Re debts and charges on property. Some lenders are known as predatory lenders. They prey on people who have poor credit ratings, people who are probably on benefits or in low paid jobs, lenders like Bright House, which sell furniture and appliances to people who can't afford to buy a new one outright, but they end up paying twice the price for the item after paying in weekly installments for ages. Or doorstep lending companies like Prudential are vultures, advertising loans at X rate of interest, but then it turns out that the actual rate of interest is actually three or four or more times higher, and when challenged, they say the advertised rate was only 'indicative', but by then some poor desperate sod has probably already been rejected by their bank for an overdraft or loan, filled in the application, had the prospect of money dangling in front of them at X interest rate, but then at the last minute told to sign a loan agreement stating a much higher interest rate. Then there are 'equity release' schemes, preying on people who have a former social housing asset to secure against lending.
It's easily done, when people have been poor for so long, and they're not financially savvy, because they've never had much money to speak of, so they can't borrow for low interest rates, they might need a new boiler or new windows, or a car to get to work, or might be tempted and sucked in to home improvements or borrowing and splurging on things they can't afford, tempted by persuasive slick sales talk about repayment in easy small installments.
And then people get trapped by high interest rates and an inability to repay.
Yes, there might be a bit of stupidity associated with getting into so much debt that it's grindingly hard to get out of it, but often it's due to disability, ill-health, poverty pay, being on benefits, spending many years with an income that doesn't quite meet outgoings, and the cumulative adverse impact of 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' over many years is that eventually people's finances reach breaking point, where even the dodgy high interest lenders will no longer lend them any money and everyone starts clamouring for their money back.
It probably happens to many more people than most are aware of, because of the sense of shame, the taboo, others being judgemental, etc.
