Debt

[Manwell Pablo]

16 hours ago, jonthefox said:

So this morning my credit card bill came. Bearing in mind it was mainly from Christmas and totalled a few hundred quid it still put me a sour mood. I had a good old moan about it at work but was told I should countmyself lucky . Out of the two blokes I was talking to , one owed &17 grand and the other £30 grand. This debt didn't include any mortgage debt either. To say I was shocked was an understatement but it got me thinking. Is debt more widespread than anyone's prepared to admit?. Are we all secretly drowning in debt ?. 

 

You bloody should, I've got a 12 grand tax bill to pay this month.

 

I'm going to save it till the last minute to pay it all off as owing HMRC this much is literally the closest I'm ever going to get to being Lionel Messi. 

[Manwell Pablo]

5 hours ago, Rob1742 said:

The government have been very clever over the years.

When I was younger I wouldn't have been able to go to Uni as I didn't have the qualifications. 

So there was high unemployment or maybe you took a poorly paid job.

Then they changed the system so if you could do a fairly average fart, you could go to Uni, which basically took you off the streets and gave you a purpose in life.

But the downside is that you have to pay for it yourself and people end up with huge debts. 

The average family have revelled in the idea that their offspring were bright enough to go to Uni, when really it suddenly became accessible to everyone. They loved telling everyone how bright their kids were, but the debt involved these days is horrific.

Well done the government in getting the kids off the street and making them pay for it themselves, but these debts are horrific and lead people to normalise debt from a very early age. 

 

 

Bit of an over statement is it not? Achieving 160 points A level is well out of the reach of a decent percentage of the population. We have plenty of schools in the City and County that can't even get their 5 A-C's pass rate (which is required to do A levels) above 50% (as an aside I've just seen our local state school has a higher pass rate than the local private school  clearly money well spent on your kids there)

 

It's might be a bit different for me as I was lucky enough to attend in an era before they really started taking the piss so mine is going to be less than 10k when the above mentioned tax bill gets paid (as about 1k of it is unpaid loan repayments) but I for one do not care about my Student Loan, it's not even proper debt, the repayments are essentially a bit of extra tax and nothing to worry about. It certainly does not "control" me as has been suggested it has next to no effect on my life at all, except when you switch to paying it once a year then it looks a lot more expensive . 

 

Real debt is quite a different and scary prospect but nothing in our society forces people to get into masses amount of debt, there are a lot  of people out there who geniuenly struggle and those people have my sympathy but a bigger problem is people seem very keen to live well beyond their means these days.m

[m4DD0gg]

It always confuses me when people say i am in x amount of debt but manage to save y amount of money per month. 

 

False economy right there.

[Nick]

1 hour ago, Manwell Pablo said:

 

 

Bit of an over statement is it not? Achieving 160 points A level is well out of the reach of a decent percentage of the population. We have plenty of schools in the City and County that can't even get their 5 A-C's pass rate (which is required to do A levels) above 50% (as an aside I've just seen our local state school has a higher pass rate than the local private school  clearly money well spent on your kids there)

 

 

 

Its bums on seats at Universities these days - I know individuals have been accepted through clearing with a lot less than 100 UCAS points by some HEI's.

[Unabomber]

Mortgage and student loan, don't own a credit card.

[MC Prussian]

I have never been in debt and I don't ever intend on doing so. I don't go batshit crazy with my credit card and use it wisely. I always want some spare cash on the side just in case life should decide to royally do one on me. I'm also unlikely to get sucked in by the mortgage craze created by the banks, as I'll probably never own my own house. Don't need it. I love it in my apartment - it's clean, nice, rather cheap and cozy, close to the main station and in a decent neighborhood.

 

No need for a car because our public transport is ace and still relatively affordable - even though the prices go up almost every year and it's getting closer to the tipping point where you bite your tongue and get on with it irrespective of the costs. I'm not an overly big fan of individual transport (apart from biking ), too many people are too lazy using their own two feet for even the slightest task or shortest distance.

 

Unless you have to repay student loans, I have serious doubts about people overspending. I'm already living in the moment (that's a fact), no need to push it down everyone's throat or boast about my lifestyle in order to compensate for a lack of character and/or simple budgeting knowledge.

[Costock_Fox]

7 hours ago, m4DD0gg said:

It always confuses me when people say i am in x amount of debt but manage to save y amount of money per month. 

 

False economy right there.

Not really, if you aren't paying interest on the debt you may as well earn a tiny bit of interest. Better in your pocket than the banks.

[ScouseFox]

got no money got no debt just cruising through life day to day find a tenner it's mine, spend a tenner it's not 

[ajthefox]

Got a credit card but I only use it for things I'm going to buy anyway and then pay it off at the end of the month. I mainly use it to help build my credit rating for the future, although I would like to avoid a mortgage by building my own house.

 

Have about 45k of student debt following 5 years of uni but it doesn't mean much really. My monthly repayments are very small, and there's no chance I'll come anyway near paying it off before it gets written off when I'm in my 40s.

[ramboacdc]

21 hours ago, Babylon said:

The amount of people I hear this from is frightening and a fecking disgrace. So many total physco women out there who use the kids.

preaching to the choir there. she is fine and debt free and working part time. I am working full time and hardly got my head above water! 

[Bayfox]

On Wed Jan 11 2017 at 13:22, Manwell Pablo said:

 

You bloody should, I've got a 12 grand tax bill to pay this month.

 

I'm going to save it till the last minute to pay it all off as owing HMRC this much is literally the closest I'm ever going to get to being Lionel Messi. 

Humble brag

 

I know someone who basically pays 17k in tax twice a year. He will be paying his this month.

 

34k a year in tax. I wish in had that tax bill. I'd have no debts if I was earning that sort of money.

 

Infact 34k is more than I earn a year.

[harpendenfox]

What do people think about pension tax relief ? The money government adds to your pension when you make a contribution? I benefit from it, but think it is scandalous. It costs the country about £39 billion per year, and in my view simply gives more money to those of us lucky enough to be well off.

 

Quite why opposition parties don't make more of a fuss about it is beyond me. 

 

I would abolish it completely, cut the national debt and spend some of the money on a much needed boost for social care

[Webbo]

5 minutes ago, harpendenfox said:

What do people think about pension tax relief ? The money government adds to your pension when you make a contribution? I benefit from it, but think it is scandalous. It costs the country about £39 billion per year, and in my view simply gives more money to those of us lucky enough to be well off.

 

Quite why opposition parties don't make more of a fuss about it is beyond me. 

 

I would abolish it completely, cut the national debt and spend some of the money on a much needed boost for social care

You'd take a huge chunk out of people's pensions, making them reliant on the state to boost social care?

[Barky]

9 minutes ago, harpendenfox said:

What do people think about pension tax relief ? The money government adds to your pension when you make a contribution? I benefit from it, but think it is scandalous. It costs the country about £39 billion per year, and in my view simply gives more money to those of us lucky enough to be well off.

 

Quite why opposition parties don't make more of a fuss about it is beyond me. 

 

I would abolish it completely, cut the national debt and spend some of the money on a much needed boost for social care

You pay tax on your pension when you withdraw it. Tax relief on pension contributions just gives you back the income tax (or corporation/dividend tax if you're a contractor) you've already paid, otherwise you'd be being taxed twice.