lozgti

Agreed.We have no intention of moving so it is academic.

It is the numerous people who are coming up to remortgage that have a problem.

How can they do it with potentially negative equity? They will have to stay with their existing lenders I presume and take it on the chin with a big rise in repayment rates.

Think a lot of people will find it hard finding an extra £200 a month which will have a huge impact on the rest of the economy.

So Mr Darlings proposed changes re car tax bands are going to tip lots of people over the edge.

Even I can see my MX5 being dust sheeted for a while.The people lose out,the government loses out,the economy loses out.

What a mess.Thanks Labour

daiking

As things stand at the moment, I don't there there is a "bottom" for house prices. Not 10% of or 20% off or even 50%. All the indicators are pointing south and once sentiment really turns, no one will want to touch it. Only question now is will the falls be real or nominal? Will inflation and more importantly wage inflation be unleashed?

As for re-mortgaging, I've asked a couple of brokers. For those who've bought in the past few years at high LTV or those who have MEW-ed significantly, the choices seem limited to dropping onto the SVR or being lucky and re-mortgaging with your existing provider if they don't ask too many questions.

Suffice to say that if Northern Rock were the only bank who would touch you back then, you're stuffed now and you won't find things easy.

Anecdotally, I took out a 3 yr fix at 4.79% in 2005, the same sort of deal now is approx 6.5% and the fees are double. That's an extra £100* per month for every £100K borrowed on a repayment basis

daiking

And if you thought things were bad here, try Spain

Spanish new-car sales plunge 30.8 percent in June

Octygone

The same things (only a lot worse ) happened in the 80s ...we hung on to our house but quite a few people couldn't because of the rise in interest rates to 15% (so the payments actually doubled, not just went up a bit).......house prices halved (not went down a few thousand like now) poll tax or council tax doubled...and an awful lot of people lost their jobs, so to be honest it's happened before and people will get through it ....unlike this oil price fuelled depression we are having now the last one was entirely engineered by the conservatives .....so just don't believe the grass is greener on the other side.

And the car tax bands are nowhere near high enough ......4x4 vehicles if they are part of a job (farm, mountain rescue etc) should have a lower tax concession, if you pollute you pay for the privelege....same for petrol prices to be honest ...they aren't going to go back down so the world must find ways of using less or alternative fuels/energy, I get a lot of this moaning at work when I have to go out to someones house to find out why their fuel bills have doubled.....DUH the price of energy has doubled as well and generally the ones who complain have no energy saving bulbs and are used to squadering energy all the time.....wake up people energy is getting to be an expensive commodity...use it wisely

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daiking

Don't believe the New Labour spin, Oil is not to blame and this credit fuelled boom has been engineered just as much as any other. No more boom and bust, my ****.

Aspman

I don't think this government could engineer a stick with a nail in it. They are led by events and have no idea what to do.

Right now most Labour politicians are looking for nice jobs in the city to slot into within the next 2 years when their access to the gravy train dries up.

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The TazZone Forums

daiking

In 2 years, there won't be jobs in the city to walk into.

Maybe engineer was the wrong term but they were perfectly capable of opening the credits taps, allowing debt to double within 10 years, establishing a regulator (the FSA) that was unable to do its job etc. Unfortunately they neglected to turn them off and instead of getting the bathroom floor wet, they've flooded the entire house.

lozgti

I don't know why it is always 4x4's people talk about.It is going to be family cars such as Zafiras,Galaxy;s,Espaces,mondeos,volvos etc that will be hit by this VED rubbish.

As to the 80's,perhaps this has happened because labour now are a mirror image of MT.

Everyone thought they were rich,remortgaging,flash cars,new plasmas etc

My view is that has been actively encouraged by labour to make the economy look good.Its over now and there are very tough times ahead.

I just wonder if this spoilt 'we think interest rates will always be low' generation will cope as well as those in the 80's did?

Dr Zoidberg

But only ones with V6 engines and auto gearboxes as far as I can see.

It's the typical scaremongering by newspapers where they don't specify a model to imply that everyone with a 1.6 litre mondeo will be paying £450 a year

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Alex

"I laugh in the face of danger, then I hide until it goes away"

www.drzoidberg.co.uk

lozgti

My little mx5 with a 1.8 will be over £300.Most petrol mondeos I suspect will be 1.8 or above.

Thats more than the car insurance!

daiking

The 2000-2007 Ford Mondeo - smallest engine is a plain 1.8 petrol, 123bhp, 182g CO2

Ford Mondeo Hatchback - 1.8 LX 5d (05) - Facts & Figures - Parker's

next year tax would rise from £170 to £260

BBC NEWS | Special Reports | 629 | 629 | New car tax rates for 2009

2.0 Petrol is 187g CO2 so tax rises from £210 to £260

Got a 2.0 ford focus? £210 to £300

Ford Focus Hatchback - 2.0 Zetec 3d - Facts & Figures - Parker's

2001-2006 ford galaxy 2.3l petrol 242g CO2 - tax goes from £210 to £415

Ford Galaxy - 2.3 LX 5d - Facts & Figures - Parker's

cheezemonkhai

So what is Tom's V6 Mondeo?

