The Credit Crunch

jdanddiet · Post by **jdanddiet** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 3:53 am

Interesting reading this thread from October, what we were all thinking then ("media hyped bullshit") and what's happened since:-

http://www.retrogamer.net/forum/viewtop ... ch&start=0

Post by **CraigGrannell** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 4:29 am

I think the problem a lot of people have with the reporting is the sheer level of scaremongering. Even the BBC keeps going on about high-street chains dying, but seemingly without any basic understanding of what 'administration' actually means, nor the basic facts that for the vast majority of affected chains the crunch is merely the straw that broke the camel's back. (MFI, Adams and Woolworths, to name three, have been in the sh*t for years.)

As for elsewhere, I think there's a definite tightening and a recession in progressâ€”I've certainly seen my own workload as a freelancer drop quite heavily since Christmas. However, the whole Worst Time Everâ„¢ rhetoric seems a little premature. I was talking to my parents last week, who recall the three-day week they worked during a chunk of the 1970s, in an office that didn't turn on the heating, because they couldn't afford to.

Sir Arthur · Post by **Sir Arthur** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 4:32 am

There's a Credit Crunch??

DonkeySpank · Post by **DonkeySpank** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 4:40 am

The media have been hyping the "worst recession ever" for months now, yet on Monday evening this week I caught a BBC news report detailing "the strongest evidence yet that we are heading for a recession" - MAKE YA MIND UP!

boyo · Post by **boyo** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 4:50 am

I thought that on the 23rd of this month - it becomes official. 6 months of negative growth. I'm sure I heard it was meant to be 3 months at some point.

David · Post by **David** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 4:54 am

I am in a huge amount of debt, struggling to make ends meet till the end of this month, and if it wasn't for my wife and baby would have chucked myself under a train about a month ago.

how's THAT for a cheery wednesday morning post

TheDude18 · Post by **TheDude18** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 5:03 am

I saw that too and thought exactly the same - Were in a resession already.......arn't we?

Any one with common sense could see this was bound to happen with house/fuel prices going through the roof, banks falling over each other to get people into debt via loans and credit cards, the spend now worry later culture and so on. The balloon was bound to bust.

The only thing that bothers me (bar the massive job losses) is the way the media seem to be 'hyping up' the whole credit crunch issue. If getting the public to spend helps the economy, then the press are doing thier best to do the opposite.

Mind you even in this climate, I still recive letters from my local bank offering loans, credit cards etc. It's no wonder people are in so much debt.

DonkeySpank · Post by **DonkeySpank** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 5:13 am

Fuel costs over here are criminal - I was in the USA over Christmas and filled up my brother-in-law's car with petrol. He said not to bother, but I insisted so we agreed on putting $10 of fuel in there ( about Â£7 - Â£8 ). I thought it wouldn't touch the sides. The fuel gague went from red-line empty to 7/8ths full.... for Â£8!!!!! Basically you can fill up a VW Golf for a tenner in the USA but over here in Blighty it costs you Â£60. WTF??? No wonder we're financially screwed.

Coopdevil · Post by **Coopdevil** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 5:14 am

I've been thinking recently - assuming that my job stays (and that can only be an assumption for all of us I guess) how does all this make me worse off?

Petrol - Coming down again, filled up for less than Â£40 on Monday and that was Super Unleaded. Recession is reducing demand for oil.
Mortgage - Reduced by interest rate cuts.
The High Street (luxuries)- lots of discounting, slight VAT decrease. Weakness of Sterling against Euro might push prices up here a bit.
The High Street (groceries) - dearer than it was, but still food is cheap.
Loans - not planning on taking any out, car replacement will be cash.

All of this suggests that actually I'm better off than I would be without this credit crunch. Yet, media hype is making me less willing to go out and replace, for example, the sofa and the freezer (both of which have seen better days) than I was last year.

The only things I find more expensive now are car tax and importing stuff and I'm aware that I was getting slotcar stuff from the US (my main imports) at an artifically low price anyway.

Coop

STranger81 · Post by **STranger81** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 5:39 am

The problem is that for the past few years its been too easy to borrow money. People do so and get into the red and then theres the "put all your debts into one monthly payment" types popping up here there and everywhere. So people have to borrow to help pay back what they borrowed.

