商业报道:英国巨额信用卡债务

British credit crunch¹

ITN's Ben King reports on the huge credit card debt growing in Britain.

Louise Box from Manchester transferred her 1,800-pound debts to a nought² per cent interest card with Virgin³. Then she bought a 300-pound suit on the new card. She knew she'd be charged interest on that purchase. But then she discovered that she won't be able to clear the interest bearing debt until she's paid off all the interest-free bit which might take a whole year. Result: a rather more expensive suit than she bargained for.

I suppose I was a little naive⁴ to think that banks wouldn't be acting⁵ about the interest, and they would be acting ethically⁶. But I'm just very disappointed that I rang Virgin and their response was there's nothing we can do. This is the way that we operate.

Not for long though. The government is proposing to ban companies for making customers pay their low interest debts off first. It's also proposing no increases on credit card limits without prior consent; no raising interest rates for existing credit card debts; and higher minimum payments to accelerate the full repayment⁷ of debt.

What we find out by talking to consumers is that these are the sorts of things that, that really irritate them. And although these, some of these things have been looked at in the past, it's quite clear that we need to rebalance things now more in favour of the consumer, put the consumer in the driving seat and actually do more to encourage a responsible culture of borrowing and lending. And these are some of the measures that consumers particularly say they welcome.

But the industry warns that there may be a price to pay for any attempt to tighten⁸ up on our flexible friends.

Credit cards need to be flexible. They need to be convenient. We need to make sure that they don't become inconvenient⁹. And if some of these proposals come forward, that could put a cost on credit cards. Credit, the cost of credit is already expensive through things like fraud, debts, the wholesale¹⁰ cost of credit. And if credit cards become too expensive, they'll only be available to a limited number of people.

Whichever proposals become law, Britain's titanic¹¹ debt burden will take decades to shift. Britain's total credit card debt is nearly 64 billion pounds. That's more than 1,000 pounds for every man, woman, and child in Britain, enough to buy 800 Cristiano Ronaldos, or fund England's NHS for eight months. This mountain of consumer debt is one of the main reasons why Britain's economy is still stuck in recession while France and Germany are already well on the path to recovery.

Glossary¹²:

interest bearing debt: 有息负债，公司需要在约定时间向债权人归还本金和利息的负债，包括银行贷款、公司债、商业票据等短期融资工具。

tighten up on sth: to make a rule, law, or system more strict

come forward: to offer help to someone, or offer to do sth

1 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

2 nought   

n.／adj.无，零

参考例句：

• We must bring their schemes to nought.我们必须使他们的阴谋彻底破产。
• One minus one leaves nought.一减一等于零。

3 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

4 naive   

adj.幼稚的，轻信的；天真的

参考例句：

• It's naive of you to believe he'll do what he says.相信他会言行一致，你未免太单纯了。
• Don't be naive.The matter is not so simple.你别傻乎乎的。事情没有那么简单。

5 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

6 ethically   

adv.在伦理上，道德上

参考例句：

• Ethically , we have nothing to be ashamed about . 从伦理上说，我们没有什么好羞愧的。
• Describe the appropriate action to take in an ethically ambiguous situation. 描述适当行为采取在一个道德地模棱两可的情况。

7 repayment   

n.偿还，偿还款；报酬

参考例句：

• I am entitled to a repayment for the damaged goods.我有权利索取货物损坏赔偿金。
• The tax authorities have been harrying her for repayment.税务局一直在催她补交税款。

8 tighten   

v.(使)变紧；(使)绷紧

参考例句：

• Turn the screw to the right to tighten it.向右转动螺钉把它拧紧。
• Some countries tighten monetary policy to avoid inflation.一些国家实行紧缩银根的货币政策，以避免通货膨胀。

9 inconvenient   

adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的

参考例句：

• You have come at a very inconvenient time.你来得最不适时。
• Will it be inconvenient for him to attend that meeting?他参加那次会议会不方便吗？

10 wholesale   

n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售

参考例句：

• The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物，以零售价卖出。
• Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。

11 titanic   

adj.巨人的，庞大的，强大的

参考例句：

• We have been making titanic effort to achieve our purpose.我们一直在作极大的努力，以达到我们的目的。
• The island was created by titanic powers and they are still at work today.台湾岛是由一个至今仍然在运作的巨大力量塑造出来的。

12 glossary   

n.注释词表；术语汇编

参考例句：

• The text is supplemented by an adequate glossary.正文附有一个详细的词汇表。
• For convenience,we have also provided a glossary in an appendix.为了方便，我们在附录中也提供了术语表。