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Firstplus Loan - Help needed please!!!

12346

Comments

  • cavework wrote: »
    Not all people borrowed 'recklessly'.
    An awful lot of people borrowed money fully intending on paying it back with interest.
    At the time jobs were secure, house prices were stable and the Banks were more than willing to lend based on the financial situation people were THEN in.

    Borrowing money with a sensible plan for repayment with some latitude to deal with issues that may arise is one thing. How many really did that? Who seriously believes that their financial situation will improve forever, they will never get made redundant, and there will never be another recession, and that house prices would remain at 7.5x earnings (never seen before) forever and ever? You allow for some risks in your calculations throughout the lifetime of the loan, not just 'what you can afford today'! Just because a bank (which lets be fair is in it for the money) thinks I can pay a loan back does not mean I can turn my brain off and not think things through for myself.
    cavework wrote: »
    As for greatly inflated prices?
    Surely that was based on what people were earning and could afford to pay. This was linked to job security and a decent wage.

    Please reread my point. Greatly inflated prices are absolutely not linked to earnings, that is the whole point of what I am saying! Our current inflation of prices (but not wages; a very novel situation) is only sustainable by borrowings. This can only have one endpoint.
    cavework wrote: »
    Cut throat prices.. equal lower wages.. equal redundancies .. that is a lesson that is repeated time and time again.
    Manufacturing is dead in this country .. we are now a country of service providers and even that is being sent abroad.
    We need to get back to manufacturing .
    Just look at the increase in foreign imports compared to this countries exports since WW2.

    True, but not the point I am making. What I am talking about is markets and pricing. Why is a Tamiya RC kit £200 here and £90 in Japan? Why is a BMW 25% higher in Germany than the UK? It is because companies charge what they think they can get away with locally. This price tolerance level is influenced by many things, local levels of wealth, education etc etc. In the UK in particular this price tolerance level is distorted for many by access to endless amounts of credit. Pricing loses some meaning as we can always borrow some more to purchase. If people did not borrow, then prices can only go up so much before demand drops off.
  • vlad_the_impaler
    vlad_the_impaler Posts: 51 Forumite
    edited 3 January 2011 at 9:40PM
    Chriswt wrote: »
    Excellently put.

    It's so sad that a lot of people on this forum want to lecture others about their spending habits and gloat about their own debt free lifestyle rather than offer sound advice to those who ask for it.

    It is a shame you chose to throw insults around rather than come up wiht some sensible arguments to counter my points. I am not lecturing anyone about anything. I am pointing out that:

    - If you borrow and then spend you are affecting all of us in society, not just yourself through inflation, and possible default which the rest of us have to pay for.
    - Borrow and spend, borrow and spend on imported consumer goods weakens Britain further and further. We are borrowing from China/India to buy goods from them.

    The course we are on is one of the most extreme examples of collective selfishness conceivable. We spend everything we can get, we sell our industry, property and Gold and then spend the proceeds. We borrow and spend all that as well. And now we expect our Children to pay for it. £9k tuition fees is just the start. We are all responsible for this.

    Oh, and at no point did I say I am debt free, I am not. I have 2x mortgage and a Credit Card. And I did offer sound advice. Go bankrupt, as it is the best thing IMHO for the Op to do. Learning from your mistakes I would have hoped would be taken as read!
  • brasso
    brasso Posts: 798 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Combo Breaker
    cavework wrote: »
    Not all people borrowed 'recklessly'.
    An awful lot of people borrowed money fully intending on paying it back with interest.
    At the time jobs were secure, house prices were stable and the Banks were more than willing to lend based on the financial situation people were THEN in.
    As for greatly inflated prices?
    Surely that was based on what people were earning and could afford to pay. This was linked to job security and a decent wage.
    Cut throat prices.. equal lower wages.. equal redundancies .. that is a lesson that is repeated time and time again.
    Manufacturing is dead in this country .. we are now a country of service providers and even that is being sent abroad.
    We need to get back to manufacturing .
    Just look at the increase in foreign imports compared to this countries exports since WW2.
    Also
    Those oh so 'sensible' investors who's money was being used to finance these 'reckless' borrowers were more than happy to get the benefit when times were good.

    I don't think anyone said that all people always borrow recklessly, but if you borrow £75,000 and aren't even sure what you spent it on, and don't take into account all the commonplace risks like redundancy, then just maybe this isn't a great example of financial management.

    Come on -- seventy five thousand pounds??? How on earth do you blow an amount like that?

    I understand the arguments against being judgemental but blimey, sometimes you want to shake some sense into people. And I find it depressing that several people are now saying the OP should just walk away from it, and let the rest of us pick up the tab, which seems to be just another flourish of irresponsibility. Quite honestly, this attitude really really hacks me off. :(
    "I don't mind if a chap talks rot. But I really must draw the line at utter rot." - PG Wodehouse
  • !!!!!! Brasso, re-read the bloody thread - I told you all - part for new car, part for o/s debts, part for new kitchen and three and a half grand for garden fence!!! Thought it would be sensible to cover all these things in one fell swoop and one (afordable at the time) monthly repayment. I never said I didn't know where it had gone! In an ideal world, cars would live forever, as would kitchens, as would garden fences, but well, would you believe it, things wear out and need replacing!! D'oh, what is the world coming to?????
  • fozmcfc
    fozmcfc Posts: 3,098 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker PPI Party Pooper Debt-free and Proud!
    I've never been a home owner, so never really took much notice of their adverts. But looking back on youtube at some of the First Plus adverts and seeing the quotations shown just makes me shudder.
  • Chriswt
    Chriswt Posts: 36 Forumite
    It is a shame you chose to throw insults around rather than come up wiht some sensible arguments to counter my points. I am not lecturing anyone about anything. I am pointing out that:

    - If you borrow and then spend you are affecting all of us in society, not just yourself through inflation, and possible default which the rest of us have to pay for.
    - Borrow and spend, borrow and spend on imported consumer goods weakens Britain further and further. We are borrowing from China/India to buy goods from them.

    The course we are on is one of the most extreme examples of collective selfishness conceivable. We spend everything we can get, we sell our industry, property and Gold and then spend the proceeds. We borrow and spend all that as well. And now we expect our Children to pay for it. £9k tuition fees is just the start. We are all responsible for this.

    Oh, and at no point did I say I am debt free, I am not. I have 2x mortgage and a Credit Card. And I did offer sound advice. Go bankrupt, as it is the best thing IMHO for the Op to do. Learning from your mistakes I would have hoped would be taken as read!

    ...your comment 'LEARN YOUR LESSON'... who do you think you're talking to, a 5 year old??

    I meant to insulted no one but instead wished that people would talk to others on this forum as if they were talking to them in person as I'm sure many would rephrase their comments if these conversations were held face to face.
  • Teen have to agree you are wasting your time here.
    Use the link Amersall has given you, on page 2 I think, you'll get the help and advice you need there.
  • ILW
    ILW Posts: 18,333 Forumite
    Chriswt wrote: »
    ... who do you think you're talking to, a 5 year old??

    .

    Someone who has spent £75,000 and has a kitchen and a fence to show for it. You could buy a house for that.
  • themull1
    themull1 Posts: 4,299 Forumite
    OP I hope you get sorted. I think that you need to go to the Bankruptcy thread now for advice. Its awful when you get made redundant. Hope you get sorted, don't take any notice of the nasties.:)
  • Errrr ILW - £75,000 for a house?? Where do you live? Cloud cuckoo land?

    Cheers themull1 - I'm definitely out of this thread now.
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