Trouble Ahead

[Warwick65]

So we are in a right old mess- I mean the country , not me personally. Every day I am getting emails from my credit providers saying they will be all nice and cuddly during this difficult time. Today Metro emailed me saying they would not be charging for agreed overdrafts, no charges, no interest, nothing.

Now I am not the world's greatest with money so my first thought is 'what can i buy' . I have to admit, I am lucky to be getting a regular stable income for at least the next 30 months.

BUT what happens if i do use my overdraft, my credit cards etc- what if I have to in order to pay my rent and feed my family. When this is all over will 'they' be quite as accommodating or will I suddenly be back with 10 defaults on my credit file in the same position I was in 10 years ago?

Well I suppose it will keep me busy here but it does worry me, and yes I am talking primarily about the people who are having to use credit to stay afloat because we know living on £94.50 a week (which will no doubt go back to £74.50) is impossible if you have a mortgage or a disability or don't want to live on boiled rice.

Finally don't get me wrong, I am glad neo-liberalism has taken a back seat and the state is now doing many of the things that the Daily Wail screamed were communism just a few weeks ago. I don't have a picture of Marx as my avatar for no reason.

[Never-In-Doubt]

They've already told us what will happen - basically you don't pay any interest and if you need a holiday you can apply for one and this won't affect your credit score however after the holiday expires, you'd need to continue to maintain the regular payments again.

My advice is to just pay the minimum due - try and avoid missing payments as it's daft to get in debt again, unless you absolutely must! In which case this wouldn't matter much anyway lol.

I am utilising it in a totally different way, as in stoozing. So I am using my interest free overdrafts to fund an interest bearing current account (Nationwide @ 3% upto £2500 balance). So its a free £6 odd a month I am getting from Nationwide; then I have a few TSB Plus accounts which pays 3% at the moment too upto £1500 balance.

I'm forever moving the same pot of money to meet criteria and get free money - these interest free OD's are ideal to get between £20 - £50 from the banks

[Warwick65]

It would seem that unlike many of us on here you have the good fortune to be able to stick several thousand pounds into interest bearing current account(s), or even have access to the better rates such as TSB, Santander etc. I suppose that just reinforces the same old maxim- money goes to money.

I was reading Debt Camels blog and there still seems some uncertainty- so if you have switched to a 24 month interest free credit card (my Yorkshire bank Gold card is one of those , will they extend that 24 months by however long the FCA 'persuade' creditors to provide interest free lines of credit ?

I am however noticing it is becoming harder to get credit- I normally have several cards pre approved but the last time I checked there were non. Not even a Capital One ! The irony of them offering me cards when Jo (well a rather nice young man) beat them in court on a £5K debt is not lost on me.

I just worry about what will happen when all this is over and people have taken their mortgage breaks and interest free overdrafts to be able to live while they are getting 80% of their salary if they are lucky or £93.10? PW if they are less so.

Maybe they will have been lucky enough to have a few savings and maybe they will be very lucky and go back to earning the same as they were getting before this all started - I personally fear there will be millions of people who are earning a lot less, at least for a while (think of hospitality - hotels etc, catering, retail, these are the areas where zero hours contracts and endemic).

As I say, I recognise just how lucky I am, to have a guaranteed income for the next thirty months or so and if all goes to plan a good (if precarious) income after that.

I am using this time to actually pay off some of my credit cards (interest free ones) and yes i know i could earn a few pence by leaving it in the bank but I would rather get them paid off. I have not spent a penny on non essential things in over two weeks now, I have suspended my season ticket for the trains. So yes, I'm alright Jack, but its the poorest and most vulnerable in our society I worry about.

[The Tech Clerk]

Wonder if interest being added on mortgage etc payment holiday??

[Warwick65]

Wonder if interest being added on mortgage etc payment holiday??

Yes it is still being added and my understanding is at the end of the payment holiday, payments will be reassessed to keep it all on track. Not too bad if you have a tracker mortgage with a piddling interest rate but if it is a sub prime one with higher rates then it could be a lot of money each month.

[The Tech Clerk]

Yes it is still being added and my understanding is at the end of the payment holiday, payments will be reassessed to keep it all on track. Not too bad if you have a tracker mortgage with a piddling interest rate but if it is a sub prime one with higher rates then it could be a lot of money each month.

