RT LOBO loans graphic

Okay, I’m dropping the pretence that I can stick to any kind of regular schedule with these posts. But please do keep sending links to interesting debt-related stories to info@debtresistance.uk, tweet them @DebtResistUK or drop them on our Facebook page.

Local Authority Debt

Where to start…

Legal objections to LOBO loans (The MJ) – The first of a flurry of new articles on LOBO loans as, first, campaigning by Debt Resistance UK leads to residents in 24 local authorities to lodge objections to their council’s use of expensive, risky LOBO loans.

Local residents fight back against the banks in 24 local authorities (#NoLOBOs) – More detail.

Barclays first bank to scrap LOBO loans (LocalGov) – Then, a week later, Barclays announces that it is removing the lender options on some of it’s LOBOs so that it won’t be able to impose interest rate rises or call in loans early. Don’t get carried away by that headline though…

Barclays retreats on LOBO loans in respite for London borrowers (Evening Standard) – …because, as the comment from JB at the end of this article reminds us, councils are still locked into paying high interest rates on these loans for, in many cases, up to 70 years…

Barclays ‘cancels’ LOBO loans? Our fact-check response (#NoLOBOs) – …and the worst of the loans, the so-called inverse floaters which see councils paying higher rates as market interest rates fall, and range LOBOs, also based on LIBOR, remain unaffected.

Councils make YOU pay £billions to banks for crooked LOBO loans (RT via liarpoliticians, YouTube) – Russia Today providing some rare TV news coverage of the story.

Household Debt

Reviving the UK economy: time for a household debt write-off? (Centre for Responsible Credit) – A fringe meeting at the TUC conference in Brighton next week.

Student Debt

Student loans now ‘one of the most expensive ways to pay for university’ (Mirror) – The exponential horror of compound interest ‘means that the total cost of the loan can double over the course of you paying it back’. Though alarmingly the call to action in this article is for parents to start saving as soon as their child is out of the womb to pay the extortionate entry fees to a precarious white-collar career.

Mozambique

Mozambique’s secret loans: a scandal that started in London (Jubilee Debt Campaign) – Tim Jones traces Mozambique’s manufactured debt crisis back to the City.