OneGuyFromBarlick

In many cases it just takes one adverse life event to tip an otherwise solvent family into debt and interest paying. That can be the start of a slippery slope and paying interest at over 1000%.
What incenses me is that this 'adverse event' can too often be the delay in payments on entering Universal Credit or whatever ID's cunning wheeze is called. That makes the welfare system the recruiter for the loan sharks. If the administrative delay is unavoidable, why not let the old payments continue until the new kicks in? That would be far cheaper than the eventual cost to the state of homeless and crisis-hit families. A further disgrace and indictment of the system is that many of these families are in work. This is state induced misery and destitution not welfare.

Mike Ashley is in court today to fight the rescue plan for Debenhams.

`Tesco Bank sells 23,000-customer mortgage arm to Lloyds Banking Group for £3.8bn ' LINK
Another example of selling on loans. What if you had a Tesco mortgage but didn't like Lloyds?

Amigo loans have over 80% of the short loan market. News today is that their shares are plummeting.....

Keep an eye on the trade figures. We could quite possibly be into depression on their figures, the definition is triggered by two successive quarters of lower indices.....

There was a report in The Times yesterday that a chief commissioner of police for the Thames Valley area has accused the banks of forging signatures on documents. He says it's happening on a large scale but the Serious Fraud Office and financial services regulator are dragging their heels and doing nothing about it. The newspapers have been urging the police to investigate but even the police can't get anything done about it. It looks like the bankers still consider themselves Lords of the Universe.

And guess who will survive and prosper whatever happens in the years to come. Have you noticed how quiet they have been on the subject?
THIS BBC report in September is worth reading. Note the figure of 9 million households in debt and the fact it is still rising.

This problem was raised in the newspapers last week and now Martin Lewis is campaigning to have it stopped. UCAS is actually promoting high-interest loans from a private business directly to students. Many students think they are government loans and don't realise the big differences.
`Martin Lewis calls on UCAS to stop emailing ads for costly private 'student loans'' LINK
`MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis has called on the university admissions service to stop sending out emails with advertising from a private student loan firm charging up to 24% interest – warning that such commercial loans are "inappropriate for the huge majority of recipients". His call comes after a number of people complained on social media to the University and College Admissions Service (UCAS) about an email which featured marketing from private lender Future Finance – a firm that provides loans of up to £60,000 to both undergraduate and postgraduate students. Unlike Government-funded student loans, which currently have an interest rate of up to 5.4% and only require you to start repaying once you've graduated and are earning over £25,725 a year (rising to £26,575 on 6 April), interest rates on Future Finance loans range from 8% up to 23.7%. Another key difference is that students begin to pay off these commercial loans while they are studying.'

Words fail me..... How can they do something like that! In effect they are in Loco Parentis.

Yes, words fail me too - it's bad enough that it's happening but how on Earth did we get to this state of affairs? How can such things get started and continue and nothing is done about it for ages? It's so common now that individuals and organisations think it's OK to start what are effectively unethical scams and then they get away with it. Another example is that big property developers are are now barring people from buying their houses unless they use the solicitor chosen by the developer. They do it by creating discounts and offers worth thousands of pounds and then telling the buyer (when they've already committed to buying) that they can't buy the house unless they use the nominated solicitor.

Here's a familiar scam, a result of PFI...
`Hospitals need way out of 'toxic' NHS mortgages' LINK
`The NHS needs to be given a legal right to buy out "toxic" deals hospitals have agreed for new buildings, experts say. More than 100 schemes were signed off over the past 20 years in England under PFI contracts where private firms paid for new hospitals and centres. In return, NHS trusts have to make annual repayments like a mortgage. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said some of the fees were extortionate - and with £55bn still owed, action was needed. Chris Thomas, a health fellow at the think tank, said the worst deals were the equivalent of taking out a mortgage from a "loan shark charging high rates of interest that could not be renegotiated".'

I saw that report. How come we amateurs who know nothing saw the danger when it started and the 'experts' didn't. Another Cunning Wheeze that went sour, our modern politicians should take note and learn. A CW is basically the easy way out that demands nothing but words in the right(wrong) order. PFI started out like that and now it is consuming us. There are so many examples like this and our leaders still follow this toxic road.
(Nurse! The screens!)
PS. Did you see THIS BBC report on the ECB stimulating the Eurozone economy? Aren't we lucky to have a 'vibrant economy' under our present management.

You know it's bad when you have some claiming that we're going into a recession, even depression, and other simultaneously saying there's no chance of a recession.

There is some kind of calcuation of GDP that includes Govt Expenditure, in increasing Govt Spending it ups GDP, I think the treasury has poss estimated the required post austerity increase in spending that can be sneaked in to up the GDP to negate any apparent recession ( there might be an economic slowdown if Brexit stockpiling leads to less industrial consumption for a few months after Nov 1st - but that might be offset by greater prices paid due to failing pound, so ....)

