Daily Mail today

Mizz_Pink

Hello,

Interesting article in todays Mail, about 3 women who will never pay off their debt (due to it being too high).

Also in the money section there is an article about money myths.

FYI

GreyPilgrim

Tried to find a link for an on-line version but couldn't. Found something equally interesting and informative though.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=419040&in_page_id=1879

bekkki1

This is the online page

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/credit-and-loans/debt-news/article.html?in_article_id=415162&in_page_id=62

Baggiebird1nil

Just read the article on reclaiming your bank charges back. Nearly as good as Martin's!

Storm

Hmm, the first woman my thought is - sell the house! She says there's equity in it, it's taking more than 50% of their income each month, so sell & buy somewhere cheaper! Same for the last one too!

The only one who it really seems to me to have had a LBM is the second one - she's sold the flat, gone on an IVA & has stopped the spending

Storm

BTW - did anyone see the pop up when you click on the link? For secured loans!!!

System

Cor blimey apart from the first one, those figures are scary to say the least. But I remember watching a programme with Martin on a few months back and he said anything less than 100K was considered chicken feed. I think he called these 100K+ debtors superdebtors. It certainly put my amount into perspective. An interesting point about reaching CC limits and OD limits - banks and CC comanpies just increased the levels which only served/serves to encourage you to get deeper.

nrsql

Only read the first one

>> It does put pressure on our marriage - most of our arguments are about money and not having enough. I don't want anyone to think that I am whinging too much because we are not on the streets, we're not on the breadline and we live in a lovely house, but I worry all the time about money.

She worries - but not enough to do anything about it.
The problem seems that they always wanted a lifestyle they couldn't afford and still do.

Ok the second one is just annoying

>> all I thought I was doing was living a middle-class life like everyone else - eating out, buying clothes, amassing material goods such as a widescreen TV, which cost me £2,000.
You tell yourself: 'The banks and credit card companies must know best, they wouldn't be offering me credit if they didn't think I could pay it back.

So she was relying on the bank to tell her she was spending more than she was earning? Considering all the people on this forum who take responsibility for their situation and realise how they got there - this woman needs to wake up.

And the third
>> I cannot believe I have amassed this amount of debt by the age of just 25, but that's the culture we live in.
>> I'm ashamed to say I was still buying lots of clothes, and I have to confess to spending part of my student loan - about £1,000 - on a holiday to Brazil. I went to cheer myself up, ironically, because of all my debt worries.
>>We'd chat at work about the latest Manolo Blahnik shoes, or fantastic Stella McCartney clothes, and then blow £30 on lunch in Notting Hill.
>> But I have to hold my hands up - I really have only myself to blame. I have been sucked into the middle class debt culture of 'I want it now, never mind saving', and it is impossible to get out.

She says she only has herself to blame but doesn't sound like that's what she believes.

magyar

I do think that they're misleading, though, in the way they are lumping together mortgages and unsecured consumer credit in the same "debt" sentence.

A mortgage, if you can afford the repayments, is a sensible investment in most cases provided you get the best deal, don't buy an overpriced house and can afford the repayments with a comfortable margin (after 'negative equity' is meaningless if you don't need to sell).

Consumer debt however is rarely a 'good idea' if it can be avoided. (Appreciate that's a huge generalisation)

climbgirl

The first woman seems completely naive, selling the house and downsizing jumps to mind! Interesting what she says about moving to NZ, the cost of living isn't much lower there like she thinks. Of course it will be when you're thinking in pounds, but if you're earning NZ dollars that changes.

They have similar problems over there, a booming house market that's putting houses out of reach for most people, raising cost of utility bills and food. Why do some many NZers leave for Australia and the UK if life is so good there?! She needs to do her research a bit more.

Xbigman

What struck me about the first two was that they are on very good salaries.

Does earning 50k really just mean you can go farther into debt before you are in trouble?
Regards



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