To think there should be more help for middle class families

[RootinandTootin]

This isn't a hate mongering post, those on lower incomes and can't work should be helped. My issue is that there seems to be little to no support at all for middle class families. Myself and partner work 5 days a week and have 2 kids. Not a terrible wage so I can't complain about that but the energy cost, food bills and fuel are going to cripple us soon enough. We also have Christmas to think about and a couple of birthdays inbetween. I just feel so unbelievably stressed out all the time about it. I'm praying this all calms down by the end of next year when our mortgage is coming up to renewal. There is pretty much no help being offered to us (unless anyone has some hints). I can't see it getting any better and its pretty depressing, alongside other personal issues going on at the moment I just want to cry.

You have no idea what you are talking about.

Help should be targeted to those who can't afford the basics. If you can and are getting by then why should tax payers fund your non-essentials?

Another one not getting it

Yes literally they are sitting on a pile of cash because to get a mortgage they had to have a cash deposit. So they have a LTV % of equity in that house which is all theirs.

And yes, they can access that equity (pile of cash) with home loans/2nd mortgages if they think it is temporary and think they can hold onto their home. This amount is usually tens of thousands of £££ they can access.

But if they still can’t afford their bills, and their debt goes to debt collection, then they may be forced to sell their home to pay off their debts.

But they are still better off than a person who rents and cannot pay their bills because they have this asset which they can use as surety for a loan to bridge a cost of living crisis or sell to get them through it.

And poverty is defined as either absolute or relative. No one who owns a home qualifies under either measure of poverty.

I've always earned just above the income where I would have got help. I've two young adults at university at the same time and they basically have to fund themselves as I just can't afford to.
During covid their friends whose parents were on benefit got additional lump sums and assistance.It's tough but hopefully the benefits of working outweigh the disadvantages.

What am I not getting?

A pile of cash or a pile of debt aka mortgage ?

Yes I do.

Both.

No OP, I don't agree. The U.K. is in debt. It needs to economise even with a windfall tax on oil companies. We have been living beyond our means.

I'm a single mum with a mortgage and one child, so comparable to you. Like you I have a car, I can pay the gas & food bills and afford ds's shoes.Otherwise I have no right to any help.
Have you had a holiday this year, been out to dinner this month, had your hair coloured or nails done? If so, you just need to adjust your lifestyle. I'd rather the money went to people who genuinely cannot afford to eat.

Have you ever actually tried any of that in practice?

It's not as simple as "just remortgage" have you actually seen the interest rate?

Not only that but if you're strapped for cash and in a bad financial situation lenders will not want to lend you more money, because that's what they see it as, it's not simply giving you your own money back. Then let's imagine the market does crash leaving millions in negative equity. Then what?

I think you're a bit naive.

Op isn't asking the government to pay for her luxuries. She's saying a decent wage should be sufficient to pay for these herself. the government shouldn't be controling the cost of basics, energy, interest rates etc.

Just hoping you didnt vote Conservative at the last election @RootinandTootin

Yes I have done this. I ended up being forced to sell my home in the end.
But I was still better off than someone in the same situation as I but didn’t own their home would be.

Youre not in poverty when you own an asset in which you have £10,000s to £100,000s worth of equity.

So not naive, but experienced.

What level of income do you mean by middle-class OP?

I know it's not a race to the bottom, but I've been on my own with 3 children for nearly 15 years now. Sod all help from the ex financially. I manage to teach full time, exam mark twice a year, tutor in the evenings and during the holidays and run holiday clubs as well. I have no where else to go with this, backed into a corner unless I can earn considerably more doing something else (and I am looking, purely for financial reasons, not because I want to leave teaching. The implications of that for our future generations are not great, are they?).

There's two of you. What else can you do be doing?

You can be more satisfied with your life without having more money to spend, especially in your position where your basic needs are taken care of.

The issue is that the last 40 years or so have placed great emphasis on having ALL the things: clothes, holidays, days out, meals out etc and even now our social media, which is supposed to be a space for us to share our lives with our friends, has been monetised by so many people and is now a space for showing us ALL the things and encouraging us to buy ALL the things.

Middle class or middle income? - I am sure there is a difference.

Being forced to sell your home is not the same as ooh just remortgage. And you're not better off. If you have nothing you may as well go bankrupt, have all your debt written off. If you've a house that gets repossessed you've lost a damn site more than nothing, haven't you? It doesn't put you in any better position in the end, you're left with fuck all, or, fuck all.

Then let's imagine the market does crash leaving millions in negative equity.

Lived through this too, and this is the only scenario in which a home owner can plead poverty if they are forced to sell while in negative equity. If they do not have to sell, then they can ride the market and house value back up with no negative consequences…and so not in poverty.

I agree op. We aren't middle class, far from it, we have a take home income of 43k ish. We don't get home help with anything but it's not enough to not struggle in these times. We have nothing left after the mortgage, bills and food is bought!! I think the vast majority of households are struggling, it's a crap situation!

We are quite literally talking about a situation where they are forced to sell, because according to you that's a quick fix, aren't we.

Well, to start with you have to define 'middle class.' How are you going to do that?

Holiday destinations?
Number of holidays taken?
Number of smashed avocados on toast consumed?
Children's names?

I mean, just how?

We have a household income of £34k and do not get anything beyond child benefits.
I do think the government needs to take action about energy bills. Perhaps a certain basic amount cheaper and then the rest more expensive. Or abolishing the standing charge so we only pay for what we use.
But I also know our economy has been so mismanaged that there are only going to be give aways for the really poor.

No, it’s not the same, never said it was. It typically, in my case and that of others your home is the very last thing you let go of. And so you take a 2nd mortgage. And then later you are forced to sell. Bankruptcy isn’t always the answer either because often the debt is due to lack of income and if you don’t have the income to keep paying the mortgage, you’re not going to be able to keep the house.

But you are digressing. Yes after you have been forced to sell and are left with nothing, you may be THEN be in poverty.

But my point is that anyone who owns their home NOW cannot plead poverty.