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KevO
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Joined: May 24, 2005
Posts: 2358
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 Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 11:00 am Post subject: Broke Britain: millions face struggle to stay afloat |
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| Quote: | Debt experts are predicting a record number of personal insolvencies this year as excessive Christmas shopping, rising mortgage payments and soaring food and fuel costs force thousands of people over the financial edge and into bankruptcy.
More than nine million individuals in Britain are now believed to be struggling to pay credit card bills and mortgages, with the average owed by problem debtors hitting £30,000.
In alarming figures to be released tomorrow, the accountancy firm Grant Thornton predicts the total number of personal insolvencies will jump to at least 120,000 this year, almost triple the equivalent figure in 2004, when just under 47,000 people went bankrupt.
Insolvency experts say people have been readily loading large amounts of debt on to credit cards and personal loans, despite the economic slowdown.
High-street shops and online retailers reported higher-than-forecast takings in December, while the new year sales have also been busier than expected. One commentator described the Christmas shopping spree as one last hurrah before a tougher 12 months ahead.
Although the economy is still vibrant and employment plentiful, the supply of cheap and easy credit that has revved the economy for years is being turned off as a result of the sub-prime lending crisis in the United States. |
Thanks Yanks!
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seahorse2
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Joined: Oct 18, 2004
Posts: 1898
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| Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 11:10 am Post subject: Re: Broke Britain: millions face struggle to stay afloat |
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| You're welcome mate! Don't say we never did anything for you. Who says we don't export anything. |
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Kingcoal
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Joined: Sep 29, 2004
Posts: 2330
Location: Pennsylvania, USA
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| Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 11:46 am Post subject: Re: Broke Britain: millions face struggle to stay afloat |
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Well at least it's good to know that we have company.
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"That's the problem with mercy, kid... It just ain't professional" - Fast Eddie, The Color of Money |
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Tyler_JC
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Joined: Sep 25, 2004
Posts: 4527
Location: Boston, MA
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| Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 11:55 am Post subject: Re: Broke Britain: millions face struggle to stay afloat |
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And yet Britons are not spending a very large % of their income on mortgage interest if you compare it to 20 years ago.
Of course, Britain was in the middle of a quasi-depression in the late 1980s...
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strider3700
Fission
Joined: Apr 17, 2005
Posts: 2717
Location: Vancouver Island
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| Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:57 pm Post subject: Re: Broke Britain: millions face struggle to stay afloat |
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| Quote: |
More than nine million individuals in Britain are now believed to be struggling to pay credit card bills and mortgages, with the average owed by problem debtors hitting £30,000.
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Does the £30,000 include mortgages or is that just credit card debt and other loans? I can't picture how anyone gets $60,000 in debt and not include a mortgage but I also can't picture how anyone can have a mortgage and only owe $60,000.
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shame on us, doomed from the start
god have mercy on our dirty little hearts |
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threadbear
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Joined: Jan 22, 2005
Posts: 7475
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| Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 1:11 pm Post subject: Re: Broke Britain: millions face struggle to stay afloat |
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Those figures, also, are based on averages. If 50% of homeowners are in the concluding years of their mortgages, they may be spending only something like 5 to 10% of their monthly income on mortgage payments. That leaves the other 50%, more recent home purchasers, spending much more, percentage wise, per month.
Statistics can be very flawed.
"Many statisticians have drowned attempting to wade across rivers that are an average of 2 ft. high."
Forget where the quote came from, but it's pretty applicable. |
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julianj
Intermediate Crude
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Joined: Sep 30, 2004
Posts: 975
Location: On one of the blades of the fan
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| Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 1:15 pm Post subject: Re: Broke Britain: millions face struggle to stay afloat |
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Strider - it seems to imply that the 30 thou is just credit card, loans etc debt, excluding mortgages.
Often when these things are calculated in the LSM - mortgages are excluded because "they are not really debt because you can't go wrong owning bricks and mortar" sort of delusional thinking.
And thanks to seahorse2 for a good joke! |
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Twilight
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Joined: Mar 02, 2007
Posts: 2971
Location: UK
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| Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 1:46 pm Post subject: Re: Broke Britain: millions face struggle to stay afloat |
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| strider3700 wrote: | | Does the £30,000 include mortgages or is that just credit card debt and other loans? |
Mortgages excluded.
| The Independent wrote: | | On average, people approaching the CCCS have debts of £30,000. About 45 per cent of that is from personal loans, 40 per cent from credit cards and 5 per cent from store cards and other lending. |
Basically £30,000 is the average unsecured debt owed by a British borrower at the moment of implosion.
