www.iva.co.uk

Morning all,

The above figures is of a previous CC debt owned and is known to be a record for the amount of unsecured debt accrued by someone. The man has been on TV and has since set up his own debt charity.

The man went Bankrupt and now have put all that behind him. I almost choked on my fork and died when I heard this mammoth figure. I mean the average CC debt for a personal IVA is around maybe 40K. How the Banks and the chap kept the cosy lending going for over a decade is beyond all comprehension of 'Responsible borrowing and lending.'

The UK with 65 million of populace have the highest secured and unsecured debt per capita in the world compared with US or China etc - an even more astounding statistic.

Certainly an eye opening figure, but I have to say that I have dealt with higher debts than that, though not very often it has to be said. I cannot remember whether the higher cases were joint or not, so I suppose it could be a record for an individual.

It would be interesting to hear of cases that Melanie and David had handled, I am sure they have some tales to tell between them.

Regards.

Crikey! That makes my £29K debt (two credit cards, unsecured loan and overdraft combined) look like small beer!

I have had ones higher than that! And my largest case, although it is not just credit cards, has debts of £3.6m.

Bet David Mond will have a better story than mine!!

Hi
The goverment is going to propose legislation to stop credit card companies from automatically increasing the credit limit on cards. Something that I welcome and something that we have discussed at past IVA.co.uk debt debates.There really should be a means test for all increased borrowing

Another thing I think they need to do is limit the amount of credit cards one person can have, which would hopefully stop some people transferring a debt from one card to another and then running up the original card again.

Hi
I don't think that legislation will ever limit the amount of different cards but I think that banks etc can insist on cancelling credit cards once a balance has been transfered off it onto another card.
Regards

I bet they won't though. They will be wanting you to run the cards up again.

Melanie - that is one big debt![:0]

It sounds high, but its easily done!! Especially if you have a business

Hi
I think you have hit the nail on the head Jan.
Creditors are against the ban on auto credit increases
I wonder why ?
Regards

Foxes and Hen-Houses come to mind Andy......


Regards.

All I can say is I am glad I wasnt married to him, can you imagine that confession? Honey I got into debt with a few credit cards. OK babe lets talk about it, 1 Hmmm 10 no 15 indeed 30, you idiot, 36,you pratt 42, have you got enough left for a gun?

I have often thought that when we leave school or university and start work we should be allocated a bank or financial institution to help manage our finances.

If each individual had all their loans, cards, overdraft(s) with the same provider there shouldn`t be any chance of getting in too deep.

As long as all providers whether they be banks or other finance houses offered the same products and facilities as each other, there wouldn`t be a need to keep chasing finance elsewhere.

It may stifle choice but it would have curtailed any chance of taking on large debt. Each of our providers would have a comprehensive list of what each of us have outstanding and make their decisions based on our ability to repay and manage our finances. Just a thought. Tony

When I left school you couldn't get deep in debt. My first HP, for a car, had to be guaranteed by my dad before I could get it. My daughter was able to walk into PC World at 18 (a year younger than me with my car) and get a laptop and credit straight away.

It wasn't until later life that I started having money problems, and that was after everything had been relaxed.

Perhaps we should go back to those days of having to jump through a lot of hoops before being able to get any credit at all.

I can remember buying my first car - a second hand Mark One Escort - M reg (the first time round the alphabet!) It cost £300 and my Dad had to come to the bank with me as the Manager would not see me on my own. How times change!