And they wonder why people default
Discussion
Our warehouse lad, who is 22 and probably the most naive person I have ever met, bought a Macbook last year from John Lewis. He bought it on their credit card as he got 6 months interest free. He said that was plenty of time to pay it off and then he would cancel his card.
Since then he has bought his first car, 2 year old Clio which he got a loan to pay for. Because he now has a car he has not paid off the John Lewis card it still has a balance of £500 on it.
He applied for a Barclays credit card so he can 0% on a balance transfer. They approved his application and he now has said card. He proudly produces the card to me and announces that they have given him a £4,500 credit limit, 13 months interest free on balance transfers and 3 months interest free on new purchases!!! The predictable has happened, he put a couple of hundred quid on it at the weekend and I see a Dominos pizza has just been delivered to him, on the card no doubt. I can see this going very wrong but he will not listen to any advice given to him.
He earns just above the minimum wage, has a £3,500 loan for his car, a 4 month old kid and now a credit card with an irresponsible (IMHO) credit limit on it.
Am I over reacting or is this Barclays being irresponsible. I can see him getting into serious debt very quickly.
Thoughts?
Since then he has bought his first car, 2 year old Clio which he got a loan to pay for. Because he now has a car he has not paid off the John Lewis card it still has a balance of £500 on it.
He applied for a Barclays credit card so he can 0% on a balance transfer. They approved his application and he now has said card. He proudly produces the card to me and announces that they have given him a £4,500 credit limit, 13 months interest free on balance transfers and 3 months interest free on new purchases!!! The predictable has happened, he put a couple of hundred quid on it at the weekend and I see a Dominos pizza has just been delivered to him, on the card no doubt. I can see this going very wrong but he will not listen to any advice given to him.
He earns just above the minimum wage, has a £3,500 loan for his car, a 4 month old kid and now a credit card with an irresponsible (IMHO) credit limit on it.
Am I over reacting or is this Barclays being irresponsible. I can see him getting into serious debt very quickly.
Thoughts?
Mojooo said:
Well everyone will just say that he makes his own decisions..
Can Barclays tell exactly how much credit he has available and how much he has used. I know credit checks can tell you some things but are they THAT detailed?
Is there a case for a database of everyones credit I wonder!!
They would use a credit reference agency like Experian. These agencies do hold how much credit you have and what percentage is used. Also what your payments have been like. They will then return to Barclays a credit reference score based on this info.Can Barclays tell exactly how much credit he has available and how much he has used. I know credit checks can tell you some things but are they THAT detailed?
Is there a case for a database of everyones credit I wonder!!
Barclays will use this score along with other decision criteria such as employment details, address etc to work out how much of a risk it is to lend to him. Then depending on how risky he is will offer him a product at a particular rate and package or decline his application.
Oh yes, forgot to mention. His missus is currently getting all the benefits under the sun, including single parent allowance even though he lives at the house the benefits are paying for!
She does and is going back to work later this year at which point a lot of her benefits will vanish and they'll have to pay for childcare etc etc. He seems to forget this and continues to spunk a hundred quid a month up the wall on Xbox games.
This is all going to end in tears.
Oh yes and he is adamant that we are in summer (not spring) now. Tool. His evidence is that the clocks changed so it is now summer.
She does and is going back to work later this year at which point a lot of her benefits will vanish and they'll have to pay for childcare etc etc. He seems to forget this and continues to spunk a hundred quid a month up the wall on Xbox games.
This is all going to end in tears.
Oh yes and he is adamant that we are in summer (not spring) now. Tool. His evidence is that the clocks changed so it is now summer.
Edited by Sixpackpert on Tuesday 20th April 13:13
Fittster said:
Why is it Barclays being fault not the person taking on the debt?
Because it's their money (or more correctly their client's money) that they stand to lose when it inevitably goes tits up.They're supposed to know about money aren't they?
I regularly get offers for personal loans from my bank that are *way* beyond my means. I'm smart enough to know they are. Not everyone is.
I phoned my credit card provider last year to talk about a temporary increase in my limit when I was looking at purchasing something, which I wanted it on the credit card for the extra protection offered by using the it (the whole reason I have one).
