Panorama and Debt- very concerning

Yes, of course- totally understood your comment.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0012jqk

Yes I did see the program and was very sympathetic until one of the featured people showed us the 4 jackets he’d bought.
Not a vulnerable person: a teaching assistant.

It's all very well relating anecdotes about selling jewellery, my widowed mother in the 1960s not only sold her engagement ring but had her wedding ring pared down for goodness knows how little, but young people won't have jewellery to sell because they won't have been able to afford it in the first place!

I think this is a very unfair set of attacks on young people. Times change, it's now hard to afford university without taking out an enormous loan yet almost all jobs require not just a first degree but a Masters or other postgraduate qualification too. I know some on this forum are proud to not own a smart phone but that too has become essential to daily living from banking, to availability for appointments to attending meetings and conferences.

Rental properties, if you can find one, cost a fortune. Need to commute for work? Cars also cost a huge amount and fuel costs are escalating. Public transport, rail fares are though the roof.
We will never return to the 1950s and we need to deal with the world we are living in, not hark back to some idyll (which never existed in the first place!)

A lot of people have to their possessions every time they have to move house (which in some cases is a lot) and the replace when they move.

You don't get your rent deposit back until months after you have moved in many many cases

I am a bit sick of this young people want new, expect this, that and the other. Life is INCREDIBLY tough and hard if you don't have parents to help and support you (financially, emotionally and physically - sp many of you look after your own grandchildren so your children can work!)

argh I hate my autocorrect

A LOT OF PEOPLE HAVE TO SELL THEIR POSESSIONS EVERY TIME THEY MOVE TO A NEW RENTAL PROPERTY

but about the multiple Money lending companies that prey on the weakest and most vulnerable

I'm sorry. I didn't see the programme and your OP didn't make it clear

I didn't realise either.

The Payday Loan companies, loan sharks etc are vultures that prey on the poorest and most vulnerable in society. Once ensnared, it's a downward spiral of debt.
Google Payday loans and up they all pop.

I saw one woman on TV who'd borrowed £50 from a friendly woman, another school mum and ended up homeless:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-your-money-59595246

MaizieD

^This thread was NOT, in any way, shape or form, about young people's consumer behaviour-^

You were very optimistic there, Kali2.

but about the multiple Money lending companies that prey on the weakest and most vulnerable

I'm sorry. I didn't see the programme and your OP didn't make it clear.

(A mortgage is still a debt, though. I was just pointing out that fact for the benefit of the self righteous...)

Of course a mortgage is a debt, the alternative is to rent, if you deduct the rent you have to pay the debt is quite small and after 5 yrs it might even be positive.
Saving for a mortgage deposit is almost impossible if you are renting.

Maths lesssons should show clearly how quickly a small debt can become a millstone, and much worse, in very little time.

It seems to me that there's a whole world more to want, 'need' or aim to acquire than when we were young. Mobiles, cars, branded garb, beauty treatments etc. were never on my wish list. It was just so easy to keep up with others and the expected norm back then, wasn't it?

We didn't have much or many expenses. I had some jeans, skirts, jumpers and t-shirts. My own hair, eyebrows and nails were quite good enough. Wages were high, our rent was cheap. We had the chance to save.

So delighted to buy our first place, a tumbledown cottage, paint the walls and dig the garden, we lived with the grubby carpets and pathetic excuse for a kitchen for years.

Our expectations were so easily met, we lived well, partied, holidayed and had fun. I feel so sorry for young people today.

Yes, of course, budgeting and money management should definitely be on the school curriculum, along with parenting, don't you think?

Calistemon

^but about the multiple Money lending companies that prey on the weakest and most vulnerable^

I'm sorry. I didn't see the programme and your OP didn't make it clear

I didn't realise either.

The Payday Loan companies, loan sharks etc are vultures that prey on the poorest and most vulnerable in society. Once ensnared, it's a downward spiral of debt.
Google Payday loans and up they all pop.

I saw one woman on TV who'd borrowed £50 from a friendly woman, another school mum and ended up homeless:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-your-money-59595246

I saw that lady too but at least she seems to have got her life back together. I can't imagine how she did it, but good for her.

