http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/pers ... pport.html


Now was voting Tory such a good idea?

Was taking out a mortgage you apparently couldn't keep up with without the taxpayer giving you 200 quid a month or more such a good idea?

This...

... plus a bit more:

Was taking out a massive mortgage you definitely couldn't keep up with if circumstances even twitched simply to buy a middle-class fashion accessory such a good idea?

$hit happens ...

I think that the issue is that the those with low equity and not on a tracker, or one that will end soon will be a problem. They will not be able to keep things going and they will get foreclosed. They could end up on the housing lists for emergency accommodation because they might have kids, jumping past people who have been waiting for years to be housed.

Get rid of all the luxuries and then ask the government for help. Cars, xmas, holidays can all go amongst many others. There are countries out there where you can't get benefits until you've sold your house and car, and apparently they have some of the highest standards of living and happiest population.

Apparently, back when John Major was in charge, if you couldn't pay the mortgage through unemployment then the government would pay it for you, up to 9 months. This seems like a great idea for several reasons:

a) It takes some of the stress off the family, and you have some time to gain employment.
b) If the worst happens and you have to move, you have time to make preparations.
c) The stress of imminent repossession doesn't tear the family apart, upset the children and cause the parents to jump under a tube train.

I'm a firm believe that there should be a safety net when things go tits up, to do anything else (ie. not give support) is cruel and inhuman. Would you really begrudge someone the help they need when they've fallen on hard times?

Yes but I have my Christmas decorations and have had them for years. So no expenditure there for me. I spend almost no more for Christmas than any other time of year. Other than presents and I never go berserk. It is more the thought than the amount spent. What if people need to look for work further afield? A car can be very handy for them, and the quicker they are back into work the cheaper it is on the tax payer. Also selling everything so that you have nothing also creates a vulture society where many prey on those that fall on hard times. I suspect that people who push for these draconian and penal benefits never think that it will hit them or anyone that they know. Unfortunately we are about to enter a Depression which will be worse than the thirties because of the levels of personal and commercial debt. In fact I am getting concerned that many well known companies will collapse under a pile of debt, making millions more unemployed, then where will people be? The Americans in teh 30-'s only got behind the big civil projects because of a fear of a rise of communism. People with no ties or links to a society become a risk of rioting. Create enough disenfranchised through draconian economic policies and your lifestyle will be trashed in the coming riots. What governments have failed to tell anyone is that in order for the economy to carry on they have to drive down living standards for most to make the country internationally competitive with the chinese peasant.

All this shows that you do not own until you have finished paying the mortgage. Until then you are still renting, until you have made that final payment.

All they are doing is reducing the interest rate they use to calculate the amount of money to pay you.

If they want to reduce the risk of people being kicked out then pass a law telling the banks that if someone declares to them that they are claiming mortgage benefit then the maximum interest rate they can charge is the “official rate”

Far too sensible and no way for banks to rip off people or tax pay so they will lobby against it.