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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask how much debt you're in?

233 replies

Bringbacksummer · 26/01/2017 11:35

We are a young family of 4 and have £6000 on a credit card. We are managing it but I feel it weighs me down at times.

Are many others in this situation? Also, any advice for clearing debt/ways to reduce spending?

OP posts:
Hellmouth · 26/01/2017 13:24

No mortgage as we rent, I have 7k worth of credit card and loan debt; DP has about 2k. He's much better with money than I am! I had managed to get the debt down, but then I've been on maternity leave so I had to start using the credit card again.

Doolallylally · 26/01/2017 13:25

A big fat zero!

OohNoDooEy · 26/01/2017 13:27

Mortgage
Car loans x 2
Sofa Finance
Little bit on a credit card but will be paid off soon and 0%, just in time for this year's holiday to put a bit of a dent in it!

GrumpyOldBlonde · 26/01/2017 13:28

About 25K 4k overdraft, 15k on cc 5k on another cc. OH is £5k on a cc.
All due to multiple redundancies, trying to stay afloat by robbing Peter to pay Paul. We were well off a few years ago, good incomes, but no savings.
It will all be paid off within 3 months if all goes to plan. No point in worrying about it.

PickledCauliflower · 26/01/2017 13:31

I'm not in any debt and just finished paying off my mortgage. Just had a recent substantial drop in income, enough to pay bills now but nothing over at the end of the month and no savings.
My house is falling to bits, don't have any ready money for repairs and not in a position to take on loans.
Hoping we don't have any more high winds this winter as my windows will probably fall out.

needapaddle · 26/01/2017 13:34

Thank you isthistoonosy, you are probably right! We finally faced up to it all just before Christmas (which was fun!) - just at the moment, short of a magic wand, I'm not sure there is anything anyone could say to make it better!!

I am looking into our options, and working every hour I can, as is OH to try and survive. Keep saying the 'it is only money' mantra - we are far from alone in this I know & I feel very lucky in a lot of ways (lovely kids, great friends, our health etc), but it can be a bit stressful & I would like to reverse it somehow!!

Fairylea · 26/01/2017 13:34

We have affordable debt. I've been in the position of having unaffordable debt and it was awful (due to my first marriage - reckless dh etc etc).

We have an income of about £37k. We have a low mortgage of £300 a month, owe just over £1k on a credit card which we took out to replace a broken front door and we also have a personal loan for a car (was cheaper to get a personal loan for it) which we pay off at £190 a month.

I do think though sometimes debt can't be helped. Not all debt is caused by frivolous spending. The worst debt I ever found myself in was because our roof needed retiling and refelting as we had water coming in through the lights (!). Insurance wouldn't cover it and we had used our savings for boiler repairs so we had no choice but to get into debt to repair it. These things happen.

alltouchedout · 26/01/2017 13:35

Not counting student loans (which I think stands at about £15k), just over £3k- credit card, an old water debt from our eejits-about-money days, and a constantly reducing gas debt from the period our supplier wouldn't actually bill us (we forced them in the end to send a bill, it was huge, we asked them install a pre pay metre and collect the debt that way).All debts are in repayment and if things go as planned we should be debt free (again excluding student loans) before Xmas 2017. Especially now my credit rating has recovered enough for me to accepted for new cards with 0% on balance transfers...

PeppaPigTastesLikeBacon · 26/01/2017 13:36

I have a mortgage and less than £200 on a credit card (I pay my credit card off in full monthly)
how big a debt seems depends on how much you earn and what the debt is for?
If I earn £1000 a month and take a credit card to buy a £6k holiday then yes it's a big debt!
If I earn £6000 a month and the debt was for an essential payment that I can pay off within a few months then it's not a big debt

Funnyface1 · 26/01/2017 13:36

We are a family of 4 and just have the mortgage. I have purposefully bought outright the cars and don't do things like phone contracts. I know some people where everything is financed, even the sofas. Like you said, it gets on top of you and weighs you down (or it would me). I like knowing that if my husband lost his job or couldn't work that we wouldn't have lots of money to find for different payment plans. I would work your way out of it over time and then maintain it if it's bothering you.

OneFlewOverTheDodosNest · 26/01/2017 13:42

This point last year we had just under £6k in debt on credit cards which made me feel sick. We signed up for YNAB and (thanks to a £2k insurance payout finally coming through) have just paid off our last credit card.

We don't have kids yet so our fixed costs are significantly lower than if you have childcare to think about, but it's really worked for us to help plan for financial bumps - we even managed to pay our car insurance up front last year.

Permanentlyexhausted · 26/01/2017 13:52

I'm not sure why people worry about being debt free so much though unless you can't afford the payments of course.

