AIBU to think the older generation is deluded to think this is greed and recklessness?

[Datinggal]

Early thirties and have a 6k credit card debt (interest free) after buying a car, as do two of my other colleagues my age.

Recently a few colleagues over a lunch said to me and the two others my age that they were ‘astonished’ at how easily younger people get into debt and that it was never their mentality. They said we have good jobs and it is just greed of our generation, wanting things now, that we should save before we spend.

AIBU to feel cross about this? I had to save 25% deposit for my house and have student loans of 240 a month to pay back. If that wasn’t the case then of course I would have had the money to buy a car outright! And yes I need a car for work.

I know it’s a case of getting over it and everyone is entitled to their opinion. But I sometimes get the feeling the older generation just does not get it?! AIBU?

Well, you know .... speaking as a representative of the entire “older generation” come back and talk to me when you’ve contemplated buying a house when mortgage interest rates started at 11% and for about a year stood at 16%.

Made it pretty difficult for some of us in the 1980s. My first house had no hot water and a primitive bathroom. But what is one to do when interest rates hit 15%? I cut my coat according to my cloth.

And having £6k of credit card debt for an asset that decreases in value? That’s just foolish and demonstrates lack of thinking. Get a cheaper loan for a start.

And having £6k of credit card debt for an asset that decreases in value? That’s just foolish and demonstrates lack of thinking. Get a cheaper loan for a start.

BeansandRice, OP has a 0% credit card and - I am guessing here, so feel free to correct me, OP - plans to pay it off in full before the end of the interest-free period.

If you know of a cheaper loan than a 0% one, I for one would be very interested in the details 🙂

45 year old here. My only debt is my mortgage which is £316 per month on a one-bed flat. My car is second hand. I have no credit card debt (don't in fact have a credit card, only debit card).

We were not well off at all (most clothes from jumble sales - remember those?). I was brought up with the attitude that if I wanted something, I saved for it.

It has stood me in good stead. I earn £22k per year, don't go without anything, have £19k in savings.

This attitude of "I want it now" and putting everything on credit can be very damaging.

I would have agreed with you absolutely until it was £6k of debt on a car.

Either PCP or lease it so you hand it back and don't get all the depreciation or buy something cheaper.

Or alternatively hope that car runs well and drive it into the ground. Worked well for me with a couple of car purchases and a nightmare with others.

Yes we get it, I'm mid 50s, credit was not so easily available or affordable back in the dark ages, i saved up for any large purchases, I also saved up my deposit for my house that I still live in. It gets a bit wearing hearing how easy we had it compared to young people starting out now, I agree its difficult to get on the housing ladder now. When I bought my house, cheap compared to what house is worth now, the price was relative to my earnings, it wasn't easy, I went without, I saved, I bought 2nd hand furniture piece by piece, I didn't go on holidays, went on my 1st foreign holiday in my mid 30s, didn't own a car. I worked hard and struggled financially. Basically the same as younger people do now, Plus i raised a child as a single parent

You are on a very decent salary to be paying back £240 a month for your student debt.

But I’m 56 and 30 years ago I got a car loan. I don’t think a car loan is particularly outrageous. And probably more sensible than getting one of those HP agreements.

I'm old and I don't give a stuff about your car loan OP.

My DD wouldn't approve though.

I'm in my 30s and I've only ever had a mortgage or student loans. The idea of a car loan is alien (I have also never spent that much on a car). It is your choice, but I wouldn't do it, even now after paying off my student loans.

I do not get the whole 'car loan' thing. We're not particularly frugal but have never paid more than £1000 for a car - Current one cost us £500 two years ago and has travelled a long long way. If they do the job and last a few years what's the point in getting a fancy one? I get the mickey taken out of me a lot, but I'm not the one with ridiculous 'finance' debt and I can drive around just as well!

I don't think it's the case that it was easier for other generations - my parents needed a deposit of 25% when they bought their first house back in the 1960s.
I do think there is a general attitude today of - I must have it now, but am not suggesting this is the case with your interest free car purchase. What surprises me is people who are prepared to pay 1K for the latest phone, (it's just a phone!) and high monthly amounts for tv etc - just seems like madness to me, but I am sure this is due to my background - parents born before WW2 - where the mentality of make do and mend was more prevalent.

Well my dad was born during the second world war and has always had a car loan and a credit card. During his working life anyway. Now he's a pensioner and does do many miles he's running his current car into the ground rather than trading it in.

