Liz Jones gives us her financial update....

trumpton

For those of you who have been following journalist Liz Jones' barmy finacial meltdown, she has kindly written an update for the Daily Mail:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1254474/The-overdraft-generation-With-red-LIZ-JONES-comes-clean-debt-mountain.html


Some highlights:

"Well, I have a £15,000 overdraft limit at NatWest and a £8,000 limit at Santander. I also owe £19,000, £10,000, £1,000 and £12,000 (please don't make me add them all up) on various credit cards, a £50,000 bank loan and a mortgage so huge I can't bring myself to write it down."


"I have had my overdraft at NatWest since 1989 and have not been in the black since. The other day, I discovered I had £2,596 to go before I hit my limit but instead of thinking 'Oh dear, I'm nearly £13,000 in the red', I thought: 'Hoorah! I can go to Sweaty Betty and buy a £100 pair of Stella McCartney trainers!"

"Credit card companies and loan sharks prey on our desperation. I was recently caught out applying online for a loan and being made to pay an up-front fee of £69. It's something the rich never, ever have to do. Even though I paid the fee, I still didn't get the loan. You can see how this spiral only takes you downwards."

To be fair, she ends the article with a plan to reduce her debt, cut up credit cards etc., but I would have so much more symapathy for her if she wasn't a highly paid journalist who has made the choice to get herself into this huge mess. There are families on very low incomes who are scraping by without getting themselves in her situation.

kerik4

I wondered if Martin Lewis could advise her - note in her action list at the end she talks about starting a savings account and hiring an IFA! :-O She'd be a great subject for a special programme...

ninky_2

i saw this too. whilst i admire liz for bringing up the issue of personal debt i do question the daily mail publishing such an article with her doling out 'advice' for dealing with debt. they could at least have mentioned some reputable people to contact over debt. an ifa is not the best course of action for many with severe debts and cutting up cards for example is a bit dubious. you need to contact the card providers to actually close down the account.

markharding557

Maybe i am being cynical but isn't she being paid a wad from the paper:think:

Spartacus_Mills

markharding557 wrote: »

Maybe i am being cynical but isn't she being paid a wad from the paper:think:

£40K PCM according to Eyes Passim.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

How can anyone have a permanent overdraft for over two decades? I wonder if there will ever be discovered some sort of genetic disfunction relating to financial ineptitude. I physically can't bear being in debt; the only time I ever made use of an overdraft it weighed horribly on my mind until I paid it off as quickly as possible. Even as a child I enjoyed having a piggy bank, and liked to regularly count the coins and know how much I had. It probably gave me as much pleasure as when buying stuff. I'm sure my brain must function completely differently to this Jones woman and her £100 trainers.

Hermia

trumpton wrote: »

To be fair, she ends the article with a plan to reduce her debt, cut up credit cards etc.

This is not the first time she has published an article about her problems with spending and then vowed to try and get on top of the situation. Then a few months later she publishes another article wittering on about how she has bought another £1000 handbag. I can't imagine what she must be like in person. She is in her 50s, yet her articles sound like they were all written by a ditzy teenager.

trumpton

I think it's her assumption that she is poor that bugs me most. She is actually quite well off - she has just chosen to spend it all, and then quite a bit more money that doesn't belong to her on top of it as well.