Recession, credit crunch....

[Havard]

Comedy genius!!

[RobSheffield]

FFS, not one of the 28 multiposts was even funny or informative!

[AndrewOW]

Comedy genius!!

 

 

Doesn't it do your head in when instead of using one single post for their comments, someone has to post umpteen times instead!

[Havard]

Doesn't it do your head in when instead of using one single post for their comments, someone has to post umpteen times instead!

 

You've had a pm about that.....

[marbleapple]

For when your assets are worth nothing and you have lost your job and cant pay the debt off.

 

Perfect time to go bankrupt. No assets mean that the Official Receiver just writes to your creditors, tell them that you have no money and you are out of bankruptcy in under 1 year. (My Clare deals with this stuff for a job)

[AndrewOW]

Perfect time to go bankrupt. No assets mean that the Official Receiver just writes to your creditors, tell them that you have no money and you are out of bankruptcy in under 1 year. (My Clare deals with this stuff for a job)

 

 

Don't tell everyone, they'll all want to do it! I don't think its quite so easy as all that though is it?

 

Where do I sign?

[stevie_b]

Perfect time to go bankrupt. No assets mean that the Official Receiver just writes to your creditors, tell them that you have no money and you are out of bankruptcy in under 1 year. (My Clare deals with this stuff for a job)

 

That's possibly one of the problems with the current system. It's too easy to walk away from bad debt that you've racked up. I saw a TV programme recently (it might have been "The Ascent of Money") about the American bankruptcy system, and it seems even easier to get the slate wiped clean over there. People need to learn that if you haven't got the money, you simply can't afford it (I'm talking about consumer spending). For buying homes and running businesses, it's much more complicated of course. Businesses need to invest to survive/grow.

 

I wouldn't want to be declared bankrupt: I'd find it humiliating. I'm sure no-one chooses to be bankrupt, but I'd like to think that if I were ever in a position where I might not be able to meet my obligations, I'd cut *right* back on spending.

 

Plus, surely those who do go bankrupt or go down the IVA route would find it difficult in these post-credit crunch times to get a mortgage or any other loan on reasonable terms. I hope the banks have a long enough memory, so that once the dust settles on this financial crisis and growth returns, they remember the consequences of lending money too freely.

[RiceRocket]

Quick summary of the cons-

 

The disadvantages of bankruptcy

 

Introduction

Bankruptcy is a very serious matter. Declaring your self bankrupt can have disastrous long-term implications.

 

If you are declared bankrupt you can expect to: -

Have your situation advertised in the local press and the London Gazette for all to see.

Be required to fill in numerous forms and have an extended meeting with the Official Receiver, and, if appointed, a Trustee in Bankruptcy who will thoroughly investigate your affairs.

Have any business you own immediately closed and any employees dismissed.

Lose any assets of real value including your home, life insurance and possibly pensions

Lose any assets you may acquire during the term of your bankruptcy such as inheritances, insurance settlements, growth of asset value in your home.

Have your building society, creditors, landlord etc immediately informed.

Have all bank accounts, credit cards etc closed. Anything you might be leasing, or buying on hire purchase, such as your car will be immediately returned to the owner.

Lose professional and business status, have some employment opportunities prejudiced, face rejection from many associations and societies.

[Max Headroom]

I was sat having my coffee and thinking about the recession and after reading comments about "sales down 6.5%" and house prices "down 10%", 6.5% and 10% down on what? Last years figures! For so long we have had sky high prices, everything from CDs and DVDs to cars have been a lot more expensive to buy in UK compared to other countries and we have been seen as a "golden goose". Perhaps now we will see a more realistic price for things. Look at the sales where they are discounting like mad, selling stuff "up to 70% off", they are not selling it at a loss, are they!! and most of the stuff is merchandise they couldn't sell earlier in the year!!

 

There will be companies that go to the wall, but the writing is normally on the wall for them even before this "credit crunch". Woolies being a case in point, for years they had lost their direction and had been slowly losing custom to the more savvy stores.

 

The fall in house prices is only going to affect those who wish to sell, perhaps now with the house prices falling and banks at last coming to their senses about mortgages it will see a less transient society.

[AndrewOW]

I was sat having my coffee and thinking about the recession and after reading comments about "sales down 6.5%" and house prices "down 10%", 6.5% and 10% down on what? Last years figures! For so long we have had sky high prices, everything from CDs and DVDs to cars have been a lot more expensive to buy in UK compared to other countries and we have been seen as a "golden goose". Perhaps now we will see a more realistic price for things. Look at the sales where they are discounting like mad, selling stuff "up to 70% off", they are not selling it at a loss, are they!! and most of the stuff is merchandise they couldn't sell earlier in the year!!

 

There will be companies that go to the wall, but the writing is normally on the wall for them even before this "credit crunch". Woolies being a case in point, for years they had lost their direction and had been slowly losing custom to the more savvy stores.

 

The fall in house prices is only going to affect those who wish to sell, perhaps now with the house prices falling and banks at last coming to their senses about mortgages it will see a less transient society.

 

 

I think what you're trying to say is, don't believe the hype?!

 

I have been thinking the same recently, as we are only paying what they are asking, since the advent of the internet, with competitive pricing and lots more choice, its really starting to take its toll too IMO.

[Gazboy]

The fall in house prices is only going to affect those who wish to sell, perhaps now with the house prices falling and banks at last coming to their senses about mortgages it will see a less transient society.

