Administration - here we go!

[Larry]

just some thing that crossed my mind the other day if a bank dose collapse and people lose their savings what happens to those people who are in debt with that bank - are the debts just written off.

[Ralph]

Given the world stock markets keep falling and I'll be broke like everyone else I'm thinking of acquiring a shotgun and balaclava as we enter the world of Mad Max 2

[WhiteCrow]

If we'd thrown all these billions at the banks and they'd stabilised, it would have been money well spent. As it is it just now seems like good money after bad. People and just too panicy.

A friend said, how ironic that Kerry Katona went bancrupt before Iceland!

And way to go for the UK Government, classifying Iceland as a terrorist organisation on a par with Al Queda, so they could sieze it's assets. Does this mean I should report my friend with the Bjork albums to MI5???

[Rob McCow]

Metro seem to think that the £500 billion would have been better spent wiping out world poverty. Maniacs!

[Wayne]

Two girls are having coffee when one notices that the other girl seems troubled and asks her, 'Is something bugging you? You look anxious.'
'Well, my boyfriend just lost all his money and life savings in the stock market,' she explained.
'Oh, that's too bad,' the other girl sympathized. 'I'm sure you're feeling sorry for him.'
'Yeah, I am,' she said. 'He'll miss me.'


Q: What's the difference between a pigeon and a stockbroker?
A: The pigeon can still make a deposit on a Ferrari.

B'dum tish.

[WhiteCrow]

I think far better would have been to refund every tax-payer $300 to spend as they like to kind of kick start the economy.

That's right, 300-big boys!

I don't know where I get my ecconomic ideas from.

[Dirk Gently]

I think they should put any refund in to the bank where its safe...

[Si Hunt]

On a sort of related financial note, is there anything in the Direct Debit Gaurantee thing to protect against payments being taken early? I thought you set a date for regular payments and that was that. My mortgage is usually taken on the 1st of the month but next months has been deducted already, 4 days early! That's a fair bit of interest on a mortgage payment. Are they allowed to do this?

Si.

[Phillip Culley]

It would appear not. From the FAQ on the BACS website:

Q. Will the payment always be on the same date every month?

A. Normally payments will be made on the same date each month, quarter or annually according to the payment frequency. If any payment due date falls at a weekend or on a bank holiday, the organisation is obliged to debit your account just after that due date unless they notify you in advance of a change of date.

[Milky Tears]

Yesterday's "OMG!! BIG M&S 20% OFF EVERYTHING FOR ONE DAY ONLY SALE!!" shows how tough things are for retailers right now, but what about this?


Woolworths on the brink...

Woolworths bid 'close to collapse'

Shockwaves from Woolies' 1 pound sale talks

What is the point of Woolworths?

Woolworths talks will send a shiver down the high street





It's been coming for a few years.

Was going to start a new thread, but might as well keep al the economic gloom in one depressing place.

[Captain Tancredi]

I went to M&S in Leeds yesterday- bought a new pair of pyjamas and work trousers which would have been about ?30 each and treated myself to a pair of Who socks to boot. And spent about twenty minutes waiting to pay. Similarly, my friend Des and his wife went to the out-of-town Marks about six miles away from here and reported cars queuing back along the main road- from M&S's point of view, it's got money in the tills a month before Christmas and given them an opportunity to showcase their Christmas range.

I can't honestly remember the last time I spent money in Woolworths, though- the one near work is quite popular with people popping out to buy chocolates for the office, but there's very little that you can't get cheaper or better elsewhere. A few years ago I bought a chopping board there and it was made out of about half a dozen pieces of wood so it split within a couple of months.

[Milky Tears]

BHS had a 20% off sale today and Woolies staff were out in the street handing out 20% off flyers.

Looks like Woolworths is DOOOOOOOOMED!!

Woolworths staring at collapse unless rescue deal with lenders is arranged

[Lissa]

The government is widely expected to cut VAT by 2.5% in Monday's pre-Budget report, as part of an emergency package aimed at kick-starting the economy.

Will this have any effect? Cutting income tax puts more money in peoples pockets so they can spend it but cutting VAT requires the stores - already hard pressed - to cut their prices accordingly which I don't think they'll do. If discounts of 20 or 40% aren't tempting shoppers then the slight chance of a 2.5% VAT reduction isn't going to do much either.

[Captain Tancredi]

My thoughts exactly- the retailers are more likely to use it to give them some breathing space in their profit margins. Argos aren't going to reprint all their catalogues with the prices minus 0.5%.

On the other hand, the other thought that occurred to me is that if (as has been rumoured) the reduction is for a year or so, it could be used to provide an artificial boost next Christmas if it was made known, say, three months in advance that it was going back up to 17.5% with effect from 1st January 2010, giving people an incentive to make big-ticket purchases before the end of the year.

[Milky Tears]

Shocking news!

Lorne Spicer files for bankruptcy

Even the money saving "experts" can't save us.

WE'RE ALL DOOOOOOMED!!

[Si Hunt]

Sort-of related, I have two mortgages and one has fallen nicely in line with interest rates. But I just realised I switched the other one to a fixed rate in March 2008. Given the almost exact and total slide of rates since then, that must go down as something of a monumental gaff!

Si.

[Antony Cox]

that must go down as something of a monumental gaff!

Si.

Hardly a gaff, surely? You weren't to know what the future would bring!

[Si Hunt]

I never get fixed rates though. Don't know what I was thinking!

Si.

[SiHart]

If it's any consolation, we did the same in Sept 2007 Si. There was no way of knwoing back then that it was all going to spiral down such a lot. Indeed at the time the rates kept increasing, so who was to know?

Si xx

[Ralph]

The IMF have just confirmed the Global economy is now reduced to 0.5% projected growth in 2009 worse than expected, that means planet Earth is now in a severe economic slump... can I get aboard the TARDIS please and go to a booming planet or even just skip past the slump in this one!

Meantime any aliens wishing to invade at the moment will be put off so we should be safe for now

[Dirk Gently]

F*@K! F*@K! F*@K! F*@K! F*@K! F*@K! F*@K!


Life's a shit & then you step in it!

[Si Hunt]

You ok Tim?

Si.

[Dirk Gently]

I've been better. Time will tell.

[SiHart]

Blimey Tim. Hope you're OK.

Si xx

[Ralph]

I've been better. Time will tell.

Best of luck Tim