2007 recession

j-baby-scotland

spl2nh wrote:

Am fearful about the looming recession in 2007 and just wondered will this have any effect on the debt I owe on my visa's. Will the banks put interest rates up, or minimum payments up etc?

A lot of credit card companies are already putting their interest rates up.
My HBOS put mine up, twice, within a few months by a small amount (around 1.5% each time). Have read of much steeper increases for some on the Credit Cards board.
Just this morning my statement for my Cooperative card informs that the interest rate will rise from next month (by around 2%).


I read a while ago that in the US credit companies have upped the 'minimum' payments, from 2 - 3% to 5%... causing major problems. Also read, at the time, that forecasters thought it unlikely to happen here.
Doesn't seem that long ago to me since they lowered them from 5% to the 2 - 3% here... so who knows.

spl2nh

j-baby-scotland wrote:

I read a while ago that in the US credit companies have upped the 'minimum' payments, from 2 - 3% to 5%... causing major problems.......

Yikes, I think I will re-budget for a potential increase just in case.

Locana

Maybe a silly question, but if there was a recession and the house prices fell, would that be a good time/idea to buy? (obviously if I was debt free, job secure and able to afford it)...

spl2nh

Locana wrote:

Maybe a silly question, but if there was a recession and the house prices fell, would that be a good time/idea to buy? (obviously if I was debt free, job secure and able to afford it)...

I think that would be a brilliant time to buy.

Angela_D_3

Locana wrote:

Maybe a silly question, but if there was a recession and the house prices fell, would that be a good time/idea to buy? (obviously if I was debt free, job secure and able to afford it)...

When everyone else is tekking you it's a terrible time to buy anything, that's when you buy. Right now everyone wants a piece of the property pie, sit back and buy when the price is right for you, not those trying to sell.

Dr.Shoe_2

I agree. The estate agents have been "talking up" prices for a few months now and saying that prices are going up. However, there is a predicted rise in interest coming which could trigger a glut of former "buy-to-let" properties onto the market.

Personally, I'd be tempted to sell my house (if I didn't rent) and then buy it back in two years time. I'd probably be paying the same as now for a mortgage but I'd have a bigger portion of the purchase price as equity.

ageandjo

I think we are in a recession now!
It's such a shame that more and more products that we use here are being bought from overseas putting uk companies out of business. I can see that it will get worse next year, in my line of work I notice that people are just not spending the money, I think that a few years ago people re-mortgaged the homes and spent spent spent, you look at the 3 year old cars that are on the roads now

wigginsmum

DontDoDebtKids wrote:

Recession-proof industries are probably things like accountancy, lawyers, finance (to a certain extent), defence.

Finance isn't immune, not in the City. The large banks and financial institutions typically cut back on Middle Office staff (risk management/credit etc) and Front Office staff (traders/salespeople) to start with. Traders are easy to poach from other firms when times look up again, and they bring hordes of accounts with them, so they're probably the most insecure jobwise in the financial industry because unless they're real superstars, they're seen as easily replaceable.

Things have been on an up for the past 3 years but before that people were being axed in rafts in the late Nineties onwards in the City. I'm expecting us to head into another downturn over the next 12-18 months. Last time my bank moved its entire Back Office operation to North America where costs are so much cheaper.

lynzpower

Hang about why all this doom?

My mother works for bupa, and she deals with new employees of firms getting private healthcare.Business is utterly booming, she cannot sell fast enough. ( nortwest)

Dad works for an importer of fruit & veg mainly to the resturaunt & hospitality trades ( 2 trades that always take first knock when recession hits) Dads thoroughly exhausted, too much work far too busy. ( northwest)

Sister works as a PA for a sales team again, so busy she cant wait to take a holiday on her 4k bonus shes just recieved.

Freinds who work in the luxury & designer goods market in london noting massive sales & profits.

Much as Id like to see a correction in the housing market, Im not convinced that this is the recession just yet.

ferry

Thought this was an interesting article..

http://core2.trg.org.uk/reformer/1998autumn/economicoutlook.html

No doubt one of many,but he seems to think the UK may be Ok,but times will get harder..

Terry