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Cars make CO2 and trees absorb CO2. By driving your car you're feeding a tree and helping the environment.

daiking

Too old!

but I think the 2.5 V6 is 242g in the newer shape so it'll be up to £415 if it was registered after March 01.

cheezemonkhai

That would hurt a lot.

Does seem a hell of a mess, especially in light of the following which doesn't include a car:

BBC NEWS | Business | UK life costs 'at least £13,400'

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Cars make CO2 and trees absorb CO2. By driving your car you're feeding a tree and helping the environment.

ap0gee

Considering the items 'required' included booze and an annual holiday, this bit in the BBC's analysis pi$$ed me off:

Sorry, but if you want to get drunk and go on holiday, get a f%&*ing job!!! Doleys forcing decent working people to pay their way for them can't be helping the 'economic situation' - and despite the government's claims about unemployment figures, they're only as low as they seem to be through careful massaging and schemes like New Deal which actually cost the country more than the equivalent dole pay-out AFAIK.

To counter the Daily Mail's stance, perhaps the solution to all the economic migrants / immigrants / asylum seekers / call-them-what-you-wants coming over here is to ship out the equivalent number of British spongers...

The flip-side of this, of course, is that the figures suggest the minimum wage isn't high enough to support what they deem to be a decent standard of living. Funny, 'cos I earned much less than that (adjusted for inflation) for quite some time after leaving home and never felt like I was missing out...

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Dr Zoidberg

As I understand it , these figures are designed to show what's needed for a basic but comfortable lifestyle.

It's not the bare minimum that you need to survive , or what people in the street would in generally aim for. It's intended to show what's needed for the basics such as food and heating , plus being able to have a drink from time to time , the odd cheap holiday , replacing appliances and buying yourself clothes.

It's very easy to live on less for a shorter period when you can go without any recreation , and don't need to replace anything as it wears out , but this is for a sustainable longer term lifestyle

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Alex

"I laugh in the face of danger, then I hide until it goes away"

www.drzoidberg.co.uk

cheezemonkhai

Exactly.

You get to work on your bike not by car and you don't have a car, you have a self catering holiday in the UK once a year and a bottle of wine a week. No fags etc.

It is quoted as what is needed to get by and to be socially inclusive.

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Cars make CO2 and trees absorb CO2. By driving your car you're feeding a tree and helping the environment.

cjb

Can I nominate a few to go?

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-- Chris
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The Devil may care, but I don't mind.

cjb

Been there, done that. Had a 125% mortgage at one point (we had to move after neighbour problems and lost a lot), and at the rate rise in the early 90s had 100%. We did struggle, but now we have a very small mortgage and a house we like. It will all recover given time, and it's not all the current government's fault: some of it is from previous ones, and some is cyclical, as others have said.

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-- Chris
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The Devil may care, but I don't mind.

gadgetman

Darling is an idiot. He was around when railtrack went norks up, and ruined DoT so was removed from that post.

All he's done is make millions of average brits cars unsellable. Great way to gain votes.

Tory 80% whitewash at next gen election. God help us all

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Lick the window of life

Why not join the Briskoda Last.fm group?

daiking

Well I was hoping I wouldn't resort to this so soon but bu99er them its got to happen eventually. I'm getting off reasonably lightly as my mortgage is only going up by £100 next month but mrs daiking is down £1K a month whilst on stat maternity pay (I doubt we'll ever see it again tbh) and there's always things that daiking jnr is needing as he grows.

So its time to really cut out unnecessary costs, no posh brews, cheeky butties, flashy mags, interesting beers, indulgent treats. Just the essentials, the things that keep me sane and long term goals to aim towards.

Now is when the economy tanks. I would like to apologise in advance to all those who end up out of work from my behaviour and all those who find themselves in a similar position. It will be no consolation to you but it is not our fault.

Shifty

You say that, and whilst I dont relish the thought of a Tory Govt, how much worse can they make it? The other issue to consider is if they do get in, it will take them more than 4 years term to scrape the surface of damage Labour/Gordon Brown has done to the economy.

Thatcher - should be in the swear filter I know - BUT - this country was debt free when she was in charge. Yes this doesnt count against privatising everything which quite possibly ruined the country, but it's a fact.

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hunter0f2

UMMMM.. Not too bothered at the moment. House paid for, Cars paid for, Retired-- Got my pensions , savings & investments in place.

Cut down on motoring a little, Tend to use wifes Fabia a bit more than my Dodge Caliber, especialy on short shopping runs.

Dont think I'm going to bother Flying abroad so much-- Cant stand airports- & refuse to pay green taxes etc on flights.

When I'm skint I'll throw myself at the mercy of Help the Aged & Age Concern...

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Argue Not with Dragons, For Thou ar't Cruchy & go well on Toast!!!!!!!!!!

Wifes 1.4 Automatic Fabia Estate ,rear parking sensors. Comfort model ..52 Plate only 8000 miles!!!