This forum is not hardcore enough!

Hooloovoo

Idiophreak wrote: »

Why's he singled out mortgages as OK?

There's *no* difference at all between taking out a massive mortgage to buy an expensive house and taking out a loan to buy an expensive car.

What utter nonsense.

There is a massive difference between buying a house and buying a car. That difference being a house (generally) goes up in value, a car always goes down in value.

The only way they are in any way comparable is if you are talking about buying an expensive and incredibly rare Ferrari that will be worth more in ten years time than it is now - and even then only provided you don't drive it, instead keeping it garaged and in immaculate condition. In which case, is it even a "car" in the normal sense of the word? No it's not, it's just an investment like any other.

It's really quite simple why mortgages are singled out as ok.

Taking a loan to buy something going up in value = sensible.
Taking a loan to buy something rapidly falling in value = dumb.

In general for the majority of people the only thing they ever consider buying that has the potential to increase in value is their house. Hence mortgages are singled out specifically.

Jamie_Carter

andymc29 wrote: »

Just wanted to vent quickly.

Why do people on this forum not ask what people are taking loans for? A lot of people here seem to no have problem with people coming on and asking how to get deeper into debt as long as they can afford the monthly payments.

I used to think this forum was to encourage people to get out of debt and live debt free but that doesn't seem to be the case.

I don't know if maybe it's because I've been listening to Dave Ramsey who takes a very hard line approach regarding debt but I see a lot of posters here advising how to get car loans, swapping between credit cards instead of just paying them off, holding onto low interest loans instead of paying them off and financing things people don't need like expensive cars by getting lower monthly payments. I believe that you can't afford something if you have to finance it, but clearly some people here don't believe that at all.

What a load of rubbish. It is a money saving site, and gives people advice on how to save money. It doesn't matter if that is a cheaper loan, different credit card, or a better value purchase.

ILW

There is a world of difference between using credit to but an APPRECIATING asset such as a house and a DEPRECIATING asset such as a car.

Anyone that cannot see that is an idiot.

Hooloovoo

Jamie_Carter wrote: »

What a load of rubbish. It is a money saving site, and gives people advice on how to save money. It doesn't matter if that is a cheaper loan, different credit card, or a better value purchase.

While certainly a cheaper loan would save money, no loan at all would save even more. Isn't the aim of the site to save as much money as possible?

MiddyMum

Hooloovoo wrote: »

While certainly a cheaper loan would save money, no loan at all would save even more. Isn't the aim of the site to save as much money as possible?

A seemingly hard concept for some to understand.....

CTA_2

ILW wrote: »

There is a world of difference between using credit to but an APPRECIATING asset such as a house and a DEPRECIATING asset such as a car.

Anyone that cannot see that is an idiot.

Expectations and assertions such as this fuelled the economic crisis.

People automatically believe that houses are a "safe" asset. You realise that the sub prime mortgage issues were because of a big downturn in property prices?

CTA_2

MiddyMum wrote: »

A seemingly hard concept for some to understand.....

Also difficult for some to understand that when in debt, using a cheaper debt to pay off the more expensive debt is the most efficient way to achieve those savings!

Hooloovoo

CTA wrote: »

Expectations and assertions such as this fuelled the economic crisis.

People automatically believe that houses are a "safe" asset. You realise that the sub prime mortgage issues were because of a big downturn in property prices?

There are always periods of exception.

But in general house prices go up. Buy a house now, and even with prices falling it more than likely will be worth more than you paid in 10 years time.

How much will a car bought today be worth in 10 years time?

Tixy

Hooloovoo wrote: »

While certainly a cheaper loan would save money, no loan at all would save even more. Isn't the aim of the site to save as much money as possible?

Not sure that has ever been a stated aim of the site.

Possibly to save as much money as possibly whilst doing what you want to do - otherwise why is there a travel/ holidays section on the forum?, why a Shopping section with links to luxury goods?
If the site aim was about saving as much money as possibly - surely it would be totally against anyone having holidays / anyone buying luxury electrical goods and would be busy advocating a life of frugality something close to an amish lifestyle.

The site has been designed with a loan section of the forum so its not unreasonable for people to post asking for help on finding the cheapest loan or finding the cheapest way to finance something now.
If they have posted sufficient info to suggest that they may difficulties in affording the loan repayments then almost always there will be several replies to point this out.

The site is thankfully a lot more useful, more open and a lot less zealous than Dave Ramsey's opinions on the world.

seriousDFW

Andy, I completely agree with your principle by the way. I too think that you should save up for what you buy, despite the fact that in the past I haven't lived by this philosophy. I do also agree that the only exception to this principle is a mortgage, for the reasons you have given.

As another poster has said, posting something in DFW that relates to the whole MSE forum is misleading and not appropriate.

I think most people would agree that it's better to save up than get in debt, nowhere more so than the DFW board, and in the loans/CC sections, opinions about whether a loan/CC is a good idea are regularly given, and aren't always what the OP wants to hear. But DFW is not the place for judgemental posts like yours.