We must have credit control
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I am sorry, Ray Boulger, but I have to disagree with you regarding your column in last week’s Money Marketing. Not only is the FSA right, in my opinion, but our coalition Government has even said that it proposes some form of credit control on mortgages.
I have been saying for some considerable time that credit control across the board should be introduced. No purchases on a credit card for more than, say, 75 per cent of the value of the goods, the balance to be paid by debit card.
Yes, I have seen Boulger’s example of the lawyer but my guess is that the FSA is referring to those in the “normal” sphere. Too much laxity has been the norm concerning the self-emp-loyed and the inclusion of bonuses. As we have seen, fluctuating income is a twoedged sword. These additional amounts may not be paid at all.
By definition, they are a privilege and not a right, so the idea of looking at the basic or, as Boulger puts it, the lowest is eminently sensible.We really need to get back to financial discipline. There has been far too much hooliganism concerning expenditure and indebt-edness. It is no one’s right to buy a house or have a mortgage - they must be able to prudently afford it. Perhaps going back to rent control as well would be no bad thing.
Unfortunately, it is this single-minded obsession by the mortgage industry that has led to our present parlous state. The countries worst affected are those with the same views and systems. Those least affected are where mortgages were harder to come buy. Why can’t the lesson be learnt?
Harry Katz
Norwest Consultants
Edgware, Middlesex
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