3.2 million households in problem debt

[DollyBarton]

And an increase of 200k children in poverty than last year. How is this happening! From my own experience I can see companies squeezing workers for the benefit of shareholders especially since 2007. AIBU to think the lack of fair wages is the biggest reason for most households debt? On a micro level I'm sure some people lack money management skills and splurge where they really shouldn't but workers are given so little to live on.

I don't need a second income as I have little or no mortgage. However things are still fairly tight. No foreign holidays or savings. Much prefer being single to hooked up though!

I didn't mean a man as a 2nd income stream 😳

Going back to the big screen tv. Some people really want the big screen, regardless, but sometimes it's a symbol of poverty.

You can get a 19 inch tv for £80 from Argos. Find £80 can be a stretch in a household where all the pennies are counted. If you go to Brighthome you can get a 28 inch tv for £3.50 per week. Okay, you pay back £546 in total, but you can afford the £3.50 per week easier than the £80 outright.

And Brighthome do an all singing, all dancing, smart, Hisense, 4D tv for £10 a week. That £10 a week for something glorious is still probably more affordable than the one off hit of £80, even if you pay back a total of £1560. Okay, they come and take it back if you're late with the payments, but you can always catch up with yourself and go again for the £10 a week something glorious.

How about the washing machine going? There are hardly any launderettes around and if heating a damp house is a problem then doing washing in the bath is going to be an issue. You can get a washer dryer for £9.50 a week. Okay, you end up paying £1482 back and it takes three years, but the nearest model to that at AO is £499. £9.50 per week is much easier than £499.

Yes, there is gumtree, eBay, Dodgy Dave on the market etc etc but it must be incredibly tempting to go for something nice, shiny and new that is affordable on a weekly payment.

Take your point Pissssed off lol.

I think there are many people genuinely in poverty but many peoples view on poverty is different to real poverty. My parents had little money, we walked everywhere, holidays involved sleeping on the living room floor at my grandparents and we grew our own veg by borrowing some garden from a neighbour.
Clothes were secondhand or made with cheap fabric throwaways.
We made do. We were happy enough though. It was luxury when my dad won £50 on the premium bonds and bought a portable tele.
These days a tv, phone and nice food seem to be seen as basic essentials.
I've lived on very little money before and know how go economise. I've been hungry and cold but learnt how to get things. Freecycle is brilliant!
I think it is more important to rescue families and get them supporting each other more, and lowering expectations. Also taking responsibility for yourself.

Lowering expectations ? Really ? You want to go backwards. Having come from a nowhere near as bad as you describe background I still have absolutely no intention of ever going back their and my kids certainly never will.

I haven't had a pay rise in 5 years. Last year I had the choice of being laid off or taking a 20% pay cut. Took the pay cut. Haven't had a family holiday in 3 years. Dh and I both work but no credit card debt any more, paid all that off. We have the mortgage and car loans for second hand cars which we both need as we live rurally and work in completely opposite directions. Most clothes come from charity shops, food shopping in Aldi etc. It's bloody hard to make ends meet.

The whole tax credit system has been a disaster. Our country has been borrowing money to enable companies to pay lower wages. Now we have to wean ourselves off this addiction and get those companies to pay living wages.

But everyone has to get real, people had it good in the last century, its a different world now. The goose that borrowed the golden egg is gone, and I hope never comes back. Their are more old people, more ill people, more dependent people and we just don't have the resources to give everybody the best of everything.

What would happen if zero hours contracts were banned? Companies are not going to give all those workers a lucrative full time contract! Anyone remember what happened last time the tax rate was a Lot higher, it actually raises Less money for the country.

Why are so many British workers not wanting/able to do the jobs we import migrants to do?

Some people get it, a lot are still in denial and have entitlement glasses on. Having family in America, their attitude seems to be, "If your job doesn't pay enough, you get a second or third job". In this country it seems more common to just resort to complaining, saying it isn't fair, expecting the government to subsidies them, go on strike and do anything but getting another job.

