What the point of having low interest rate if the banks are not lending![]()
Unfortunately what Brown knows, despite his going through the motions of chastising the banks, is that there simply is no money to lend!While we don't want a return to the spend spend spend culture there needs to be an easing on the money lending front for the wheels of commerce to start turning again.
If people are, understandably, concerned about their future prospects, then they're not going to spend unless they really have to, whether it's 1%, 0%, 2%.
But, if I spend all my savings now, then find myself out of work, I am far more likely to get assistance with mortgage interest payments etc.
Doesn't make sense.![]()

What the point of having low interest rate if the banks are not lending![]()
What the point of having low interest rate if the banks are not lending![]()
Surely a lower IR will "create" disposable income?
It's tempting to think sinister thoughts, bolo, but don't forget that the banks are required, by licence, to sustain a minimum reserve ratio. Since there have been many partial runs on many banks, reserves are depleted.What I would like to know however, is what they are doing with the money that millions of us deposit every month if they are not lending it.
You can rest assured that they'll lend as soon as they can afford to, because without lending they have only liabilities and costs, which doesn't constitute a sustainable business.Spoke to a guy earlier today who wants to expand his business in a fairly modest way but his bank just doesn't want to know.
It's called fractional reserve banking, and unfortunately whilst there may a mention in their licences about checking accounts, there is no requirement on deposit accounts. Some banks have a minimal reserve of only about 1% - some of the lowest in the world, but all are heading that way! (china for example has just reduced it's requirement from 12% to 5%).It's tempting to think sinister thoughts, bolo, but don't forget that the banks are required, by licence, to sustain a minimum reserve ratio. Since there have been many partial runs on many banks, reserves are depleted.
Being in the same boat (albeit coming off a 2yr one), we have found an unexpected 'silver lining'. Despite fearing the worst as we're with NR, accounts are being 'cherry-picked' as the government wants it's money back. At first they were not very good rates, but having waited over the recent falls, we're being offered a better rate than what we got just over 2 years ago when the rates were probably at their lowest. This rate is better than the published rates!...just working out now whether to accept,or hang on NR's SVR for a while longer to see if there is another revised offer in the downward direction.we spoke to our mortgage lender the nationwide today. we are coming to the end of our 5 year fixed rate mortgage and we want to see what deals we can get. Ideally we would like a fixed rate one as i prefer the security of knowing what the monthly payment will be. At present we cant get a better fixed rate deal than we could 5 years ago. The guy told us that all the banks dont trust each other so the fixed rate mortgages are all staying high.![]()