My parents always put groceries and household stuff on their credit card and then paid it off at the end of the month when the bill arrived. I do the same. It's a minimum of 30 days free credit plus some give cash back. My credit card gives me gift vouchers which I save and use at Christmas. Plus large purchases are then covered by the card insurance.

I've always had a loan or a car payment of some sort too. I get a car allowance in lieu of a company car and I use this to finance a private contract hire. I can't buy an old banger because the terms of my car allowance say that my car has to be less than 5 years old, have 4 doors and be capable of conveying other colleagues or clients around. I also do thousands of miles a year for business and hate the idea of breaking down on the motorway. I mitigate this risk by running a reasonably new and well cared for car.

If you need a car for work purposes then you need a safe and reliable car, even if there aren't the additional constraints my company imposes.

Not everyone, of any generation, is the same. As long as you can manage your outgoings within your salary OP, I can't see why you can be criticised.

The cost of housing for a first time buyer, especially in saving for a deposit, now is massive compared to earnings. We only had to put down £3K on our first house in the 90s.
Transport is necessary to get to work. I commute a 50 mile round trip every day. A season ticket to commute to London from my commuter town is £300 on the railway. What's the difference between that and paying £300 a month to run a car?
Personally after experiences the stress of running unreliable old bangers which would break down and cost ££ to repair, I think it's very sensible to buy a newer and more reliable car on interest free credit.

I understand getting a car loan. But £6k for a car is way beyond necessity. I am part of the older generation and have never spent that much on a car and would not go into debt for a luxury.
BUT debt is now pushed on to young people so that many are comfortable with levels of debts us older folk are not.

Some employers get arsey if a car is more than 5 years old. Still give you b all to run it with though. Some contracts even require your car to be less than 5 years old! Not really possible to get one for £1k if your employer is like that...

So a 6k or more car might well be necessary...

In DH's field a lot of new grads find themselves required to provide a 'suitable' vehicle- and would quickly be unemployed if that vehicle were unreliable or inadequate! Finally starting to be some push back where employers are providing vans (and charging the employees £50/month for something they are not permitted to use privately other than for commuting). Some employers are ducks...

dicks I bloody hate autocorrect!

Gosh, the older generation, guess that's me. Yes, YABU to call me "deluded" when you've never met me. Have a great day!

I've never worked anywhere where anyone cared about what car I had, so that's interesting. In my sector its almost compulsory to have a cheap car!

I don’t see a problem with debt if you can afford to pay it off. And no idea what sort of cars a lot of posters here drive but £6K is hardly into spunking out for a brand new Porsche territory, is it More a run of the mill hatchback three or four years old. If you need a reliable car to get you to and from work, it’s no good having the “15 year old banger” that a lot of MNers seem to take pride in owning.

I think your colleagues are just a bit smug and snarky, and that’s not an age thing!

Do they boast about buying their houses for ten shillings, and how much the same houses are worth now, etc.?

I can’t bear people like that. They are just putting you down to make themselves feel better.

Incidentally, one poster said that if you enter into a PCP scheme for a car you don’t suffer the depreciation.

The depreciation is exactly what you are paying for (plus some other stuff, including finance etc.)

Did anybody read last week that one of the big car dealer chains reported unexpected losses, caused entirely by a drop in the price of second hand cars? You’d almost think that the market was flooded with ex-PCP cars, wouldn’t you? I sense the end of the cheap PCP deal.

Iamthewombat yes that’s exactly what was said

They all have 3 to 4 homes each. Apparently we should be more careful and think about investing

Not sure people understand credit card finance, which proves my point, really. Of course an interest free credit card is preferable to HP!!

And yes, I needed my car for work. You know...to earn money to pay back my student loan with varying rates of interest before I had even turned 20

I sound bitter. I’m not. I have it good and don’t struggle, but comments like the ones in my OP just amaze me!

The people on MN who paid £100 for a 15 year old car that never breaks down are the same ones who can make a chicken feed a family for a week amirite?
-and who don't own a toilet brush because their shit doesn't stick i bet-

Not £100 but about a £1000. Lovely car very low mileage lasted me 10 years. Usually spent £300 on a repair and £300 on its MOT. Sometimes passed with flying colours

No we paid just under £5k for a 3 year old car with very low mileage.

Same as Oliversmumsarmy. Not boasting about having an old car but just don't understand, (or didn't until I just found out that some workplaces ask for better ones, ) why people get into debt for cars. I'm just saying it's not a massive priority - if it works, we'll use it till it doesn't!