Spend now, pay later culture will end in tears ...yet again
BRITAIN lives on borrowed money, encouraged by the Government (Mail). As a child in the Fifties and Sixties, debt was regarded as shameful and cash was king. Now, you are viewed as a mug if you don’t max out your credit. The arch example was the Brown/ Darling bail-out of the banks and financial institutions in 2008, which almost wrecked the country. We take our lead from those who rule us. Stop borrowing and consumerism collapses and so does the economy. But not for those who are lending — they are in a win/win situation. You might as well spend your savings, take equity release on your home and let someone else pay if you need care in old age. The modern culture is to borrow and spend today, because tomorrow may not come. RONALD HAVENHAND, Nantwich, Ches. IS IT any wonder households are spending more money than they have coming in? People are borrowing between five and 13 times more than their annual salary to get on to the housing market. Interest rates have been at an all-time low for years, which encourages people to borrow more. We are virtually a cashless society with most people spending on debit and credit cards. We want everything right now, be it a bigger house, new car or the latest phone. People are not looking to the future and don’t realise that their spend now, pay later attitude will affect their retirement. The chief executives and shareholders of the big institutions are the ones benefiting from this borrowing epidemic. When the bubble bursts, it won’t be overpaid executives who feel the pain; it will be the families who end up in negative equity with mountains of debt. I have no doubt Brexit will be blamed when interest rates rise and many are declared bankrupt and lose their homes. And, again, it will be the taxpayer who picks up the bill.
STEVE JENNINGS, Birmingham.