Just Say No

Percy_Vere

robnye wrote:

there are a lot of people on here, who have debts and are working (brilliantly) towards clearing them.

i have heard of others who try and take the easiest option to pay back as little as possible. What annoys me is these people had the money/credit and spent it on themslves/homes/family etc, then they should be made ot pay back at least what they spent.

I am constantly hearing of people who cant go on holiday, who'se littel johnny needs new shoes/clothes..... yet you can hear them jangling there jewellery as they walk down the street. dont get me wrong if its bought and paid for then all well and good, but a lot of people have the wrong attitude to debt/credit/life and beleive (very strongly) that the taxman/government owe them something.

True the credit/finance companies are still giving credit to easily, and it will take a mammoth task for the government to change legislation to stop them. but the finance companies are making an awlful lot of money and presumably passing some of it onto the government, so i cant see that happening .

it just annoys me that my wife and i work blooming hard for every penny we earn, we have debts, we make payments on them.

so comeon life give us a break...........................:(

Exactly - well said.

Perhaps the comment should be 'what moron took out all that credit' not who lent it. In addition lenders all use different credit reference agencies to base their decision on and some don't report at all so it is entirely possible that they did not know the full extent of the borrowing and I am willing to bet they weren't told !

climbgirl

I also get a bit tired of people saying 'banks shouldn't give out the credit'.

Banks are businesses and they're out to make money. They are going to offer credit to anyone who they think they make some money from. Which is why you'll sometimes hear of people with impeccable credit ratings, always pay cards in full etc, getting turned down for credit cards. The fact of the matter is that the bank isn't going to make any money from someone who always pays in full and doesn't pay a penny of interest.

The bank isn't a social organisation and they're going to be looking after their own interests, not yours. I'm not siding with banks here, I'm all for stoozing and working the system to make something out of it! But it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that they offer credit to people who they're going to make money out of from interest and late payment fees.

This might sound a bit harsh and it isn't aimed at anyone in particular, just a generalisation. And I do realise everyone's situation and reasons for getting into debt are different!

Mark7799

How many 'stoozers' will vote for no credit cards?

tango

having read all the repiles, what i don't understand is why we don't have one credit reference agency where all debts ,and bank account debts,are by law kept, there would then be less chance of some credit company not knowing about that persons complete credit history.
everyone is different,and debt can become a problem for a a variety of reasons, human nature makes us vunerable to temptation and weakness, be it money, drugs or alcohol.
life is a series of tests,how to handle money being one :rolleyes:

Edna_Bucket_2

tango wrote:

having read all the repiles, what i don't understand is why we don't have one credit reference agency where all debts ,and bank account debts,are by law kept...

I guess the simple answer to that one tango is - "competition in a free market economy"?

If there were one agency, I guess it would have to be a national (i.e state controlled) body, and I'm sure most of us wouldn't want the state prying more into our personal affairs than they do already.

From what I can see (and I stand to be corrected here) we don't do much better really in a free market economy - credit referencing appears to be in effect a duopoly between Experian and Equifax.

Is that a healthy state of affairs?

Edna_Bucket_2

Mark7799 wrote:

How many 'stoozers' will vote for no credit cards?

Is the answer 0 by any chance Mark?

robertbruce

Hi
Nice to see the balance of opinions on this subject... fairly spread I would say.

The original point I was making was about the irresponsible lending culture, which is matched only by the irresponsible borrowing culture.

Like drugs, the person using them is as much at fault as the person supplying them, but in a government controlled finance sector, you certainly expect a bit more than we get from them in terms of responsibility towards PEOPLE. The government and the financial institutions are no better than drug barons and pushers in fuelling the desires of the public, so EDUCATION is the only route we can use, and it will have to be instigated by well-meaning people like those on this forum as we cannot hope for any real response from the powers that be.

Any thoughts on type of education welcome, as well as continuing on the thread of the poll about living with DEBIT cards rather than credit cards.

Thanks to all who contribute. Cheers. Bob.

*Louise*

robertbruce wrote:

Any thoughts on type of education welcome, as well as continuing on the thread of the poll about living with DEBIT cards rather than credit cards.

Well, I wouldn't be with out my Debit Card.

I don't like carrying too much cash, it's too tempting to spend it, a debit card means the exact amount is taken out, and I don't end up losing track of all the odd pund coins and loose change.

Also - can't pay cash for online shopping, debit has no interest, because you can only use the money you have.

tango

in my situation credit cards are the main reason why we had money problems.
for years we spent on the cards,(looking back, on god knows what),
then we would consolidate, and spend again.
now we cannot get the credit limits we used to have, we cannot use are cards like we used to , the chain has been broken.
i do not know what makes people "better" with money, what i do know is there will be plenty more people who do the same as us in the future,education on money management at comprehensive school would be a start