You can’t go anywhere lately without anyone mentioning the Credit Crunch, it’s got to a point now where it’s being blamed for everything and I think it’s nothing more than just a convenient excuse.
Have you been affected by the credit crunch? I haven’t, yet. My place of employment still managed to get the same number of bookings for our courses as last year and with that it wasn’t the hardest we had ever worked. My company deals in the professional training arena and what would you expect the first thing HR departments would cut back on in a credit crunch?………training their staff.
On a personal level, I am still able to move my small-ish sized credit card debt between various 0% interest offers, my bank overdraft hasn’t been touched and I found out the other day I am eligible for sizeable loans (then again who isn’t?). Readers may cry “What about mortgages?!”, at the end of the day, when you borrow and there is a crisis with your bank, there is nothing you can do, it’s the same as a pension, you’re taking a massive gamble. People who borrowed efficiently and kept within their means aren’t really worried about the credit crunch, from the outcries I have witnessed it was the people who borrowed above their means and bought houses that stretched their budgets to above a tangible limit, so as soon as the interest rates on their repayments rose, they couldn’t afford the repayments on their house (look at America’s Sub-Prime mortgage crisis, it’s the same here).
I have noticed changes but these changes I don’t think are dependant on the Credit Crunch. The price of oil was sky-rocketing way before the US collapse and with agriculture being hit hard, the food bills have steadily increased. I have been lucky in the respect that I can now walk to work and don’t have to fuel a vehicle nearly as much.
What grinds my gears is the way the media report this “crisis”. Every single morning, headlines are dominated by our economy and rightly so. But what we don’t need are the Fiona Phillips of this world patronising me with how I am going to live when fuel bills rise again and the food bills mean I live on cat food. She earns £500,000+ a year and I really don’t need her fake sincerity.
Life is good and I will continue to ignore this pap they are propogating, I am starting new businesses and buying more than ever before, why should I be worried about some Icelandic bank being bought out by it’s government? The reason is I bank with companies who can afford to buy their smaller counterparts so I will never have to worry.
Bankers, the lot of them.
October 8th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
here here, and thank god for Scotty working for a re-selling company. We’ve got a new 40″ TV coming on Friday YAY! I’m a bit short on cash this month but I have just paid up on a wedding and honeymoon.
October 10th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
The same thing up here in Canada. Everyone is scared witless about the economy. Stocks plummet and shoot up every time the bank makes a move.
When this whole thing first started for you guys, I thought it would barely effect us. However, I am surprised to see just how Canada is so tied into the American economy.
October 12th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Yes, my family has been affected by this “credit crunch.” My brother was in a car accident and is too hurt to work. He is not able to collect disability yet because the doctor’s don’t want to admit that he will be permanently disabled yet - they want to do four surgeries on him and say the recovery will be at least two years. He is too hurt to work, though, so he lost his job. The person who caused the accident does not have enough insurance to pay for the medical bills, and with no income he can’t pay his mortgage or his other bills so now he is losing his house, and all of his credit cards are being cancelled. The mortgage company won’t give him a hardship forebearance and so he is losing his house soon. He will have to be moving in with me soon.
And my sister just lost her hubby (he died) and he was their only source of income. She is going to be losing her house in a few months too, and having to move in with me soon too. My house is not meant to hold so many people. My septic system will probably explode from overuse, and my well will probably dry up.
So I’m glad that for you life is good. Not so for many other people.
October 13th, 2008 at 9:13 am
Jeremy, thank you for commenting.
It sounds as if your family are going through the mill right now, I am sorry to hear that. Whilst I understand what you are saying, I do not believe these circumstances would be any easier to deal with, credit crunch or not. That’s a huge responsibility whatever the economy is like.
October 13th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
I think that so many people are panicking that it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
October 24th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
The credit crunch is real. A recession is coming, jobs will be lost, money will be tight for the vast majority of people.
Those owning homes will be hit hard, by the threat of negative equity and reposession.
The older looking to retire in the next 5 or 10 years will have taken a big hit on their retirement pots and may have to defer that retirement or enjoy a lower standard of living.
Those with savings are suffering because of inflation reducing the value of those savings.
While people not in the above groups may not be feeling the effects of the downturn yet, very few demographic groups will be left unaffected. The debt binge this country has been on individual’s, companies and the governement alike will have ramifications.
Those who have overstretched will have to start paying back their debt, or they may have the debt facility taken away from them thus leading to additional problems. Either way their spending will have to be reigned in and this reduced consumption will feed down to everyone as lower demand means less workers needed.
It isn’t all doom and gloom, those that can weather the storm,remain employed and hold it together. Should benefit from house prices at a more sensible level in two or three years. But everyone is in for some stress in the coming years.