oh dear: High earners in debt firing line

[AtW]

High earners in debt firing line

High earners want to keep up with the Joneses, the report says
The number of high earners struggling to meet their debts is on the increase, according to the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS).

The debt charity said that the number of people earning more than £30,000 a year who are asking it for help has risen by 257% in the past three years.

High mortgages, school fees and keeping up with neighbours' spending habits were common reasons for debt build-up.

Debt now seemed a "normal part of life" for high earners, the CCCS added.

The average debt amongst high earners turning to the CCCS for advice was nearly £70,000.

People in the £30,000 plus earnings bracket represented one in 20 of CCCS' clients.

Income gap

Helen Saxon, author of the CCCS report, said earning a high income did not necessarily mean avoiding going into the red.

"Accepted wisdom suggests that a take-home income of £30,000 per year is enough to allow most families to be able to manage the demands on their income," Ms Saxon said.

"But large mortgages, rising school fees, keeping up with the Joneses and the increasing availability of credit have made debt a normal part of life for many of the middle class."

Ms Saxon added that many people, particularly in London and the South East, have turned to credit to bridge the gap between their incomes and their outgoings.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5004654.stm

[Alf W]

"Accepted wisdom suggests that a take-home income of £30,000 per year is enough to allow most families to be able to manage the demands on their income," Ms Saxon said.

I shall have to show that quote to 'Er Indoors!!

[TheMonkey]

My outgoings on debt repayments are around £820/month at the moment (that does not include mortgage or car).

I think a lot of the problems (apart from my own irresponsibility when younger) is that the credit companies are vultures waiting to pick on the remains of bankrupcy victims. They can effectively cash their own insurance on the sum you owe so they can't lose either way.

I think the entire credit referencing system needs rethinking.

Fortunately I earn enough wonga to just pay up if required.

[AtW]

Fecks sake dude, what did you do in your youth - bought a garem?

[VectraMan]

Maybe you should go bankrupt? You always hear stories of people who have gone bankrupt and it never sounds so bad, so you have to wonder why we all try so hard to avoid it.

I know someone who wasn't paying his taxes , so spent years working extra hard to pay it back, managed to pay back about 80% of it then the IR made him bankrupt. Why did he bother?

[TheMonkey]

I spent my youth at university, followed by a few years hitting the clubs and then I got married and had children. That is all you need to rack it up.

I'll be clear of it soon so I'm not that bothered.

I know someone who went bankrupt - it wasn't as easy as it sounds to a lot of people. He went bankrupt because his bitch wife pissed off with someone else and took everything he owned, and his children so he went into a pit of depression and couldn't work any longer. Then the government came down on him and really ****ed him over. They did not support or help him and he relied on people slipping him cash and crashing on the streets to stay alive for about 4 years until he could get himself together.

He now runs an IT outfit in North Wales mostly cash in hand and flies by night as they say.

[Shimano105]

Debt should only be considered a short term arangement - not having a go at you Monkey as you sound like you're clearing yours off.

Think about it: "lend us a tenner, mate, I'll pay you back Monday". This is the model that I use.

You don't keep going back to your mates and borrowing more tenners, week in week out and just giving them 50p back at a time do you? (Actually I know someone who tries this but he's a coont).

Anything I borrow I pay back as soon as I can.

People who think that they can play the system, or keep borrowing "because it's cheap" are deluding themselves and are born losers that deserve a life as a permie.

[ratewhore]

I know someone who went bankrupt - it wasn't as easy as it sounds to a lot of people. He went bankrupt because his bitch wife pissed off with someone else and took everything he owned, and his children so he went into a pit of depression and couldn't work any longer. Then the government came down on him and really ****ed him over. They did not support or help him and he relied on people slipping him cash and crashing on the streets to stay alive for about 4 years until he could get himself together.

He now runs an IT outfit in North Wales mostly cash in hand and flies by night as they say.

That was in the days before discharge from bankruptcy was reduced to 12 months...

[threaded]

If they are getting into debt then surely they are not really high earners, they are just people who are earning high currently, but that is not their usual state of affairs.

[Churchill]

That was in the days before discharge from bankruptcy was reduced to 12 months...

Only in certain circumstances.