Anyone cleared a debt...

[Arch]

Not very often.

Ah, and you know all about it do you? The point is, sometimes, it IS down to bad luck, and people like you getting high and mightly about it is not going to change that, or help in any way.

 

[Mr Pig]

£350'000 on bad luck and needing to eat? That's a lot of bread and teabags.

 

[Arch]

£350'000 on bad luck and needing to eat? That's a lot of bread and teabags.

Ah, a misunderstanding, I wasn't talking about the £350,000 bit, but the general high handed tone of "well, people shouldn't get into debt", which I thought you were agreeing with, sorry if that wasn't the case.

 

[Gromit]

My debts were from needing to eat and having a roof over my head. Living on a minimum wage, paying rent, bills and eating gets difficult, when you have hardly any money to live off. The other alternative was sleeping on the streets. £1300 is nothing compared to some people who borrow to go on holiday, get expensive cars and the like.

Now that I'm earning a decent wage, I'm able to save, pay my debts off and go on holiday for the first time in my life. I have piece of mind, I can sleep without worrying that a massive bill will come through the post, that I can't afford. I now pay for everything with my own money, don't have a credit card or a loan and defiantly have no overdraft facility on my current account.

What I really hate is people who have never been in a situation were they have had no money pointing the finger at people who have.

 

[Gromit]

One thing that has peed me off lately is the back door pay decrease we had after our pay rise. I used to get £952pm, after tax but now I have gone up a tax code and the scrapping of the 10p tax rate, means I'm now £50 poorer. This months wage was £902, How does that work then?

 

[swee'pea99]

It's actually not that hard to run up £350,000 in debt. All you have to do is live thru' a property boom, using one house as security against another, then another, then (in my friend's case) a bar, then watch as the economy hits the buffers and everything comes down like a house of cards.

 

[Mr Pig]

I wasn't talking about the £350,000 bit, but the general high handed tone of "well, people shouldn't get into debt".

I Agree with you that some people do get into debt just making ends meet but in my opinion most people who end up in serious trouble are chasing a lifestyle they can't afford.

People just expect to be able to go nice holidays, have big TV sets and new cars when the reality is that these things are luxury items. If someone who lives in a big house with a flat-screen in every room and a new car in the drive says to me 'woe is me, I'm in so much debt' then no, I don't have a lot of sympathy for them. Choosing to finance a lifestyle that you can't afford by borrowing money is your own fault, no one else's.

It's just greed, pure and simple. We live in a country were a modest income will buy you a fairly blessed existence, with a warm, dry place to live, good food and great comfort relative to what most of the world's population have to deal with. But sadly for many it's just not enough. It's not enough to have 'a' car, they must have a newer, faster, bigger, flasher car. Bigger TV's, bigger holidays. I work beside a guy who two weeks ago went to Canada, for the weekend!

When I was a kid, if we didn't have the money to go a holiday we didn't go one, and most people thought likewise. Then, they started throwing credit at people and telling them that they 'should' be going a holiday and buying a new car. Making people feel inferior if they didn't have the latest luxury gadgets and designer labels. And why? So that they could sell more product and take more money out of people's pockets, no other reason.

So the greed came at a price and the whole game's gone tits up. And this is a tragedy? I don't think so.

 

[Blue]

I tend to agree with Mr P on this one.

I come from a dirt poor background so know all about the poverty trap etc. However, when I reached adulthood I decided to live within my means, without debt. I think too many live a 'must have' lifestyle which they cannot afford and don't feel much in the way of sympathy when their world crumbles around them. Indeed, indignation results from the thought that people like me, living within their means, will invariably end up paying for the written-off debt via higher prices etc.

 

[Cycling Naturalist]

I Agree with you that some people do get into debt just making ends meet but in my opinion most people who end up in serious trouble are chasing a lifestyle they can't afford.

People just expect to be able to go nice holidays, have big TV sets and new cars when the reality is that these things are luxury items. If someone who lives in a big house with a flat-screen in every room and a new car in the drive says to me 'woe is me, I'm in so much debt' then no, I don't have a lot of sympathy for them. Choosing to finance a lifestyle that you can't afford by borrowing money is your own fault, no one else's.

It's just greed, pure and simple. We live in a country were a modest income will buy you a fairly blessed existence, with a warm, dry place to live, good food and great comfort relative to what most of the world's population have to deal with. But sadly for many it's just not enough. It's not enough to have 'a' car, they must have a newer, faster, bigger, flasher car. Bigger TV's, bigger holidays. I work beside a guy who two weeks ago went to Canada, for the weekend!

