Reply to: What's next?

[expat]

Thread context, Alf. You know we are talking about economy, not death and destruction.

I think Alf's point is that one is not as bad as the other ....

[stackpole]

Is it ?

Try telling that to my Mother whose house in Clydebank was bombed to rubble by the Nazis during the Clydebank Blitz and lost many of her schoolfriends in the carnage.

Thread context, Alf. You know we are talking about economy, not death and destruction.

[ace00]

Halifax Bank of Scotland or HBOS as it's known more widely. Bank that is the largest mortgage lender in the UK and appears to have been shorted into a takeover by Lloyds TSB and HMG.

Being up north I had assumed the UK government were the biggest employers....

Regarding OP, should be noted UK per person debt was around 200% income. 150% in USA. 100% in Germany. Now it's time to pay the piper.

[expat]

Is it ?

Try telling that to my Mother whose house in Clydebank was bombed to rubble by the Nazis during the Clydebank Blitz and lost many of her schoolfriends in the carnage.

Quite right; any many in the world are still in situations that make our lives look like a picnic. even if you are out of work here, you are alive and you needn't starve (thanks to vaguely civilised social policies). Always look on the bright side of life!

[AlfredJPruffock]

In previous recessions we've never had real-term debt on anything like this scale.

On average, every man, woman and child in the UK owes more than the average annual wage, and the country's deficit is nearly 50% of GDP.

Both figures are still rising, the assets that back a lot of it, houses, are reducing in value, and a record proportion of the UK workforce that is supposed to pay it off is under threat in the financial sector.

That is the worst situation we've ever been in.

Is it ?

Try telling that to my Mother whose house in Clydebank was bombed to rubble by the Nazis during the Clydebank Blitz and lost many of her schoolfriends in the carnage.

[expat]

Nope I'm well over 25, I well remember the Thatcher/Major recessions, Dot Com and 911. My feeling is this could get nastier since we have absolutely nothing in the UK to fall back on since the country is almost totally reliant on banking and finance service business which are the prime casualties. Plus I live in Halifax and I assume you can guess which is the largest employer in this town by a massive margin.....

I think you're right, this one could be bad. And I remember earlier than that (I have a couple of slight memories of petrol rationing in 1956!)

If you live in Halifax, you may have to get used to not working there. I'm afraid that's the norm for a lot of us. At breakfast this morning the waitress asked for my room number. Eleven, I said. No wait, that was another day, another hotel. Today it's 9. I feel like one of the guys in the "arithmetic" scene in The Magnificent Seven.

[TykeMerc]

Nope - haven't been to the UK for quite a number of years. Erm... Halifax bank?

Halifax Bank of Scotland or HBOS as it's known more widely. Bank that is the largest mortgage lender in the UK and appears to have been shorted into a takeover by Lloyds TSB and HMG.

As Stackpole has said the UK economy is now heavily chained to house prices and has no industry to speak of, it could get thoroughly brutal in the UK if finance, banking and insurance total collapse happens.

[stackpole]

I have to ask, is everyone on here under the age of 25?

Having lived thru the 87 sharemarket crash, the dotcom bubble, and one or two other 'scares', I am amazed that ppl are posting here and elsewhere as if its the end of the world.

Yeah its looking like a decent recession, and we haven't had one of those for a while, but I wouldn't say the situation is (or likely to get) as bad as it was in the late 80's, especially not for I.T.

In a few years time you'll all be watching the Olympics on telly and this 'correction' will all be a distant memory

In previous recessions we've never had real-term debt on anything like this scale.

On average, every man, woman and child in the UK owes more than the average annual wage, and the country's deficit is nearly 50% of GDP.

Both figures are still rising, the assets that back a lot of it, houses, are reducing in value, and a record proportion of the UK workforce that is supposed to pay it off is under threat in the financial sector.

That is the worst situation we've ever been in.

[Stan.goodvibes]

Plus I live in Halifax and I assume you can guess which is the largest employer in this town by a massive margin.....

Nope - haven't been to the UK for quite a number of years. Erm... Halifax bank?

[TykeMerc]

I have to ask, is everyone on here under the age of 25?

Having lived thru the 87 sharemarket crash, the dotcom bubble, and one or two other 'scares', I am amazed that ppl are posting here and elsewhere as if its the end of the world.

Yeah its looking like a decent recession, and we haven't had one of those for a while, but I wouldn't say the situation is (or likely to get) as bad as it was in the late 80's, especially not for I.T.

In a few years time you'll all be watching the Olympics on telly and this 'correction' will all be a distant memory

Nope I'm well over 25, I well remember the Thatcher/Major recessions, Dot Com and 911. My feeling is this could get nastier since we have absolutely nothing in the UK to fall back on since the country is almost totally reliant on banking and finance service business which are the prime casualties. Plus I live in Halifax and I assume you can guess which is the largest employer in this town by a massive margin.....

[stackpole]

Are you sure that they can't sell off the full value of your mortgage, keeping the savings for themselves (and then going bust)?

Not if your savings are IN your mortgage account, no they can't. The account balance is all you owe.

Even if so, if they go bust and net it out, isn't is just as if you had prepaid your ordinary mortgage? OK, you have not lost, but that extra payment is now fixed out of your reach.

That might be inconvenient until you find another overdraft mortgage, but as you say you haven't lost a penny.

[Stan.goodvibes]

I have to ask, is everyone on here under the age of 25?

Having lived thru the 87 sharemarket crash, the dotcom bubble, and one or two other 'scares', I am amazed that ppl are posting here and elsewhere as if its the end of the world.

Yeah its looking like a decent recession, and we haven't had one of those for a while, but I wouldn't say the situation is (or likely to get) as bad as it was in the late 80's, especially not for I.T.

In a few years time you'll all be watching the Olympics on telly and this 'correction' will all be a distant memory

[Stan.goodvibes]

Whats Next ?

When all the stars are falling down
Into the sea and on the ground,
And angry voices carry on the wind,
A beam of light will fill your head
And you'll remember what's been said
By all the good men this world's ever known

Thanks. I feel reasurred

[TykeMerc]

Are you sure that they can't sell off the full value of your mortgage, keeping the savings for themselves (and then going bust)?

Even if so, if they go bust and net it out, isn't is just as if you had prepaid your ordinary mortgage? OK, you have not lost, but that extra payment is now fixed out of your reach.

I haven't got my mortgage contract/terms/conditions to hand, but I do have an offset mortgage and from memory it's very clear that the mortgage is linked to the current and savings accounts. I don't see how my bank could just sell off my mortgage debt independantly of my other accounts. The accounts are very intimately linked and specified on the contract.
To an extent it's an "all my eggs in one basket" situation, but the benefits of an offset mortgage are appreciable and worth the risk to me. I don't pay 40% tax on my savings interest as I don't get any directly, it goes to the mortgage account so isn't income to me, also the amount of my mortgage that I pay interest on is tiny.

[Cyberman]

Are you sure that they can't sell off the full value of your mortgage, keeping the savings for themselves (and then going bust)?

Even if so, if they go bust and net it out, isn't is just as if you had prepaid your ordinary mortgage? OK, you have not lost, but that extra payment is now fixed out of your reach.

As I said, if you're worried about that, keep the savings in the mortgage account, then there is no argument.

Yes, if they go bust it's like a prepayment, but obviously they will then be chasing you for less.