Responsible Lending - NOT

MortgageMamma

Ian, whilst I do think there is a need for balance with responsible lending I was simply trying to point out lenders cannot be made wholly responsible for peoples bad spending habits. Imyself ask my customers in the course of a factfind interview if they are looking for a straight remortgage or debt consolidation, as 70% of remortgages I do ARE for consolidation and I'm sick of it.

I'm 29 years old, with three young children and a husband who earns just £200 a week and between us we owe £600 car credit. If we can manage I don't see why people get themselves in big messes. The reason they get in big messes is because they don't live within their means, and they spend on absolute rubbish.

To simplify the point, if someone told you that jumping off a bridge onto the M6 would solve your problems and make life nicer, would you do it WITHOUT THINKING? Would this be your fault or the person who told you to do it?

People DO need to be more responsible with their money, and overspending is their fault. If someone takes on a loan after seeing an advert from ocean finance on the telly, whose fault is it, the borrowers or the lenders?

In my opinion they should scrap half the rubbish they teach kids in school and get them doing GCSE's in personal financial management, after all, its a key life skill and not everyone gets the best examples from their parents.

ManAtHome

I wouldn't class up-selling a loan to somebody who's been credit-checked for a mortgage as irresponsible either. Yes, the "nice little 'oliday" on a long-term loan is going to cost you the same as a nice big cruise... but don't some people ever bother reading? Don't all credit agreements show you the final cost?

If we really want to go down the nanny route we should ban all forms of credit - almost invariably costs you more than saving up and paying cash. Then we could move onto advertising - did you really need everything you bought last year or have you been the victim of 'irresponsible flogging'?

david29dpo

i have a friend who had a £25000 mortgage on a £100000 house and he had a great life. i while ago he came to me and said he had £90000 on credit cards-!! after bending over backwards to help him get a good re-mortgage for £100000 and cutting up his card and rebuget, guess what? his done it again!!! i have told him i have no sympathy and he cannot stop at my house when his is repossessed.