Bank has encouraged son Debt

fromtheshires

>Banks are business.
>Staff are sales staff with targets to meet.
>Staff get commission for selling 'products' hence the PPI saga.
>They are not interested in ensuring you have the right product, just the most profitable product to them.

The above is what your son has fallen foul of unfortunately. Someone with a bit of life experience would know that banks are only there to get you into debt to earn them money, but from speaking to a lot of colleagues where I work, a lot of them didnt realise the full ramafactions of having credit available to them.

He has learned his lesson early which is good. What you need to do now as a parent it to hammer it home without being too hard on him and work with him to budget and get out of this predicament. How you do it is up to you but make sure he pays the debt himself (or you back if you decide to pay it off for him) otherwise it wont fully sink in.

Helvetica_Van_Buren

If he's spending all of his earnings and then extra on top of that then it has to be going somewhere.

It might just be on nonsense, but it IS going somewhere. The first step to fixing this is curbing the spending.

He can't continually overspend and look to blame someone else.

[Deleted User]

OP excuse me for being harsh but if this is the callable of young people defending our country then god help us. I was always under the impression that members of the armed forces shouldn't get into debt?
Hopefully he has now learnt a lesson he will never forget?
If he is still in serious debt then he should talk to one of the debt charities like "step-change" ?

EssexHebridean

venison wrote: »

OP excuse me for being harsh but if this is the callable of young people defending our country then god help us. I was always under the impression that members of the armed forces shouldn't get into debt?
Hopefully he has now learnt a lesson he will never forget?
If he is still in serious debt then he should talk to one of the debt charities like "step-change" ?

Yes, this is of course the case. All members of our AF's are angels, perfect, never a flaw to be had, in fact, practically not human, in any real terms. *rolls eyes*

Nobody "should" get into debt - but there are an awful lot of folk on here who have, at some stage in their lives, managed it, though. Got a mortgage? A car loan? A credit card that you pay interest on, ever? I'm afraid that makes you one of them...

The average 17 year old signing up for the Army, Navy or RAF is no different to any other out there in terms of the potential for spending more than they earn. For what it's worth, I feel that there should be SOME legislation in place to prevent banks from taking advantage of those with less life-experience. Pair this with compulsory financial education including the potential for the issues debt can cause people, in schools, and we just *might* get somewhere on stopping this cycle.

curty510

recovery27 wrote: »

Not sure what your implying about me quizzing him about what he REALLY is spending his money on. As you would know they are regularly drug tested in the Armed forces and he has never had an interest in gambling, just a normal young lads that likes to go out with friends and party. How much do you think a basic soldier is paid after charges, because it aint that much.
Regards,

As a serving member of HM armed forces, your son is required to hold the minimum security clearance of SC, which involves financial background checks. Now he would of had this done prior to joining, but it is done every 10 years. So may be a good idea to advise him to manage his money better for the future, as this could affect him passing.

MrsTinks

curty510 wrote: »

As a serving member of HM armed forces, your son is required to hold the minimum security clearance of SC, which involves financial background checks. Now he would of had this done prior to joining, but it is done every 10 years. So may be a good idea to advise him to manage his money better for the future, as this could affect him passing.

Actually a standard SC clearance doesn't have any issue with debt, mismanagement of debt etc, what it DOES have an issue with is non-disclosure of debt. So long as you are upfront and honest then most of the time this won't impact you. Even for higher levels of clearance where they ask you insanely personal questions they don't actually mind if you want to dress like a pink unicorn and run through baked beans for kicks - what they want is you being honest with them so that it can't be used to black mail you

Of course you can have debt in the forces. Whether "bad debt" will affect his career I will admit I don't know, but it is unlikely to have a direct impact on his SC so long as he declares it.

molerat

recovery27 wrote: »

Not sure what your implying about me quizzing him about what he REALLY is spending his money on. As you would know they are regularly drug tested in the Armed forces and he has never had an interest in gambling, just a normal young lads that likes to go out with friends and party. How much do you think a basic soldier is paid after charges, because it aint that much.

Regards,

He earns an absolute minimum, as a recruit, of £14783 - £283 a week. As a private it will be at least £18305 - £351 a week, more if he has a trade. £22 max a week for accommodation and then feed himself. If he can't manage on that he needs to take a serious look at his expectations.

curty510

MrsTinks wrote: »

Actually a standard SC clearance doesn't have any issue with debt, mismanagement of debt etc, what it DOES have an issue with is non-disclosure of debt. So long as you are upfront and honest then most of the time this won't impact you. Even for higher levels of clearance where they ask you insanely personal questions they don't actually mind if you want to dress like a pink unicorn and run through baked beans for kicks - what they want is you being honest with them so that it can't be used to black mail you

Of course you can have debt in the forces. Whether "bad debt" will affect his career I will admit I don't know, but it is unlikely to have a direct impact on his SC so long as he declares it.

Actually, SC clearance checks look into finances quite deep, badly managed finances are often associated with funding habits such as Gambling, Drugs, Drink.....all of which can show signs of vulnerability, which will be indicated from an SC application. Its not just about what debts are declared etc.

Being in debt whilst serving is not as bad as it used to be in the 90's, but still advisable to self manage and control your debts.