So people we warned on interest rate still applied and review after period holiday can cost dear? by the sounds of it, mind you few years back interest rates very low BUT Bank of Ireland (Old Bristol & West) allowed to increase to 4.75% hell of a jump. luckily we sold up and moved to downsize. = no mortgage now phewwwwww!!

[Roger]

I think what niddy is saying is using his credit to take advantage of monies made available by the crisis and placing this credit with interest bearing accounts.
The gamble is on being able to return to some kind of normality after a few weeks. The problem is since the global economy has stopped how is this to be restarted? and can this be done unless this pandemic has been conquered. But and there are a lot of buts!
There are NO answers at this time and until the pandemic can be controlled globally then returning to normality remains an uncertainty.
Take advantage of these payment holidays and plan a worst case Income against ESSENTIAL expenditure.

[Never-In-Doubt]

Warwick65 - money definitely doesn't go to money where I'm concerned. Trust me on that one, don't forget I provide & run a free forum for people. It's not free to me - this is using the latest tech and luckily we do have a sponsor as such to allow us to afford such tech - yes, our solicitors help fund the forum and we wouldn't be here right now without their help.

I am self employed. I run my own web design business and whilst we can make good money, on average I earn £0 a month. Maybe twice a year I may get a few grand otherwise nada.

so please don't think I'm rich / well off or anything else. I'm a hard working self employed guy who puts in 18+ hours a day every day (even when on holiday I'll be working - I have to!).

Nobody right now is spending money so this virus is affecting me as a business and an individual hence playing with free overdrafts to earn free money is a good thing, no?

Every little helps

[Warwick65]

My point wasn't that you were filthy rich but that in the system we live in , money does go to money. These bank accounts are not available to everyone and how many people have the money to put in to gain the interest? I would say not those on low pay or many self employed who live almost job to job.

Another example is in today's Mirror where it is saying how Walter the Softy is making huge bucks from the volatility in the stock market - as if he didn't have enough already (I assume you all know who I mean by Walter?- Odious little man)

[Joanna Connolly Solicitors]

luckily we do have a sponsor as such to allow us to afford such tech - yes, our solicitors help fund the forum and we wouldn't be here right now without their help.

And I wouldn't be where I am right now if I hadn't found this forum nearly ten years ago when I received a claim from Santander.

Three more court claims followed and the debt purchasers lost them all.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Always happy to help

Di

[Arthur]

PRA are definitely poised to take advantage of trouble ahead, I really dont like this company! Their share price has slipped 36% recently, I guess a lot have share prices have, but they have taken a big fall. Nevertheless they have secured extra credit for their EU arm, so they are expecting to and making provisions to be busy..https://finance.yahoo.com/news/pra-g...120000964.html

[Right-a-wrong]

So people we warned on interest rate still applied and review after period holiday can cost dear? by the sounds of it, mind you few years back interest rates very low BUT Bank of Ireland (Old Bristol & West) allowed to increase to 4.75% hell of a jump. luckily we sold up and moved to downsize. = no mortgage now phewwwwww!!

A bit late in on this conversation, but a good friend of mine will now be now paying an extra £42 per month for the remaining 7 year term of her mortgage, for taking advantage of this SHORT ‘mortgage break’. Aren’t these banks and building societies ‘so kind’ for extending their hand of friendship during this difficult time for so many? On second thoughts nah! They’re the blood sucking leeches I always knew they were. It gauls me even more that her mortgage provider was bailed out in the not too distant past.

[Warwick65]

A bit late in on this conversation, but a good friend of mine will now be now paying an extra £42 per month for the remaining 7 year term of her mortgage, for taking advantage of this SHORT ‘mortgage break’. Aren’t these banks and building societies ‘so kind’ for extending their hand of friendship during this difficult time for so many? On second thoughts nah! They’re the blood sucking leeches I always knew they were. It gauls me even more that her mortgage provider was bailed out in the not too distant past.

I think it was Paul Lewis (of Moneybox) who warned about this. Add to this that many institutions are not lending or have really tightened up lending criteria makes remortgaging very difficult