To some degree, Marie, it's partly a variation on Smoke & Mirrors, which the Banks etc buy into, creating an exaggerated impression of one's wealth. We don't have trouble paying our energy bills, partly because we're bloody mean/frugal with the heating use, but partly because we try to be away for Winter. We have reasonable income levels, but don't spend excessively, until we need a large/major item, and then we stick it on the cretin card, to squeeze at least 1 month's credit out of the transaction, leaving the cash in the savings account. Next month we settle the cretin card in full, and t
hen repeat the cycle. We flush quite tidy sums through the card (ferry fares, m/home service/repairs, m/home furniture/improvements/upgrades, broken phone replacements etc etc), and each year the Bank increases the Credit Limit to a level where. were we daft enough to use it, we would be in serious trouble, probably the Bankruptcy Court!
BUT, we APPEAR to be much better off than we actually are, and the 'system' gives us the leeway to live in a comfortable way, with the flexibility to manage cashflow efficiently by the use of the cretin card etc, so the Bank is quite relaxed, even when we are saying to each other. 'Jeez, have you seen the cretin card statement for this month?;! For those people who do not have that initial flexibility, they cannot get that initial, all important standby of the cretin card and/or overdraft limit, which helps us to manage the peaks and troughs of cashflow. All of which is a very long way to say that the Rich gets gets richer, and the Poor get poorer, and we sit somewhere in between ... Or, to misquote a football cliché, in our case, the League Table does lie, 'cos we're nearer the top than our true position would merit ...
Steve
uk.jackery.com
