Gary's views

Gary's weekly views

Each week an article by Gary has appeared in the Plympton Plymstock and Ivybridge News in South West Devon. The articles are published here

DEBT

Is it too easy to get credit? I borrowed £8,000 from a bank last week off the Internet – first time I’d ever done it that way - to help certain relatives to buy a nice car. It took ten minutes flat, but I had to ring them to make arrangements to get the cheque. Did they want to quiz me further about my financial probity or the affordability of my rash move? Did they heck. They said, rather like Chris Tarrant, you don’t want to borrow £8,000, why not make it £12,000. I told them no, but when I put the phone down I have to admit I was momentarily tempted.
I was down at the Citizen’s Advice Bureau in Mayflower Street last Friday visiting their impressive new premises and hearing about the wonderful work they do. 30% of their advice relates to personal debt, and in the last 12 months they have helped local people grapple with a staggering £100 million pounds of debt difficulty. From young people who stumble into the red from the moment they are legally allowed to borrow, to very senior citizens who have no hope of ever repaying, it seems that no one is excluded from this seductive menace. Many lives never recover from the burden of crippling debt.

As we know from the glossy adverts; we are second class citizens unless we fill our lives with those essential lifestyle products. The cars, the holiday, the make up; we need it and we need it now. After all, we are worth it.

Banks are making record profits but bankruptcies are increasing. But fear not, even if we have county court judgments against our name, those smiling people on the tele will lend us more money, so we can go on spending.

Surely it cannot go on; the whole edifice will one day come crashing down on our heads.
Adults are entitled to make their own choices, but I do think that we could do more to hammer home the unfashionable message of financial discipline at school.

But what about the lenders? Should they be allowed to push their corrosive products on us like this? All the begging letters – begging us to borrow - and the endless phone calls; has it not got out of hand?

posted by Nigel on Monday, April 30, 2007