Repossessed - 06 Jan 2009, 22:35 on BBC One

Woby_Tide

I was getting ready to throw my fancy plasma screened Amstrad Dialler through the telly (Ok I don't really own an Amstrad).

Turned into such a pointles program really, sympathy levels dropping and dropping. Most has already been said by others

Couple 1) "They talked to us like trash" - well owing lots of money and turning up at court having put zero effort into trying to plead leniency and providing a plan to try and pay it off may have meant the courts were a bit entitled to treat you as chancers.

Couple 2) "I've even had to take a job" - A job, god forbid, maybe you should have thought about that a few months/years ago. The fact he was advising others was the starkest point of that, does give an insight into how some will have gone the same route(not saying all FA are anything like that)

Couple 3) Stupidity in the work they got done, at least the bloke was actually man enough to be working all hours he could to try and solve the problems as best he could. Then he carried on smoking and another Emailer whent through the TV

lisyloo

I did warm more to couple 3) because they accepted they had made some mistakes and took some personal responsibility.
The other two couples did not accept any personal responsibility at all.

It must be very diificult for a man (breadwinner in these cases) to not be able to provide for his family and I know in that sense I feel some sympathy.

They all failed in their financial planing but I feel more personal warmt towards the couple that accepted they had made mistakes.

neas

the type of tards... are the reason our country is in so much c rap.

I'd vote for some sort of IQ neutering to stop them breeding if I could. Children brought up by parents who show no financial responsibility/restraint... will probably end up the same.

It pees me off, my prudence, my fathers saving prudence is being rubished to save these type of people...

iolanthe07

I was surprised to see the builder guy smoking. How can anyone afford to smoke when they are in that much debt?

Tiggergirl

I tuned in assuming I was about to see some families down on their luck, who had maybe been made redundant and could no longer afford the family home. I was ready to be sympathetic - after all 'There but for the grace of God go I'.

What I actually saw were 3 couples, who for various reasons had got into the !!!!!! themselves, and really had nobody else to blame despite blaming the mortgage companies etc.

Couple 1 - Could afford their payments on the fixed rate deal, but couldn't keep up once on SVR. Probably didn't even read the paperwork, since he admitted he couldn't read and write properly. He made a living buying and selling cars, so I do wonder what lies were told to get him a mortgage in the first place. I was annoyed that when he didn't buy any cars at the auction, he said 'Oh well, no money this week', and wasn't up for looking for any other work to save his family home. Also the wife could have got her finger out and looked for a job.

Couple 2 - Mortgage adviser - 11% mortgage due to 'bad credit history' which was glossed over. He should have had the sense to realise he couldn't afford to keep it up. At least his missus was going out to work, but he just seemed to be hiding in his office with his fingers in his ears while she put food on the table.

Couple 3 - MEW'ed up to their eyeballs with nothing to show for it. The house didn't look like it had all that money spent on it, so I suspect they had been living off the equity release and treating it as extra income. Again, wife should have been working to help out.

harryhound

Couple 2 the mortgage advisor, as a mortgage advisor then the blame for getting into a pickle with a mortgage must rest with him. Also when he needed some coin, why did he not sell his new car, looked like a pretty new vectra, reckon he'd have got a good few grand for that.

Presumably an "advisor", selling mortgage dreams, is dead in the water; if he turns up to see a "client", riding a bike?

(In the last recession the Bristol & West (Now Bank of Ireland?) did a survey of their defaulters. You would expect unforeseen life events to be to blame BUT not so. There were more than their fair share of accountants, solicitors & architects and the one uniting factor was the inability to plan their finances and realise the "good" times were over).

milliemonster

I deliberately decided to miss this but having read what you lot have said on here I am glad I have, it seems this programme was designed as usual to get everyones backs up and portray people who go through repossession as 'it's your own fault for being so stupid', therefore generating a stereotype for all the poor b4stards who actually end up repo'd this year through no fault of their own and just sheer bad luck, which must make up a huge proportion.

This is why I get so mad at some of of these programmes that don't give a truly representative view of why some people can end up in this situation

Pobby

It all kind of reflects on some of the behaviour I have seen over the last number of years. It`s almost that people have decoupled their thinking when it comes to money. I know of a good few people, including myself, who have benefitted in earnings due to the boom. The secret is to realise that the party was not going to run forever. Maybe because I am older I realised that.

Some have little to show for the boom times in terms of savings having spent ALL the extra cash on living high on the hog. They are coming down with a bang.

I really do fear as what the depths of this downturn will bring. The early 90s were bad enough but with many more people over expose to debt these days for some it will spell only disaster.

StevieJ

I bet you would not find many volunteers for the Samaritans on this board

Just one other point, it must be difficult for the Beeb to find normal distressed householders e.g. bought house a while ago, normal interest rate, lost job etc or they would have produced them for this programme.

WTF?_2

milliemonster wrote: »

I deliberately decided to miss this but having read what you lot have said on here I am glad I have, it seems this programme was designed as usual to get everyones backs up and portray people who go through repossession as 'it's your own fault for being so stupid', therefore generating a stereotype for all the poor b4stards who actually end up repo'd this year through no fault of their own and just sheer bad luck, which must make up a huge proportion.

This is why I get so mad at some of of these programmes that don't give a truly representative view of why some people can end up in this situation

Yeah, they definitely go for extremes to give it the sensational angle in order to keep the viewer's attention.

However, it's no exaggeration to say that a hell of a lot of people lived well beyond their means and now face big financial problems.

As Pobby says, personal debt is going to be the big story and what makes this recession particularly bad. Actually, corporate debt too. And government debt for that matter.....