Different types of debt

Catalogues/mail order
Catalogue buying is very popular, not only for purchasing clothes but also for obtaining consumer goods. Catalogue companies produce a glossy brochure - 'the catalogue' - featuring their products. This they distribute to agents who act on their behalf in selling the goods to customers or to individual customers direct. Payment is made by weekly instalments until the cost of the goods purchased is paid off. This is generally a fixed-sum credit agreement.

Charge account
The customer is provided with a credit card and a credit limit. Repayments will be by flexible monthly payments. This is a running account agreement with an interest rate likely to be higher than other credit cards.

Credit Cards
A credit card entitles the holder to use the card to purchase goods and services from organisations which have arrangements with the issuers of the card. Holders are permitted to purchase up to a set credit limit. Credit is sometimes available interest free for a few weeks (except for cash withdrawals). Statements are issued monthly by the credit card company to the holder and must be paid in full to avoid interest charges. Payment is by monthly instalments. Minimum payments required are equivalent to the higher of either 5% of the outstanding balance or a nominal amount.

Credit card budget account
The customer is provided with a credit card and a credit limit is fixed. Repayment is by fixed monthly instalments. This operates as a running account agreement

Hire Purchase
A hire purchase agreement is a hire agreement which contains an option to purchase clause. It is normally an agreement where a customer selects goods from a supplier who then sells them to a finance company which hires them to the customer under the HP agreement. Payments are usually made monthly. The goods subject to HP agreement remain the property of the creditor until the final instalment and the option to purchase fee have been paid. Until this has been done the debtor may not dispose of or sell the goods and may be liable to criminal prosecution if this is done without the creditors permission. However, this will often be given if the debtor undertakes to remit the proceeds of sale.

Mortgage
A mortgage is given by a building society or bank to buy property. An extra mortgage on the property, called a second mortgage, can be given, for example, for home improvements. The lender may charge a higher rate of interest on the second mortgage. If you do not keep up repayments you are likely to lose your home.

Personal loan account
The customer is offered a personal loan with a fixed rate of interest built in at the beginning of the loan. Repayment is by a fixed monthly payment over an agreed period of time. The interest rate on all the above is relatively high

Loan sharks
It is a criminal offence to loan money without a credit licence. There has been a great deal of publicity about 'loan shark' creditors who charge extortionate rates of interest (from 500% into the millions), use harassment and threats of violence to enforce payment or take benefit books as security for loans. Any creditor indulging in these practices should be reported to both the police and the local Consumer Protection/Trading Standards Department but borrowers/clients who complain should not be named without their specific consent.

Pawnbrokers
Recent recessions have given this old fashioned business a new lease of life. Goods are taken in as security and called 'pledges'. There is still a class difference in the pawn-broking trade. Those operating up-market and charging low rates of interest for valuable 'pledges' are known as 'City Pawnbrokers' and those operating down-market are historically known as 'Industrial Pawnbrokers'. It is another fixed-sum agreement typically costing between 25% - 200% APR.

Store Cards
Most of the High Street shops now offer credit facilities to customers wishing to purchase goods from them. If customers cannot pay cash, they are encouraged to use one of the store's credit facilities. There are a number of different forms of credit used.

Unsecured loan
A separate loan account is opened for the customer. Interest is built in from the beginning and repayments are paid on a monthly basis from their current account by Standing Order to the loan account. An early settlement rebate will normally be available where the loan is repaid in full before the expiry of its agreed term.

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