Banks paving the way for get out clause

[poppynurse]

Given the current situation in world banking and the hard time british banks are having in the money markets what are the chances that the government will bail them out???

I notice that the bank of england and the chancellor bailed out Northern Rock this week when they got into financial difficulties - in the interests of economic stability...what are the chances of the government supporting the banks behind the scenes in the bank charges fiasco? Can they afford to loose on the charges issue???? And what lengths will government go to to protect them...

Wish they would give my hardship some consideration....

[interestrateripoff]

The banks will get bailed, interest rates will get cut as we'll either enter a global recession or the rate cuts will be a last ditch attempt to prevent a world wide recession. The consumer will foot the bill and banks keep in profit.

 

The money men in the City always get bailed out irrespective of what they do and the risks they take.

[PhantomReclaimer]

Northern Rock haven't been "bailed out", as such. They have been given a loan by the BoE and at a punitive rate of interest at that.

 

I don't claim to be a finance industry expert but this seems to be a problem entirely - or at least mostly - confined to Northern Rock and the way they run their business. They, apparently, re-finance their lending every few months but can't now that all the banks have stopped lending to one another. Banks aren't going to permenantly stop lending to one another so as soon as this goes back to normal so will the situation at NR.

 

It should be noted that although they have posted a profits warning, they are still saying they are going to make £500M this year.

 

Northern Rock are not in trouble and there is no way the bank of England are going to let them go down the pan even if they were. It's amusing to see all the sheep queing out the doors to get their cash out - talk about hysteria. Mrs Phantom works at a press agency which had snappers outside NR branches yesterday and one woman showed the photographer a bag stuffed full of notes to the tune of £150K that she'd just withdrawn. I mean, how unbelievably f****in stupid can people get? The chances of having it stolen, lost, destroyed, etc, are thousands of times greater than loosing it through NR going bust!

 

I really wish I had some spare cash because I'd be buying a good amount of NR shares right now.

 

P.

[nevos]

Yes, buy NR shares good idea.

 

I heard they have also raised 4.5 billion against 20% of their business on top of the Bank of England help.

[interestrateripoff]

The problem also for the Govt is that the UK economy is driven by the financial sector, after successive govt's have destroyed the steel, coal, car industries and the manufacturing base all we have left is the financial sector.

 

If you put all of your eggs in one basket it's very easy to be held to ransom, plus if it goes tits up your in the sh*t.

[PhantomReclaimer]

I don't think it's quite correct to say that Governments through the years were responsible for destroying certain industries. Heavy industry, such as steel, coal and ship building, for instance, are simply not viable in this Country any more because Indian and the Far Eastern producers are willing to do the same job far cheaper.

 

Also, on a pragmatic level - why do we want those industries anyway? They are dangerous, dirty and polluting - visually as well as environmentally - and just unpleasant generally. We are well rid of most of them, quite frankly.

 

P.

[nevos]

IMO we have lost a lot of industry in this country, not only those listed above but, many small specialist engineering companies, many that supported Rover for example now owned in part by Shanghai Automotive. We now accept that almost everything is made in China or India most of those goods are sub standard and poor quality. The middle income bracket is constantly squeezed by the system, subsidising unemployment, the health service, economic migration by our EU partners. It is hardly surprising that the wheels are falling of. So many people are living or existing on credit, borrowing more and more money just to stand still and maintain the current life. When 6000 people per day are turning up at the C/Advice looking for debt help and entering IVA's something has to give. IMO again, the banking system is due for a fall. The cost of money will rise for sure maybe, this is no bad thing and it will trigger peoples minds to stop borrowing and manage their money better if they can. Go back to the times when, if you couldn't afford it then wait until you can.

 

What I find visually and environmentally distasteful are the endless B & Q's, PC World's Jack & Danny's, Mc Donalds, Curry's and Barker & Stonehouse shopping complexes all over the country creating the demise of town centers, the rubbish we are offered in the likes of Asda all in the pursuit of profit and conglomeration.

