Teen beauty spot drinkers are ramblers, not rebels
- Dave Burrows
Leader: Mortgage market shake-up should be welcomed
Monday 19th December 2011, 12:30PM GMT.
The mortgage market has long been overdue a shake-up. As a nation, we were led up the garden path by bankers who faked kindness and led us to the brink of bankruptcy.
Not so long ago, mortgages were as easy to obtain as a Chinese takeaway. Pop into any High Street branch and you’d have walked out with a £100,000 loan – irrespective of your credit history.
British bankers weren’t the only ones who are culpable. The American mortgage system was rotten to the core. Bankers lent to those who couldn’t afford it – in the sub-prime market – and that brought the world’s financial system to a grinding halt.
The fact of the matter is this. Taxpayers and businesses are paying for the mistakes of the recent past. RBS and other banks failed because they lent money to the wrong people.
The £37 billion Government bailout of RBS, HBOS and Lloyds-TSB in 2008 is still being paid for by the great British tax-payer. The Government borrowed £16,000 against every taxpayer and business – in better times, that would have been enough to secure you a mortgage.
So today’s news of a mortgage shake-up is to be cautiously welcomed. As a nation, we need a new set of rules that will save those who cannot afford it from themselves, without stifling growth in the housing market.
Good housekeeping rules should apply. The new mortgage system should not be so tight that people can no longer aspire to the dream of home ownership. However, it should not be so loose that those with no realistic hope of repaying their loans are able to obtain cheap finance.
The nation needs growth and the housing market is often the canary in the mine. We know we are in for better times once it starts to flourish. Let’s hope the rules are clear and simple: money to those who can pay it back, a firm but fair refusal to those who can’t.
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Single room for rent in modern desirable bijou property aka slum, hot and cold running sewage, would suit entire family of 3 generations.
Welcome to the new austerity.
Put simply; you cannot afford it.
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