Debt in the uk

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Did you see the lunchtime news?Apparently at least a quarter of people are unable to manage their debts adn have been remortgaging and taking out loans cards etc to bail themselves out.This is not going to be available anymore as lenders tighten their criteria and the expert woman said a recession is a real possibility and we all need to take a reality check!What do you think?Did Gordon Brown sell us all the dream but it was all built on borrowing?

although income would have gone up if dh was still here, but hes not...ho hum

The idea of selling off the council housing was to sell off the properties that people would be living until they died (hence the discounts), the money was then supposed to be given to the councils for them to build new properties therefore actually increasing the rolling stock of social housing available.

BUT the thieving Thatcher government kept the money centrally and never released it to the councils for them to have the funds to build more property.

I too am willing a crash to happen, it will be bad/no difference for us as a family but it just can't go on like this.

I had shared ownership for about a year a DIYSO but even when I bought (on my own as a single parent with decent deposit) it was very much on the cards that bf and I would buy & move in together if not I'm not sure that I would have done it.

I would be tempted to sell if I were you. Buy yourself a decent car etc and find some decent to rent, unless you have a new man about to come along.........

cargirl i agree with your posts

and also shared ownership has saved my bacon but i can see it for what it is....a sticky plaster ...

but we could've rented with insecurity or gone down this route

it does keep housing market artifical though

also have also thought it shouldve been shared mortgage from the start (think there is scheme now around like this??)
and you could have had more choice in property locations and buildings..

With thames valley there was a scheme where you bought your own in the open market and another one where you bought 75%ish and then after 5 years you bought the other 25% both of those seem better. I know someone who is trapped in a shared ownership property for 15 years who cannot afford to buy anymore of it because the rent is so much she is unable to save up towards it.

newman! yeah right. will think about it, the valuation is still valid from when we were gunna move up north..ho huM!

but cargirl, why is having a shared ownership property so bad? why is it so important that you buy the other share? at least you have the security of ownership (which, for me, is 80% of the point in buying a house). Plus you do get some of the investment benefits.

also I don't think the proceeds from council house sales were ever "supposed" to go towards new council housing. councils were prevented from spending it on new houses from the start weren't they?

how on earth are you affording to pay the mortgage, is dh still paying it? I don't understand why the government can't pay it (therefore keeping you housed) and for them to have a claim on the house when it is sold and their name on the deeds so you can't get into secured debt and risking their return IYSWIM.

No chance of moving elsewhere - we are stuck in surrey forever......

the problem with shared ownership IME/IMO

1. for the economy it keeps house prices artificially too high - above what first timers can afford. Without it the house prices would fall and then more people could afford without using shared ownership in the first place.

1. for those using it. affording the rent, the rent increases year on year and at quite an alarming rate therefore often people in shared accommodation end up overpaying for the accommodation they have.

The councils agreed to sell of the social housing then the government changed the rules............I was told by someone who was in charge of the finances of social housing for a borough council at the time.

Shared ownership always struck me as the worst of all worlds.

All the responsibilities and expense of home ownership, without all the benefits. And I agree that the rent part rises alarmingly quickly, unlike most mortgages in the last few years (though that may change with the upward trajectory of interest rates)

exactly little bella anything needs doing you have to pay for it!

I don't think removing shared ownership would have much effect on the market. tightening up buy to let laws (i.e. changing the tax loophole they enjoy), and increasing tax on second homes would have more effect, I think. But yes, irresponsible lending hasn't helped much either.

hmmm wonder what the figure are for shared ownership for the last 2 years. The only first time buyers I know personally in the last 2 years have all used shared ownership to do so (two DIYSO one purpose built)

buy to let was something like 30% of new mortgages last year accross the country.

I don't know what the figure is for shared ownership, but there aren't any of those round here - it's quite regional i think. But I didn't know about the rent increases. does the rent fo up with the value of the property or is it discounted at first?

but anyway, I still don't believe that a full 24% of people in the UK have unmanageable debt - does anyone have a linbk for this? there's nothing on the BBC.

It was on itv lunchtime news with a link from the city warning that new Yr is going to be harsh if the US continues as it is.

I think it was a fixed percentage increase I'm sure mine was 3.25% every year that was 6ish years ago so not sure what inflation was then.

I think I remember that the %age was higher than my expected annual pay rise %age so whilst the cost of my mortgage would go down in real terms the cost of the rent wouldn't

the rent is hefty
service charge too!!
and thus negate us from ever buying anymore
i know they have to charge it but if the idea was to pursue full ownership then it could be staggered
for every bit you buy you pay solicitors fees
there are limited places to get mortgages

tis a swizz..

it is the worst of both worlds too true
but if you can pay the bills
you are not asked to
move along now....at the whim of some landlord..

I don't find it that difficult to believe that a quarter of the UK population are living in debt.

Most people are really badly paid compared to the cost of living. There is a generation of people who have grown up with credit cards and see them as normal. I am quite unusual in that I don't have any debt except mortgage, but nearly everyone I know, does. I'm in my early forties. People of my age and younger than me don't really expect to pay for anything major straight out, they usually buy on 0% credit, which is fine if you know that you are going to continue to have a job for the next couple of years and I expect those sort of purchases are counted in the figures.

Debt has always been normal in the UK. I remember being at a reminiscence group once, where all the old people nodded in recognition when one of them said "it's funny how the shops have changed so much. When we were kids, every second shop was a pawn shop and Mum went every week". For a brief heady period of capitalism's greatest triumph in the fifties, sixties and seventies, it was not normal to be permanently in debt. I think we're just returning to normal aren't we?

i find it very easy to believe this. but then i meet people everyday who cant pay basic bills, have no savings and wonder how they can make the food last until their next benefits.

i also work alongside people employed to help our residents who are in a financial mess. and thats a lot of people.

quite frightenening too. i watched "evicted" a programme on bbc this evening. shocking. just shocking.

Shared ownership helps people onto the property ladder, but many buyers seem unaware that - although they own only 50% (or whatever) of the property, they are liable for 100% of the maintenance.

Thatcher selling off council housing had almost nothing to do with money: I went to a lecture about it yesterday! It was entirely a political move. She adopted proposals put forward by Labour for reform of rights for social rented housing (right to consultation etc), then guaranteed herself a huge increase in the Conservative vote by adding right to buy. The electorate at the time loverd her for it - traditional Labour voters became property-owners and voted Consrvative for years afterwards.

i just wanted to reply to you cargirl.

i can afford the mortgage and bills and everything else i have to pay and have more money left over than when he was here!

he was sh*t with money!

Stacey that's great!!!! Just check your contract and look at how much the rent is going to increase each year and see if that is managable, if it is than that's good news for you.

I look at many parts of traditionally western Europe where renting is the norm and their housing costs are so much lower than ours. Why on earth did we ever fall for thinking that owning your own home was going to be a good thin

Home ownership is great for people whose income is gradually increasing over time, especially when property prices are rising and interest rates are stable. It's crap for people on fixed incomes, especially when interest rates are rising. Worse still when property prices fall as they end up with negative equity.

You know what they say... money goes to money. Sme things never change. We can just be grateful that there have been huge social reforms: Victorian philanthropists>empowerment of the 'labouring classes' following WWI due to the shortage of labour>welfare state>NHS etc etc. You have to remember that 50 years ago many people lived in poverty that we would find unimaginable today. Mothers and children walking the streets homeless, begging for food. People sending children away in the evacuations of WW2 and never reclaiming them as they couldn't afford to keep them.