28 years old and bankrupt

tankgirl1

retrieverrose wrote:

I am really sorry to hear that you have been through such a rough time but please don't be so disparaging about people who have depression, it can be as debillitating as a physical illness and whilst I don't think it is necessarily an excuse for getting into debt it certainly makes it very difficult to face up to problems. I would hate to think that people would be put off from posting for help and advice because they think they won' be treated sympathetically.

I second that

THE_LONE_RANGER_4

hi, i suppose your right the way i look at it in my case also 60/40 blame, the companies no how many credit cards we all have our loans also they can easily check why lend some one 8000 when they already owe 20.000? as for the companies who lend with your house as collateral very immoral but again no one puts a gun to your head and what they want is over the top repayments and your house

ash333

cd02 wrote:

For a 17 or 18 year old (i couldn't be bothered to work it out to the day), aren't you a bit young to be commenting on something that I can't see you dealing with at your age ?



I have income and some assets (small but some) but yet I've been advised by PAYPLAN and CAB that bakruptcy is the only way out for me, the only way I'm going to be able to try and make something of my life before its too late !! Sorry but really don't agree with your comments.

cd02:
I am actually 16 - great maths skills. I earn my own money in holidays etc. I spend within my means. I may not have the scale of cash inflow/outflow as you, but the same principles apply.

Ash333

cd02

ash333 wrote:

cd02:
I am actually 16 - great maths skills. I earn my own money in holidays etc. I spend within my means. I may not have the scale of cash inflow/outflow as you, but the same principles apply.

Ash333

how do the same principles apply ? i'm guessing you live with your parents, don't have to pay much up-keep (if any) and don't have any credit cards etc how's that the same principles as renting your own place, having to fund yourself and deal with your money looking at the wider picture ?

sorry but your comments are crap, when you're old enough and the same principles really do apply then comment..

8pnoodles

I'm fascinated by this thread. Lots of strong opinions. I think I'm sitting on the fence.

I know full well as I got into debt I'd have to pay it back one day. With the store cards I used to use, yeah I'd have a rough day, go buy clothes I didn't have the money for. Then pay it off at £5 a month for ages, then go blow the balance I'd started to pay off again.

I used to go into my overdraft, without thinking I guess. I was more busy going out having fun.

But after a while of not enjoying wondering how I'd buy food the last week of every month I started sorting myself out a bit. And paid it all off. But still didn't really plan my money back then.

I managed to get into a huge chunk of debt from getting married in 2004. I was PROMISED by my (now) ex he'd have lots of overtime to pay for the wedding. He didn't. I am angry at him for allowing me to spend money we didn't have on our wedding. I asked him repeatedly if this overtime was going to come through ebcause if there was any chance it wasn't going to, then we'd do things cheaper. He kept saying it'd be fine. He even told me his parents were giving us £500 more to the wedding than the actually did. I even asked him to double check as the amount he told me I thought was wrong. He lied, and said he'd double checked with them. When we got the money, it was £500 short of what my ex had said.

We split up and I took on half the debts we'd racked up. Even though some of these debts he accumulated before he met me... (long story!)

I don't for one second blame the banks or credit card companies for my debt.

I half blame my ex, but then I guess I knew I was taking a risk by having a big wedding assuming the money would come through. Thats why I kept double checking with my ex. He was too easy to believe I guess.

But I'm happily paying it all back now, should be outta debt by Christmas. (Not sure the same can be said for my ex!) And I'm very pleased I've had this experience. it's taught me to be creative and live on only half my salary. Give me a couple of years and I'm gonna have such a big savings account!

But on the flip side I know people who use credit cards and don't think they will ever have to pay it back. It's like they have a mental block there. No one is perfect, I think everyone has different issues they struggle wth. Be it some forms of addiction or whatever. And one guy in particular who I know is horrendous with money is, although very bright, very very bad, maybe dyslexic, when it comes to maths. he can't even do basic arithmetic some days.

And I strongly believe some people are simply much better with money.

