"We're here to make sure you don't get ripped off"

At home ill today and watching boring daytime TV. “Rip-Off Britain” comes on.
First case, bloke goes 8p overdrawn so bank charges him £28. He rings up and says he can pay that in a week or two. Bank says, no, you’re overdrawn so you need to pay it back. Long story short, he leaves it for 2 years as he can’t afford it and it ends up with £250 worth of charges. He has to borrow money off family to pay this which he then pays back in 2 weeks. Eh?

Second case, bloke has been told his rate for his CC is going up from 24 to 29% and he is not happy (its legal, but I’m thinking how come he’s paying that much?). He says increase in interest is £1000pa. Eh?? Turns out he owes £26,000 on 3 credit cards and he has a bad credit record.

All this time we are expected to feel sorry for these people with jaunty background music and Angela Ripon (what has happened to her face BTW?) saying how terrible this all is.

Then they come up with solutions like debt management etc. STOP SPENDING MONEY YOU MORONS!!!

“We must keep up the fight against the banks” – one woman who has thousands of pounds of bank charges who even took bank to court but had limited success, telling this in her immaculately decorated house with brand new furniture everywhere (a sideboard which I know cost nearly £800 as I used to sell them!).

What happened to saving up, spending what you earn etc? I hope the banks start charging more because then hopefully it’ll put these idiots off spending so much money they don’t have.

Crikey, Gloria Hunniford is having a go at some top banking bloke now about the guy who was 8p OD and got charged £250 – “it’s ridiculous isn’t it?”. Err no what was ridiculous was letting the 8p OD bloke be in charge of money in the first place.

Cat, pidgeons.
Worms, can of, open…..

😉

EDIT,
Come to think of it, I’ve been getting a load of calls recently from people offering me debt management, loans etc. It’s VERY HARD INDEED to convince them that, no I REALLY DO NOT have loan(s) I can’t pay or credit card(s) that I can’t pay, and that actually, all I have is a mortgage AND NOTHING ELSE. So go away and stop pestering me please!

Pass me a Special Brew and a fag would you – Neighbours will be on in a bit.

Homes under the Hammer is on now, I can calm down a bit… [phew]

Whilst I disagree with the level of bank charges, I have no issue whatsoever with companies trying to control idiots’ debt

I’ve made my mistakes with credit (not that bad mind you), it’s a hard lesson to learn. Nowadays I will not have a CC or loan (except mortgage) as I will not spend what I don’t have.

The 8p bloke was saying he just could not afford the £28 charge, so just left it. Didn’t ask for a temporary overdraft or anything, just put the phone down and ignored it for 2 years.

I hope the banks start charging more because then hopefully it’ll put these idiots off spending so much money they don’t have

You have an excellent understanding of how banks make money I salute you

What exactly do you mean Junkyard?

This wouldn’t be a programme called “Rip Off Britain” on the BBC? The country where you have to pay £145.50 to watch free to air television. Irony bypass methinks.

What happened to saving up, spending what you earn etc?

Well personally I followed the example of this Scottish Bloke. I was being told for years how he was performing an economic miracle. About how his ‘Fiscal Prudence’ was transforming our society. How there was no such thing as boom and bust or all that.

Followed it to the letter I did. You’re not going to tell me there’s a catch in there somewhere? Are you?

EDIT,
Come to think of it, I’ve been getting a load of calls recently from people offering me debt management, loans etc. It’s VERY HARD INDEED to convince them that, no I REALLY DO NOT have loan(s) I can’t pay or credit card(s) that I can’t pay, and that actually, all I have is a mortgage AND NOTHING ELSE. So go away and stop pestering me please!

Yeah, we once went for a remortgage quote with the Halifax and they ask you loads of questions:
Q How much do have on CC’s?
A Nothing
Q Loans?
A Nothing
Q Car repayments?
A Nothing.
Q Overdrafts?
A Again, nothing
Q Errr are you sure?

Always makes me laugh, must be a sign of the times that you are expected to be in debt to some degree or other.

First case, bloke goes 8p overdrawn so bank charges him £28. He rings up and says he can pay that in a week or two. Bank says, no, you’re overdrawn so you need to pay it back. Long story short, he leaves it for 2 years as he can’t afford it and it ends up with £250 worth of charges. He has to borrow money off family to pay this which he then pays back in 2 weeks. Eh?