Its like with me. A good few years ago when I was 21 I got a credit card because my bank offered it to me, and the fact I was VERY silly with money went out and maxed it out in a weekend. Clothes, cd's, games etc. And then I began paying for it, and they kept upping my limit by around Â£20 a month, and eventually I got into the sh!t. So much so HSBC rang and said if I used it again it would be declined and id get extra charges etc so I knocked it on the head and paid back the minimum every month.

And then out of the blue I got a call from another lender, saying they had seen my "excellent credit status" and that I qualified for one of their cards, with a limit that was double what my current one was. I told the guy "you've seen my spending habits on some database, you can see im irresponsible with my money, so you think you can get your pound of flesh from someone who should know better" and put the phone down.

-------------------------------------

But now im much better, if anything im a bit of a miser with money. Me and the mrs have more coming in than going out on a monthly basis, we both drive but if my car died (its getting on a bit) then I could easily walk to work in half an hour so we could survive with one car. Over crimbo we went into town and paid off 20% of our mortgage which saves us well over Â£100 per month and we keep saving to give us a bit of a buffer. We do spend on "luxuries" but we dont go overboard.

But with this financial climate (I know it sounds like im buying into all this scare-monger stuff) but I always plan for the worst. At the moment both our jobs are safe but I always keep an eye on the jobsites so if it does happen ill have a bit of a heads up, how much good it will do I dont know?

I hate the media at times like this. My girlfriend has GMTV on in the mornings and they are always live at someones house and they cant afford to put the central heating on and theyre mortgage payments are too much for them etc. "Look Ben and Kate, this family are wearing their winter coats in the lounge. Look how much of a mess they're in. Theyre really up the creek now, whats that mate... you've lost your job? Brilliant!." And I think its terrible that every time you turn on the telly theyre telling you that the nations had it and companies are closing left right and centre, but on the other hand were being encouraged to spend.

Sorry if I went off topic a bit!

David · Post by **David** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 5:48 am

I'm sick of hearing it on the news, gmtv, etc all the time.

I've got my own problems without having to listen to all these other people's problems.

Jeez I am hardly sleeping with worry as it is, I don't want to get up in the moninr g and then hear/read about everyone else's problems!

STranger81 · Post by **STranger81** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 5:52 am

David wrote:I'm sick of hearing it on the news, gmtv, etc all the time.

To be honest its got to the point now where it brings me down because theyre rubbing the whole nations noses in it concerning money/job losses etc so I put my ipod on and listen to a pocast or something instead of that depressing shower on the telly.

psj3809 · Post by **psj3809** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 6:07 am

David wrote:I'm sick of hearing it on the news, gmtv, etc all the time.

I've got my own problems without having to listen to all these other people's problems.

Jeez I am hardly sleeping with worry as it is, I don't want to get up in the moninr g and then hear/read about everyone else's problems!

Sorry to hear that fella, hang on in there. Been through some bad times myself what with redundancy, debt, no money etc, managed to get through it. Easier said than done but always learnt when times are bad it will change and be alright in the future. Just had a huge tax bill which ate all my savings but nothing i can do, just remain positive as when youre down it affects everyone around you and wont do you any good.

Also watch Eastenders (Or Jeremy Kyle), 30 minutes later you'll realise things arent as bad as you think.

As for petrol prices i thought they were really cheap, 85p a litre instead of about 110p a while back.

Fred83 · Post by **Fred83** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 6:09 am

Some parts of Europe had a building craze.All funded by credit of course.

psj3809 · Post by **psj3809** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 6:10 am

STranger81 wrote:The problem is that for the past few years its been too easy to borrow money. People do so and get into the red and then theres the "put all your debts into one monthly payment" types popping up here there and everywhere. So people have to borrow to help pay back what they borrowed.

Its like with me.

But now im much better, if anything im a bit of a miser with money.

Totally like me, at 18 or 19 i took a credit card, got up to about 8k in debt which actually compared to some people isnt bad. When i sold my flat years later i paid all my debts off. Now i'm tight as a gnats arse !

Proud i paid it off myself instead of my folks helping me etc. Now i dont have any loans, have about 700 quid on a card but nothing major. All those adverts are just evil on tv specially in the daytime, some of the APR is shocking, borrow 5k to pay off your debts, pay 15k off in total over 10 years to pay it back kinda thing

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