“What the HELL is this follow up article supposed to be? Everyone is feeling the pinch - we know that already! Seek advice - how about don`t buy what you cannot afford, how about cutting your cloth to suit your purse. Let us not forget that the people who are no longer giving decent interest on our savings, ARE STILL making billions of pounds a year profit and paying massive bonuses to their staff. We get a measly 2% on our hard earned cash which the banks are then using to rake in a small fortune.
Of course we are still being robbed blind as OFWAT look on for our water, same runs true with Gas and Electricity and at the same time as we struggle to pay our massive mortgages we should also be saving for our retirement.
My dad is 72 he bought and paid for his home albeit in a ****** part of Plymouth North Prospect lived there for 40 years, he will be bought out soon against his wil for about £100,000 and the developers and Plymouth Community Homes will take his home and build 2 or more on it and make 160,000 profit on it, he wil be left high and dry the rich get richer the poor just get it stuck to them over and over. No wonder society is breaking down.”

“Simples - You spent it before you earnt it, it's a debt and it'll need to be paid back, and the banks will charge a premium for loaning the money to you.

Whether the banks "made it easy" is neither here nor there, it's called personal responsibility.

Luckily I understood this very basic system and as WalterSmith and binned all the loan applications.”

“@rosiejlp

House prices have a long way to fall and those who released equity (what is that all about) will suffer badly.

@JohnRuskin 16

No-one coerces people into borrowing money. I threw every single bank offer into the bin.”

“i really do not like the way some people on here make such assumptions - maybe those hard up people only have sky tv because they do not drink, smoke, go out to pubs, or meals out.
i have a virginmedia, but i do not drink, smoke, go out, or have meals out 'just because i feel like it' - i'd like to but i cannot justify spending money like that, and although i say i'd like to i don't feel i miss out on anything, it would be nice just occasionally to do something and not have to worry about money.
what does get my back up is the wasters on benefits, and i'm talking the real shirkers here, the ones who think its their god given right to live on benefits and how do these people live, they still seem to have nice cars, all the mod cons, smoke, drink, go out......why because all us working mugs are paying them to do so - and even if these wasters get into debt .....well its ok because they just declare themselves bankrupt and get it written off.
as i said in the water rebate section, somethings got to give, the government is letting these utility companies keep prices rising, as well fuel and food costs regularly going up, the only thing not going up is our wages, but benefits always seem to go up - what a joke last year hearing that benefits would be capped at £500 a week! a week!!
i am however surprised that they mention over 55's as being high because anybody that bought their house pre ten years ago must be sitting pretty from an equity point of view.”

“i do agree with a lot of what you are saying johnruskin and i wish that i could further elaborate on my argument but unfortunately i have two teenagers who are, at this moment ,doing my head in so much that i can't think straight. lol . maybe i'll have the chance to post later.”

“Rosieljp - The wealthy have been with us since man first walked upright!. Since that time there have also been those that have despised them, decried their status, worked for their downfall but would happily swap places with them if they could benefit from the life's little luxuries to the detriment of others.
Simple facts are Rosieljp is that what you criticise is no more than human nature, inflamed by the rapid changes in society that placed wealth before community or family. When we stop measuring a humans being worth by his bank balance instead of his actions and help toward others then the sooner the situation may change. The worship of celebrity has done much to damage our society and instil false standards in our children.
Perhaps if there was not the headlong charge to own the latest gadgetry, have new cars and regular holidays and a house outside your income bracket then perhaps the greedy bankers may not have identified such an easy target for them to exploit, thereby claiming vast bonuses etc.
The man in the street is largely to blame for the current crisis, aided and abetted by the greed of the bankers. The rich are doing no more than they have done since time immemorial; they are sitting back, protecting what they have, keeping their heads down and hoping it will all go away, which of course it will in time. The masses will of course bump along the bottom of the trough and screw anyone around them in the belief that it is only by maintaining absolute self interest that they and their closest come out the other side in a condition that they can continue their headlong charge toward wealth.”

“trudie2010, tell that to the rich who are getting richer instead of preaching to people who work hard and deserve to have some fun in their lives be it sky tv or whatever. for many no car means a struggle to get to work with a **** and expensive bus network and no practical way of enjoying 'free' days out , the beach, moors etc. life is too short and too hard to constantly go without and make do with 'food, warmth and a roof' especially when it is obvious that we are all being taken to the cleaners and paying for the luxuries that the rich take for granted. go tell it to the bankers not normal decent hardworking people.”

“I totally agree with you trudie far too many people regard iphones, shyTV, holidays abroad, two or more cars etc as essential when they are as you say luxuries. Get rid of that culture and we would all manage to get through this crisis caused not by the goverenment of either party but by the greed, pure and simple, of overpaid bankers.”

“I suppose these hard up people will now have to get rid of their sky tv and the car that takes every last penny. But will they? or will they continue to live life as they do now and still complain about a lack of money. NEWS FLASH, we need food and a roof over our heads and some warmth in the winter, everything else is a bonus, NOT a neccesity,”

“WHAT YOU MEAN LIKE FERGIE AND CATATONIC FUNNY HOW DEBTS WHEN AFFECTING THE AVERAGE JOE MUST BE PAID BUT DEBTS OF INFAMOUS AND THE ROYALS JUST GET SWEPT UNDER THE CARPET WHILE THEY CARRY ON SPENDING FAR BEYOND THEIR MEANS FUNNY HOW THAT WORKS ISNT IT. EVEN FUNNIER WHEN YOU REALISE MANY IN POWER PERSONALLY OWE ME HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS IN ALL MULTIPLE MILLIONS YET I CANNOT TAKE THEM TO COURT BECAUSE THE COURTS ARE THOSE THAT OWE ME EVEN MORE AND WHEN YOU FIGHT A CLOSED CULT OF GREED DRIVEN ANIMALS THEIR IS NO WIN FOR THE SOLITARY SOUL”