To ask how much debt you're in?

[Bringbacksummer]

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?

We are a family of 4 and have no debt currently. We paid the mortgage off and credit cards gets paid off every month. We're considering a small loan to pay for a new car for me this year...we do have savings but like to keep a reasonable sum for emergencies.

Having said all that, I had debt in my younger years before I met dh. Lived in my overdraft all the time, had 2 loans and credit cards with admittedly small amounts but was a struggle because rented a flat on my own and my salary wasn't huge. I found doing a spreadsheet and noting down my income and every expenditure helped me budget.

mortgage, paid off soon.

No other debt, no savings really (a few grand) but no debt. I will never borrow money again, been there, done that- not worth it.

Try the CAP course. Its brilliant x

Separated, two kids still partially dependent. Others grown up and gone.

I've got just over £3,000 outstanding on a credit card and an overdraft which bounces from a couple of hundred to a grand. Nothing else. And, you know what? I earn around £9,500 a year, so I am pretty bloody pleased with myself that I don't owe more, because my earnings just about cover the bills and I don't buy anything at all. Sometimes including food.

10k on cards here AND my DH doesn't know AND I've just thrown on my job so will have to cover it on a wing and a prayer - or fess up!

In my jon

All in all about 5k worth of debt. Most of that is through a time I went manic, blew our rent and all our bill money on a day out.

And then launching from disaster to disaster from about September onwards (things breaking, sickness, vet bills etc)

Which we are now technically still recovering from. We had to take a logbook loan out on our car. to pay the rent, and tightened our belts, we are hoping to be clear from most of it by the end of the year, but it means a tough year this year, followed by fingers crossed slightly easier years to follow.

But considering we never realised how shit it was going to get last year, I am expecting the worse and hoping the best

I'm finally down to just mortgage and student loan - I had a £5k car loan and a £2.5k overdraft and last year I became debt free for the first time in ages just by saving really hard and being generally boring , not going out, not buying myself anything new.

First time I am tempted to post ... my debt is ... well ... ...

Needapaddle I was in a similar state through different circumstances but was borrowing to pay bills etc. Phoned CAP (a charity so no fees etc) and am not in debt anymore. They took over everything and I felt like I could breathe again. They properly care eg brought round meals when I didn't have anything, gave my son a second-hand bike they'd had donated, brought us a Christmas hamper. You won't regret calling them x

Family of 3. Mortgage. No credit cards, paid off our car loan last week (early). No other debts at all, NEVER go overdrawn (don't even have the facility to). We experienced debt a few years ago. CAP were amazing, brilliant advice and actual help, so we now live debt free. CAP are a charity, a Christian charity (we are not church going folk mostly), but they literally saved us.

I'm single with a baby on the way which makes my debt feel very serious at the moment.

Mortgage (affordable repayments at £450pcm in the South of England)
Student loan (only around £1500 left to pay)
£700 on one credit card (which I currently pay off in full every month but then build back up)
£450 on a 0% interest credit card which I'm paying off at £165 per month (will be paid before the baby turns up)
£2000 overdraft (this is the bit that scares me given my impending drop in income)

£2k on credit card slowly paying off myself (my debt from my mad spending during mat leave which I'm not passing on to DH), and a six figure mortgage still to pay off. Payments are interest only at the moment so not going down

Just the car and mortgage

Married couple, in twenties.

145k mortgage (26 years left)
100k student debt (approx: £9000 fees and maintenance for a degree each)
2k business loan
2k overdrafts

5k in savings

More than that unfortunately. Single parent StepChange are very good if you need advice on managing debt.

Familiarise yourself with Martin Lewis's Money Saving Expert website.

2 of us in our late 20's. We have a mortgage, we borrowed a sensible amount and if we stay put we should have that paid off in 19 years. I bought a 2.5 year old car last year and we got married but saved for both until we could pay for them outright.

Family of 4 here and the only debt is my doing, a store card. £300. We rent and dh is very careful with money. I'm glad he is as I am not.

UpsyDaisy can you ask the cc company to block the cards to new transactions? I couldn't live like that.

Family of seven
£85k income now (not always)

Older parents and third marriage.

Debt of mortgage, loan and credit card - 230k

Payments 2100 pcm in total

Nightmare. Of our own making.

Family of 3. No mortgage only debt is one car on personal credit or whatever it's called

What a helpful, reassuring thread. Always helps to know it's not just you.

I have overdraft and CC debt (can't bear to put it in numbers!)
But on the plus side we've paid off our mortgage and always buy a cheap car with cash (or DH's debit card)

It's crept up a bit over the last few years, but I put that down to raising the DC. Mind you, I know the Uni years are unlikely to be any cheaper!