If you pay a mortgage of say, £200k and you’ve so far paid £100k of it off, then should you then owe £100k on credit cards, then you are going to lose your house. So much for “good debt”. It’s a liability I say.
On the other hand, if you have negative equity in your house (any amount) and you owe £100k on credit cards, then you get just ignore the letters, change your phone numbers, and strangely no one apart from a couple of inarticulate idiots ever bothers to call around… Once a debt has been sold to a debt agency, it has already been written off by the original lender. This means the origional lender has claimed it as a tax loss, meaning that by law they can not then attempt to “re-collect it” at a later stage. That would constitute defrauding HMRC. So… The zombie debts now owned by a zombie firm? - What happens to them? These companies might “buy” 1000 debt accounts each owing an average of say, £25k and pay 1p or 2p in the pound for them. This is like sweeping up all the betting slips on the floor of a shop at the end of the day, and hoping that among all the “must be losers” litter there present, perhaps some idiot has thrown away a ticket with an actual return on it by mistake. Talk to betting shop staff - Sometimes people DO throw away winning tickets, and THEY, the staff get the occasional bonus shared between them as a result. The same applies to “purchased debts”. 99 times out of 100, they’ll get ZERO back on it. It’s the 1 in 100 “mug” that foolishly decides to make a “small, affordable payment” that then resets the six-year clock for the debt otherwise becoming “statute barred”, after which CCJ’s, Attachment of earnings, Charging orders, and other guff can then be poked at the hapless debtor.
You don’t pay bad debts. They are bad because you’ve already defaulted them. Ignore all letters. Change that phone number, so they cannot contact you without turning up in person. No one of any authority does turn up, because by the time it’s got to that stage, it would be illegal for the original lender to still be involved in any way, and they were the ONLY people with authority to collect the debt in the first place - think about it.
You can easily get low-priced credit after 6 years, and more expensive credit weeks after default - they want more money out of you after all, and they are not going to get it by “exluding the mug punters” in any way.
I had exactly as described one of those debt companies chasing me recently. Over a debt that was 8 years old to Vodafone that I disputed anyway hence I never paid it. This company they sold it to bombarded me with phone calls and letters. I didn’t answer normally but when I did the first thing they said was ‘Can I have your date of birth and address please’! I said ‘no, I’ve no idea who you are or what you want so I’m not giving it to you’, she got really angry and hung up. After 2 months they just gave up. They just try their luck, it scares people and most would pay. Its sort of easy for me as Ive nothing to loose, I live in a lorry, so they can threaten me as much as they like. If you do start getting hounded by these people about very old debts dont answer, dont reply, they WILL go away, they wont take you to court or send the bailiffs round, it would not be worth their while. Also google the phone number, there are usually lots of people online who are or have been in the same situation talking about it.
As someone asked what would I do if my income was cut off? Ring the companies I owe money to and stop worrying. If you dont have it you can pay them so there is not point worrying about it. Never had a mortgage and don’t intend to either.
Most people pay their bills because thats the kind of people they are, apart from it being honourable, owing nothing and owning the roof over your head is a very liberating way of life, infinitely preferable to ducking and diving like some wide boy itinerant constantly looking over the shoulder and checking whos there before answering the phone or door.
Its a funny old world, people who don’t owe debts and who would never default are not a good bet for lenders, people who pay up on time or before its due (therefore no or minimal interest) don’t keep sharks in trophy wives, compliant mistresses, Range Rovers and new money garish mansions.
i’ll be the same in 5 days time. last payment on the house comes out then so will be totally debt free.it’s strange because although i’m pleased about it, the main reason being that the missus has a paid for roof over her head if i pop my clogs it’s also a feeling that i’m not a young’un anymore.
Be honest, it’s a good feeling now it’s paid off isn’t it
RIght now, honourable people who don’t default are murdering their wives and kids when the train finally goes off the tracks. Now tell me that’s honourable in any way.
Paying debts makes someone already rich a little bit richer, and makes the person who couldn’t really afford to pay a LOT poorer.
Not paying debts? - It’s not a crime, the millionaire lenders don’t lose any sleep over it, because a defaulted account is a drop in the bucket to them. The defaulter really shouldn’t lose any sleep over it either. Money was loaned on the basis that manufactured inflation will make it easier to pay as time goes on. BUT… We’ve had instead inflation for cost of living items, but DEFLATION for savings returns, wages, and other forms of income. If you blame the banks in any way for your current financial predicament (possible even if you have no debts or savings) then you will realise that just saying “Yessir, of course I’ll pay my debts” whilst bending the knee, and licking the appropriate cck will get you NOWHERE.
It’s also a lot more honourable being a debt defaulter than it is being a sx maniac, irreligious, apathetic voter, or “constant sickie” full timer - especially now it’s the 21st century.