That's not true Maths, we don't import people to do job Brits won't at all we import them to treat them badly and employ them illegally generally. I cannot understand this desire to race to the bottom. My sister is married to an American and has appalling conditions and yet here they are being held up as something to aspire to. If it wasn't for going to war the USA economy has been utterly ducked since it began, they are nothing.

I used to earn very little, the poorest 1% of the population, I hadn't had a pay rise for seven years (local government) and so had effectively had a pay cut.

Budgeting simply is impossible when there is that little money to go round because you are constantly robbing Peter to pay Paul and buying clothes for the children on credit (mail order catalogue) is often the only way to afford them - then of course you end up paying way over the odds and paying more each month than you would if you bought the clothes outright but sometimes it is the only way.
THankfully I retrained and am in a better paid job now.

Pisssssedofff I am not saying we should have a race to the lowest paid jobs or aspire to be 'like' America. I am saying we have to be realistic that all jobs can not be all things to all people. If you stopped low wage job immigration then companies employing them would have to hire locals and pay at least the minimum wage for the job. That might then be an incentive for people to aspire to better and get a better job. Rather than complain about how little benefits are these days.

'I think it is more important to rescue families and get them supporting each other more, and lowering expectations. Also taking responsibility for yourself.'

Yeah, let's all go backwards. Poor people should support each other, learn their place and how dare they even think of having anything nice.

Good ol' race to the bottom. So much easier to demonise 'them' - they just don't know how to cook/budget/make do and mend, they're just irresponsible, entitled, blow everything on frivolities.

My father grew up very poor. He didn't see it as anything other than a shitty slog and something we as a society should strive our best, all of us, to eliminate, not a stick to beat certain people with.

YY expat And the low paying jobs came before the tax credits not after.

The only people I know on benefits are pensioners who I won't judge because I don't know why they didn't save properly to pay for their old age, or the sick. Everyone else I know works their ass off, parents, single parents, young people they all seem pretty ambitious to me.

You also have more chance of getting a replacement from Brighthouse if it breaks on you a fortnight after you get it Lisa! Not to impugn Dodgy Dave's good name of course.

Pisssed my DH did try to save for his old age. Back in the 70s he was told he had to pay into the workplace pension if he wanted to keep his job. So he did Place goes bust..........gets bought up and that little bit that he gets from that old job (which he was also invalided out of after a fall in the yard) is now around 30 something pounds a week.

And that work accident didnt happen till the early 90s so after a fair while of him paying in.

That's why I said I don't judge them, anything can happen

You can complain till the cows come home...

But you know it's the Tories who've fucked up this country, Dave & his money mates, and Tony before that. All sold out to the highest bidder and fuck you...

Don't see any light at the end of the tunnel of Jeremy either.

And god help us with Nige.. and Donald...

I want to see politics work for EVERYONE. Eliminating poverty here and in the whole world.

Like John Lennon said "I know I'm a dreamer"...

The economy goes in cycles. If you are old enough you will have lived through this before. We will have a boom again in the future.

The economy goes in cycles. If you are old enough you will have lived through this before. We will have a boom again in the future.

we are in rather special times though. if you look at historical interest rates in the UK (or the US for that matter), you will never see a period with rates so low for so long. This encourages borrowing, not just by individuals, but by governments as well. It's no surprise we have records amount of debt.

It's all numbers on a screen, they have t got the money, they never had it and never will do I don't see how any of us owe jack shit to anyone. It breaks my heart when people kill themselves over debt it's absolute bollocks. If individuals behaved as banks fo they'd be in jail with the key thrown away

Not everyone in problem debt is paid poorly. My brother has over £100k on cards and loans in addition to the mortgage and he and his wife earn over £75k a year between them. They just spend too much, think nothing of spending £5k plus on a holiday, get new cars every 3 years and drink champagne on a night out, often spending £200 plus on a Saturday night. They don't live in the South. They have no plans for the future and how to repay this. When one loan ends they take out another!

They probably have the right idea Easy