Check out the Myers Briggs 1 personality types and you'll see there are some personality types who are naturally better with money.

We're all different. It'd be boring if we were all the same.

Having said that, I do think people who go bankrupt shouldn't get away with paying nothing back. Bankruptcy shouldn't be an easy option, it should be designed to make sure it never happens again, whether that involves them paying back money for a while, or even going on budgeting evening classes perhaps. But then I don't know much about the process of bankruptcy, does that already happen?

Cumbrian_Male

BobProperty wrote:

I was told a while ago that somewhere in the EU (Holland?) there was a legal maximum interest rate of 4 times base rate. Anything over this was considered usurious, and would be uncollectable. I would be interested to consider the consequences of a similar law in the UK, which would currently give a maximum interest rate of 18%. (See news report http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0600uk/tm_objectid=15686472&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=mp-calls-for-government-ban-on-high-loan-rates-to-help-poor-name_page.html) The consequences for the lending market in the UK may not be so good for profits, but it may be the only way to get Joe Public to stop living like the subject in the OP.

That would be Poland

a new law establishing a maximum interest rate at four times the Lombard rate was introduced in Poland in August 2005 for loans issued from 20 February 2006.

For what it's worth, I don't believe a rate cap would work in this country. I believe it would lead to more loan sharks of the "Benny the Brick" brigade and an unregulated market.

I would like to see a mandatory obligation for all lenders to report to a CRA and a maximum unsecured personal credit limit of 100% of income. If any lender takes a borrower over this limit then consider it irresponcible lending and place that creditor at the bottom of the list for payment and suspend all charges. That would then see lenders tighten up, as banks not reporting while customers have flawless records then report defaults that they helped perpetuate due to incomplete information during other lenders credit vetting is the worst case of hypocrisy.

Tootsie_Roll

Cumbrian_Male wrote:

That would be Poland

a new law establishing a maximum interest rate at four times the Lombard rate was introduced in Poland in August 2005 for loans issued from 20 February 2006.

For what it's worth, I don't believe a rate cap would work in this country. I believe it would lead to more loan sharks of the "Benny the Brick" brigade and an unregulated market.

I would like to see a mandatory obligation for all lenders to report to a CRA and a maximum unsecured personal credit limit of 100% of income. If any lender takes a borrower over this limit then consider it irresponcible lending and place that creditor at the bottom of the list for payment and suspend all charges. That would then see lenders tighten up, as banks not reporting while customers have flawless records then report defaults that they helped perpetuate due to incomplete information during other lenders credit vetting is the worst case of hypocrisy.

I agree that a rate cap is pointless - the vast majority of debt in this country would fall well below the cap anyway.

The difficulty with your suggestion though is that there are currently three CRA's and most lenders already report to at least one of them. The problems occur because they don't report to all of them so it is entirely possible for Bank A to lend £x amount without having a clue that Bank B has already lent £y amount.

ceegee

Tootsie_Roll wrote:

so it is entirely possible for Bank A to lend £x amount without having a clue that Bank B has already lent £y amount.

.


Surely, surely it would not be difficult for the Banks to come up with a solution to this "problem"? For goodness sake, they have massive amounts of records and technology and surely some systems-type person could come up with a system for it.

I suppose the "trouble" for the Banks would be that they would lose so much of their income......seeing as most of it appears to be generated from charges and interest etc.

Tootsie_Roll

Well the solution would be for them to subscribe to all three CRA's but obviously that would be costly and there is nothing to stop another umpteen CRA's setting up and getting one or two lenders to use them and we're back to square 1.

SamMoffatt28

The story of this woman '28 and bankrupt' made me quite angry. I know that some people get into bad debt through no fault of their own - loss of job or whatever, but the woman in this case was clearly living beyond her means. Holidays to Egypt and Europe in my opinion are not necessities so if you can't afford it don't go for goodness sake!!. I think its about time people started taking responsibility for themselves and then they wouldnt end up in this situation in the first place.