 

 

It'll effect you if you want to remortgage for a better rate if when you come off your fixed term and you find the repayments unaffordable. Our mortgage shot up £400 when we finished the fix rate term, no way was I going to throw that sort of money away if I could get a better deal with someone else.

[Konrad]

It's like Gaz said there are loads more people with lots more debt, they'll be the ones that will suffer the most.

 

I wouldn't be so sure about "suffering" in this bloody nanny state called UK. Something tells me, that those who are saving and working their arse off will suffer more under higher taxation to "bail out" all those useless prats

[AndrewOW]

It'll effect you if you want to remortgage for a better rate if when you come off your fixed term and you find the repayments unaffordable. Our mortgage shot up £400 when we finished the fix rate term, no way was I going to throw that sort of money away if I could get a better deal with someone else.

 

 

When did your fixed rate finish then, as I'm renting my mum's house from her, and her mortgage payments have been going down and down recently?

 

I'm 'asking' this, as I'll be coming out of my fixed term on my mortgage on the flat I currently rent out (long story), and I really want to know if my mortgage payments will shoot up, or come down, as I don't have the equity in my property now to remortgage with anyone else.

[rob wild]

This is something that has been bothering me for the last year as classically the UK has always had a boom and bust economy. What worries me is the balance of payments! I know we have a 'open econemy' but what industry do we have in the country to help support the country during these bad times?

 

After moving house a year ago I took the decision to go and see a financial adviser that basically said the same as JP basically clear all debt! Which is pretty much what I've done over the last year with no spending on holidays, supra, gadgets etc etc So now we only have the mortgage. What was a real wake up call was just how much money we wasted in the past! And just how much money you can save when you start being careful. I really now want to clear the mortgage but that would take some drastic saving over a three year period for me and make further cut backs i.e. Supra But its hard to know just how far to go...

[Nic]

they are not selling it at a loss, are they!!

 

They will be selling at a huge loss at the moment, there are a lot of retailers who only break even/or lose money for 11 months of the year and only make a profit the month before Christmas. They have to plan production/order their Christmas stock many months earlier.

 

The financial problems couldn't have happened at a worse time, as most retailers will have ordered stock before it hit, they then find themselves with millions of pounds worth of stock and no one to buy it. As soon as one of the retailers competitors starts to discount prices all they can do is follow suit. The closer to Christmas it gets the less time they have to shift stock and so prices get slashed just to clear the stock and get back some of the capital they have invested.

 

I worked for the Early Learning Centre for 8 years as senior manager in the company, toy retailers are at the extreme end of the seasonal market, but it is a similar situation with fashion retailers, electrical retailers, etc.

 

After all the overheads (retail rental is VERY expensive in the UK), retailers do not make a huge net profit, the sales you are seeing now are a desperate reaction to the situation they find them selves in because of the financial problems. They cannot survive selling goods at such low prices, they just won't make money. The very low value of the pound also means that any goods they import are costing considerably more than they were a few months ago.

 

I predict a LOT more retailers going to the wall, it'll just be the big players such as Tesco who will survive and dominate the market, just as Wall Mart have in the US.

[Gazboy]

When did your fixed rate finish then, as I'm renting my mum's house from her, and her mortgage payments have been going down and down recently?

 

I'm 'asking' this, as I'll be coming out of my fixed term on my mortgage on the flat I currently rent out (long story), and I really want to know if my mortgage payments will shoot up, or come down, as I don't have the equity in my property now to remortgage with anyone else.

 

June 2007.

[AndrewOW]

June 2007.

 

Ah, well by March (when mine ends), I may be in a slightly fortunate position of the payments going down instead of up.

 

There's no way I could fix again at the moment. I would be a slave to the BoE's base rates for the first time ever (1993), which is ever so slightly scary.

[Pete]

I thought it wouldn't affect us too much. Then I went to a clients the other day (quite a large one) and realised they make cabling for sunroofs and the such like for the automotive industry.

Suddenly it hit me that there loads of these small automotive supplier companies around Telford and the West Mids. Denso is a large employer up the road has reduced their staff numbers with more to come.

 

Luckily it's fallen at a time when I can pay off the last remaining c/card debt just leaving the mortgages here and Rhodes (which makes me feel physically sick thanks to the Euro rate).

For so long we have had sky high prices, everything from CDs and DVDs to cars have been a lot more expensive to buy in UK compared to other countries and we have been seen as a "golden goose".

Goods ARE cheap here. Setting up home in Rhodes really highlighted this to me.

 

I predict a LOT more retailers going to the wall, it'll just be the big players such as Tesco who will survive and dominate the market, just as Wall Mart have in the US.

Indeed.

 

Germany is the reality of this theory and they are up shit creek without a paddle because nobody is buying their exports.

Vicki is employed by a large German company - this is a worry.

[Whitesupraboy2]

And so another one drops off

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7801952.stm

[AndrewOW]

By the looks of it it won't end any time soon, either:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7799886.stm

 

Can I have a one way ticket to somewhere hot and exotic, please?

[Pete]

The media really doesn't help things.

 

How many of you have read about the original Great Depression?

Start off with the Wiki

 

largely a failure on the part of governments to curtail widespread bank failures, the resulting panics, and reduction in the money supply. Those who believe in a large role for the state in the economy believe it was mostly a failure of the free markets and those who believe in free markets believe it was mostly a failure of government that compounded the problem.

You can see why they were keen to prop up the banks.

[AndrewOW]

The media really doesn't help things.

 

 

I definitely agree with that statement!

[JamieP]

Very good point, The media scares people into not spending which in turn makes things worse.