http://www.qck.com/brits-not-bothered-by-c...s-17054846.html

I thought Europe was the highly enlightened society that all of us in the US were to aspire to be like?

That's what Europeans keep telling us.

if you can pay you will charge he he he...

Last I saw, the British credit card companies didn't have usury limits. They were talking about passing them last year. (Not sure if it happened or not)

I read the Business News section of the BBC (British Broadcasting Company) web site and it's a common theme that the Brits are plagued by credit card debts and student loans just like us. There have also been some huge scandals over endowment mortgages and some weird investment vehicles that split common stocks into the dividend stream and the potential capital gains, which were sold to 2 different people. The idea of the endowment mortgage was that you put up a large amount up-front which grew tax-free and was supposed to pay off your loan at maturity (in addition to your regular monthly payments). Unfortunately, the gains weren't as big as promised and the sellers raked off a hefty fee up-front.

So, they struggle just like the rest of us.

Maybe this explains the recent record/surge in UK bankruptcies.

The UK liberalized their insolvency laws in 2002.
It was formerly fairly tough to get debts completely discharged. As I understand it, secured debts could not be discharged at all, without specific permission of the court.

The British economy's troubles really started in 2003, as anybody should plainly be able to see, when Beckham left Manchester United to play for Real Madrid. It's all gone to heck since.

£24.5m and the economy goes to heck, lol.