $10K during these years from the higher interest compared to other banks and the lawyer fee for the transfer. Most important their service is terrible.

Tomb sweeping

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My granduncle's tomb


My Grandparents' tomb


My cousin Ping He's burning offerings to my grandparents
My uncle Qi's tomb, his daughter (Yin, Qi's third daughter) is paying respect to him
My mother's hometown -- Heng Shan Qiao -- a small town near Changzhou, Jiangsu Province. The picture shows a local delicacy there -- pancake with Chinese leek filling


The house belonged to my mother's grandma before she got married. It was confiscated during the Culture Revolution period


This house used to be my great grandfather's. Also confiscated at the same time. My aunt is standing there, think of the past



My great grandma's maiden house -- confiscated








My great grandfather's house -- confiscated by the government, now bought by another person, he transformed it into a shop selling weighing scales


My great grandfather's house, confiscated






Inside of that weighing scale shop



Inside the same shop













After our family houses been confiscated, my uncle's family was given such a shabby house and nine of them were living here until mid 70's. The persecution caused my uncle's early death

The same house -- his daughter (Wei, Qi' youngest daughter) and her boyfriend

A bridge over the grand canal in Heng Shan Qiao


The same bridge



Dinner gathering after the tomb sweeping at my cousin Ju's (Qi's eldest daughter) place. The standing lady is cousin Chun (Qi's second daughter), the girl sitting left to her is her daughter Jin (24)






The boy with white T-shirt is Zhong (cousin Chun's son, Jin' younger brother (20))

Buddhist ceremony for my grandmother

29/3/06
My grandma will be 99-year-old this April. However, based on the Chinese way of calculating, she shall be 100. (a person is one-year-old soon after he/she was born, so it'll be one year more than the western way) That's the reason we held this ceremony for her. Many nuns came chanting for her.


Ancestor worshiping

Back to my aunt's place

My cousin Yin (Qi's third daughter) and her daughter Ru(24)

My aunt Zhi(Qi's wife) and her grandson Hu (20)
My cousin-in-law Han (Qi's son's wife), cousin Ju (Qi's eldest daughter), cousin Wei (his youngest daughter)
The left most is cousin Xian (Qi's 5th daughter)

Day tour in Suzhou

The following morning, my cousin Ping -- his father Qi was my mother's eldest brother who passed away 1995-- drove us to Suzhou.


Houses along a canal

Suzhou was famous for its private courtyards. This time we visited two of them (Shi Zi Lin and Liu Yuan). (there are plenty of them, each one has it's uniqueness) It's also been called Eastern Venice because the local people lived by canals. But now most of the canals have already disappeared due to reclaiming of land project since Liberation (1949).

Located in the northeast of Suzhou, Shizilin is a good representitive of antient classical private garden designing. Shizilin has a very long history. It was first built in 1342, Yuan Dynasty. Covers 2.5 acres in area, it is famours for its groteque rocks, which are limestone from Taihu Lake in Wuxi City. Some of them resemble lions, and that's the reason why it is named as Shiziyilin, which literally can be translated as Lion Garden.










A miniature shows how people in Suzhou lived a few hundreds years ago















A hall in Shi Zi Lin -- A private garden belong to Song official






Shi Zi Lin


One of the hall -- Yuan Xiang Tang --inside Shi Zi Lin




Another hall -- San Shi Liu Yuan Yang Guang -- inside Shi Zi Lin

A lady was taking photo inside the hall

Shizilin is an ideal sightseeing site as it has richly ornamental pavilions and towers in different styles; each has its own history and story. Walking through those numerous winding pathways and caverns of the anfractuous stone forest, one could easily lose one's way. With the old pines and cypress trees, the whole landscapes represent scenes of real mountains and forests.




A tree inside Shi Zi Lin Garden











Peach blossom in Shi Zi Lin




Beautifully decorated -- Shi Zi Lin











Inside Shi Zi Lin







Eastern version of Venice -- near Shi Zi Lin











Another private garden --Liu Yuan

Just like Shiziyilin, LiuYuan also has a long history. It was first built in 1583, Ming Dynasty. It had been changed many hands and finally belonged to Liu Family before it was donated to the Government and that's the reason why it was named.

Today the garden is separated into the eastern, central, northern and western parts. The central part features a man-made mountain and lakeside scene, resembling a long scroll of traditional Chinese landscape painting. The eastern part is noted for its joyous groupings of garden courts and elegant buildings, the western part for the enchantment of woody hills, and the northern part for cottages with bamboo fences and idyllic scenes.


Liu Yuan



An artificial hill made from Taihu rock is always the main component of Suzhou gardens. The 6.5-meter-high Cloud-Capped Peak in this garden, as the highest limestone in classical gardens of Suzhou, is believed to have been left behind by the imperial collector of the Northern Song Dynasty. Weighing about 5 tons, the limestone is supposed to have been carried from Taihu Lake, 40kms away.

One hall inside Liu Yuan

Outside one of the halls in Liu Yuan










Chinese calligraphy -- last time rich family like to decorate with Chinese calligraphy -- in Liu Yuan







Inside Liu Yuan

Bonsai in Liu Yuan

Bonsai in Liu Yuan

Bonsai in Liu Yuan

Liu Yuan

The story of Liu Yuan is written here

We had dinner at Xian's (Ping's younger sister) place. Many cousins, cousin-in-laws and their children came. It was indeed wonderful.