Show me the Money No 3

S

Sally

Guest
Last night's show sparked a lively debate in our house. It posed a real dilemma. To sell or not to sell the second home. I was stunnned that the couple managed to refinance into the mortgage a third time, for 30 thousand. If I heard correctly that's 80 thousand over a couple of years!

I wonder if the Central Bank was watching!
 
I thought the show was great!!!

That couple were so bad with money, it made me feel sensible!
 
-

Frankly I had absolutely no sympathy for them whatsoever. Originally spending over €600 per month on booze (no i'm not from the local temperance society) as well as takeways etc. pah!!

Also their obsession with their almost mythological apartment in Donegal.

You could see Eddie was almost despairing with them at the end. He is dead right about creche fees and any increase in interest rates will absolutely cripple them. I think he felt that it was a case of when rather than if they will have to sell the second property.
 
SMTM

Sally - its IFSRA now, and if Mary O Dea was watching I she might just get an insight into what's really happening on the ground. I was shocked myself, but maybe thats naive?

Maybe it just goes to show that money isn't just about logic, not when deep human emotions and different attitudes come into play?

The moral question is where the balance of fault lies. OK there's the couple, but is Hobbs irresponsible for not preventing them? Is IIB responsible for allowing them? Is IFSRA responsible in turn for setting rules for lenders?
 
Re: SMTM

I thought Eddie missed the opportunity to point out that refinancing over a longer period will ultimately make them poorer. It eases their immediate cash flow problems, but they will end up paying out more interest to the bank in the long term.
 
central bank and ifsra

sally and rmul

ifsra is an organisation run by bankers for bankers to the detriment of all others. and i mean ALL others.what would you expect? they will not reprimand their own, at least not in public.
 
SMTM

The show was classic! Rainyday - I thought that Eddie's face and bemusement reflected what most viewers thought. He couldn't have been more direct- sell the house in Donegal - what kind of number would frighten you! But what can you do when the hubby says things like "I've a fixed variable mortgage"! God all mighty.

If they weren't froghtened by the short term argument like the creche and car costs, how could a long term argument sway them. The couple are reflective of many people, ah sure we'll struggle on!
 
Re: SMTM

The shows are getting better each week. This might actually be a clever strategy from RTE. Who'd have believed that!!!!

Poor old Eddie, they all keep ignoring his advice. Last week the extra borrowing for a holiday just as he was getting them on the straight and narrow. This week the 27 year refinance.

I missed a few minutes at the start, I didn't notice Eddie mentioning anything about the ability to save.
They seem to have resigned themselves to 27 years of not saving or investing. I presume the logic is that the houses will be their nest egg.

Was there any mension of a pension? Or school/college fees? The kid who hadn't been born yet will be almost 30 when the debts were cleared.

I hope plans are already afoot for a follow up show in a year or two with the various families.

-Rd
 
Frankly I had absolutely no sympathy for them whatsoever. Originally spending over €600 per month on booze (no i'm not from the local temperance society) as well as takeways etc. pah!!
Click to expand...

But don't you see - it's "rip off Ireland" that's to blame really... :lol
 
some figures

Just to add some figures to the discussion.

I think their take-home pay was €50k total.

So-called "lifestyle" loans over past 18 months were €52k. This consisted to two mortgage top-ups and two personal loans. On top of the original mortgage debt. SHOCKING.

Loan repayments were now 52% of income. Way too high.

After spending cutbacks, and the new longer-term consolidated mortgage, the repayments were a more manageable 37% of income.

But, as was pointed out, extra creche fees and a hike in interest rates would push this back up to 50% of income.
 
Re: some figures

Great show but I couldn't understand why Eddie didn't suggest them letting the Donegal property either long term or as a holiday home during the summer season. I did feel sorry for him though, like a lot of these shows (Property Ladder is a prime example) people are getting invaluable advice from an expert and totally disregarding it!

Sarah

www.rea.ie
 
SMTM

Sarah's right, but that's the fun isn't it. Money is a lot more complex than we think, because of the people handling it. As for renting a Donegal appartment, I'd guess that this couple would lose their lives. They want to be in it on demand, and rents realistically would only be available June to Sept -precisely when the Art Teacher is off work?
 
SMTM

If they don't replace their car soon, Donegal won't be an issue.
 
It's not our fault that we ahve no money....Doh!

A colleague of mine was on debt collection for a building society. A couple were €10k in arrears on their mortgage.
When he called to the house there were two brand new cars in the driveway.
Their excuse for not paying their mortgage. "We don't have the money".
Another couple got a loan for a brand new kitchen based on their salaries etc. One year later and no repayments.
Their excuse "The kitchen supplier told us that if we used our new kitchen as a show kitchen he would pay us €50 per visit, but he has sent nobody to view it, so we won't be paying back the loan unless he sends someone"

There are some really really stupid people out there.
 
Re: It's not our fault that we ahve no money....Doh!

Eddie mentioned last night that the couple had already missed (or paid late) 13 mortgage repayments!

I felt a bit sorry for them in their naivete but then again I felt they were being irresponsible. Their kids will be the ones to suffer if there isnt enough money to meet basic living needs in 5-10 years time (let alone 27 years time). If there are many people like them, the property market could come under pressure if banks get tough and force people to sell properties to reduce borrowings.
 
13 missed Payments

I noticed that too. What the hell was the lender doing letting these people Re-mortage two properties again (what was it the 3rd time in a year?

Was the fact that there were TV camera's involved an ssue? Did IIB not want to be seen as turning them down? If so then it's a weakness in the show, similar to the 30,000 CU loan in the last episode.

-Rd
 
"Don't draw the wrong conclusions" Dept.

Interesting show last night. Isn't it great that one can feel so relaxed about one's finances? ;)

Just veering slightly off-topic for a moment. While browsing through the TV pages of today's Examiner, I noticed a picture of Eddie (the one where he's beside the Central Bank(?) in serious pose mode) and I thought "Oh,oh, 'de paper' is getting their days mixed up" but, no, they were plugging the repeat edition of the show that's on at 3pm on Fridays.

It would be interesting to see what kind of audience SMTM gets at that time of the day?
 
SMTM

Interesting how RTE's "Factuals" are doing. According to the advertising people SMTM is sharing the top two places with PrimeTime. Everything getting bigger audiences are soaps and entertainment like The Late Late. Just goes to show the nerve its hitting.
 
SMTM

Good programme so far but when will Eddie deal with the affairs of some people who are not total donkeys when it comes to money.
I would like to see how Eddie would advise in a situation where the subjects are at a minimum responsible people with aspirations to extracting maximum return from their income.
ie Saving for retirement, saving for college, maybe trying to get a second property up and running. With all due respects theres not a lot more to be learned from looking at the sins of the financial heads in the sand club.
 
SMTM

Surviving OK has a good point, but my guess is that the people who come forward are those most concerned, and in most cases that doesn't include those doing OK, just looking for improvements, but, then again, based on the mix so far I wouldn't be surprised to find a few over the next few weeks.

What I like is the diversity of people so far. Its the people rather than the nuances and differences in their financial story that makes it work on TV I'd say. I think there's another 6 or 8 left in the series? But so far, and I thought i'd never say this, RTE has done a fine job - lots of ordinary people who didn't discuss each others money situations are beginning to talk to each other, even if its very cautiously so far. If SMTM helps break the ice it will have been a success.
 
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