Are credit card companies to blame?

[poppy]

I was given my first credit card aged 18 with an £800 credit limit whilst I was in school with only a Saturday job earning £3.33 an hour as income.

When I started Uni I was given credit facilities totalling £15,000, again aged only 18 with just a weekend job to support the repayments.

I know I got myself into debt and I could have refused the credit but I do think the banks lend money too easily. What are your views?

[aguise]

I think most will agree that credit is too readily avaliable, and being thrown through the letter box and on the television all the time. As you say we are to blame to a degree, but a lot of blame also lies with the creditors who frequently make bad lending decisions. I think the rise in iva's and also bankrupcy may make borrowing not so easy in the near future, I hope so because quite often people do not realise the amount they are paying back, compared to what they borrow, and would like to see less people struggling with debt they cant pay.

Ang

[poppy]

Me too. I want to be a credit card policewoman and campaign against credit and cut peoples cards up. I don't want anyone to go through what we are going through now.

[thebear29uk]

Hi Ang

Thanks for defending me on that other post but this was exactly the point I was trying to make.

I think as with secured lending, which is geared to income, unsecured lending should be matched to disposable income. It's been way too easy to get credit previously and, like you, I hope that the increase in insolvencies and DMPs will harden the lenders in the future.

This is a subject that I've replied to many times on this forum and as always I will balance my response by saying I didn't have to spend everything that was given to me. But in my experience whenever I reached my credit limit I would quite often be given a higher one. Had I not had this option I may well have addressed my problems sooner.

Regards

Dave

[PoorbutHappy]

Wellwhen I took out my IVA I looked hard at the events leading up to it, which prompted the £4K refund off Lloyds from a complaint about misapproriate lending. Even they agreed we couldnt afford it! (naturally this 3 years after the event)

'I do think the banks lend money too easily'

Yup, even they agree!

[aguise]

Hi Dave
No prob I knew what you were saying. Exactly my point they keep putting the limit up, even if you only make minimum payments, and though the bank did do an income and expenditure when we consolidated, thinking back it didnt ask for things like car repair costs, dental, glasses, just your basic living and when you are desperate to sort something, your sitting in the bank, how can you make realistic guesses at what you spend monthly anyway, so if they do take expenditure it wont be that realistic. They know this. Maybe they are on commission for the loans they sell and therefore they are going to do their utmost to sell one even if they dont think you can pay it.

Ang

[BlueShoes]

Hi
I agree; too easy to borrow it; too easy to spend it!
Never again!
Blue

[monday s expert]

I agree - it was too easy to get into trouble.

While going into the iVA process I thought long and hard about how I got there!

Anyway - with some research I have realised some things don't add up - why Barclaycard prepared to keep throwing money at me. - when they wrongly thought I was "a homeowner"? Was it because they also own that company that specialises in 2nd morgages ( the Carol Voderman one) -although they don't call the 2nd morgages -as they would sell many if they did...

Any when I was close to being in trouble did anyone I spoke to offer to freeze interest or help me trade my way out of the problem? by prioritising payments no they just whack excess charges on and went on their way. If it wasn't all about number crunching and remote call centres maybe just maybe I could have avoided the IVA altogether

Monday's Expert

[Adam Davies]

Hi
I think that automatic credit limit increases should be abolished and a higher minimum payment for new cards ,at say 10% of the balance ,introduced.
regards


Andy Davie
IVA.co.uk Spokesperson

About me:
http://www.iva.co.uk/andy_davie_profile.asp

IVA Helpline: 0800 197 4838
http://www.iva.co.uk/iva_helpline.asp

[Angelus]

ABSOLUTELY!!!! We live in a society where we are nothing more than modern day slaves and the banks are our masters. We are not equals to them, they own the Government who We put in power and keep us in serbitude.

I too have liberally been given credit since it was legal to do so, with no mention or guidance on how to budget it finally ended up with us entering an IVA last December. When I double checked the figures my IP give me I realised that we, as a family with two toddlers, would be left with virtually nothing to live off. When I spoke to the IP on the matter I was told that the figures were right, I could challenge it but if I lost it would end in Bankruptcy (which I want to avoid).

With one person entering an IVA every four minutes in this country I don't consider myself unequal but part of an ever growing band of the new disenchated working class.

We are the many, We are the ones with power. Campaign, its time for change. Don't tolerate this, who knows what will be next. All debt needs to be abolished to make every man and woman in this great country free and equal. Who cares what happens as a consequence for the Banks, they don't care what happens to the families they put out on streets or the people they let starve grow fat on our expense.

[mish1953]

Economic growth is the 'Holy Grail' of economic policy. All governments want to generate growth. Economic growth means higher incomes, and generally speaking higher incomes mean higher living standards. Governments would like as much growth as possible, but the trouble is that too much growth causes other problems.

Sound familiar -- credit means growth -- not necessarily for you but for the service industries - what you are seeing and feeling is this policy in action.

The fear is that if growth stops that we go into 'recession' which is a bad thing - apparently .

Personally I would like to see a return to some traditional values, self sufficiency in energy and food, manufacturing real goods, saving for things, more family time. ..

Hey up .. i must have been dreaming again

More whisky please
Mish

[silversurfer]

The goverment of course like to have lending to be free and easy as it provides growth in the economy through spending leaving the banks with the risk. If I start up a business today then I have a risk of failure but the banks seem to think they should have a risk free business. Even after write offs they still make huge profits but we have the problems of debt.

[Angelus]

Amen to that SilverSurfer!!! It makes me sick that they can create billions of pounds profit, announce it on the news and then the next story is how interest rates have to increase again and they expect evictions to increase because of it.

What makes me mad is that the banks make all these billions by sucking the will to live out of ordinary people, so that the few can drive around in their environment destroying cars and tell us that we are bad people for trying to survive on the pittance that is left after they have taken their share. Did you all know that there are more references in the Bible to Bankers burning in hell that Homosexuals etc. Why don't we see people parading through London on "Bankers Pride" Marches? Its because they are too busy counting the money they have swindled out of us.

If someone came into your house while you were sleeping and took everything you had, the Police would have to show an interest in it, but because some "Middle Class" Bank Manager takes half of your wages in banking fees it's OK? I hope there's a special level of Hell put aside especially for rapists and bank staff and it's not gonna be pretty.

Sorry! Rant over!!

[aguise]

[8D]

[Dominic]

Credit cards are a way for banks to make money out of nothing becasue the interest on them si so high