Most people pay their bills because thats the kind of people they are, apart from it being honourable, owing nothing and owning the roof over your head is a very liberating way of life, infinitely preferable to ducking and diving like some wide boy itinerant constantly looking over the shoulder and checking whos there before answering the phone or door.
Its a funny old world, people who don’t owe debts and who would never default are not a good bet for lenders, people who pay up on time or before its due (therefore no or minimal interest) don’t keep sharks in trophy wives, compliant mistresses, Range Rovers and new money garish mansions.
Sorry for not living up to your view of what is honourable. I don’t look over my shoulder, that’s the only debt I’ve never paid because I dispute owing it. Maybe you like paying big companies you dont owe money because its honourable, I dont. As for owning a house being liberating, I’ve no interest in paying over the odds for a load of bricks then being tied to it for the rest of your days with a 25 year noose round your neck.
Banks, don’t you love em, they’ll always lend you an umbrella but if it starts raining they’ll want it back again.
Had some difficult times health wise which has caused some problems with the income stream, so as a result of this I’ve nothing on the tick apart from a mortgage, and now save up to buy anything we need.
That apart, an old accountant who sadly passed on many years ago used to say to me:
Borrow £100k off a Bank and default, you’ve got a problem,
Borrow £100 million off a Bank and default, they’ve got a problem
Took out a loan January of this year a week or so before I passed my car test to pay for my hgv tests…me being cocky and stupid of course…needless to say I have struggled with hopping from job to job but thanks to a bit of luck with current job am coping a lot better now. Have also upped the payments also to get the thing paid off quicker.
3 years to go after next month, once my CC is paid off the loan payments will be going up another £200 to get it paid off in half the time. Out of the red and back into the black by 2015/6
Are there parts of the UK where a supermarket full of shopping for one’s family, fuel in the car, and the gas & electric paid gives one change out of a week’s takehome pay?
I don’t consider myself to be a lavish spender, but I think £500pw TAKEHOME is about entry level for just paying the bills these days. Bugger wasting any money paying outmoded 20th century concepts like “unsecured interest”. Since the banks cannot be arsed to pass on 0.5% based interest rates to the punters, I don’t see any need to feel any “honour” towards them whatsoever.
Smoggie89:
All these people with no debt what’s your best advice to us young ens?
Don’t borrow apart from a mortgage and then pay that as fast as you can an extra £100 a month knocks years of your loan
^^^^^ wot e said
For the ten years before we paid it we doubled up the mortage payments and every time we had a spare £2k in the account bunged that in too, paid off around 10 years before due…we had planned for this though and deliberately taken out a mortgage that didn’t penalise for overpayments, some do.
Do not ever take out a loan on an asset that depreciates, such as cars or large white goods TV’s etc…interest free is tempting, trouble is that if anything happens and you fail to pay the full sum back by a certain date then a very heavy interest rate kicks in…read the small print.
It pays to develop a very healthy loathing of the system (i have) and the way its loaded against ordinary working people, the people who live in genteel luxury in Sunningdale and Gerrards Cross and the best parts of London are the ones living the high life subsidised by interest and late payment penalties that working class people pay.
They will never fear that feral scum will ransack their homes, attack them in the street, establish ininerant camps on their village green or attempt to groom their children, it won’t happen in those places because they own the country the police and the government (all of them) of the day…oh no not in my back yard thats for the serfs.
Beat them at their own game, don’t play by their rules, make sure you pay (just as they do) as little tax as possible, every large retail purchase you make will have VAT on it, thats £20 in every hundred as the VAT take alone, any profits the manufacturer makes is taxed again, and those who borrow and pay interest on it are paying interest on tax they are paying time and atime again.
As some good posts above, don’t be afraid to buy used which usually means little or no tax involved, use local businesses for tradespeople like builders mechanics etc.
The system is a monster that feeds on working people working all hours possible paying as much tax as possible and being good little drone consumers to pay it all back into the system via tax and interest payments…on what?..usually foreign tat made in sweat shops in other countries by other exploited working class people.
Don’t feed the monster.
If you are going to buy something expensive make sure its likely to be long term value and doesn’t benefit the wide boys, as an example we bought a Swedish made washing machine (ISE for anyone interested), cost just under £1k, but its built like a brick outhouse is guaranteed for 10 years parts and labour and has a design life of 20 years…yes it was expensive but will probably cost the same over time as buying cheap Chinese (they nearly all are now under £500) shiny tat that needs replacing every 3 years as they’re not worth repairing any more…as a bonus i haven’t contributed to the slave labour involved in the manufacture of the cheap stuff and the profiteering of the many in the manufacture export import and retail chain who all get fat from the hard labour of those Chinese factory workers.
Sorry thats a bit long winded, but given thought you can be a quiet dissident who they don’t have by the bollox, and its cost effective…
"Vive la Revolution, lets storm the Bastille…erm banks!!
Buy land, they’re not making it anymore; Mark Twain
Out of the red and back into the black by 2015/6 
