When Debt Brings Down The House

I think this is a GOOD thing, I have long been sick of those who are careless with their money, being able to just write off 'unsecured' debt, get government benefits and just get on with life without suffering an real long term consequences. While other people who have worked hard to overpay their mortgages, carry little or no debt, and have a 'rainy day' savings pot are just left wondering why they even bother.

I realise that there are some people that get into debt because of bad luck, even this could be dealt with if only they were to face the issue sooner rather than later.

As for any damage it does to your credit file, I don't even think this is severe enough, if you have been financially irresponsible in the past, you shouldn't be trusted with loans etc for a long long time!

In my mind it is entirely fair to secure that debt to your house in terms of a charging order. I would go a step further, and have student loans attached to property equity. I have a sister who has never paid off her student loan 'because she doesn't have to'. She is a stay at home Mum, her husband earns enough money to more than comfortably pay it off, and as she bought in the mid 90's her house has more than tripled in value, yet still she has no intention of paying it off.

If you spend the money you should pay it back, one way or another. We all end up paying otherwise in the long term!

I'd even like to see wages garnished for prolific borrowers who are unable to manage their finances on a normal wage.

We all need to learn to spend less.

I am in agreement. I have frequently done an extra eve job alongside my main job, we have let spare rooms to friends and squrilled money away for issues around the corner. We currently overpay the mortgage by £300 per month, partly so if/when we need to pay more at the end of our current fixed term deal we are used to the hiher payments. We have bought our 18 yr old Son up in the same manner so he will be solvent and hard working through out uni life and onwards.
Too little emphasis these days on cause and effect and concequences. Both in the financial aspect of life and work/manners etc.

Spend only what you have earned and buy only what you can afford. Not too difficult really is it?

Interesting - although I support the concept of these lenders trying any means to get their funds back. I must outline a fact that these lenders may not sit tight and wait for their money. It should be made more clear by any lender that they can take this action if necessary, although maybe they would get less business if they did....

An ex partner of mine through no fault of her own ( ex husband's unsecured debt)found herself with a charging order from a leading bank with their aim to get the funds back and push for the sale of the family home to do so. It took over £8,000 of legal fees to delay their demands for the home to be sold.

Beware of the charging order!!!!!

I am a Debt Collector and, as far as I can see, the renters still get off Scot Free and most of the people I collect from are in that category.
Ah! Just remembered, the article did say "Or other property" so, hopefully, Jonbrackenbury's "Fantastic cars" can have charges applied against them too.

Both my fantastic cars are on monthly lease payments (not HP or loan). If I stop making the payments they get taken away from me but I have nothing more to lose. No house or assets to get repossessed. I always ensure I spend my money on holidays or consumables which have no worth to a baliff. A frugal lifestyle does NOT give security. In fact it gives the opposite. You have something to lose if things go bad like redundancy etc. That house you have been paying off will simply get repossessed if you miss just a few payments and sold for a knock down price leaving you with negative equity in all liklihood. you would have struggled your whole life, gone without luxuries and still be left with a big debt and no assets.

I always like to hear from those who separate the emotion from any debate. Unfortunately, many of the postings I've just read don't do that. Let's punish them even more, let's take everything they've got because I don't do that, let's make life harder and drive these people into despair, let's hear about how I'm perfect and everyone else needs to be like me! The one thing about debate from afar and without looking into another individual's eyes is that you get to say almost everything you want without thinking. Yes people get into debt but why is that such a surprise to everyone when you look at how, up until recently, that was so, so, easy to do. People can only get into debt when people offer them debt in the form of credit. If those supplying the credit had not been so greedy in their motives to do so then maybe as a society we wouldn't have this problem. Some of you will be thinking what is this person talking about. As an older individual I have witnessed how without producing any real product or service people have created lots of money. That money is created and the jobs that go along with it, through people having debt. Ouch! Did that hurt some of you? Is your employment involved in providing debt for others? Would you need to look for another position if no one ever had debt? I'm not here to judge you, however, as someone who might, at sometime need to support you,whether that be through a kindness, a blood transfusion or just a hand up from a fall I'd like to think that we can all be above condemning another because they have made a mistake. Please try to remember you're talking about people. In the end what they've done is spend too much for whatever reason but they didn't do that to harm people. If we all want to change something for the better then we should all campaign for better ways to lend money in the 1st place. If you want to condemn someone then look at those that made the money so readily available without doing the checks they were meant too. And why did they do that? Because in the end they were probably on bonus to sell more money / credit to people, their jobs depended on it and that oh so beautiful phrase "we need to make more profit than last year!" Do not condemn your friends, family and others you do not know because you have not done so yourself but think of a way of helping those that made a mistake and believe me they all wish they hadn't. Nothing every gets better through punishment whereas helping others learn from their mistakes does make a difference. If you don't believe me think how you felt the last time you made a mistake and someone criticised you for it and then think when someone said don't worry mistakes happen, it's how we all learn we just need to make sure we don't do it again.