Why have we become debt junkies?

[Loosehead]

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1 3544448,00.html
I can remember as a child, that debt was bad, something to be avoided. Even now when I pay with a credit card I feel like I'm somehow being naughty even though I pay it off when there's a balance. So what happenned to make debt ok? Has society become a bunch of "have it now" spoilt brats? I can remember saving up for my first bike, worked all summer in a butchers shop, I bought it, it was mine, I took care of it. I just feel sorry for so many youngsters today who will bever have that feeling. I think we all accept that a mortgage is necessary but I for one think that is generally the only justifyable debt. What do you think?

[sp1814]

Loosehead

We mostly disagree on everything...but on this post, I'm with you.

Yes, we have become a society of "have it now..pay for it later".

I don't think the term 'debt junkies' sums it up though...I think 'consumption addicts' is nearer the mark.

I got my first bike (a Chopper) in the 70s. It was a birthday present which my mum put away money for each week at the local Co-op. Likewise, when I bough my first car, it was with money I'd saved up.

It just feels better somehow because it's absolutely and legally YOURS.

Is there anyone who disagrees? Are there any AB'ers who prefer the immediacy of ownership?

[fee-is-me]

Totally agree.

Happy to have a mortgage but every time i pay for something with my credit card, i pay it off straight away - be it for �100 or �1000. Can't bear the thought of being in debt.

It's just wrong, wrong, wrong!

Most people i know disagree with me and think *i* am weird! But THEY are the ones in debt and unhappy about it!

(I don't do the saving up thing - i don't see the point when i can afford to pay off my card straight away - but i used to LOVE saving as a child... Ah... happy days.)

[The Big Gill]

I wouldn't totally disagree with you, but I think you have to bear in mind that the days of seeing something in a shop window for weeks on end have pretty much gone. I don't even know if the practice of putting down a deposit still exists.

[sp1814]

Tut...tut...have you never shopped with a professional?

If one sees something in a shop that one cannot afford, one simply hides it somewhere else in the store until one is ready to make the purchase at a later date.

[admarlow]

... or don't go shopping if you have no money!!! what a radical idea!

[trionam]

I do agree with your post but I do think that a certain amount of blame should be with financial institutions its just way to easy to get credit cards with high limits on an average salary, and with card companies like MBNA sending credit card cheques, (Which I think they charge you for wether they are used or not) it really makes it difficult for people to resist, and when you really get into serious debt you have someone like ocean finance ready to take advantage with their higher interest rates.

[horsestache1]

Agree with most of the above, but how about this.

I filled my car up at a Shell garage the other day, and wanted to pay by cheque. The fuel came to �30, and I have a cheque guarantee card for �100, but I was told that Shell no longer accept payment by cheque, and I would have to pay by credit card or cash!!!! There was a cash machine so I had to draw out the cash at a cost of �1.50.

It does seem that we are been pushed to use our credit cards, whats wrong with a cheque? when the money comes straight out of your bank accounts and is guaranteed, Oh it makes my blood boil!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! rant over :)

[admarlow]

get a debit card then

[Oneeyedvic]

"It does seem that we are been pushed to use our credit cards, whats wrong with a cheque? when the money comes straight out of your bank accounts and is guaranteed, Oh it makes my blood boil!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! rant over :)"

A cheque payment is much more open to fraud than credit / debit card payments. It also doesn't come straight out of your account, but often takes between 5 - 10 days. t also costs me (as a business) around 60p to bank a cheque as opposed to around 40p for a debit card transaction.

As a few of you will know, I work in the finance industry (mainly commercial but a bit of personal). It amazes me that people think that credit is a right (it is not - it is a privilege).

[OBonio]

I'm with you on this too. If I have any money on my credit cards I get a dirty feeling. I hate owing money to anyone and will pay debts off as soon as I can. The only time I've gone OTT on spending was on our wedding. Had to get a loan to sort all that out which will be paid off next year. No big spending until then ... oh well, it was worth it.

