cod'ead wrote:Time was when life was much simpler.

If you wanted to own your own house, you first started saving with a building society and once you'd proved to them that you were responsible with money and you'd managed to save the requisite 20% for a deposit, they'd usually grant you a mortgage. If you wanted a loan to buy anything else, you went to a bank or a finance company and borrowed from them, assuming that they thought you were a suitable risk. Similarly, if you wanted to insure your house or your car, you'd go to an insurance company and if you had lots of spare cash and wanted to invest in the stock exchange, you sought out a stockbroker. If you were happy renting or thought that you couldn't afford to own your own home, you rented, usually a decent, sound property from your local council, at an affordable rent.

Then someone had the bright idea of enabling building societies to demutualise and become banks, they'd still offer morgages (as would the banks now) but they'd also offer you loans, insurance, loan-insurance, a stock-trading facility and all other sorts of bollox that nobody knew they needed until these new banks convinced us. These new banks also encouraged people to become property magnates by offering £buy to let" mortgages and houses stopped being somewhere to live but became an "investment for the future"

We also had an old-age pension from the state that offered a comfortable standard of living, especially to a pensioner who rented an old-aged person's bungalow from the council. They still have a similar thing in Norway and they fund it from the revenues generated by Statoil. Now the Norwegians sit on this big pile of gas and oil under the North Sea, when it was first discovered and divvied up, although a few other countries got a look in, the biggest part was shared between the UK and Norway. Round about the time that the bright spark decided that deregulating banks was a good idea, they also thought that flogging off our state-owned oil & gas licensor would also be good for us all. So while the Norwegians now have a sustainable (and will be so for many decades to come), state pension that is underwritten by Statoil, we are engaged in a blame game and a race to the bottom, just to get a few quid into the back pockets of politicians' chums.

No prizes for guessing who was responsible for the deregulation and the fire-sale of state assets

Sal Paradise wrote:I thought British Gas was sold to the general population? The fact the same day they got their shares they sold them to stockbroker and pocketed the profit is hardly the same as selling it off to their chums now is it?

Enicomb wrote:Sorry, but I'm paid enough, because I budgeted it and live within my means. Something a good portion of people seem unable to do...

Mintball wrote:It's difficult to budget for, say, a 15% hike in domestic fuel bills – especially when your pay has been frozen (ie cut) for a couple of years or so, or your employer is looking to actually slash your pay (sack you and then rehire on far worse terms).

cod'ead wrote: ... They still have a similar thing in Norway and they fund it from the revenues generated by Statoil...

Enicomb wrote:Oh and no doubt you'll sight redundancy again, yes it's largely out of your hands if it happens to you, but, and I know this from a colleague who was made redundant, life doesn't end. He didn't get another job for 18 months, he took out a 10k bank loan to cover himself and well as using his redundancy pay and was never under threat of defaulting on his mortgage (which I know he was already pushed to cover). Yes I'm sure it's difficult but with proper planning redundancy is not the end of the world either.

McLaren_Field wrote:Presumably he had to leave his wife and kids in the bank vault as security - or are you seriously suggesting that if I fill in an application form for a loan from my current bank this afternoon and declare myself as unemployed they'll happily divvy up the £10K ?

I'll tell you without trying - Santander won't.