Mikes10 Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 I would be suprised if the majority of people understood the term APR or what the APR is on their credit/ store card Ther was an item on Radio-4 'You and Yours' Wednesday lunchitme, a guy tookout a payday loan for a weekend party with his mates. Unfortunately he could not pay it back, so he tookout another loan with a second company, and so it went on. Clearly this guy's money management skills were non-existant, but his 'lets have a good-time' skills were being refined, just as some western governments money management skills leave a lot to be desired. Look at this its really frightening: http://www.creditaction.org.uk/assets/PDF/statistics/2011/march-2011.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSMBuilders Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 Borrowing and being able to pay back easily is far removed from the "payday" scenario.. in my opinion of course.. An easily affordable loan is fine until you can no longer afford it, debt is debt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alchresearch Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 I would be suprised if the majority of people understood the term APR Easy, it comes before after MAR and before MAY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stranza Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 These payday loans and their popularity are the only example we need to support MSE Martin Lewis and his bid to get financial education into schools. While some people find it straight forward to understand the APR and work out what we buy too many people don't understand in the slightest (my cousin is a prime example and I also know friends who borrow this way) and just see the immediate solution as a benefit. My cousin borrowed £200 in Aug, didn't pay it off on Aug payday and rolled the loan over, same in Sept same in Oct the loan was repayed in Nov pay and the total was £480. He needed the loan because he had spent all his wages and didn't want to miss his team night out! Imagine someone who has kids to feed or someone who doesn't work due to illness and needs extra heating, it's easy to condemn people for the stupidity (my cousin) but some don't do this with frivolity some have no other options. The doorstep lenders are no better they have started calling with their Christmas catalogues now and handing them to peoples kids to try and up the pester pressure. If people couldn't cross the street safely we put in crossings etc to help them we don't leave them to go under cars, how can 18yr olds be expected to handle advanced financial products yet have no education? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happ Hazzard Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 We should definitely teach money management in schools. I do think there is a place for these companies, and they are regulated, without them people would just resort to illegal loan sharks who are far more nasty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stranza Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 We should definitely teach money management in schools. I do think there is a place for these companies, and they are regulated, without them people would just resort to illegal loan sharks who are far more nasty. If it was a level field and people understood what they were getting then the choice should be there I agree we should be allowed to borrow at that rate if we choose to my issue is the lenders are often so obscure with the T&C that it's hard to compare with other loans. Teach it in school and promote credit unions, some people need reminding that they are responsible too and they don't have an automatic right to credit and that it needs to be paid back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happ Hazzard Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 They should probably be banned from advertising. I hate the way they make it look like a "normal" thing to do. The Ocean finance ads were as bad, with the one with the Geordie couple arranging a £30,000 loan like it was an everyday event, the woman even had to ask her husband "is it £30,000 we're getting" like she wouldn't be completely sure if she was ringing up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alchresearch Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 We should definitely teach money management in schools. They do, under Citizenship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redruby Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 Totally agree that children should be taught about how credit works in school - whilst their may be some legitimate reasons for allowing pay day lenders to continue their business, their ever increasing presence is very worrying.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey Shaw Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 Good point. Educators [i.e. teachers and school governors]: do your schools teach anything about real-life finance, tax [esp. income tax and VAT], contract law, property ownership, lettings, etc? If not, introduce asap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.