When I was a kid, if we didn't have the money to go a holiday we didn't go one, and most people thought likewise. Then, they started throwing credit at people and telling them that they 'should' be going a holiday and buying a new car. Making people feel inferior if they didn't have the latest luxury gadgets and designer labels. And why? So that they could sell more product and take more money out of people's pockets, no other reason.

So the greed came at a price and the whole game's gone tits up. And this is a tragedy? I don't think so.

I'm in agreement too. I've seen quite enough of people relentlessly remortgaging their homes to buy expensive cars.

 

[Mortiroloboy]

pure madness, if you cannot afford it don't buy it.

 

[bonj2]

Yes! I've done it with a nationwide credit card when i was a student. I owed about £1500-£1600 on it, and I was on the phone with them discussing the monthly repayments when I was telling them I would get my student loan installment soon, so i may be able to pay a lump sum but only if they waived the monthly payments for a while.
"Hang on, we'll put you through to the full and final settlement department", she said.
I explained, and they said "well would you be able to manage £370 out of your student loan", I said maybe, but only if I didn't have to pay monthly payments for a bit. They said 'err..... well, no you wouldn't - £370 and that's it.' That's it?! Oh... ok!
So I made sure the day I got my student loan installment I took the money in cash into nationwide and got a receipt, and never heard from them again.

 

[Abitrary]

pure madness, if you cannot afford it don't buy it.

Agreed. Unless it's a student loan or mortgage, I just don't get it. The idea of getting into avoidable debt makes me feel queasy.

 

[Mr Pig]

The idea of getting into avoidable debt makes me feel queasy.

Me too. I'm just not comfortable with it.

 

[Crackle]

My debts were from needing to eat and having a roof over my head. Living on a minimum wage, paying rent, bills and eating gets difficult, when you have hardly any money to live off. The other alternative was sleeping on the streets. £1300 is nothing compared to some people who borrow to go on holiday, get expensive cars and the like.

Now that I'm earning a decent wage, I'm able to save, pay my debts off and go on holiday for the first time in my life. I have piece of mind, I can sleep without worrying that a massive bill will come through the post, that I can't afford. I now pay for everything with my own money, don't have a credit card or a loan and defiantly have no overdraft facility on my current account.

What I really hate is people who have never been in a situation were they have had no money pointing the finger at people who have.

Well done Gromit, enjoy that holiday.

 

[summerdays]

I Agree with you that some people do get into debt just making ends meet but in my opinion most people who end up in serious trouble are chasing a lifestyle they can't afford.

People just expect to be able to go nice holidays, have big TV sets and new cars when the reality is that these things are luxury items. If someone who lives in a big house with a flat-screen in every room and a new car in the drive says to me 'woe is me, I'm in so much debt' then no, I don't have a lot of sympathy for them. Choosing to finance a lifestyle that you can't afford by borrowing money is your own fault, no one else's.

It's just greed, pure and simple. We live in a country were a modest income will buy you a fairly blessed existence, with a warm, dry place to live, good food and great comfort relative to what most of the world's population have to deal with. But sadly for many it's just not enough. It's not enough to have 'a' car, they must have a newer, faster, bigger, flasher car. Bigger TV's, bigger holidays. I work beside a guy who two weeks ago went to Canada, for the weekend!

When I was a kid, if we didn't have the money to go a holiday we didn't go one, and most people thought likewise. Then, they started throwing credit at people and telling them that they 'should' be going a holiday and buying a new car. Making people feel inferior if they didn't have the latest luxury gadgets and designer labels. And why? So that they could sell more product and take more money out of people's pockets, no other reason.

So the greed came at a price and the whole game's gone tits up. And this is a tragedy? I don't think so.

I agree with some of this. There was a program on TV where a couple were using small errors in the contract to get out of all their £100,000+ debt. They were particularly irritating as they looked as if they had made no changes to their life-style. In the end they came a cropper as they went to court to prove some point, succeeded in getting rid of that debt but run up court costs.

I think TV and magazines are partially to blame ... for example when Eastenders first started, can you remember the grimey sets.... now no-one lives like that in Eastenders (I think cos I don't actually watch the program now). All those home make over programs, and how to do up a house and build a housing portfolio etc. We have been sold this idea that everyone lives in a well made over house/garden and goes on holiday to glamourous places.

I've known kids who are living in very poor conditions who then go on holiday and give their kids £200 spening money (mine are lucky if they get £10 and not because we can't afford it, just that I think it sends the wrong message).

On the other hand I have seen some folk who do try to manage their money but if you haven't got much coming in then it doesn't take much to send all your plans out the window. Its those folk that I think need lots more help, and the problem is I'm not sure they go looking for help in the right places either.