Savers 'lose £40 Billion' In Two Years

[Fancypants]

here

New figures from the Bank of England suggest that savers have lost more than £40bn because of low interest rates during the past two and a half years.

But those losses are mirrored by dramatic gains, amounting to more than £50bn, for mortgage borrowers who have paid less in interest on their loans during the same period.

[MrFlibble]

Disgusting...

['Bart']

But those losses are mirrored by dramatic gains, amounting to more than £50bn, for mortgage borrowers

There's a surprise.

One of the reasons I buy gold and silver is to metaphorically stick two fingers up at this ridiculous state of affairs.

It's not nearly enough but what else can we do?

[TheCountOfNowhere]

A better title would be "Bank heist: Bankers steal £40 Billion from savers pockets".

[Bruce Banner]

They're at it again, same tactics as two or three years ago, scare the punters into buying a house..... See my sig.

Actually, inflation is not a problem on big ticket items like houses, where deflation is the order of the day .

5% inflation relates to day to day living expenses, not what potential cash buyers, and those with large deposits will spend on a house in due course.

[interestrateripoff]

On the BBC now; "with inflation high it's better to have debts than savings" ; the legacy of Gordon Brown

That's only if wages have gone up, and I mean for the proles not the CEO's.

[interestrateripoff]

These £50bn in gains, apart from doing a moronic maths calculation are these people actually £50bn better off or is it more they are totally overstretched and a large proportion of this money has never ended up in their pockets?

[porca misèria]

My 2p is to pay as little tax as possible

That's the principle that's led me to build a portfolio of currently about £300k in tax shelters in 3 years. From an income that maxed out below £100k.

[erranta]

My 2p is to pay as little tax as possible -- inland revenue - moving accounts into spouse name to use up all tax allowances. Buy as little as possible of consumer goods with VAT added.

Buy second hand items - try to buy a house under the stamp duty threshold eventually.

Maxed out on Index link certificates.

Talking about this is the massive rip-off 'Charity' shops are becoming.

Cos they now sell thru Ebay big business is taking a large chunk out of the price/profit - which is artificially ramped up to cover the cost.

So increasingly the poor will be paying more to add to the profits of big business.

Charity shops should be banned from these disgusting practises if Ebay Arab Sultan Billionaires etc get a large chunk of 'charity' profits which have pushed the prices up out of the hands of the very people, locally they are aimed at.

Edited September 8, 2011 by erranta

[crouch]

That's only if wages have gone up, and I mean for the proles not the CEO's.

Yes, this is the key point which somehow is always overlooked.

[TheCountOfNowhere]

Talking about this is the massive rip-off 'Charity' shops are becoming.

Try "Talking about this is the massive rip-off Charities are becoming".

The people running the big charities are getting paid £150K+++ ...not very charitable if you ask me. They are running the charity like big businesses. The adverts they now make/show for charities disgust me. They basically set out to make the viewer feel guilty so they donate ( and set up a £2 per month ( or whatever ) ad infinitum donation ). Half they money they then raise go into more advertising. This is not how I expect a charity to operate.

[Guest_flaps_*]

Once it became obvious that the interest rates were staying low for sometime, I just adjusted my spending to compensate, so it's consumption which has been lost, rather than me being hugely out of pocket. I assume the 50 billion from the mortgage holders has just ended up in the banksters pockets and the mortgage holder is still as stretched as ever, just 2 years closer to not losing the house.

[exiges]

Five Live was trumpeting this news as "Due to low interest rates "homeowners" are now £50bn better off "

Well bully for them.

[Bruce Banner]

Five Live was trumpeting this news as "Due to low interest rates "homeowners" are now £50bn better off "

Well bully for them.

Personally, I'm well over £100k better off due to renting for the last five years rather than buying .

[Nationalist]

So the prudent are robbed to give to feckless.

We badly need a sterling crisis in this country. That's the traditional way the prudent hit back - leave! At least move the savings to currency with a higher interest rate. Unfortunately there's too much (paper) money around these days and no one wants your deposits.

[ccc]

That's only if wages have gone up, and I mean for the proles not the CEO's.

Yes, this is the key point which somehow is always overlooked.

Yep - I was almost shouting this at that Moneybox bloke when he was discussing this on Breakfast this morning. Surely he should know this most basic of fact ?! Apart from that he actually made some pretty reasonable points. Then again - it all amounted to just basic common sense.

[CleverBear]

They're at it again, same tactics as two or three years ago, scare the punters into buying a house..... See my sig.

Actually, inflation is not a problem on big ticket items like houses, where deflation is the order of the day .

5% inflation relates to day to day living expenses, not what potential cash buyers, and those with large deposits will spend on a house in due course.

Yes. My money is there for a house eventually. SO I only really care about HPI. Fortunately, wage inflation isnt rampant. Thats the real danger for savers. Inflation and wage inflation. Doesnt look possible though thank god!

[@contradevian]

Talking about this is the massive rip-off 'Charity' shops are becoming.

