Expensive credit

[ewx]

Robert Jenkins had the credit limit on his Lloyds TSB platinum credit card raised from £6,000 to over £11,000 in under two years - on an annual salary of £18,000. His wife Evelyn was lent £4,500 on her Lloyds TSB platinum card on an annual salary of £5,500.

“was lent”? No element of “chose to borrow” at all?

Yes, offering to loan someone more money than they can sensibly afford (assuming that's what we're meant to conclude from the above numbers) is an irresponsible act. But so is accepting the offer. There's two parties to this decision and I don't see why all the blame is being attached to only one of them.

(My credit limit, on the same kind of card, started out at £4,500 and in fact hasn't changed since then; five or six years, I think. So it's clearly possible to have a credit card from the same bank without a ridiculously inflating limit.)

Comments

[hsenag.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that all the blame is being attached to one party. But reality suggests that targeting the banks to change their behaviour is more likely to be effective.

[ex-lark-asc.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately that means making it illegal for them to take advantage, since they'll do whatever's legal for them to do if it means making money.

not sure that all the blame is being attached to one party

[ewx.livejournal.com]

Perhaps not globally, but I couldn't see any kind of nod towards personal responsibility in the article.