It’s a small, but important distinction.
Banks and banking is, I think, where the problem lies. They’re being pumped full of credit by Her Majesty’s Government and Treasury, while at the same time not passing any of that on to us.
Yes, interest rates on mortgages (and other loans that track the Bank of England base rate) are falling. I pay less than £100 a month on mine, for example (although that is now a part-and-part rather than repayment mortgage, so I can trim my outgoings a bit). But while house prices have fallen rapidly and far – £50k for a house like mine further down the street when mine was worth £70k-plus not so long ago – new mortgages are difficult to take out unless you have a bigger deposit.
If I wanted to sell mine, I’d have to sell it for £70k, but with £20k of that returned to the buyer as ‘deposit paid’, so that their mortgage was low enough. A fiddle and a faff, but I’d do it.
I think that, once we get out of this mess – whenever that is – you’ll find a lot of people aged 20-plus who won’t be putting their faith in banks and the banking system any more.