How much debt are you in?

Happily it’s now 2026 and things like Google exist!

Why?

£325k on the mortgage and about £6k on credit cards.

Are we counting student loans? Add another £30k

No mortgage, no debt.

I only have a two bedroom house, but it's big enough for me and nice to be mortgage free at 50. I would sooner that and work part time than have a bigger house, a mortgage and need to work full-time

I’d rather be in your friend’s position, than yours, OP.

So sorry for your loss ❤️‍🩹

It depends if it's a mortgage or unsecured debt. If she genuinely thinks £500k is fine and needs an objective look at it, tell her to try Helena.Finance. I found it a while ago, you just chat to it about your finances and it proper helps to ground me.

Yes I am always amazed that people are so keen to pay down mortgage in this economic climate. My ISA is up 30% this year and that's in a safe wrapper. I wouldn't pay a penny extra off the mortgage unless I had maxed out ISA x2 plus pensions.

Depends what you count as debt really? We still haven't paid off our student loans, but that is just an extra tax we will have to pay until it is cleared (we have about 20k left to pay between us), no one is going to be knocking at my door asking for payments though. Our mortgage is tiny too (about 20k left). We don't have any what I'd consider actual debt, no credit cards and nothing on finance.

I'm very much a live within your means sort of person, we don't have flashy cars or a huge house, but we have a high disposable income left at the end each month. We could buy a much bigger house and new cars on finance if we wanted to, but we don't. Everyone makes different choices, some people are happy to be financed up to the eyeballs and present a certain lifestyle. I guess if you have the income to service all the things on finance then you aren't actually doing anything wrong, it's just a choice people make. 500k debt with an income of 150k, is v different to 500k debt with an income of 20k besides.

Same here, I make sure I max it out every year.
My mortgage rate is something like 3.84% and the conservative market average is 7-8%. I'm way over that and I'm not doing anything risky.
I know there is certain appeal in being mortgage free but financially it wouldn't be wise for me atm.

£150.62 on the credit card, (I pay off in full at the end of every month) Only have this because I use it to pay for Amazon purchases.

I am retired on work pension, ( not state pension age yet) house is paid for,all bills are on direct debits. I lease my car for convenience, and because I dont want to own too many 'things'. Had the housing rental market been more secure and affordable, I would not have bought a house.

I bought my first property aged 21yrs, between 20's and 50's there have been hard times, including when I had a £54K mortgage and a £15k second mortgage to pay for essential house improvements/repair. Sometimes it was hand-to-mouth, sometimes I had very meager savings.

That £69K debt was a tortuous burden, so relieved and thankful when it was all paid off.

No debt.
Mortgage paid off
Credit cards paid as I go along. I do use them for bigger purchases, tickets etc for consumer protection.
Car paid by bank transfer.
All bills up to date.

£0.

None thankfully.

50k mortgage. No personal debt

Around £320k with mortgage. Early 40s, high earners, 2 children.

Zero debt. Paid off mortgage about 8 years ago, we use credit card for everything but the balance is cleared every month (to earn rewards) and our cars are always purchased out right. Yes we are extremely fortunate, but we've worked hard to be in this position (aged 58 and 60)

£169,000 on a mortgage. About £20,000 on loans. Reasons for the loans is bringing up my children as a single parent and trying to give them things I suppose I can’t really afford eg driving lessons and expensive school trips. But my youngest is now 17 so I’m hopping my expenses go down…
I have no trouble making the payments but I would obviously rather not owe anything.

Mortgage but that's a controlled authorised borrowing, rather than a negative debt. So just a car loan for £7K

Zero.

I was made redundant from work, got a big payout and the PPI that I had, paid off all my debts.

Well- we used to have no real debt, thanks to being very fortunate with jobs and savings. Then we lost 70% of our income in December and the other 30% in April so are bleeding out on our savings. Both losses were directly due to our respective companies relocating abroad due to an inhospitable fiscal environment after the last election. We are now in our overdrafts and I have had to sell our car because it failed it's MOT and I can't afford the £1200 it will take to get it up to scratch.

So, our whole entire life changed incredibly and shockingly rapidly.

I grew up with little red sticker dots on household items of sentimental value that we were not to let bailiffs take if they came, and grew up resolving not to get into debt, ever.

And apart from a mortgage, so it has been.

It meant I have lived without lots of things I see others see as normal. I have always lived in areas affordable to me - areas frequently viewed with (undeserved, IMO /IME) horror on MN. I enjoy camping, have never borrowed money for the endless bathroom and kitchen updates that I see labelled as ‘needed’ on Property threads, am luckily not interested in expensive fashion / cars etc.

And have had a great life! Loads of fun, have undertaken adventurous non-luxury travel, etc.

I have also never been without work. Took jobs every student holiday, took ‘any job’ while waiting for ‘good’ job, etc.

And lucky never have had no choice but to juggle debt to feed the Dc or keep a roof over their heads. I am grateful.

But I do worry for my Dc, already with huge student loan debt and housing so expensive.

Breaking with the MN norm of no debt - I have £3.5 on a credit card and a loan for £10k. I have been in much more before though - I earn well so it's under control but combination of terrible relationship with money and ADHD has always made me struggle with the basics of understanding money. There is so much shame attached to debt and it's such a complex thing to understand if you're 'good' with money.

None