But it is weird, though. We are supposed to be in this terrible national debt and recession but the house two doors down, put up a 'For Sale' sign last week. Two days later it was 'Sold'. According to the news, everyone is baying for foreign holidays in the sun and flying to all parts of the globe. For a debt ridden country leading the way in climate change and not using fossil fuels, we seem to be able to win the hypocrite race still! Oh, of course! It is China's fault!!! Nothing to see here! Just blame China! For a debt and recession hit country, we seem to do pretty well!
Absolutely correct, the banks have a legal obligation, no argument there. However, if a bank is going to make a financial decision that affects my ability to pay may way in a modern cashless society, I want that decision to actually look at my financial position. According to the many contributions to the article I read, Barclaycard openly admits, they have and hold no financial information for the individuals concerned and have no intention of going through any process with the customer to look at there affordability score. Andy
After "austerity" turned out to be so popular governments now use quantative easing as a pain-free alternative. Firstly have your central bank buy massive quantities of marketable debt to lower long-term interest rates. Next, issue billions of long-term debt to spend on assuaging the pain of recession/pandemic/unemployment and not raising taxes. Then have said central bank buy all those billions of debt directly from the government. Keep going until either the economy actually grows enough to actually repay some debt or kick the can down the road and make it someone else's problem .
Strange thing is that after my accident, I was in big debts as nothing was being earned and no credit cards and loans were being paid off as my bank pulled the plug on my bank account due to big debt. It was eventually all sorted out when I was well enough to communicate and most loans were written off. My credit rating may well be crap, but I don't care. I still have two of three credit cards with zero balances that are rarely used. The credit card companies regularly write and email to say, "please keep using your card as it is brilliant". It might be for them but I prefer to keep the card whilst not using it. It seems to upset them!
I buy and pay for everything on my VISA, then transfer the money over to pay it off before I get charges. Mainly becuase all purchases are insured to a degree by visa. Same with Paypal. Debt gives me the heebeejeebees and is one of the things that worry me. So I like to make sure I dont have any or very little. But a visa can be handy now and again.
In a cashless society, a physical credit card is often the only way someone of an older generation (me) can buy stuff. Cannot get my head around using a mobile phone app to pay, especially as the app demands access to all the data held in your phone, regardless of its relevance to the purchase. Andy
Most government debt is not 'real' debt. Most of it is either money that goes around being loaned in a big circle from country A to country Z and back again, or money the state loans itself through various different methods ... which sounds silly, but does go on. Dont worry about it, its never designed to actually be paid back Personal debt, is different altogether. I use credit cars for convenience, but never pay interest cos I always pay the full balance off at month end before it can accrue any. I do borrow money from the bank on occasion too - but only to use their money and not mine. I always have the capital to pay it all off if the need arose. Why would I use all my own cash when borrowing is so cheap ?
This all day long. Yea sure people will come on and say you have to live life whilst you can younger people have gone so far the other way its horrific. I want it now is everywhere and saving is dead. I tell my lot you have to work hard for your money so don't give it back to the banks and loan companies in interest payments. And if you don't want it after saving up for it then you obviously didn't want it in the first place. These pay day loans adverts ………….. omg my boiler has broken down and I cant afford to get it fixed …. ( rings loan company on iPhone12 ) FFS, sort your life out better.
Exactly what was drummed into me as a kid. Got to get your head around ‘need’ and ‘want’, far too many don’t seem to be able to understand they are not the same thing. Andy
For any of you who are not familiar with the ingenious way that the banking system works; there is a very good series of videos 'Money as debt' which explain the history of the banking system and how we have ended up with the ridiculous scheme which we have now.
Apparently about 137k is the average mortgage debt. That of course takes into account those that had a 5k mortgage back in the old days with 20p left to pay and those that are currently going balls to the walls. People I know these days seem to get a mortgage as much as the mortgage company will provide and to me that is a recipe for disaster although the property market means some will have to to get on the ladder.
137k mortgage is alright if you live up north or you’ve got in excess of 300+k to put down as a deposit I suppose. you’re right about the 5k gang as well
We stuck at 3.5x salary for mortgage, despite them chucking 6, 7 or 8x mortgages at us. Dont need a big house, a big house means more junk. We have enough already.
No, no, no, you haven't got it. Don't you listen to the media? The gig is to borrow as much money as possible and shop like mad on store cards. Then, when it all goes tits up, you are not allowed to blame the Tories, but China. Or, well, anyone, as long as it is not yourself. Actually, the trend is to blame the Post Office as it has been proved that they stitched people up over the Horizon fiasco. Yes, blame the GPO. Glad to help.
Did the same thing pretty much, think ours was about 2.5 times with the other halfs pay included. I live in the midlands though so it's much more affordable than those poor folk in the likes of London buying in today's market. I just didn't want the feeling of not being to afford my house if I lost my job or something crazy happened.
It's a classic "Emperor's New Clothes" scenario ..... If you add up the GNP of all the developed nations , and then compare that to the national debt of those same countries , you will find that there is at least 3 times more debt than there is GNP , and that the ratio is constantly increasing , year upon year . Those countries are no longer using labour to produce goods and services that can be sold on the global market ...... they are simply creating more debt . Key question - to whom is that massive collective global debt actually owed ? Post war Germany had people burning paper money to keep warm , because it cost less than buying coal or firewood , and this insane situation lead to the Bretton-Woods Agreement where it was decided that all paper money in circulation must be backed-up by gold , held in reserve . All was cool and groovy for a while , until the Vietnam war started costing so much that nobody could even put a figure on it . Nixon decided that the best option was to end the Bretton-Woods Agreement , and ordered that the US Dollar be backed up by ...... the US Dollar itself ! ...... and nothing else .... whoopee ! And all of the other major currencies just had to fall in line . That's how "fiat currencies" started ..... in the bible god said " Fiat Lux " , meaning " let there be light " , ( god spoke Latin , of course ) but Nixon effectively said " Let there be value " ( based on nothing ) ..... and so it came to be . Interesting side note - some countries ( France for example ) were far from happy with this Alice In Wonderland sketch , and later decided that they wanted their US denominated bonds to be repaid in physical gold ..... .... they even sent ships to collect it ! Here is a useful concept to get a grasp of the reality of the current global economy .... Lois Lane is falling from a tall building , and Superman flies in , and he says " Don't worry , I've got you " and Lois says " Yeah , but who has got YOU ? " And when it comes to the US Dollar , the answer is ..... NOBODY ! I think that covers were this infinitely growing global debt comes from , but the important question is ..... what are we all going to do about it ? It's likely to be me and you who lose out , on the day when everybody wakes up to this David Copperfield style trick that's been played on all of us . Key question - What would happen if 10 or 20 million people said to the UK banks ... " stuff your debt , we're not paying " ?
I’ve spent 12 months saving £350 pm on fuel for not commuting. I have less in the bank than a year ago. I get yer
