Paying £2 a day for a TV sounds cheap doesn't it? Blog Discussion

seaniboy

calleyw wrote:

I am sorry but I don't agree with this comment

"OK, a TV is a necessity as are the fridge freezers, cookers and other white goods"

Ummm since when. If you can't afford to buy a new telly how do pay for the TV licence at £126 for this year.

I am not trying to be smug but I don't have a TV by choice. Since I last looked it was not a right to have tv. A lot of people manage fine with out.

Yes I do have internet and I am sure that we will all be saying in a few years time that Broadband connection is necessity. Sorry don't think so.

To me a necessity is such things as roof over my head, food in belly and clothes on my back. Everything else is a luxury. The type of luxuries you have is depedent on how much money you have after the essentials have been paid.

Yours

Calley

I agree but peoples personal status come into it aswell, I have a disability through a bad incident, my broadband, mobile, car, dishwasher & TV are essential to my sanity amoungst other things

seaniboy

highlighter wrote:

Fair enough if you cant afford the £2 a day. However if you can/could (not talking about you here), but would rather get into thousands of debt rather than sticking out 80 tv free days for a 28inch tv. I know, no matter how isolated i would feel for 80 days it would be a million times better than being thousands in the red for years all for a tv.

I understand what im saying doesnt go for all-yet i'm sure some people have got themselves into debt this way all because they 'need' a tv and simply dont have the mind set or disciplin to hold off for 3 months.

Dont forget the blog is talking about people who are paying for these 28inch, nice big widescreen tvs.

the people on watchdog were conned by the company, a full breakdown of all costs & charges by law as per Consumer Credit ACT should be on the signed credit agreement, sickeningly I have not heard 1 MP stand up and say anything about the companies credit licence being suspended pending further investigation as a breach of the CC act may have taken place since Watchdog aired, have you??


regardless what they are paying for out of these sharks catolgues it highly immoral to pay such rates of interest, sometimes a TV, sometimes a cooker sometime the kids/family xmas...the product really is irrelevent, its the rate

Barclaycard and others have its share of bad debitors but they dont charge all us 40%apr to compensate, this is just consumer credit gone mad and the CC Act does not protect the vunerable

30%apr on Capital One is reasonable for the risk I think,
but there are credit cards charging double that aimed directly at the financially vunerable, shameful on our goverment really...controlling credit rates via CC Act really would do more for poverty than half the nancy things our quango's implement then withdraw cos it "failed" hardly suprising when these officals salaries are many times over the poverty line and are clueless about how people on low incomes lives are affected - "better housing" is a common myth,yeah you can give them a nicer house but then give them no protection that it will cost thousands to buy a bloody TV

seaniboy

Amba_Gambla wrote:

maybe this is something the government, or a charity should be taking up.

Colin_tomlinson - I think you're right, the guy on watchdog had the box put on his own TV to pay for it. Maybe a charity or the government should offer these boxes to ppl who want to save up for their white goods/tvs etc, and run it at a slight profit, or only to cover costs.

40% apr is disgusting, and should be illegal........

thats a great idea till you come to the realisation that if the goverment did it, rather than employ someone from the service industry with experience to run it they employ a offical who has very little experience spends a fortune through incompetance, then its hived off out to contract to some company to make millions with us paying, rather than employ a competant person in the first place...so that leaves 1 option CHARITY

seaniboy

Bobsworlduk wrote:

I can see ASDA offering a "Lay Away" scheme in the future. i.e pay up then get the item.

There parent company Walmart offers this service in its stores.

Even if there was a minimal charge for this service to cover the overheads (database / storage for the items etc) it would still be way better than the £1000's that people are currently paying for interest etc.

im glad to hear of this and hope the reality comes true, on a lighter note to everyone im not on the povertyline but it sickens me very strongly these things go on to the most vunerable of society, but as a nation we dont stand up to our goverment after electing them we just nod like good British people, got a problem with anything ? call your MP thats what we pay them for!!

trickytrolleys

There are a couple of other options, you could save on a card, i did this when i needed a new stereo, i got a comet one so that i didnt have the cash sitting in the house (or i would have spent it on other things) or, alternatively buy a second hand one - i got a tv out of the paper years ago for £30 that was fab, not all people selling second hand goods are like Arthur Daley!

Also I was on Income support and moved house so i borrowed some money from the social fund to get things for it and they took it back at £16 a week in the winter as i was only getting £100 it was a hell of a lot of money and they would not reduce it - I actually would have been better borrowing from a loan shark and paying a smaller amount for longer.

MSE_Martin

Two quick notes having scanned the options above

1. The people did get the right credit agreement documents, there was nothing wrong with them - they were correct and legit (i got faxed copies). Yet the problem is they weren't read usually

2. I didn't suggest in the blog people go out and buy a £160 TV. My suggestion was that rather than paying £14 a week for three years, you put £14 a week away and buy the TV in three months owning it outright. If you can't afford to put the £14 away then you can't have the TV either way - thats the point

very interesting discussion though

johanne

i actually got a leaflet through yesterday about this for someone else.. (the person in the house before me was deep deep in debt and not all the post that comes for them has a return address so i open it to find it - and to check there are no more baliffs going to knock at my door looking for them ) I was shocked at what i saw.42.8% typical APR!!!

Small print says:

"A typical example on a TV (Sanyo CE27LC4 with stand) costing £949.99 + £50 arrangement fee repaid over 36 months at £43.62* per month. Total amount payable £1570.32 APR 42.8% * Equivalent to £1.43 a day"

This is a 27" LCD screen with all the latest features - inlcuding a "free" DVD player. Ok you get "3 years parts and labour guarantee" but i did a quick sear ch and found the identical product (found through kelkoo) for £602 with 3 Years Manufacturer's Warranty. The site i found and even do it on finance too.. if you reeeeaallly had to get it this way with rates starting from 19.9%! Add £30 for a basic dvd player from tesco... Doesnt seem to add up.

Its disgusting that these companies can target vunerable people and help them get even deeper into debt - Can i point out aswell the leaflet only contains LCDs or widescreen/surrond sound - super dooper whooper tvs. No basic 15" portables or anything. :rolleyes:

highlighter

MSE_Martin wrote:

2. I didn't suggest in the blog people go out and buy a £160 TV. My suggestion was that rather than paying £14 a week for three years, you put £14 a week away and buy the TV in three months owning it outright. If you can't afford to put the £14 away then you can't have the TV either way - thats the point

very interesting discussion though

Seaniboy this is the angle i was taking-didnt see watchdog, only read the blog.

I do agree that some form of legislation should come into place to enforce controls on how these companies operate. Like the rates they charge and the people they target.

System

If my tele blew up and we couldnt afford a new one, i would pick up one cheaply from my local rag. You can get one for less than £50 and would save up if i wanted someting with a better spec. If i hadnt got access to a car i would phone the advertisers in the paper and ask if they would deliver.

skintchick

Exactly. eBay, Freecycle, local paper - all options i would explore first.

I was having a discussion with a friend of mine, who is not skint but I don;t think loaded either, and he suddenly let slip that he rents his TV!

I was shocked - pointed out that whatever he is paying a month could go towards actually owning one, and it didn;t make financial sense to rent.

He said 'but I am not bothered about possessing thing'.

I was like, well, neither am I particularly but I AM bothered about giving people my money with little to show for it!!

He's old fashioned and thinks men deal with money so wasn't too happy about me sticking my oar in, but I was really shocked that he thought it was a good idea - he doesn;t even have a top-of-the-range TV!

Just goes to show you can be educated and still clueless (he's an architect).