Needy Mid-ranking Bankers Who Can't Afford To Live In London Could Be Big Users Of 'Help To Buy'

news.efinancialcareers.com...

Pity the mid-ranking banker on an income of less than £500k ($800k) – he (or she) often can’t afford to buy a house in London. And if he/she does have a house in London, an increasing proportion of his income is eaten up by mortgage payments.

“Our mid-ranking people are struggling,” said the head of HR at one British bank, speaking on condition of anonymity. “They’re in a difficult position – they’ve got families and are targeting a specific lifestyle which is increasingly unaffordable for them. They’re quite vocal about it, especially at compensation time – if you’re earning less than £500k, it’s very difficult to buy a house in central London and to pay school fees for several children.”

“People here are already carrying a lot more debt than they used to,” said a senior manager at one European investment bank in London – again speaking off the record. “A member of my team has a £750k mortgage on his house, which is a huge burden for him. A lot of other mid-ranking people here can’t afford to live in Zone 1 and are having to move out to Zones 3 or 4 – which is difficult when you’re a VP-level banker working very long hours.”

It doesn’t help that bankers took on large mortgages several years ago in the expectation that their pay would keep rising. “My guy who borrowed £750k has seen his compensation coming down year-after-year. It’s very hard for him – he’s spending a significant proportion of his income servicing that debt,” said the senior banker we spoke to.

Poor, poor bankers. Only earning £500k a year and can't afford to buy a house in London, my heart bleeds for them.

Why can't they live within their means like the rest of us are told? They already get the best and extra-cheap mortgage deals from their employers as a privilege, and they're still whining.

They really have no idea what it's like to struggle to survive, and they care even less. £500k would last me and my family our whole lifetimes, but these people can't make it last a year.

How much sympathy do YOU have for these people?

Its hard for anyone in London.

I dont know why you would focus on just bankers, besides most of a bankers job can be done remotely so they dont even need to be in London.

People who keep London; clean, safe, fed, moved, built - THESE are the people who are suffering.

reply to post by doobydoll


it's all relative.
your situation is markedly better than someone in tunisia or ethopia.
his situation might be markedly better than someone living in haiti, syria or afghanistan.

george lucas, the man who created the star wars movies, indiana jones movies, and so forth, said the only difference between him before he became rich from his films, and after he became rich, was the cost of repairing his cars. when your life style changes for the better, you don't change, only your lifestyle does. it's you, but with more stuff and thus, more responsibility.

wealth has its own downsides baked into it.

These are exactly the people this scheme is aimed at. Of course, the Tories wouldn't disclose this fact would they?

Whilst people are having to go to food banks in order to survive, we will be subsidising mortgages for the already wealthy. This is the Tory way and anyone who tries to defend this nonsense must have very little, if any, empathy for the less fortunate within society.

Figures of £12 Billion have been mentioned regarding this scheme, £12 Billion to assist people into debt. Is it just me or could that money be invested in real jobs in this country? Creating real prosperity as opposed to yet more illusions?