A direct debit came out of a bank account that I never used anymore at the NatWest. Not sure why it hadn’t changed to my normal account but it hadn’t.

That was 5 years ago now.

A year later I get a letter stating I owe 250 pounds to them. I was working in Korea at the time. I called them up and asked what this was all about.

The direct debit came out. They for some reason claimed to not have my address and therefore didn’t know how to contact me (same address for years and folks still lived there) so they let it build up until I hit 250 pounds, at which point they sent a letter to the address they had on file for me wanting the 250 pounds.

I argued that if they had contacted me straight away I would have paid the 18 quid fee as it was completely my fault, but because they had left it and then cunningly sent me a letter once over a certain amount I wasn’t having it.

I ended up paying about 80 quid. To spite them I put a penny in my account and setup monthly statements to be sent. So it’s now costing them however much per month to send me a letter saying I have 1p in my account, twunts.

I’ve also had ‘issues’ with debt, had a 5k credit card and various bikes etc on HP so I’ve learnt the hard way, never have anything I can’t afford to pay upfront for. currently saving for new bike, normally I’d have got it on HP, never again!

I’ve got a friend who is in serious trouble. nearly 40, two kids, and he lives hand to mouth every month, scrapes together his monthly payments, never has any money, I used his situation as a bit of an incentive to stop buying on credit when my son was born.

warton – You’ve just described half the country. Give it 18 months and you’ll have described two thirds of the country

If I’m off sick and those crappy daytime TV programs come on, I stick a DVD in or find something I’ve recorded on Sky+ (Sky? Talking of rip offs…)
Otherwise I’d get wound up too. Not particularly about specifics like you, just how absolutely bollox daytime TV is.

Debtor’s prisons, it’s the only way.
If people can’t be trusted to run their own lives, they should have their lives run for them.

Unfortunately I didn’t know I was going to be ill so I couldn’t prepare. Not a big film fan so don’t want to watch a DVD. Might watch Seasons again though.
Holmes on Homes cheered me up.:-)

Amazingly, daytime TV at the weekend is FAR worse than mid week.

I think what a lot of people don’t have nowadays is a fear of debt. I can’t borrow money to buy something like a bike or TV as I couldn’t enjoy using it until it was paid for, which would just spoil the buying in the first place. Saving up month by month and investigating what you’ll buy is exciting and makes me appreciate it more when it is purchased.

robdob. Have you been beamed here from the 1950’s? Delayed gratification? Pft! Are you mad? I WANT IT NOW!!!!!!!! NOW I TELL YOU!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!

So, what’s up with you anyway Rob/ Uncontrollable flatulance AGAIN?

Well that’s incurable in me, as you know. (parp)
I thought it was a bad cold but it really is flu (preeble)
Lost a few pounds in weight though (sqwiffle)
And ordered some new bike bits (fribbly fweep)
Hungry now. (pffffssssst)

If ever anyone has any real money troubles, I’d recommend the Money Saving Expert forums.

Not for the advice or anything, you just read other peoples posts about how they owe £32,000 on credit cards and are paying it off £3 a week, and suddenly feel a whole lot better about your own problems..

Yeah, we once went for a remortgage quote with the Halifax and they ask you loads of questions:
Q How much do have on CC’s?
A Nothing
Q Loans?
A Nothing
Q Car repayments?
A Nothing.
Q Overdrafts?
A Again, nothing
Q Errr are you sure?

Reminds me of my eldest daughter having trouble getting a mortgage because she had no credit history. Without a credit rating it was if she didn’t exist!

BTW robdob, hope you get sickpay; would hate to worry about you losing income and getting behind with your mortgage… 🙄 😉

Not for the advice or anything, you just read other peoples posts about how they owe £32,000 on credit cards and are paying it off £3 a week, and suddenly feel a whole lot better about your own problems..
😆

The credit rating thing is madness. My former business partner was a right stereotypical tight-arse yorkshire git. He’d never had a credit card, never had personal loans. He’d done it the old-fashioned way. Saved up for stuff etc

You’d have thought he’d be the perfect customer when it came to us opening a business account. Not a bit of it. Due to his lack of debt we were treated with undisguised suspicion by the banks. And he was asked for all manner of documentation to prove that he was ‘real’.

