One in Five could not afford food if payments rise

lostinrates

chucky wrote: »

That's what I think, most people's issues aren't the mortgage rate or the mortgage repayment(they can switch to interest only or take mortgage holiday) but other things that are not price controllable like fuel, food or even gas/electricity.

I think for a lot of people its simply more basically thwir outgoings, including ALL of the above.

Tbh, i would not mind if food cost twenty percent and my mortgage rose by the same amount, or if fuel dropped 10% and the mortgage rate went up....its all the same to a degree, its all out going.

I can more easily controll what we eat and heating and things like contracts for entertainment than i can mortgage rate and fuel costs (i can drive less, but couldn't ipf my job depended on it, i can move but not overnight).


To most people i wonder if the break down of what costs what is not some what academic....if they are already on basic.


As an aside, we took a two year tracker with a change to bank svr (plus , um, cannot remember now that rate) which is only two or three months away. Seems like a nice time to try and fix to me. I suppose i should try and spend sometime looking into our choices there. A fixed amount now might not be the best short twrm deal, but might well be over the mortgage's life time.

atush

A lot of the people in the OP are not being honest with themselves or others. Saying they can't afford food if rates go up?

When they have Sky tv? Internet? mobile phones for all in the family? Family holidays to FL bought on credit?

There is still quite a bit of overspending going on in the country, all the fat has not been cut out of all those people's budgets. Some have cut back, but not all. Esp according the the results from BskyB today.

RenovationMan

the_flying_pig wrote: »

the great unwashed has no chance of working out whether a fix at X% is a better deal than paying the base rate + Y%. at best it makes no difference.

the_flying_pig wrote: »

dunno what you mean.

I guess if you judge other people by your own lack of knowledge then you're always going to have a poor view of them.

Hand on heart, I have never met anyone who didn't know the difference between a fixed rate at X% and a variable rate at Y%. You seem to be wanting a 'one size fits all' mortgage product that appeals to a small percentage of the population who are financially inept. By contrast, I'm happy to have a wide range of mortgage products that can be tailored to the miriad ways people want to structure their own finances.

As a hint, someone who runs their own business would find an interest only offset mortgage to be very valuable. Low monthly outgoings during famine times, overpayments during feast times and the offset to store tax monies and emergency savings. There is an example of someone structuring their finances and mortgage to suit their individual financial circumstances.

Other people may be using an IO mortgage and pension product as a tax efficient way to manage their money. A higher rate tax payer such as myself can get their mortgage repayment subsidized by the government to the tune of 40%. Even more if a salary sacrifice scheme is in use.

RenovationMan

atush wrote: »

A lot of the people in the OP are not being honest with themselves or others. Saying they can't afford food if rates go up?

When they have Sky tv? Internet? mobile phones for all in the family? Family holidays to FL bought on credit?

There is still quite a bit of overspending going on in the country, all the fat has not been cut out of all those people's budgets. Some have cut back, but not all. Esp according the the results from BskyB today.

Don't forget the booze and fags that are usually bought before food. *cough, cough* They're my only pleasure in life....:rotfl:

2010

RenovationMan wrote: »

Don't forget the booze and fags that are usually bought before food. *cough, cough*

These and the scratchcards are usually bought with the child benefit.

RenovationMan

LisaW123 wrote: »

When I bought my first home I factored in the possibility of interest rates getting up to 10%. I could remember friends of my parents being badly affected by very high interest rates (up to 15% at one point I believe) in the early 1990s. I can't understand why people would think interest rates would stay so low indefinitely.

I guess it depends how what you're classing as 'low'. If you mean BoE rates at 0.5% then I don't know anyone who thinks rates will stay that low indefinitely.

If you're classing BoE rates at 6% as 'low', then we've got a discussion on our hands.....

lemonjelly

chucky wrote: »

That's what I think, most people's issues aren't the mortgage rate or the mortgage repayment(they can switch to interest only or take mortgage holiday) but other things that are not price controllable like fuel, food or even gas/electricity.

I feel that for many, personal inflation is definitely being significantly affected by the rising costs of essentials.

Equally, for a large proportion of people, they are continuing to consume desireables, classing them as essentials.

Interesting times.

Meanwhile, the rich poor gap continues to widen.

chucky

lemonjelly wrote: »

Meanwhile, the rich poor gap continues to widen.

That is true but then again what did people expect, haven't they learned from history.

lemonjelly

StevieJ wrote: »

I was tempted, but that would be in poor taste

Never stopped you before.;)
Unless that is a pun using poor taste in a food thread. In which case you don't deserve a thanks...:D

lemonjelly

chucky wrote: »

That is true but then again what did people expect, haven't they learned from history.

Symptomatic of the "me,me,me" society sadly...