Monday, May 09, 2005

Loan dolphins

Who is responsible? A couple from South Wales, he's on benefit and she earns £5,000 year, they sign up for a £100,000 loan that the bank approves and only then do the couple realise they can't repay it!! Apparently, it's the bank's fault as they did not laugh the couple back into the street when they applied. The only people ultimately made poorer by this particular deal are the Lloyds TSB shareholders as the loan has been written off. Gordon Brown could only ever dream about such wealth redistribution.

Lloyds TSB will need to sharpen it's lending practices and sales reward schemes in the near future or it will easily bankrupt itself, the market economy in action penalising stupid lending decisions!! I suggest they could make a good start by not lending to people who need such loans the most, those on benefits, unfortunately, this would open the market up to loan sharks instead. Is this what the banking regulators want? How else does Lloyds TSB prevent such stories in the future? Unfortunately, Lloyds TSB emerge from this sorry tale as loan dolphins rather than the loan sharks that they are accused of being.

I just hope it's not the thin end of a wedge where people are able to claim that it's unfair they walked into a bank, obtained a loan they then discovered they can't afford to repay and then get the loan written off. As a responsible borrower, it's typical that I won't benefit from such banks' largesse!! In other shocking news, the couple may have voted Labour...

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