Cheap debt is great. I've got an interest only mortgage costing me £260 per month on a 4 bed detached. If I wanted to be debt free I could just sell up and use the equity to buy a smaller place but as I am working and can pay it I don't see the point. What would I do with the saved money? Put it in a savings account earning 0.00001%. Debt can enable you to do the things you want to do if you have a good income. I wouldn't advocate it for people where income is tight though.

I'm not sure this is good advice. The time to start worrying about being debt-free is before you can't manage the repayments. As the OP and others are discovering, not being able to afford the repayments is incredibly stressful and is often caused by other life-events that are stressful in themselves (illness, redundancy, new baby).

What will you do when you get to the end of your interest only mortgage term?

We have mortgage debt but only because we extended a few years ago. Otherwise it would have been paid off. I have a credit card which gets paid off in full each month. About £40K in savings although we're about to use a chunk of that to pay down the mortgage and get a few other bits done to the house.

Eatingcheeseontoast · 26/01/2017 13:57

I don't think managed debt is a great problem in itself.

But, DH had a job loss this year that if we'd had debt would have been a problem. We don't have any savings - and this has made me seriously evaluate that and work harder at putting more away so that I've got at least 3 months salary - which I don't at the moment.

So while not all debt is bad - keeping an eye on the what ifs and keeping it manageable is just sensible.

This isn't about people who are in real deep issues because of whatever reasons - just those getting in a bit of debt as a day to day management thing.

PinkCrystal · 26/01/2017 14:01

We are family of 7
Mortgage
Debt 10K inc car and all loans

I don't have a problem at all with credit or debt as long as can afford repayments. I only do things we need though not what we want. Wouldn't do a fancy holiday for example.

maggiethemagpie · 26/01/2017 14:07

£3k on credit cards... 2k is parked on a 0% deal whilst I build up some savings ( I know some disagree with this approach but psychologically it's better for me to get my savings up before paying off and at 0% there's no interest cost).

The other 1 k I am paying off at £250/mth but keep paying off and putting on again (for things like xmas/holidays/work expenses) so it's really a cash flow card, and at 6% is not costing me too much.

About to borrow £2k off the 'bank of mum and dad' to get the house rewired. One of those boring things that has to be done, really

So... it's manageable, although I wouldn't want to be in any more debt.

FineAsWeAre · 26/01/2017 14:09

About 10k across loans, credit cards and overdrafts, plus student loans. Family of 3, no mortgage, husband works full time, I'm a student.

Embarrassed34687 · 26/01/2017 14:17

Approx £85000

Combination of loan, credit cards etc. Absolute nightmare. Struggle to keep our heads above water but not much we an do except keep paying what we can which is often the minimum repayment

purpleleotard · 26/01/2017 14:24

mortgage = £426000

Icancoco · 26/01/2017 14:27

PE- I will sell up and pay the debt off. I won't need a 4 bed house then. Equity is enough to buy a 2/3 bed flat/house and this house will sell as it's in a very in demand school catchment.

I couldn't afford this house if on repayment. As it is I am a fixed rate of just over 2% for 5 years so I know the payment won't change.

I did allude to debt only being good for those that can afford to easily service it.

I don't see the point of having cash in the bank currently.

I have enough money to last for 6 months if made redundant but would receive redundancy anyway.

The house would sell in that time if I had to sell it and if needs be I would.

Don't forget the biggest debt of all is carried by our country who lets face it can never pay it back. As long as they can service it then it's all good.

some people are too cautious. I work in finance and see people dying with £1m in the bank. What's the point of that?

witsender · 26/01/2017 14:30

Mortgage plus about £2k on an interest free card from replacing the boiler.

mambono5 · 26/01/2017 14:37

I am hundred of thousand of pounds in debts, litterally. It's "only" the mortgage, but it's a bloody massive debt. It's unavoidable, but it's always there. At least it goes down nicely every year, but it's more than enough to stop us from adding anything else. We just have to find a way to pay it off before interest rates go up. At least it's worth it, we have to live somewhere.

Sheld0n · 26/01/2017 14:38

2 of us, mid-twenties, no mortgage or debt. I don't like the idea of loans and credit cards, we just buy cars etc. outright. Paid for postgrad as well to avoid student loans. I think DH would have one but knows he'd spend needlessly on it when he could just use his own actual money!

Sheld0n · 26/01/2017 14:42

I used to work in financial services and dealt with Step Change a lot. They seemed very good, we advised customers worrying about their debt to contact them for advice and help managing it.

ivykaty44 · 26/01/2017 14:53

Paddle, look into a debt management programme.

If you keep working hard to pay it off you may eventually effect your health.

It's is hard to look at the situation but sitting down and having a plan formulated will be better for your health and well being.

Look into it

Coldilox · 26/01/2017 15:02

In our 30s, one child. Have a mortgage that is about twice our joint salaries, own one car outright and owe about £4.5k on the other. Have credit cards but pay them off every month so no debt on them. No problem debt at all, we have some savings - not much but enough to cover unexpected bills etc.

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