Madness

What happened to saving up, spending what you earn etc?

Well personally I followed the example of this Scottish Bloke. I was being told for years how he was performing an economic miracle. About how his ‘Fiscal Prudence’ was transforming our society. How there was no such thing as boom and bust or all that.

Followed it to the letter I did. You’re not going to tell me there’s a catch in there somewhere? Are you?

I never believed his message. I wish the majority hadn’t done too!

I live by an old principle: “If you ain’t got the money – don’t but it”.

The only exception would be when you need to buy a house. In this instance, don’t ever borrow more than 2.75 times what you earn.

Plan ahead – save money!

Even though your money devalues as interst paying accounts don’t outstrip inflation, having a pile of money at your disposal does give YOU control!

These are principles that were commonplace in the pre-credit card era, not those of the instant gratification era of today.

Too many live beyond their means and governments aren’t going to fix this beacause the economy depends on reckless spending by private individuals. Well we don’t make anything much to export these days do we?

I conclude that the country lost it’s way circa 1980. Successive governments have been papering over the cracks and letting the debt bubble grow (both personal debt anf goverment debt). We have been lied to by politicians and cheated by the banking system and had blindly put ourselves right in the mire.

If you want an university education and to buy your own property then a life without debt is about as possible as building a 100% British manufactured bicycle.

I don’t owe anybody anything, I don’t have a mortgage, I rent.

Ah, bloody working from home – tv on in the background – Rip Off Britain, some kid whinging about how expensive car insurance is for his first car… now I don’t remember how much the insurance was for my first car, but I do remember the car cost £130.
How much did this kid pay for his first car? £6000! I’ve never in my life paid that for a car!!!
Cbeebees is on now

@Dez

To be fair, insurance for 17yr olds is brutal regardless of car cost.

I don’t have a mortgage, I rent

At least with a mortgage you pay it off eventually and then you can live somewhere for free. I’d rather not have to worry about finding rent every month when I retire.

@Jamie- indeed, but if he bought a cheaper car… surely I don’t need to explain?

To be fair, insurance for 17yr olds is brutal regardless of car cost.

yep, High insurance costs for new drivers is all about 3rd party risk, not the cost of repairing their vehicle if they crash.

A cheaper car? But he want a nice car NOW and everyone is ripping him off just because he’s very likely to have a crash and kill someone in the next 5 miles!!
That’s discrimination and another sign of “Rip Off Britain”!! 🙄

Debt per se is not bad, unmanageble debt is.

Last year I bought a Trek Fuel, circa £1700. I had the cash in the bank to buy it but instead took interest free credit, hence I have a debt.
I also have credit cards which I pay off every month but for that period I am in debt.

Both debts actually increase my wealth (assuming I would purchase the items regardless)

“debt” is not necessarily the problem and can be a wise decision. unmanaged debt and interest rates are the problem.

High insurance costs for new drivers is all about 3rd party risk, not the cost of repairing their vehicle if they crash.

I know that. He knows that. We ALL KNOW THAT. It’s how it is.
But. If.he.Spent.Three.thousand.pounds.on.a.car.he.would.have.three.thousand.pounds.for.the.insurance.payments.

It’s not difficult to see why people get in this position though. Our economy is built on persuading people to buy stuff they don’t need. In a few weeks the news will be all about how much we spent at Christmas and in the New Year Sales. It will be the only way we can judge our current economic position. It’s a joke.
The amount of (imported) tat that gets bought at Christmas is enough to make me cry – Having 2 children with a large extended family brings this home to you, when a few weeks later you’re trying to secretly bin all the broken plastic crap and stuff that’s unused.

If.he.Spent.Three.thousand.pounds.on.a.car.he.would.have.three.thousand.pounds.for.the.insurance.payments

Yeah, but then he would not have such a nice car….duh! 😉

Sometimes a thread comes along that really brings out the arrogant, sanctimonious and patronising.

I’m not condoning those who just get credited up to their eyeballs, but at times there are real reasons why people get into difficulties.