Debt Problems

Could this be the Governments answer to the populations debt problems?

UK credit card debt is currently standing at more than the Nations total annual wages and getting worse.The slippery slope is getting steeper. People use cards to buy things they dont need, cant afford and are predominately Chinese consumer fodder, sold on the High Street at huge profit, which is over priced, over packaged and produced by a despicable regime. So let the Government freeze all credit card debt, abolish cards and have individuals convert credit card debt into personal loans through the banks at a fixed rate say 2% over base.This way the banks get their money back over a structured term with fair interest, consumers get out of debt and stop paying the banks over inflated interest rates. The banks have had it all their own way for a long time now its time for sanity to return to interest rates. That would be responsible Government looking after the interests of the Nation and its population, not just its friends in Threadneedle Street.

Public Comments

1. I don't want anyone messing with my credit card debt, thanks! The card companies don't chase me, I pay what they want, we are both happy. If ppl can't manage their debt, that's their problem - what's it got to do with the Government?
2. Well,you have very valid points, ones i wish the government & british public will read & heed, i personally dont have credit and refuse to buy foreign goods, i saw this problem coming .. i am a business person. realising, that cheap goods were good if you are materialistic,but also meant british people losing jobs . Its the public problem,why should you hold a government responsible for people getting into debt .. htey have only themsleves to blame ... simple ! But th e whoile nation will pay for the greed .. if you havent got the money for goods .. you wait until you have .. its a fact of survival .. not the american cash credit game.. the answer is to provide incentives for cash purchases & make interst on borrowing higher .. not the banks fault, it s consumer spending
3. You are unlikely to see the govt, even this labour govt, intefering so greatly with the running of the free market. New labour is very much for the corperation. The solution you propose is likley to provoke feelings of further resentment towards the 'nanny state' from both the public (who sre likely to dislike being told what to do) and the banking sector (who will definately not like their profits being reduced). Banks make a great deal of money off buying and selling debt. Also, imaging the bureaucracy for such a task! It would be a waste of public funds and govt time. It may be a useful suggestion, and be a cheaper option for those with a great deal of debt, giving them no choice but to fully pay off their debt. It would also lessen the likelyhood of consumers incurring further spiraling debt. An interesting idea, but a flawed one I feel.
4. Sounds a good idea, but although the banks will get their money back, they will not make huge profit. Their shareholders will not be happy and go on about their freedoms and rights under a capitalist economy to fleece us all dry. The frightening thing is that people will actually vote the Government out for curtailing these freedoms, with the full encouragement of the gutter press. Instead of fighting big business, they will bow down to it in the proposterous and greedy hope that they too may one day live the dream. Along with this the banks will either start charging us to access our money or will push mortgage rates up sky high. We will resentt he decision even more and miss the fact that we cannot spend a fortune buying crap we do not need, for it to sit in cupboards unused. Such is the way of the world, you cannot help some people.
5. The first answer is remarkably self righteous for a borrower. For the most part debt only buys interest, and that’s an incredible waste of productivity. If anything the government should buy up debt and give it back to the public.
6. i think you might upset too many people with this one although you have a point about the debt of the nation. you can't tell people not to spend but your point about spending on goods from regimes with a bad human right record is very good - there is a strong argument that we should check where the goods have come from before we spend - preferably buying British to keep the money here at least. from now on i shall do this thing - thank you for pointing it out.
7. Abolish credit cards? The banks would never let you. How else are they going to make their billions? How else can the next champagne joust be funded?