Sunday, June 04, 2006

How banks are fuelling our debt problem

Very interesting article on the BBC (see here) about how banks are cashing in on our insatiable desire to buy now, pay later. I was originally turned down for a credit card despite having a no major debt to talk about (which probably explains why I was turned down). Then after a stiff letter from my brother Rob as my "financial advisor" I was given one with £600 credit limit. Within about three years it was £5,000 despite my salary being around £15K at the time. Now I earn far more, but my credit limit hasn't moved in nearly ten years.

This might explain why I don't get tonnes of credit-card junk through the letterbox in comparison to - say - the previous owner. So the moral of the story is - if you want the banks to stop offering you "tempting" loans, don't take them up on any!

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