Życie w długach? Ekspert ds. oszczędzania dzieli się sekretem „wiosennych porządków w finansach”

euronews (po polsku)

Życie w długach? Ekspert ds. oszczędzania dzieli się sekretem „wiosennych porządków w finansach”  „Nikt nie myśli o tym, że karta kredytowa to tak naprawdę dług” - ostrzega Kevin Mountford, współzałożyciel platformy oszczędnościowej Raisin UK.  CZYTAJ WIĘCEJ : http://pl.euronews.com/2025/04/21/zycie-w-dlugach-ekspert-ds-oszczedzania-dzieli-sie-sekretem-wiosennych-porzadkow-w-finansa  Zasubskrybuj nasz kanał.Euronews jest dostępny na Dailymotion w 12 językach

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00:00Sprinkling your finances is just as important as sprinkling in the house.

00:03The issue is when it spirals out control.

00:06Nobody thinks that a credit card is actually debt.

00:14Welcome to The Big Question, the series from Euronews

00:17addressing some of the biggest topics in the world of business.

00:20Today, I am joined by Kevin Mountford,

00:22co-founder of saving platform Raising UK, to discuss all things debt.

00:26Thank you so much for joining me today, Kevin.

00:27So I think a lot of people feel a lot of shame about discussing debt,

00:30but it's actually incredibly common.

00:32How many people in Europe are living in debt right now?

00:34If you look at Europe as a collective,

00:36there's around $7 trillion of debt or of borrowings.

00:41And I think that's a big difference

00:43because we're all used to borrowing money for different reasons.

00:46I think the issue is when it spirals out control.

00:49But if I break that down to an individual level,

00:52that's around $10,000 per person.

00:54If we look at the amount of borrowing to income,

00:57then that's where it can become a bit of a challenge.

01:00So across Europe, it's about 97%.

01:03But you've got some countries like the Netherlands, Norway, 200% plus.

01:08Yes, the income is higher in some of these jurisdictions,

01:11but the borrowing, relatively speaking, is higher as well.

01:14So the issue is not borrowing in itself,

01:18but that borrowing going out of control

01:19and debt that we no longer can manage.

01:21Thinking about the most common reason that people are borrowing

01:32and getting into debt aside from mortgages,

01:34what is the kind of most common cause of debt?

01:36I think credit cards, generally, you speak to your friends

01:39and nobody thinks that a credit card is actually debt.

01:43It's just the way we live our lives.

01:44We all look at our bank statements

01:46and realise with contactless, you know,

01:49how much we've spent that we haven't really thought about.

01:52And to boost the economy,

01:53as governments are now looking at increasing

01:55the thresholds on contactless.

01:58So in the UK, it's generally £100.

02:00But if that starts to increase,

02:02I think we need to be far more disciplined

02:04in managing our household budget.

02:07I don't know about yourself,

02:08but through the years as my salary's gone up,

02:10I've not really been any better off.

02:12The more I earn, the more I spend.

02:14When that gets out to control,

02:15that's when you've got a real problem.

02:17And do you think there's a kind of financial literacy problem

02:19and a lack of education in schools

02:21that's kind of partly to blame?

02:22So we carried out some research at Raisin

02:25and it showed that there was a lack of understanding

02:28over things like what's inflation,

02:30what's standard variable rate on a mortgage,

02:32what's AER, APR, etc.

02:33The problem is, if you've not got that awareness,

02:37you don't feel empowered and in control

02:39to make the best use of your finances

02:41so that plays into the hands of the banks

02:44and other financial institutions

02:46and we become very apathetic

02:49and we don't change products as readily as we should.

02:52So that in itself creates a problem.

02:55Yeah, and do you think social media plays a role

02:57in contributing to debt in younger generations?

03:00Social media can be a cause for good

03:02in so much that you can find information

03:05but there's promotional adverts in front of you

03:08day in and day out.

03:09And I think that the problem being

03:11it creates more immediacy on the back of your aspiration

03:14and don't forget the ease of which

03:17you can buy things online now.

03:19I've got friends that struggle to sleep

03:21so what do they do in the middle of the night?

03:22They go online and they start buying stuff.

03:24Oh gosh.

03:24So that's where the likes of social media

03:27and the kind of immediacy of new technology

03:31can create problems.

03:32So we just have to be careful.

03:33What are the long-term ramifications

03:35of getting into debt at a young age?

03:37Worst extreme is you can face bankruptcy,

03:40get assets seized,

03:41but also your credit scores.

03:42When you're older in particular,

03:43you might want a mortgage

03:44or you might want a car loan, etc.

03:46That's going to go against you.

03:48So the worse your credit score is,

03:50then you fall into kind of subprime categorisation.

03:53The interest levels you get,

03:55people are prepared to give you money

03:56but you'll have to pay more for it.

