Are You Talking About My Generation?!

Ever heard your parents or grandparents say “When I was your age …..” or “Its not how things used to be….”?  We could actually learn a lot from our parents instead of rolling our eyes and making cute comments.

When mum or grandma were younger and they wanted a new car, do you know what they did?  They saved up.  When they wanted a new winter coat or a holiday?  They saved up.  Dad didn’t run down to the bank for a loan.  Granddad didn’t whip out his Mastercard.  They saved up.

The age gap between the generation is more than years… it has become an attitude gap.  The newer generations think nothing of putting everything on credit and worrying about it tomorrow. The problem with that philosophy is that tomorrow is here and now we all have to worry.

Credit card debt has spiralled across the nation over the last decade and now with the GFC an unwanted reality, many Australians are finding that they simply cannot meet their credit commitments.

“We have seen a massive increase in the number of enquiries,” says Natalie Levett, Associate Director at Australian Financial Solutions. “The overwhelming majority of people are struggling with credit card debt and other unsecured loans”.

With unemployment rising, job security lower and the threat that “things have to get worse before they can get better” from the Government, it looks like this is a dire situation set to continue and those people struggling with their debts need to get help.

“We can assess your situation over the phone and discuss what options may be available to you,” Natalie says, “don’t do another generation trick of ‘sticking your head in the sand’ because these problems won’t go away if you don’t tackle them head on”.

NAB Leading the Way in Abolishing Overdrawn Bank Account Fees

The overdrawn account fee has long since been one of, if not the most, hated banking fee.  Ironically, the whole concept of charging your customer a fee for not having enough money in the account to cover another expense is an oxymoron which has gone on for far too long.

What the majority of lenders fail to realise is that the customers who have been charged this fee are the same customers who are most in need of the bank’s leniency and assistance.  Many Australians are finding the current GFC hitting them hard and their debts are rising all too quickly without the Banks adding to their problems.

At last one lender, the NAB, has decided to abolish this fee as of October 1^st.  Interestingly, the NAB spokespeople have been adamant that this is a genuine attempt to assist customers and the lost revenue – estimated to be $100 million pa – will not be re-couped in undetected other areas.

If this is so then the NAB deserve to be applauded.  Not only for looking to customers interests above their own bottom line but also because in taking this stance, it is helping to place considerable pressure on the other lenders.

Westpac and ANZ have scrambled to keep up with the fallout from the NAB announcement, belatedly stating their own intention to drop their overdrawn fees down to $9.  Whilst this is a step in the right direction, it still falls short of the NAB’s example of completely eliminating the unwanted fee.

Overconsumption of Credit

We have been told for years that we are a Nation of over-consumers.  Too much fatty food, too much binge drinking, too much energy/petrol/fossil fuels and too much credit?

Yes, that’s right, too much credit.  It’s about time that we realised that our amount of credit card and other unsecured debt is just as damaging to our health as cigarettes and alcohol.  The associated stress and worry of interest and repayments are taxing on the readily employed with a reasonable income, not to mention to effects our out-of-control spending has on those recently affected by the GFC. To those Australians who find themselves now unable to meet their credit commitments, this is very much the overconsumption of credit.

It’s all too easy to point the finger at the over-eager banks and lenders for wanting us to spend the money.  We are, after all, asking for the money ourselves and then happily trotting off to spend it.  We must take responsibility for our actions and our over-consumption.

The problem is… what if you can’t?  Many ‘under-employed’ people have lost their well-paying jobs and now find themselves working in whatever capacity they can to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.  The reduced income however, does not stretch as far as pDebtaying all those loans and credit cards.

“There are other options out there’” Natalie Levett of Australian Financial Solutions is quick to point out, “Most people just aren’t aware that there are alternatives which sit between ‘all OK’ and the last resort of bankruptcy”.