[PhantomReclaimer]

IMO we have lost a lot of industry in this country, not only those listed above but, many small specialist engineering companies, many that supported Rover for example now owned in part by Shanghai Automotive. We now accept that almost everything is made in China or India most of those goods are sub standard and poor quality. The middle income bracket is constantly squeezed by the system, subsidising unemployment, the health service, economic migration by our EU partners. It is hardly surprising that the wheels are falling of. So many people are living or existing on credit, borrowing more and more money just to stand still and maintain the current life. When 6000 people per day are turning up at the C/Advice looking for debt help and entering IVA's something has to give. IMO again, the banking system is due for a fall. The cost of money will rise for sure maybe, this is no bad thing and it will trigger peoples minds to stop borrowing and manage their money better if they can. Go back to the times when, if you couldn't afford it then wait until you can.

 

What I find visually and environmentally distasteful are the endless B & Q's, PC World's Jack & Danny's, Mc Donalds, Curry's and Barker & Stonehouse shopping complexes all over the country creating the demise of town centers, the rubbish we are offered in the likes of Asda all in the pursuit of profit and conglomeration.

 

You make some good points here.

 

I have been of the belief for a long while that there is far, far too much cheap credit about. Not only that, but most of it isn't being used to fund sensible capital purchases like property, or investments like businessess, but rather in material goods such as household electronics, new furniture, cars, hobbys and intengibles such as holidays and nights on the p***. All are things which become basically worthless the minute you buy them leaving you with nothing but a big interest bill.

 

Unlitimately, it's the individual who's at fault for running up the debt. Anyone earning an average wage can live perfectly well on it these days and dosen't need to borrow anything except for large purchases like a house. However, I do believe there is an element of responsibility that the banks must shoulder. It is simply irresponsible to advance someone more credit than they can realistically service. When you see the horror stories on such programmes as "your money or your life", and such like, you wonder how it can be that banks can allow people of modest means to run up £30K on plastic!

 

I have to disagree that almost everything we buy from China or India is substandard. Lots of things, especially from China, are very good quality. Big names like Apple who have their stuff made in China have a lot invested in their brand and don't wan't to turn out crap. Admittedly though, a lot of it is total rubbish - the recent toy and medicine recalls being cases in point. Howver, I think we see less of the rubbish here due to very stringent EU safety and quality standards and better consumer protection in general than most other places.

 

P.

[nevos]

Yes, you are right about China especially the joint venture companies many of them do produce quality goods. I have worked over there for several years and seen both sides of the coin.

 

There should be a law to stop the banks and c/c co's participating in irresponsible lending. It is a kind of trap which is very easy to fall into. People often find themselves doing well and the banks offering them any amount of plastic, loans etc..then when things go wrong such as redundancy , accident or illness..they pull the rug so fast ones feet don't touch the floor.

 

I have friends on what could be considered to be good incomes and still can't make ends meet, many extending a mortgage or re-mortgage to consolidate loans and cards. Others selling up and moving to Spain etc.

 

I guess as more and more peoples credit rating plunges downwards then, it will eventually regulate itself " Hoisted by their own petard".

[alecmac18]

It is unlikely that the current turmoil affecting Northern Rock will have any bearing on bank charges. In fact it now makes it even more likely that the FSA will allow claims to continue to restore faith in the regulator and the banks.

[krysus]

I don't claim to be a finance industry expert but this seems to be a problem entirely - or at least mostly - confined to Northern Rock and the way they run their business.

 

 

 

Not as well publicised as the Northern Rock story, but i believe Barclays did the same a few weeks earlier, although Barclays claimed it was due to technical problems with its clearing and settlement operations.

[nevos]

There was an interview on a radio prog yesterday with some lady from NR. A caller asked her about 125% mortgages, she said "Oh no we only loan 95% of the value but we also offer the lender our together package which may take it to 125%.

 

I bet Tony Blair is peeing himself laughing, Mr none stick got out just in time and left Mr Brown in the brown stuff lol..