[Loosehead]

Trionam, yes debt is available easily but surely people should take responsibility for there own lives. I mean there are lots of burger joints but is it their fault people are getting fat, newsagents sell cigarettes, its it their fault that people smoke. They, like lenders are just supplying the demand. It's not their fault that people seem incapable of junior school arithmetic and borrow money at extortionate rates for things they don't need. I know people who borrow money for things like holidays and even cars, they then spend the next N years paying N times the true cost! There's a chap here at work who has just paid of his last car that he bought new, some bottom of the range heap that is wort about a 10th of what he paid, guess what, he's so delighted he's going to but another new car and start again, I dispair!

[fee-is-me]

Totally disagree about financial institutions being partly to blame.

Makes my blood boil, actually.

*WE* are the ones who should know whether or not we can afford to have a credit card. It is not up to others to force us to have one (or several as seems popular... WHY?)

'Makes it difficult for people to resist'...???? Huh...? It's CHOICE that makes us sign the form. What's to resist...? Common sense...?

Financial institutions are blameless in my opinion.

[horsestache1]

Oneeyedvic, I'm not sure if cheques are more open to fraudulent use than credit/debit cards anymore, if you check the stats, I think you will find they are about equal (??new chip and pin)

I like to keep a paper record of all of my outgoings, which I supose is very out of date, but I do know what account has what in it, what I can/cannot afford, without waiting for a statement each month, thus have no debts at all.

I supose 20p extra for a cheque is expensive, in some cases, but if I were writing a cheque for say �5K, and it was refused for the sake of 20p I would certainly take my business elsewhere.

[Lonnie]

I think its immaterial how easy it is to get loans, buy now, pay later, Its really down to willpower and a sense of duty to you and yours, I don't have many modcons, the only debt I have is the mortgage, no credit cards, and one debit card, if I can't pay for it, I don't buy it. simple,

[Loosehead]

Well thanks all, you can all have virtual stars.

It seems most of you are in agreement, I can only assume that ABers are not the ones making of most of the debt then.

[mimififi]

I think the answer is yes. We live in a society that plies us with the lie that we deserve everything when we want it and we shouldn't ever have to wait or go without. We get money thrown at us, and there are even companies that offer money to lend to people who shouldn't really have money lent to them due to a whole string of bad credit and ccj's.

Don't get me wrong, my husband and I started off our marriage like this, mainly to pay for the wedding, then high purchase here, personal loan there, of course a credit card.

now ten years on, we are debt free, we don't buy unless we can do so in cash, with the exception of our mortgage which we are also trying to pay off. My kids have pocket money and have to save up for things they want outside of birthdays and christmas and their pocket money is sometimes dependent on chores etc, i.e, the sense that they have earned it.

Debt is still a bad thing, it is just that today it has been respun to suggest that it isn't, it is a normal and necessary part of our lives. Debt is not necessary, it IS ok to go without or go for a lesser model or to wait awhile before getting something and frankly, we can allways buy more clothes more shoes, more stuff for the house, more stuff, but do we need it? not likely....

Unfortunately, young people are being lied to still and debt is still one of the number one causes of suicide in this country...

I love it when you get the cold callers from capital and such like trying to sell you a consolidated loan to pay off all your debts and then I say, sorry I don't have any debts...they then try to sell me a personal loan for a holiday to Orlando, or a dream kitchen and I say, that I save up for things I want and I have even been called a liar before now from some geezer who said "Don't be ridiculous, everyone has debts..." madness.

[Loosehead]

mimififi, I'm so pleased I'm not the only "weirdo"! I just don't know how people can stand to see those "interest" figures being added in their statements, and the thought of borrowing money to buy a sofa horrify me!

[sp1814]

admarlow

You wrote:

"... or don't go shopping if you have no money!!! what a radical idea!"

I'm assuming from your comment that you've never been in Selfridges during their January shoe sale.

You haven't lived mate...you haven't lived.

[trionam]

Of course there has to be a certain amount of will power when it comes to borrowing money and I do think people need to take some responsilibity but for someone who has learned their lesson and wants to make it right going by all the ads on the telly the only way to solve your debt problems is to saddle yourslef with more debt for the next 20-30years!,like miffi says they offer these loans to people with a really bad credit rating once they have a house they can reposses they dont care.

[sp1814]

On a more serious note, I think there's a worrying the number of adverts which promise to 'consolidate your loans into an affordable monthly payment'.

It's the 21st century's answer to loan sharking.

Carol Vorderman, hang your head in shame.