Katie59 It was equally as hard saving for a deposit whilst renting back in the seventies. We only managed to get on the ladder because my GM had died leaving my father with a house to sell. In those circumstances I had no compunction about asking for a loan. We bought our first house when we were 33 and 32. Youngsters today often want to buy at a younger age.

No one in my family would be able to get to work or school without us having a car/s

Wages were high, our rent was cheap. We had the chance to save

There you go Hetty, I wonder what is the difference? and tumbledown cottages are £££

Yes, of course, budgeting and money management should definitely be on the school curriculum, along with parenting, don't you think?

No.

Dinahmo

Calistemon

but about the multiple Money lending companies that prey on the weakest and most vulnerable

I'm sorry. I didn't see the programme and your OP didn't make it clear

I didn't realise either.

The Payday Loan companies, loan sharks etc are vultures that prey on the poorest and most vulnerable in society. Once ensnared, it's a downward spiral of debt.
Google Payday loans and up they all pop.

I saw one woman on TV who'd borrowed £50 from a friendly woman, another school mum and ended up homeless:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-your-money-59595246

I saw that lady too but at least she seems to have got her life back together. I can't imagine how she did it, but good for her.

Yes, but how shocking that a 'friendly school mum' (if she was) could do that.

I hope these people are found and imprisoned. They are fraudsters.

growstuff

*Yes, of course, budgeting and money management should definitely be on the school curriculum, along with parenting, don't you think?*

No.

Not what I was talking about. But about the fast spiralling nature of debt and interest rates- especially by Pay Day loan companies that charge incredible high rates. How a small loan can turn into the biggest nightmare and wipe you, and your family, out.

MaizieD As you are so interested in my business it gives me great pleasure to inform you that the last three properties my husband and I purchased were cash sales.
In the early days we did have three further homes which were purchased with the help of partial mortgages but we never considered that as debt, simply paying by installments.

Esspee , I'm not the slightest bit interested in your business. Just pointing out that a mortgage is a debt. If you want to call it 'paying by installments' that's your affair, but, however you look at it, it's a debt.

The problem for people who take out 'payday loans' is that they are so poor that no bank would give them an overdraft. They are caught in the small loan with very high interest trap.

I've no idea if they spend the money on things like TVs and mobiles, which most people regard as a normal and essential part of life; perhaps it goes on food and clothes for their families. But the loan sharks are taking disgraceful advantage of their poverty...

Debt is a terrible, terrible thing to live through and I don't think people understand when they take out high interest loans.

When I taught at an FE college the Principal's secretary, a mature woman, often asked me for money. She had four children, and her husband worked away in Spain, I always said she could take her time paying me back and she did occasionally, I let her off a few times when it was just a fiver. When the cheques bounced she used to pay for her catalogue order, I stopped lending her money, I was upset she did this. Very very sadly her house was repossessed, and as she lived in the same street as the college it was very public. That night she came to my house to beg for money to get a flat so her family could be together - my husband and I just didn't have it. All I could do was share my dinner with her, and pay for a taxi to take her back to the hostel.

Hpw many people on here could save enough deposit (1 1/2 - 2 times monthly rent) for their next rental in 6 months time? Plus removals, second curtains that will fit new windows etc?

I'll hazard a guess not many on lower wages, yet the working poor are expected to to do this regular

If you saddle people with huge debt before they even leave full time education, they are highly likely to think that living with debt is normal. Couple that with an expectation level of the latest tech, expensive rents, etc and they have a crisis just waiting to happen.
This year, my son has to find rent for his current property which had a high deposit and for which he had to secure his savings against or take out insurance, the lease runs from September to September. Less than 3 month into his rental, he has to secure another property for the next academic year. The lease runs from July to July...so he has to find another lot of deposits and double rent from July to September. We are not in a position to help him much but can cushion him a little with food parcels but I do wonder how students with parents living on the breadline manage.

I feel sorry for todays young, my son & daughter both work full time & need to save up £20k deposit for a house yet they don't earn enough to live on, in the 70's we could do that but prices are greater than wages these days. They need a gov't in power that will actually get them living wages, not the Tories who prioritise tax cuts for billionaires

We have a re use recycle site and sometimes people with nothing ask for help and straight away furniture Toys clothes food etc are offered for free. It has helped a lot of people stay out of debt or manage the debts they have. Most areas have one of these groups on facebook.