Hanslow

Out for my daily walk to get some lunch and saw the following article on the cover of the Sun (so it must be true, well reading it, probably is) and made me laugh somewhat in disbelief

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004492906,00.html

Madness, how and why do people let it get so bad, and did they really need it in the first place?

paulr

Should be illegal,and hopefully the govt will be making it illegal soon.

Hanslow

What should? High interest rates or borrowing money for something you could probably do without when you can't afford to pay it back?

Seems a bit daft to me that they couldn't pay the loan back over a time period of 15 years!!!! OK the debt will build up as time goes on, but why do people borrow money when they must know they can't afford to pay it back? Or are they just thick?

fast bloke

should be very difficult after Sunday. FSA is taking over regulation of secured lending and they have already indicated that they will come down hard on anything that can't be shown to be in the best interests of the customer. Anything that is not clear and worded in terms the client is likely to be able to understand will be considered not to be in their best interests. Should at least put an end to the cowboy claims of "Get your double glazing on finance with rates as low as 4%" then 15 pages later it points out that 4% isn't actually the APR - its the monthly rate

That said - some people go into agreements like the one above with both eyes wide open. (recent example - client borrowed 3k for wooden floors and will pay back £300.00 a month for 10 years - they knew before they signed that they could save the 3k in 10 months, but they said they wanted them straight away )

boxst

Hello

Well, it seems to be the mentality of society at the moment. I get *really* annoyed at loan adverts on television. The ones that go "Consolidate your debts and have enough over for a holiday".

Me shouting at the television "Don't go on holiday, just pay off the loan you muppet" is not uncommon. I just avoid those television stations these days!

Steve.

davyboy

I love the quote "can't afford the repayments on the loan"

So lets get this right......you couldn't afford what you wanted to buy, and then you couldn't afford the repayments on what you wanted to buy.

Ocean Finance to the rescue........."they were so nice to me"......I'll be nice to you if you are going to give me money!

paulr

To charge 34.9% and let the debt accumulate over 15 years fron 5k to 384k is theft in my book.

A lot of the people who take out these loans are often old and poor/desperate who just dont understand money.

Senior_AP

lol at the dumb scousers.

fast bloke

High interest rates are fine as long as there is justification for the borrowing, and the client fully understands what they are agreeing to. Most people in these circumstances do not have the financial awareness to understand the agreements. Doesn't mean they are thick though

paulr

Why not just take out a loan from the bank,or pay on credit card?

paulr

Would you say this is if was your elderly aunt?

fast bloke

the bank don't send a salesman round from the wooden floor company promising to pay him all the payments you make in the first two years if he gets you to sign for the finance.....

Senior_AP

I'll refer you to Davyboys post towarads the top.

I believe he's hit the nail on the head.

paulr

I see,is there no way he can back out of the deal,did you say anything to him.

Hanslow

Sorry on the thick comment, I guess I've just been brought up with good financial awareness, e.g. I lost my job a while back, so sold the Scoob. I didn't need a guzzler when I wasn't particularly going anywhere and I could always get another one.

I just find it hard to comprehend that people just can't work out how much it's actually costing them before agreeing. I've taken loans before, but always within my power to pay them back at what I consider a reasonable interest rate over reasonable time. I think some of the issues arise from the must have now attitude rather than saving for it first.

paulr

One day AP you may have elderly parents,then your opinion may change.

boxst

Hello

There is a difference between elderly people getting conned, not understanding contract terms and most of the people who sign up for these things because they want things "now" and do not consider the consequences in the future.

There should definately be a protection for the elderly people.

Steve.

fast bloke

I was doing a remortgage for them - They could have added the 3k to the mortgage and still be paying less each month than they were previously. They called the comapny in question to find that to settle the loan early they would have to pay all the interest they would have done had they kept it for 10 years. Sure enough, the early redemption penalty was detailed in the agreement. It took me about 20 minutes to find it and I knew what I was looking for.

Hanslow - you are exactly the kind of person these companies are not interested in. Anyone with a fair idea what you they are doing would be unlikely to agree to something as daft.

paulr

Most young people who want things "now" just steal them.

Senior_AP

Exactly.

Senior_AP

...and I refer you to boxst's post that replies to yours.

Big difference between impulse buying people who believe re-mortgaging every 5 minutes/loans etc is the answer. Old people getting caught up in legal wranglings is however unfair. That, I hope stops.

I have no sympathy for idiots that get into loads of debt with no good reason.

ajm

Wouldn't it be easier to ban thick people instead?

Seriously though, the government can't legislate for people's ineptitude and greed. People will always pay over the odds for things as long as they are naive, or stupid and sellers will always ask as much as they think people will pay, why should loan companies be any different?

Senior_AP

The "buy now pay later" brigade.

Anyone noticed that most of the people on the Norton/Ocean finance ads are fat??

"They were really helpful, really friendly and made borrowing all that money so easy".

Greed may well be a factor here.

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

You only have to look at the debt students come away from uni with...

It's part of modern society.

Jye

Surely *no one* can be this stupid. Paying £36,000 for some snide wooden flooring. The mind boggles.

Clarebabes

You really have got it in for people who are overweight haven't you! What's your problem?

Senior_AP

Overweight is fine.

Its the sweaty fat f$cks that I refer to.

Clarebabes

Well, I think I got off quite lightly with £4.5K debt, but there is a girl at my work who is £20K in debt, AND she lived at home..... I don't think she went out much either. So how the **** did she manage to get into that sort of mess?

Oh, and she's about 6 foot tall and as skinny as a rake - you do not have to be fat to get into debt....

Senior_AP

WoooOOOoOOoOo!!!

YOU OLD BOYS!!

Mitchy260

£36000 for a wooden floor??