Hamish Champ: Credit cards, pub leases and the small print

We all know we're in the midst of a financial crisis. Consumers are tightening their belts in readiness for the real storm many believe is yet to hit the UK economy, as unemployment plays 'catch-up' with the banking collapse.

But would someone mind telling all this to the credit departments of the country's leading high street retailers?

Last week I received a letter from one such company with whom I have a store card, congratulating me on the news that I was having my card's limit extended by five hundred quid. And when they're not doing this they're trying to get me to go over to 'their' credit card.

That's just what I need; the temptation to get myself into more debt.

I hope I'll be able to resist the urge to spend hundreds more pounds of money I don't have on boxer shorts and socks I don't need.

But not everyone can. We've long known of people getting into serious debt with their credit cards and this situation is likely to worsen for some as the economy heads south yet further.

There are some who suggest those with a card bill that's out of control have only themselves to blame; after all, nobody forces them to have 'plastic', do they? Or spend beyond their means? And if they're not savvy enough to read the small print and consider the consequences of overdoing it then that's their lookout.

The same is said of people taking on leased and tenanted pubs. Don't like the beer tie?, some ask. Then don't take a lease with a company that operates the beer tie. Don't like the rental environment? Save up to buy a freehouse.

I'm told procedures for those taking on a pub on a pubco lease are being made more rigorous than ever to ensure the right person is put in situ. And that support levels are improving all the time. Hopefully this is indeed the case.

We do still hear about this pubco or that sticking any old person into a pub just to get the thing up and running again, with scant regard for their suitability, monetary stability or trade experience. If true, I sincerely hope such a practice is a fast-fading one.

Meanwhile I trust prospective licensees do their utmost to read the small print, and don't take on something that turns round and bites them on the backside at a later date.

Like my credit card statement…