At the time I had £2k available to me, they offered an extra 500 notes
This despite earning mid/upper 5 figure salary and the only credit at the time was the mortgage and a final years worth of car payments @ 200 a month
I told them I wasn't interested.
Matey is going to have to watch what he spends like a hawk, or it will end in tears.
And yes the firms are also to blame
Mike
At the time I had £2k available to me, they offered an extra 500 notes
This despite earning mid/upper 5 figure salary and the only credit at the time was the mortgage and a final years worth of car payments @ 200 a month
I told them I wasn't interested.
Matey is going to have to watch what he spends like a hawk, or it will end in tears.
And yes the firms are also to blame
Mike
Sixpackpert said:
Oh yes, forgot to mention. His missus is currently getting all the benefits under the sun, including single parent allowance even though he lives at the house the benefits are paying for!
She does and is going back to work later this year at which point a lot of her benefits will vanish and they'll have to pay for childcare etc etc. He seems to forget this and continues to spunk a hundred quid a month up the wall on Xbox games.
This is all going to end in tears.
Oh yes and he is adamant that we are in summer (not spring) now. Tool.
Though we are in British Summer Time.She does and is going back to work later this year at which point a lot of her benefits will vanish and they'll have to pay for childcare etc etc. He seems to forget this and continues to spunk a hundred quid a month up the wall on Xbox games.
This is all going to end in tears.
Oh yes and he is adamant that we are in summer (not spring) now. Tool.
It may well be that he told Barclays a pack of lies. e.g. that he was Warehouse Manager earning £30k.
Sixpackpert said:
Oh yes, forgot to mention. His missus is currently getting all the benefits under the sun, including single parent allowance even though he lives at the house the benefits are paying for!
She does and is going back to work later this year at which point a lot of her benefits will vanish and they'll have to pay for childcare etc etc. He seems to forget this and continues to spunk a hundred quid a month up the wall on Xbox games.
This is all going to end in tears.
Oh yes and he is adamant that we are in summer (not spring) now. Tool. His evidence is that the clocks changed so it is now summer.
Anything else? Chav or immigrant for example?She does and is going back to work later this year at which point a lot of her benefits will vanish and they'll have to pay for childcare etc etc. He seems to forget this and continues to spunk a hundred quid a month up the wall on Xbox games.
This is all going to end in tears.
Oh yes and he is adamant that we are in summer (not spring) now. Tool. His evidence is that the clocks changed so it is now summer.
Edited by Sixpackpert on Tuesday 20th April 13:13
Sixpackpert said:
Oh yes, forgot to mention. His missus is currently getting all the benefits under the sun, including single parent allowance even though he lives at the house the benefits are paying for!
She does and is going back to work later this year at which point a lot of her benefits will vanish and they'll have to pay for childcare etc etc. He seems to forget this and continues to spunk a hundred quid a month up the wall on Xbox games.
This is all going to end in tears.
Oh yes and he is adamant that we are in summer (not spring) now. Tool. His evidence is that the clocks changed so it is now summer.
Sounds like a bit of a scrote to be honest.She does and is going back to work later this year at which point a lot of her benefits will vanish and they'll have to pay for childcare etc etc. He seems to forget this and continues to spunk a hundred quid a month up the wall on Xbox games.
This is all going to end in tears.
Oh yes and he is adamant that we are in summer (not spring) now. Tool. His evidence is that the clocks changed so it is now summer.
Edited by Sixpackpert on Tuesday 20th April 13:13
But that said it is summertime - at least according to the clocks which are now on British Summertime.
He's 22, not 6. He should be able to make decisions for himself and realise that he's going to have to pay for all of this at some stage. While it would appear that he's probably been given credit that he can't realistically repay and will probably default on he's got to take some responsibility for it himself. I think that debtor's prisons should be brought back, it's far too easy for people to wriggle their way out of debt these days.
Some people in huge amounts of debt only find themselves in it because they're stupid enough to let it happen. This lad seems to be 1 of those, if he's 22 he's old enough to know what he's doing, if he's spending a load of money that he doesn't have he'll just have to deal with the consequences when it comes & bites him on the arse
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