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> a £50 fine might as well be £50,000- its unpayable, and leads to a sort of doom-spiral of lending to avoid worse consequences. Easily you can end up in unmana
by corobo 11mo ago
> a £50 fine might as well be £50,000- its unpayable, and leads to a sort of doom-spiral of lending to avoid worse consequences. Easily you can end up in unmanageable debt
Yup! Bank gave me an overdraft when I was 16. At 37 I'm still in debt connected to that first bit of "free" money.
I've never earned above £0, and at this point it's too late to care. They can write me off as a minor loss when I kick it haha
- HPsquared 11mo agoIf it's any consolation that's how finances work for most governments.
- corobo 11mo agoNo consolation needed - if I come across as woe is me it's not the intention. It is what it is and all that. I've got food, I've got shelter. It'll do. You're born, you keep your head down, and you die - if you're lucky.
- danans 11mo ago> I've never earned above £0, and at this point it's too late to care If you have never earned above 0 at age 37, that suggests that you have a personal situation that actually prevents you from working, not so different from a disabled person might face. Just as tragic is the fact that people who do work full time and earn very little also end up in similar debt spirals. In benevolent societies such people might end up being helped by the social safety net, but in less benevolent societies, they often end up on the streets. There are active experiments in decreasing benevolence right now across many societies.
- dijit 11mo agoit’s not terribly uncommon even in the UK to be generationally unemployable. Homelife being bad = bad grades bad grades = no support for further education no basic (or further) education = disadvantage in entry jobs no experience in entry jobs = red flag for employers (even for other entry level jobs in future where better educated folks fresh from school are also applying). The larger the gap, the bigger the red flag. I was in this trap, I just struck a particular lottery that the thing I love most (computers) was a booming industry which had no formal education requirements.
- corobo 11mo agoI work and earn money, my balance has never been above zero. Worded it clumsily maybe.
- fouc 11mo agoI don't know if it would be useful to you, but perhaps try reading some of the blog posts on earlyretirementextreme.com. Lots of good ideas there on how to save money, be frugal, etc. Or read a book like "Your money or your life"
- cryptonector 11mo ago> I've never earned above £0, and at this point it's too late to care. You're a sysadmin and what not -- how can that be?
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- corobo 11mo agoLow salary for the role in my local area and not moving to a city when I still had the ability to take credit out
- cryptonector 11mo agoIt sounds to me like you don't need income from labor. I'm not going to cry for you.
- dijit 11mo agoHe’s indicated in a sibling thread that he’s not looking for sympathy. He’s trying to help you empathise that in reality these kinds of holes are really difficult to escape from; moreso than you think on first glance. It’s also very easy to fall into them even if you think you’re immune. Most people are about 2 bad decisions from poverty. In light of that, your response is just horrible.
- tasuki 11mo agoMost people spend insane amounts of money on things they don't need to impress the people they don't like.
- dijit 11mo agoTwo hypothesis: 1) The nature of interest in unsecured loans is high interest (almost by definition) and increasingly so if you are seen as a credit risk. Thus small debts compound over time making them unbearable for longer. 2) Our friend is merely Keeping up with the Jones’ despite never going above a zero balance. One of these is uncharitable and ridiculous- the other is a known issue that keeps people in poverty. I’ll let you figure out which.