I'm shocked this is allowed to be aired.

Sorry missed that part of your post - so yes your suggestion of PayPal is pie in the sky

I find it strange that people always say things are so different these days.
Parents are under such stress that they need to both work, can't pay childminders (so granny kills herself doing it)
They have to have date nights and weekends away, and its all so different than when we were young.
The minute that people are struggling to buy a washing machine and have to resort to brighthouse, everyone points out how they went without, and so on.
I wonder if you would allow your grown up children to be without a washing machine or cooker, with zero chance of being able to scrape up 100 pounds to buy one?
Xbox? Maybe different, but I don't know any children who don't have one..

The more things change the more they stay the same MissA

A reconditioned cooker cost 180 pounds from a reputable shop 3 years ago, when my daughter bought it, by the way.
You'd be lucky (or silly) to get one for 100, unless from family, assuming you have family.

No, MissA, definitely not. However, some people may not be in a position to help their grown up children and, if the loan business was better regulated and the prices kept at the level of those in retail shops, then it wouldn't be a problem.

I don't know what the HP interest rates were years ago but it seemed to be an acceptable way to purchase household goods and so it should be still for those who can't afford to buy outright. You pay a bit more, but it wasn't extortionate as these firms seem to charge.

These firms must bulk-buy as well, so they are already making a big profit without the high rate of interest.

I think places like brighthouse also have the 'advantage' of someone being able to walk in, and walk out with a machine - well, not literally.
When things are getting on top of someone, there is no money, none on the horizon, and piles of smelly washing building up...

Having coped without a washing machine for four months (family of 5) I can sympathise. Jeans, towels and bedding I took to the laundrette but the rest I did by hand.

I think the exploitation of those who have the least is despicable.

no way .i wouldnt bother.... bloody rip off merchants..

I don't understand how people can't sace, even small amounts. No need for lavish weddings if you want to furnish a home. No reason to have two or three children if your income only provides for one (plus parents, of course)
No need for a 50" tv or iphones or expensive trainers either. People think they need these things but it's more like want. They have little or no understanding of living within their means.
Take out meals, wine at weekends, holidays 3 times a year. Credit cards maxed out and always waiting for the end of the month to pay back what they borrowed to live on the previous week which leaves them in an even poorer situation.
If the only people struggling to buy cookers and washing machines etc are bereaved and those whose husbands have left or families on 12k pa, then it's a small proportion of society, as unemployed with kids get help with the basics such as beds, cookers, washing machines. People can't afford to get depressed about it, one of them needs to seriously look for work, two jobs if necessary if they have children and no childcare.
It's all too easy to rely on the state ir parents nowadays...or crowdfunding for Christmas. Whatever next...

* Oops! save.

There are jobs to be had. You can't afford to be picky if you want food on your table and you don't need degrees to earn good money.

Esther McVey is your alter ego GabriellaG?.

What help do you think unemployed with children get towards basics?
Its news to me.
A loan which needs to be paid back out of benefit money.
Grants were done away with a few years ago, as far as I know.

We're both hard knocks from Liverpool who made good.

Paid back out of benefit, yes, but there is a limit as to how much can be withheld from benefits. .I understand that it can be topped up to a regulated limit, to buy other necessities when a certain amount is repaid.
It's similar to that which another poster proposed. Lending money, to be repaid out of benefits at source.

Only people on certain benefits can apply, and they have to have been on them for 6 months or more.
I found that when I got carers allowance I wasn't eligible for anything at all!

The system, unfortunately, doesn't work for or cater to everyone's circumstances and the future doesn't look promising. On the other hand, I've just watched the first episode of a new series about the Corinthia Hotel in London, where the vast majority of staff, at all levels, are foreign workers. From a 16 yr old school leaver with a great work ethic and ambition, to the German general manager who was headhunted from Claridges. Hardly anyone English. It's the same in the NHS and a lot of the building trade. No proper work ethic. Want without work. None if my AC or CG had or have Xboxes. They'd rather do sport or be doing some outdoor activity than indoors on social media.

Oh well, at least I can now say I've heard of children who don't have Xboxes.
My grandsons are both football fanatics and play several times a week. (It gives them a break from slouching in front of a screen stuffing their faces)

You never know who's watching at local football matches. Scouting goes on at all levels of the game. Who knows, one of your GS could end up being the next Gerrard, Eusabio, Pele, Ronaldo or Klinsman.

Been there, done that (or at least DS did).
It can often be a short career, best to have good qualifications to fall back on.

Oldest grandsons dad is semi professional, as was his dad, and his dad before him.

I agree with Lemongrove. No one is forced to take on debts with large interest rates and the rates are made clear at the time of advertising. There might not be the option of a local laundrette today as in the past but there are websites like Nextdoor, Freecycle and Preloved, to name but a few where goods can be obtained free or for exchange or for peanuts.

It is not at all irrelevant to cite earlier practices either. My DH and I washed our clothes, sheets and towels in the bath and spin dried them with a drum spinner we bought for next to nothing until we married and were helped to a twin tub by in-laws.

A fridge might be essential but I have both received and given a fridge freezer away in Freecycle and see them offered every day.

A purchaser of credit is not a victim but a customer.

Let us all stop patronising the poor (of which I was most certainly one) and allow them sense, dignity and the ability to learn from mistakes. Many problems are questions of tiding over in a tight spot.

Many are not.

I'm 60 now and was in a situation recently where I had no job and no benefits and no money in the bank. My kind children gave me food. What upset me most was not able to buy birthday gifts for my grandchildren, not even little cheap gifts. There isn't a Brighthouse near me but I can understand desperate people being sucked into this sort of thing. There isn't a laundrette within 25 miles either.