Dispatches, Christmas on Credit. Watch it on 4OD

Snooze

PasturesNew wrote: »

What about heating packing up, then the car going wrong? Those two can easily happen. Then you have a blocked drain.

I had a blocked drain once, spent £300 before it was fixed.

Right now my own car needs: service (not been done for 2.5 years), windscreen picked up a stone chip last time I went out, one tyre needs replacing urgently and the brakes nearly failed the MoT in April so probably need doing now.

It's not just cookers/washing machines that break - it's other stuff too.

If you can afford to run a car then you have enough money to not need to use BrightHouse and Provident and hence a much larger emergency pot.

You are both (incl LIR) both right in that stuff can happen at the same time. The simple answer is that you need to make sure your pot is larger or you do without until you've saved enough. Resorting to 'quick fix' solutions such as BrightHouse are not the answer as it will just cost you A LOT more in the longer term.

I still don't understand why things supposedly can't be done anymore in todays world when everyone managed just fine 20+ years ago on what they'd saved and their rainy-day pots. Would it be something to do with the need to keep up with the Jones's I wonder?

R

Snooze

lostinrates wrote: »

Are you old? I thought you were 34 ish?

Near enough yes, but that's irrelevant as any responsible parent(s) can drill into their off-spring the importance of saving and having a rainy-day fund, just as mine did.

Edit: Sorry that's not meant to sound patronising. :cool:

R

moggylover

skcollobcat10 wrote: »

It costs more when your poor because you are the greater risk and quite rightly so that the interest rate should be higher.

You are only a greater risk if you have borrowed too much, and if you have a proven poor track record of payment!

One could seriously argue that the bigger risk are those on large incomes who still "need" credit because they have a lot less excuse for not saving.

For instance, I would argue that if someone is earning £700K a year then a mortgage should never be necessary because if that person chose to live within their means then the savings in one year would be considerable, and a suitable roof over their head (unless they are planning on adopting 25 mixed candy coloured children) should be affordable cash;)

P.S. I am a very much older generation: the Tally Man existed in my day as well - nothing much changes really but some people like to big themselves up by pretending that it does:rolleyes:

mbga9pgf

PasturesNew wrote: »

The programme have now pulled together a single mother who likes to find bargains - and an advertising executive on a good salary, with a mortgage mostly paid off.

Set them both a target to buy three specific goods and get a £500 over 12 months cash loan.

Purpose: to compare the rates/cost to each of them, to prove that it costs more to be poor.

I've always found it's not just the cost of things when you're poor, it's the time cost to track down and compare all the prices just to ensure you've got the cheapest price. It takes aaages to be poor.

Unfortunately, poor people are poor for a reason. They a resh*t with money and hence a risk, usually having no assets as they are well, poor.

Risk comes with premium unfortunately. Even those on low incomes can have high credit scores. It just takes persistence and self control.

moggylover

lostinrates wrote: »

You know, I always find thats exactly how things go tits up. All at the same time, or in a steady, unrelenting flow...when you are at your lowest. When everything is fine, everything goes right. Funny that.

Same with bl**dy light bulbs! One goes - the rest follow:rolleyes:.

PasturesNew

Snooze wrote: »

If you can afford to run a car then you have enough money to not need to use BrightHouse and Provident and hence a much larger emergency pot.

Why so? Many people on minimum wage have to run cars to get to/from their jobs. Not everywhere has good public transport and "a few miles out" tends to be a cheaper place to live.

It is precisely these people that can be stuck. 2-3 miles out of town, having to run a car to get to their poorly paid job, then stuff goes wrong.

Snooze wrote: »

You are both (incl LIR) both right in that stuff can happen at the same time. The simple answer is that you need to make sure your pot is larger or you do without until you've saved enough. Resorting to 'quick fix' solutions such as BrightHouse are not the answer as it will just cost you A LOT more in the longer term.

I still don't understand why things supposedly can't be done anymore in todays world when everyone managed just fine 20+ years ago on what they'd saved and their rainy-day pots. Would it be something to do with the need to keep up with the Jones's I wonder?

