Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Does anyone really find this surprising?
UK consumer borrowing hits five-year high
Consumer credit rose to £2.35bn in February, the highest level since October 2002, according to figures released today from the Bank of England. The increase was driven by a £2 billion jump in lending through loans and overdrafts, the biggest increase since the Bank's figures began in April 1993, while outstanding debt on credit cards increased by £350 million. At the same time, the Bank's figures showed that the number of mortgages approved for people buying a home fell by nearly 40 per cent during the past year.
Posted by inthedelhi @ 04:26 PM (1096 views)
12 thoughts on “Does anyone really find this surprising?”
Add a comment
- Your email address is required so we can verify that the comment is genuine. It will not be posted anywhere on the site, will be stored confidentially by us and never given out to any third party.
- Please note that any viewpoints published here as comments are user´s views and not the views of HousePriceCrash.co.uk.
- Please adhere to the Guidelines
japanese uncle says:
How many of them are borrowing to finance food and fuel bills I wonder, without reasonable prospect of repayment.
renting2 says:
Off this topic but gather that Alliance & Leicester and Lehman Brothers have today confirmed that as a result of current market conditions they have agreed to temporarily suspend their relationship.
They will be withdrawing the following products at 5pm today, Wednesday 2nd of April:
All Self-Certification Mortgages
All Near and Sub Prime Mortgages
(normally sold via intermediaries)
Can find no news article to support this.
plato says:
1. ju
Sadly too many I suspect, and a fair few juggling debt payments with credit until they run out of resources. A desperate scenario is unfolding with the cost of living’s relentless move upwards. These people will be in serious debt for their forseeable future creating ever increasing social problems as a result.
mrmickey says:
I don’t understand, if we are experiencing a credit crunch why are these people still getting access to credit
paul says:
mrmickey – the credit crunch has a glass floor.
It can only affect down to the mortgage level because if people have a mortgage then they own assets which can be confiscated – so they can always get credit cards secured against their house (unless its mortgage equity withdrawal which depends on the value of their house).
richc says:
“I don’t understand, if we are experiencing a credit crunch why are these people still getting access to credit”
Come on, these are banks we’re talking about. Don’t ever underestimate the stupidity and greed of the financial sector.
Orwell says:
Please help me here, I thought it was 1.4 billion?
Explain?
hpwatcher says:
All Self-Certification Mortgages
😉
hpwatcher says:
”…”I don’t understand, if we are experiencing a credit crunch why are these people still getting access to credi…”
people are using credit cards to pay their mortgages……
Landofconfusion says:
> 1. japanese uncle said…
>
> How many of them are borrowing to finance food and fuel bills I wonder, without reasonable prospect of repayment.
But how can that be? Inflation is only at 2.5%? 😉
> 4. mrmickey said…
>
> I don’t understand, if we are experiencing a credit crunch why are these people still getting access to credit
Because this is far from over.
waiting for the crash says:
I’ll assume that as people have amassed so many credit cards from switching cards over the years then they will have quite a few credit limits to eat up on quite a few cards. Thus delaying the the day of reckoning.
I wonder when the it really will fall apart, by August I’m thinking that the cracks will really appear on the street not just in the financail markets, as those waiting to sell have found no buyers by this time then they will finally accept that prices have to fall.
What is the one metric we should look out for in knowing that the HPC is truely here?
On another point I’ll assume that estate agents will start to advise/bully sellers into accepting lower offers just to get the commission from any deal at any price. Thus the EA’s may be an agent in forcing realism back into the market they so hyped for so many years.
Local market news:
4 bed house for sale since sept on at 1.4 mil sold then back on the market now priced at 1.25 mil, a 150k drop.
A house that was being bought as a rental is now back on the market, another on the market for a year has not sold and another sold but not yet completed since Dec.
Landofconfusion says:
> 9. waiting for the crash said…
>
> by August I’m thinking that the cracks will really appear on the street not just in the financail markets
Maybe. All I know is that it’s going to be an interesting Christmas for the retail sector (normally a very good indicator of the economy).