Deal or no deal

[Teddy_boy]

The chap on now just said he owes £16,000 on his 2 credit cards which equates to about £345 per month. Can anyone estimate how long will that take him to repay?
Am i the only person shocked by that amount or is it common amongst credit card users ? And people wonder why the uk is in such a poor financial state .

[Postdog]

I think for many realisation of true cost only comes when it is too late and they have built up debts. Who is to blame, the banks for allowing it, or the mugs for swallowing it. Bit of both I think.

[Teddy_boy]

He didnt seem to think it was aa lage debt.He was quite off the cuff as i saw it.

[sara3]

I didn't see it, but I'd be curious to know what he spent the £16k on

[Frank97]

46.37 payments of £345 would be almost £16,000 but that doesn't allow for any interest being added.

[ummmm]

What has people with amounts on their credit cards got to do with the UK's financial state?

[sunny-dave]

The £345 IS the interest at 2.1% per month :+0

[Frank97]

Well he just won £16.000 so he's sorted then, bet he doesn't pay them all off though.

[Teddy_boy]

Its on now so will be on channel4+1 soon. I thought about 48 payments but unsure how many the interest would add.

[boxtops]

It's not uncommon, IMO - you have a bit on one, bit on another, transfer one over to get 0% balance transfer, buy an telly, and before you know it, it's a big chunk out of your monthly income. The companies still offer hikes if you are a good payer - one of mine offered me a borrowing ceiling of £11600.

One of our card companies contacted us last year and told us they were reducing our available credit (by quite a lot) - we thought that was sensible on their part, it reduced their risk and ours.

[boxtops]

If you only pay the minimum, it can take over ten years to pay off a large balance - if you allow that they keep adding interest to your reducing balance.

[craft1948]

I have never, ever, run up a credit card bill that I couldn't pay off in full. The big difference nowadays seems to be that if I couldn't afford something I didn't buy it, but some people have a buy today, pay whenever mentality.

[Teddy_boy]

The country is buckling under debt.People are paying more of their income towrds debts and interest , therefore they have less disposable income to put into the economy.
Consumer debt begins to negatively affect the health of the economy when it forces consumers to spend less..

[cazzz1975]

you are obsessed with societies ills!

[Teddy_boy]

Obsessed is quite a strong word.

[ummmm]

Yes...but without credit cards they probably wouldn't have bought the things they did.

[Teddy_boy]

You dont seem to understand economics.Buying in credit doesnt help the economy it stifles it if things are only bought on credit as opposed to with disposable income.Thats how recessions are caused.

[ummmm]

Still spending though. Whereas without cards they wouldn't be....

[jackthehat]

Neither do you. If no-one has cash to purchase things with, either, the manufacturing economy stagnates, too.........leading to recession.

[cazzz1975]

if it gets paid off then there is no problem

[Teddy_boy]

If cazz1975.Jackthehat i said if only , you may have misread what i typed.You do seem to have a better grasp of economics though.