The coming worldwide credit crunch

The issue with Northern Rock is that it relies almost totally on mortgage lending for it's business & therefore does not have funds held on deposit in the way other Financial Institutions have. This means that they have to borrow the money from the BoE in order to continue their core business - mortgages.

The Banks that do have customers savings use these funds to lend to other customers, which usually means that they do not have to borrow from the Bank of England to balance the books.

Over recent weeks major financial institutions have been maintaining their cash reserves rather than lending to one another, in order to mitigate the tightening credit belt. I think it was Barclays that had to approach the BoE a few weeks ago because the other big banks would not settle their overnight shortfall.

According to the news, Northern Rock have not actually drawn the funds that the BoE have agreed to lend them. Although given the lengthy queues outside branches today, it probably won't be long.

All the Banking Industry shares fell heavily today - mine fell to a 52 week low!!!

Noreen

In fact as the Bank of England is now underwriting all investments in Northern Rock all investors are more secure now than yesterday

They are still selling mortgages 

The press release forecast profits with the new facility [ if used] at circa  £500m down from circa projected of £600m

NR depend more on money markets instead of small investors like some of the other mortgage banks and are just suffering from the turbalance on 8th August....Barclays also had to borrow from B of E

EU economy is still strong.....Spain and UK poss the best!

Hi all,

The last few years in the UK i worked for a PLC company that owned approx half of all the high street agencies in the country.

I was head of Corporate business which sounds very grand but in fact was probably the most stressful and depressing career move ever made.

I hope this will give you an insight into what the position involved and the day to day tasks and maybe make a few people aware of what is happening within both the UK and Foreign housing market.

I was solely in charge of all the repossessed property across my region,i would receive a call from the Bank or Building society who had the mortgage owing on the property and accompany the bailliffs i(f needed),the locksmiths and a chartered surveyor.

I would then value the property and issue the bank with a market appraisal and what i actually thought the property would sell at in an open market,taking into consideration the timescale of 12 weeks untill the property would be placed at auction.

We always undervalued slightly to give ourselves a fair chance of selling and the bank to give their mortgage redeemed.

After the bank considered my information they would then come back with a price window that any prospective purchaser had 3 attempts of hitting before they were not allowed to offer again on the particular property,only myself and the bank had the figure required!!!

You would be suprised what i had offered to me in the past by investors looking for some inside knowledge!!!! disclosure of the figure would have seen me struck off and banned from practising as an agent!!!!

Anyway i could bore you with details of the amount of re'pos that came in and most in the early days were investors that caught a cold or people who watch too many property ladder programmes but the worrying thing that later it was families with young children.

I remember going to one particular house where the owners had not even packed or removed any items at all,the dinner plates were still on the table!!!!! all the toys were in the Kids bedrooms and this tough old agent actually had a lump in his throat.

Anyway,i suppose what i am trying to say is that the "credit crunch" or "bust" or "downturn" whatever you want to call it has far more serious victims than the odd merchant banker that had to give his Porche back,try looking into the eyes of a mother of three that has just placed the keys to her family home on your desk and walked away.

Soon after i resigned my position and moved to Spain,left a huge salary,company car,pension,bupa etc...etc... and found the real quality in life!!"!!

It is happening again,as the banks over lend to desperate people who need to buy and accept their terms it will only go one way.

Regards

Georgia

Hi Candyfloss - yes very very warped..............................!

Wasnt a suprise there - its been bandied about for a while, watch to see the other ones go - house of cards.

The banks here are already tightening furiously.

Hi ALL,

On sky news this morning they announced that"Northern Rock" one of the UK biggest mortgage lenders had to bailed out by the Bank of England.

looking in from the outside here in Spain i saw this coming.

If you lend someone 5,6 or 7 times their salary with a constant increase in the interest rate how do the banks expect them to actually pay it back?

There are on average 77 properties repossessed every day in the UK and Spain will not escape this latest trend!!!!

Regards

Georgia

Pssssst Rixxy,

You share my warped sense of humour then.....................

Ooooooooooooh Candyfloss - you are a brave woman!!

Love it!

No problem Smiley, just did not want another free for all!!

I, too understand about the photos etc., but would rather it been brought up in a more friendly way.

Still it's over now, I hope and would REALLY like to get back to thread.

Hi Karen didnt mean to alarm you and when I started typing my post yours was the last on there pknott is clearly a quicker typist than me but then I answered three phone calls in the middle as well so didnt notice him getting things back on track - anyway had my say - its a free world and will never give personal grief and see both points of view - and as a gulity party for going off thread I cannot sit on my moral highground but I understand the photos and the glitz get peoples goats when it takes up a page and a half of the thread - its only my view and each to their own.

The world wide credit crunch seems to have come to a halt......at least the postings have!

Come on guys and gals.......the thread was really good to read, even if my comprehension was lacking, it's always good to learn about what's happening .

Again, I think the wrong end of the stick has been grasped here.  Karen, we are not complaining about the replies and I, for one, really appreciate the information you have given on community rules etc just in case I find myself in that position in the future (fingers crossed--NO!!!!).

What is annoying is that a Bucket thread was specifically set up to allow those that want to to play around.  The complaint is that is still spilling over into serious matters.  Trying to plough through sparkly text and picturs of "fwuffy pussies" is the most annoying thing on here.  If someone new joins, the sparkly brigade are the first to jump in tell them to post their queries in the right place. 

This site provides some of the best information around for anyone thinking of, or already has, moving to Spain.  It points out the pitfalls, the way to do things correctly, who to see when you want things done etc.  If certain people want to turn it into a type of kindergarten for people refusing to grow up, then many will turn to other forums available on the good old interweb which I note that some already have.

I am not averse to humour, banter, chit-chat etc, but please, keep it in the appropriate place.  And, by the way, its not big and its definitely not clever.  And what this has to do with the coming worldwide credit crunch, I don't know.  I have now copied some of the proper replies into a separate folder so I won't have to sift the dross out.

If some of you guys would care to look you will find that the "thread drift" by the so called "bucket" users started as an attempt  (along with others) to stand up for the original contributor  who had been accused of being boring and having no life because of the length and nature of his posts.

Those you are now maligning and other regular contributors were attempting to support TJ and encourage him to continue posting in his informative way on this post ... not attempting to "hijack" as you so lovingly put it.

Where were you then??????   or is this just another excuse to have a go? 

If so, please stop ... I do not come on this forum to show off, score points, or be unnecessarily rude, insulting or unfriendly   So please do not accuse me of it, and i will likewise not accuse others just because i am not impressed, entertained or informed by their posts!

As for my glitter  ... I like it ... if it makes you smile then I am glad ... if it makes you angry or upset, then that is sad.

I believe that this site is about more than just giving information it is also about providing support and friendship to people in similar situations.  Please bear that in mind.

This is the first and last time that i will post a message to explain or justify myself ... I am extremely disappointed that what i have read has made me feel the need to do so.

LAM1963, strong words with not much niceness or friendliness !!

Even though you obviously do not like the 'bucket' it's a sorry state to lambast persons who do.

I try to help on posts if I can and feel I have contributed some decent information. I do not understand what you mean about the site being used for  'financial gain'  and thought that  sort of stuff was quickly edited.

As for the different guises, yes I agree it is much better to post as yourself, so who has done this ? Certainly not myself.

I would like to read more about 'the coming world wide credit crunch', and would prefer the postings to remain courteous, friendly and respectful.