Here are some statistics.
| Credit Action wrote: | Average household debt in the UK is ~ £8,956 (excluding mortgages).
Average household debt in the UK is ~ £56,234 (including mortgages). |
As you can see, owing £30,000 excluding mortgage is the end of the line.
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"The American people are watching the numbers climb higher and higher at the pump and they're waiting to see what the Congress will do." - George W Bush |
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Twilight
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Joined: Mar 02, 2007
Posts: 2971
Location: UK
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EnergyUnlimited
Fusion
Joined: May 15, 2006
Posts: 3106
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| Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 2:25 pm Post subject: Re: Broke Britain: millions face struggle to stay afloat |
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| Twilight wrote: |
Basically £30,000 is the average unsecured debt owed by a British borrower at the moment of implosion. |
Your personal bankruptcy laws are kind though.
All what you need to do is entering voluntary agreement with creditor(s) which entails paying them 25% of money owed and your debt will be written off without formal bankrupcy declared.
So if you owe £30,000 you can wiggle out paying back £7,500 and you are fine.
Don't have £7,500?
No problem. They will accept (albeit with disgust, never mind) your stakeholder pension after returning to Inland Revenue amount "subsidized" by them.
And you should not miss such opportunity to liquidate your pension, if you only have it.
Your personal pension will be worth a pile of crap few years from now on.
BTW. Here is one of my dilemmas.
Albeit I do not owe any money to anyone, I am unlucky owner of personal pension with Scottish Widows. I am no longer living in UK for last 5 years.
It is very sad, when I am realizing that all these hard earned and saved money will be turned into pile of worthless crap within few years from now on.
I often think about a way to retrieve part of these at least (50% loss would be acceptable). I am not 50 (or not even 40) yet.
Any ideas, how to proceed?
I bet, a lot of Brits are now thinking how to recover money from their pensions... |
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AQIUS
Tar Sands
Joined: Jul 04, 2005
Posts: 23
Location: Sacramento, CA
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| Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 6:13 am Post subject: Re: Broke Britain: millions face struggle to stay afloat |
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what to do? where to turn??
hard to say - seems the system is melting down all around us - every day brings new stories of corruption, lies, greed, and it just never ends.
suppose the old saying ' hope for the best/prepare for the worst ' is about all I can suggest. It's what I try to live by.
at least you have the awareness to recognize something is not quite right, and are taking steps to help yourself.
good luck to you. |
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Tanada
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Joined: Apr 28, 2005
Posts: 3625
Location: West shore Lake Eire, MI, USA
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| Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 7:14 am Post subject: Re: Broke Britain: millions face struggle to stay afloat |
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If you had paid us back for WW I and WW II costs then you would have some sympathy, as is well "Welcome to the the government screwed us all" club.
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Oxygen: - An intensely habit-forming accumulative toxic substance. As little
as one breath is known to produce a life-long addiction to the gas, which addiction invariably ends in death.--Isaac Asimov |
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whereagles
Intermediate Crude
Joined: Aug 17, 2005
Posts: 579
Location: Portugal
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| Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 8:42 am Post subject: Re: Broke Britain: millions face struggle to stay afloat |
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| threadbear wrote: | | "Many statisticians have drowned attempting to wade across rivers that are an average of 2 ft. high." |
And some others have saved themselves by checking that the depth standard deviation was 20 metres  |
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threadbear
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Joined: Jan 22, 2005
Posts: 7475
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| Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 3:37 pm Post subject: Re: Broke Britain: millions face struggle to stay afloat |
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| AQIUS wrote: | what to do? where to turn??
hard to say - seems the system is melting down all around us - every day brings new stories of corruption, lies, greed, and it just never ends.
suppose the old saying ' hope for the best/prepare for the worst ' is about all I can suggest. It's what I try to live by.
at least you have the awareness to recognize something is not quite right, and are taking steps to help yourself.
good luck to you. |
Tell us about what you are seeing in your own neighbourhood, Aquius. And welcome! |
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eastbay
Moderator
Joined: Dec 18, 2004
Posts: 4360
Location: One Mile From the Columbia River
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| Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 4:15 pm Post subject: Re: Broke Britain: millions face struggle to stay afloat |
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Welcome?
Threadbear, this person has been on PO almost as long as we have!!
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Everything is Impermanent. Shakyamuni Buddha |
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