03:58So it becomes a downward spiral, really.

04:00So for those already in debt,

04:02what are the key steps to take to get out of debt?

04:04Accept the fact that you're in debt.

04:06What you don't want to do is compound the problem

04:08by allowing the debt to get out of control.

04:11So talk to somebody.

04:12Don't bury your head in the sand.

04:13If you've got a loan provider,

04:15it's your mortgage, unsecured loan,

04:17wherever it might be, talk to them.

04:18There might be ways of rescheduling your finance

04:21to ease the burden a little bit.

04:24There are ways you consolidate loans.

04:26So what happens is you pay the loan back

04:28over a longer period,

04:29but your outgoings are reduced.

04:31So there's different ways of tackling this.

04:33There's certainly people out there

04:35that would try to take advantage of your situation.

04:38So if you need any debt-related advice,

04:40there are charities out there.

04:42There's a way of getting free advice

04:44as opposed to paying for it

04:45because you don't want to be paying for something

04:47when you're struggling with finance to start with.

04:49For people who maybe do manage to pay off debt,

04:51what do they need to do going forward

04:53to stay out of debt?

04:54I think it really is about budgeting.

04:57Sprinkling your finances is just as important

04:59as sprinkling in the house or whatever.

05:01I've just changed car insurance.

05:03I've saved £130.

05:05I've just changed broadband provider.

05:07I've saved £500 a year,

05:09or whatever the case may be.

05:11It's money in my pocket,

05:12as opposed to the bank

05:13or the insurance provider,

05:15or whoever it may be.

05:16But I think quite an interesting thing

05:18is maybe as a family

05:18or as a group of friends,

05:20why don't every quarter or six months

05:22sit down over a bottle of cheap wine

05:25because you don't want to overspend?

05:26But why don't you just have a look at your outgoings?

05:28Have a bit of a competition trying to reduce it.

05:31What are the next steps

05:31to create a kind of positive financial situation going forward?

05:34I think awareness, education,

05:37real understanding the terminology,

05:39getting to a point where you feel empowered.

05:41So, you know, raising as a savings platform.

05:45Taking the UK as an example,

05:47there are hundreds of millions of pounds

05:49sitting in accounts paying 1% or less.

05:52From our platform,

05:53you could get three, four times that.

05:55That's money in your pocket

05:56and not in the bank's pocket.

05:58So just do something about it.

06:00You've got deposit guarantee schemes across Europe

06:02that's protecting your savings up to certain limits.

06:06So there might be a brand that you don't recognize

06:08and you stick with a high street bank

06:10because you think your money's safer.

06:12Well, in some respects, that might be the case.

06:14But with under the deposit guarantee scheme,

06:17whether it be 100,000 euros,

06:19whether it be 85,000 pounds,

06:21your money's protected.

06:22So go with the regulated entity

06:24that you might not know,

06:26but you'll get a better return on your savings.

06:27Looking across Europe in the future,

06:29what is the economic outlook

06:30and how is that going to affect us?

06:32I think it's a challenge

06:32and it's a challenge

06:33because if we look at it globally at macro level,

06:36we've still got conflicts around the globe.

06:38You've then got the ramifications

06:40of the Trump regime

06:42and that we possibly could have a trade war

06:44with tariffs and retaliation

06:47from countries that are affected.

06:48So from a central kind of banking perspective,

06:51one of the tools they've got is interest rates.

06:54So we saw that inflation was double digit.

06:56So they put up interest rates,

06:58means there's less money available.

06:59So we spend less because it's supply and demand.

07:02Inflation is coming under control,

07:04but there are potential issues

07:05because of this trade war situation.

07:07And I think the European Central Bank

07:09will, as we get into the summer,

07:11reduce rates.

07:12There is a view that it'll get down to 1.75%.

07:14It was over 3% back in the last year.

07:17So if you bring inflation down,

07:18that kind of cost of living crisis reduces.

07:21Interest rates come down,

07:22then anybody who's got borrowing

07:24linked to interest rates

07:25will end up having lower payments.

07:27So all of these are positive steps.

07:29So for a lot of people

07:30that are facing debt challenges,

07:32that'll be a consequence

07:33of high interest rates and high inflation

07:35is they ease some of those debt levels

07:37will naturally reduce.

07:39So let's hope that we get into the summer

07:41that that eases the debt burden

07:43on households across Europe and beyond.

07:46Thank you so much for your insights today.

07:48And thank you very much

07:48for joining me on The Big Question.

07:49Thanks for having me.

07:50We'll see you next time.

07:51We'll see you next time.

07:52We'll see you next time.

07:53We'll see you next time.

07:54We'll see you next time.

07:55We'll see you next time.

07:56We'll see you next time.

07:57We'll see you next time.

07:58We'll see you next time.

07:59Bye.

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