And when you hear someone with a fruity voice telling us that the ship of state will sail on into a Golden Dawn....
Did you hear the comment of the woman, I think it was in Rotherham, who said Johnson was a knob? Straight to the point. I warmed to her immediately!

Have you noticed the current crop of TV ads by banks and building societies, advocating financial prudence - overpaying on your credit cards and mortgage, and putting a bit aside - 'payday is save day' - or some such.

Negative interest rates in Europe have been made lower - i.e. more negative. Can you imagine paying a bank to 'look after' your savings? I can't. The ECB has 'printed another 20 Billion Euro.

Is the moment when something hits the fan getting nearer?

I think that it's inevitable David and all the real experts agree. The trouble is that nobody can predict when beyond the fact it will be a reaction to another event and become a double whammy.
'Financial Expert' has become a contradiction in terms, like 'Military Intelligence'.

We all thought Tomas Cook had managed to survive their cash problem by the takeover by Chinese company Fosun. But.... see THIS BBC report that the banks have thrown a spanner in the works by demanding a further £200million funding. Without it, the takeover and Thomas Cook collapses and this could happen by Sunday.

News late last night that Thomas Cook has asked the government to bail them out. The amount they have to find is £200million and industry sources estimate that if there is a repeat of the Monarch retrieval of stranded passengers that happened in 2017 it will cost the FAA (Government) somewhere round £600milion so on the face of it it looks like a no-brainer but doesn't solve the problem. Add in the fact that as government is embroiled in other pressing matters this may not be a done deal.

I thought we lived in a capitalist society, devil take the hind most and all that, If I bought some furniture and the firm went burst before it was delivered I would probably lose my deposit why do we treat travelers any differently? And then there is ABTA...
ATOL Protection

When you buy an ATOL protected air package or flight on our website from us you will receive a confirmation invoice from the Tour Operator. This invoice is an important document which you must retain. We act as authorised agent for a number of Tour Operators who hold an ATOL license – see the Tour Operators booking conditions for more details and their ATOL number. Where you buy an ATOL protected air package or flight from Flexibletrips (a trading name of Thomas Cook Retail Ltd) our ATOL number 0020 applies. When your booking is ATOL protected, In the unlikely event of the ATOL holders insolvency, the CAA will ensure that you are not stranded abroad and will arrange to refund any money you have paid to us the Tour Operator for an advance booking. For further information visit the ATOL website at www.atol.org.uk

Then that's Ok then?

plaques wrote: ↑21 Sep 2019, 07:18 If I bought some furniture and the firm went burst before it was delivered I would probably lose my deposit why do we treat travelers any differently?

I always use a credit card to pay a deposit, if the company I'm buying from goes bust my money is returned by the credit card company...

ATOL etc. At the moment there seems to be some confusion. I was talking to a mate yesterday and he is due to go on holiday next Friday on a Thomas Cook booking that cost £700. When I met him yesterday he was on his way to the travel agents again to try to find out where he stood. At the moment he is under the impression that if they go down he loses his holiday and the £700.

Stanley wrote: ↑22 Sep 2019, 02:48 ATOL etc. At the moment there seems to be some confusion. I was talking to a mate yesterday and he is due to go on holiday next Friday on a Thomas Cook booking that cost £700. When I met him yesterday he was on his way to the travel agents again to try to find out where he stood. At the moment he is under the impression that if they go down he loses his holiday and the £700.

He will probably fare better than the staff who work in the travel agents, I can't see why he will lose his money as it should be covered by ATOL or his travel insurance at least.

That was what I thought but it seemed best not to give an opinion about something I don't know enough about. (I must be getting old and more sensible!)

About 7 years ago my mum booked a holiday through a local coach tours company and she insisted on paying cash. 'We always pay cash for everything' she said. 'It's an old, established company' she said. I tried explaining the benefit of just paying the deposit on a credit card, 'we don't trust those things' she said...

Long story short, coach tours company goes bust, no holiday or refund. Guess how she books her holiday now

Once bit, twice shy Kev. Very sensible!
See THIS posted by the Guardian an hour ago.
“Thomas Cook Group, including the UK tour operator and airline, has ceased trading with immediate effect,” the aviation regulator said in a statement. “All Thomas Cook bookings, including flights and holidays, have now been cancelled.”
So at least we now have certainty.
The business, which also has significant operations in mainland Europe, employs 21,000 people, many in the UK. It has a total of 600,000 people on holiday currently, including British travellers, with Germany and Scandinavia among its major customer bases alongside Britain. It also operates about 560 shops on UK high streets.
Huge consequences of course for all these people and from what I understand this now leaves Tui (formerly Thompson's) as a monopoly trader in travel on the High Street. The vultures will be gathering!