Cos they now sell thru Ebay big business is taking a large chunk out of the price/profit - which is artificially ramped up to cover the cost.

So increasingly the poor will be paying more to add to the profits of big business.

Charity shops should be banned from these disgusting practises if Ebay Arab Sultan Billionaires etc get a large chunk of 'charity' profits which have pushed the prices up out of the hands of the very people, locally they are aimed at.

Funny you should bring that up. Went into the British Heart Foundation shop in town yesterday. A lot of the donated stuff costs as much as new.

A 10 year old Bosch washer was £260. They cost around that new (as I know as I had bought one new). Currently you could buy a new Beko washer new in Curry's for under £300.

So what are the BHF up to? I could only assume the BHF shops are a front for some money laundering operation/tax dodge?

Edited September 8, 2011 by John Steed

[Sour Mash]

On the BBC now; "with inflation high it's better to have debts than savings" ; the legacy of Gordon Brown

To be fair, that's probably true. Or at least hold an amount of debt in your portfolio.

We are headed for a crisis of almighty proportions. Even the least financially astute member of the public will start to realise it's not worth actually putting aside any savings and the banks which rely on depositors' capital are going to be even harder pressed. No doubt the printing presses will be run flat out to replace this, which will then be leveraged >10x.

Where I live (Belfast) there are some reasonably priced houses around at the minute with falls of >50% from peak in some sectors of the market. I'm tempted to buy a so-so place which I can afford from my savings but to take out a 60% LTV mortgage on it fixed for as long as I can and keep the rest of the money in carefully selected inflation beating investments. That way I'd have an asset, some debt and some savings/investments which would all sum out with the possibility of gaining from the investments whilst the debt is eaten away.

Or I could take a gamble and extend myself by a small amount to get a nicer place, again on a 60% LTV (fixed for as long as possible) with my remaining savings only covering 30% of the outstanding debt and wager that the inevitable inflation as the government runs the presses largely takes care of the deficit for me - assuming I can keep in work.

Of course, actual real deflation would then be the killer for me .... but it's pretty clear that the government will debase the currency to toilet paper status rather than let that happen.

[MrFlibble]

So the prudent are robbed to give to feckless.

We badly need a sterling crisis in this country. That's the traditional way the prudent hit back - leave! At least move the savings to currency with a higher interest rate. Unfortunately there's too much (paper) money around these days and no one wants your deposits.

In some ways in pains me to agree as I know some people are really struggling out there, but you are right, there is still too much cash around. The people who have sucked out all the money are still living it large, while others are really struggling. The balanced need shifted back somehow. Since most of the wealth has been hovered up in housing then it makes sense that housing is the thing to releases this wealth back into the economy.

For too long this country has sacrificed productive work as a way to generate wealth and replaced it with non-productive work like BTL and home-ownership. A pile of bricks should not be generating the same wealth as someone who is doing a honest days work, as this devalues going to work down to nothing, even more so when the bricks are not even own outright.

[Democorruptcy]

Funny you should bring that up. Went into the British Heart Foundation shop in town yesterday. A lot of the donated stuff costs as much as new.

A 10 year old Bosch washer was £260. They cost around that new (as I know as I had bought one new). Currently you could buy a new Beko washer new in Curry's for under £300.

So what are the BHF up to? I could only assume the BHF shops are a front for some money laundering operation/tax dodge?

I had the same experience yesterday.

Went into a Sue Ryder shop for the first time and couldn't believe the prices.

£399 for a settee and £199 for a foot stool.

[Terribad]

I've not used a charity shop since freecycle came about. Furnished 2 flats for free.

[The Pale Rider]

Once it became obvious that the interest rates were staying low for sometime, I just adjusted my spending to compensate, so it's consumption which has been lost, rather than me being hugely out of pocket. I assume the 50 billion from the mortgage holders has just ended up in the banksters pockets and the mortgage holder is still as stretched as ever, just 2 years closer to not losing the house.

Correct, thats 40 billion in interest that is not being spent. Which would as a byproduct stimulate the economy and create jobs.

[Jadoube]

Funny you should bring that up. Went into the British Heart Foundation shop in town yesterday. A lot of the donated stuff costs as much as new.

A 10 year old Bosch washer was £260. They cost around that new (as I know as I had bought one new). Currently you could buy a new Beko washer new in Curry's for under £300.

So what are the BHF up to? I could only assume the BHF shops are a front for some money laundering operation/tax dodge?

OTOH might a ten year old Bosch prove more reliable and last longer than a new Beko?

[Guest_flaps_*]

OTOH might a ten year old Bosch prove more reliable and last longer than a new Beko?

I'm still using my 1960's Sunbeam iron I inherited off my grandad about 17 years ago. In the meantime, my Mum has gone through at least 5 irons, all of which cost at least 30 quid. Never had to clean the base plate either and it's used pretty much daily. It doesn't have steam, but an old fabreeze bottle with water in does much the same.