R

In my experience, the problem is the high cost of basic living. It doesn't leave any left over for saving for many.

For many people working full-time, on minimum wage, they might take home just £150/month more than if they were sat on benefits. But they might be paying £100/month to get to/from work, leaving them £50/month, some of which needs to go on clothes for work etc. They also don't have the benefit of time to look around and make do and be in the right places to get the bargains because they're at work full-time.

A single person, on low wages, working full-time, living a few miles out of town where rents are a bit cheaper, won't usually get any WTC or any tax credits, nor discounts and freebies. Nor the time to spend looking around, solving problems and getting best deals/prices.

One crisis too many ... spot a Brighthouse advert and who knows where it could end up.

Or, just one month out of work, could use up a whole year's worth of really careful scrimping and saving.

PasturesNew

mbga9pgf wrote: »

Unfortunately, poor people are poor for a reason. They a resh*t with money and hence a risk, usually having no assets as they are well, poor.

Not all of them. But when you are poor, your decisions are skewed by different factors than if one were sitting in a tea garden, with a group of ladies who lunch.

mbga9pgf wrote: »

Risk comes with premium unfortunately. Even those on low incomes can have high credit scores. It just takes persistence and self control.

Sometimes it's just access. I'm sure Brighthouse is more accessible.

I have no credit. I probably have an appalling credit score just because I have no credit score and no credit cards... because I pay cash for everything. The whole thing of credit scoring seems to have really exploded in the past few years, I've been really surprised.

One example from my life is that when I moved in here I wanted broadband. Pure and simple, just broadband please. Phoned up Virgin, they wouldn't give me their cheapest package because I failed their credit scoring - I have no idea why, but maybe because I had just moved in here the day before. I could only have a dearer service. That's never happened to me before. Before if you wanted something you just phoned up and got connected, there weren't refusals for no good reason.

I was also credit checked for my flat - and failed. I had to pay 6 months' rent up front because of that too. I am not a bad credit risk, I just have no credit history - nor did I even know things like that were important as I've never needed to be credit checked for such seemingly every day things before.

PasturesNew

Just spotted this on the other board: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2135957

Unbelievable!

Snooze

PasturesNew wrote: »

Just spotted this on the other board: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2135957

Unbelievable!

Doesn't matter if he's earning £1m per year, with an IVA and - to a lessor extent - not being on the ER, means being entertained by the mainstream lenders is less than zero.

Time for a reality check for him me thinks.

R

SingleSue

Snooze wrote: »

If you can afford to run a car then you have enough money to not need to use BrightHouse and Provident and hence a much larger emergency pot.

You are both (incl LIR) both right in that stuff can happen at the same time. The simple answer is that you need to make sure your pot is larger or you do without until you've saved enough. Resorting to 'quick fix' solutions such as BrightHouse are not the answer as it will just cost you A LOT more in the longer term.

I still don't understand why things supposedly can't be done anymore in todays world when everyone managed just fine 20+ years ago on what they'd saved and their rainy-day pots. Would it be something to do with the need to keep up with the Jones's I wonder?

R

I was building a nice little pot (it also included money for Christmas, not much but some) and then eldest developed problems which required several trips to the hospital, to then make matters worse, my youngest was rushed into hospital, spending several days there.

Within very short order, my pot had gone...my lovingly and carefully saved pennies depleted with no chance to replace because the hospital appointments are still at an all time high.

I do run a car, doesn't actually cost me that much, certainly a lot less than public transport would anyway (I tried it, it was the most expensive week transport wise I have ever had).

When you have little, it only takes one small crisis to completely upset the applecart and it takes months to get back to where you was in the first place. When that happens and say the washing machine or cooker goes, you are in desperation stakes time...you need to get a cooker but you don't have the up front sum to do it, you can't get credit from mainstream people because of low income (or no income), so what do you do? Anything you can to get that blooming cooker.

I was lucky, when my cooker went I could rent one (£5 a month) instead of going to the Provi or using Brighthouse...my little pot of money that was depleted was my savings, mainly to pay outright for a cooker so I could hand back the rented one.

I will probably have to rent it for another year before the pot is big enough to buy now.