AIBU to ask how much debt you are in?

[stingray586]

Having a conversation with DH about whether our debt is above average or not. Our household income is approx £40000. We do have a mortgage but don't want to focus on that more asking about credit cards and loans. We have a credit card with £3000 owed on it and pay £200 a month for our car. We hope to pay off the credit card within the next 12 months.
AIBU to ask how much debt you are in? And if you also don't mind saying what your household income is as well? As obviously being £3000 in debt when you earn £20000 is a lot different to someone who earns £100k.

@GogoGobo

"Loving the context people are giving to their debt free lives - takes smug to a new level!"

I think smug is the wrong word

It takes discipline to say NO.

Bottom line is you probably don't need half the stuff you have, so why overstretch.

I'm getting tired of this "must have" "look at us" culture in this country.

It's all bollocks, people are way to savvy these days to be fooled by silly material objects, the biggest fool is the one who's signed the dotted line

@mrcharlie
I’m not talking about all the “ we earn blah and have no debt” Fine. But the ones followed by: “can’t believe people get into debt, we’ve always just saved for things....”

I’m just stunned at how little awareness there is on what it’s like to earn a low income year after year, when there is absolutely no option to save but you still have to deal with life’s ups and downs.

By all means, state your financial situation and by all means say you are a saver/debt averse but the smug “can’t believe people get into debt, we’ve always just saved” comments are a bit smug.

Apart from student loan I have no debt at all always tried to be very careful but did accrue some CC debt, plus my DP lent me half my deposit on my first flat, now all paid off. I remember how great I felt when I was first debt free!

We earn much less than most on here but are debt free and mortgage free but probably not for long as DHs car is developing some worrying symptoms.

The mortgage being paid off is due to an inheritance, so not through our efforts.

Dh earns 50k, I'm currently not working (hoping to soon). No debt but a small mortgage and hoping to move house soon which will increase mortgage.

Single mum, left with mortgage, joint loan and nursery fees when ex left.

Now on a lower paid job of about 11k a year. I’ve probably got debts of about 40k and it’s likely I will lose my house soon.

Went from a high earning double income household to a single income with health problems.

I certainly didn’t plan to be in this situation but I haven’t spent it on shoes and holidays! I am envious of other pp’s and their financial situation. I wish I was in a similar situation!!

Income c.£35k post tax. No debt other than my student loan which I've never earnt enough to pay any of. There's 30k left on the mortgage and we overpay it massively so it should be gone in 2.5 years. We both hate having debt and I would rather (with the exception of 10k for emergencies) pay off debt first then save. Savings are an illusion if you have debt.

No debt apart from our house loan (family, about £200k). Neither of us ever had credit card. One car which is probably about 10 years old. Would never buy a new car or go into debt for one. Household income variable but probably about £40, 000.

I find it hard to compare our situation to others, so many variables, but we feel lucky.

None except for the mortgage which we're halfway through, and my student loan which I've never earned enough to start paying. We earn (bottom line) about 30k.

With my ex I had a mortgage of double what I currently owe and additional debts of around 50k, I could hardly sleep and felt ill thinking about it. Am definitely in the "if you can't buy it outright and/or actually need it, you don't have it" camp.

I agree there are so many variables. As others have said, it might be divorce, an ex's spending habits, redundancy, illness etc that has affected someone's financial situation. Debt isn't always because of financial irresponsibility.

Similarly, how many people who have no debt other than a mortgage had the benefit of free (or nearly free) university education, help from parents perhaps, inheritance? Of course there are people who have lived frugally and worked hard to avoid debt but that's not the case for everyone who is in the fortunate debt free position some are describing.

I’m not 100% certain of our income because we now have to live off of benefits. I became too ill to work and DH is now my carer.

We had approx £3k worth of debt, at that time DH and I both working - him full time and me weekend night shifts. Bringing in a fair amount of money. As I said I became ill and not able to work and my income soon disappeared. DH was in a job where it could at times be unpredictable, if really bad weather he couldn’t work but he would still go in and be paid for his time if he could work on the site his company was on.

When I became ill he had to take more and more time off work, he then himself became ill and eventually had to stop working because I was unsafe to not only look after our children but myself also.

During this time our debt spiralled, we were borrowing left right and centre just to pay our rent, it got so bad we had to use foodbanks. Initially we were very proud and didn’t ask family for help, at the end of the day we were grown adults with two children we should be able to support ourselves. Our parents were amazing.

Once our benefits were sorted and we were moved to a housing association place - our house was not only unsuitable for me since becoming ill it was actually unsafe for anyone to live in. My mum took a loan out to clear all of our debt and reduce our monthly payments, we then paid her back monthly. I will always be truely grateful to my mum, we couldn’t see the wood for the trees.

There is still two months to go on the above loan but my mum has refused to take any more money from us, I have put these payments into a saving account and I will try and give her the money again. She has said she would rather we kept it and buy new stuff for our house - everything was second hand or really cheap and doesn’t last. We were incredibly lucky that a charity paid for carpets for us, these were also very cheap and before long will need replacing.

I do have one credit card with a £500 limit, it’s strictly for emergencies. I want to stay debt free, we can never go back to the situation we were in and unfortunately living on benefits anything can change at anytime.

Sorry for the massive post, I guess I just wanted to get across what it’s like when the shit does hit the fan.

zofloramummy sounds really tough, hope you manage to keep the house xxx

single mum with a child with autism. i earn 7k a year and have just downsized to a little terrace so now have a little mortgage of 26k. I'm saving away and overpaying mortgage like a crazy woman as no idea what my future will look like. Also paid off a £12k loan(divorce fees and car) when I moved. No private pension though

Household income £14,000, debt £15000. We are drowning. And that does not include the mortgage :(

No debt. No credit cards, no mortgage.

Penners99
That's amazing! I'm not being snarky, I promise.

Oh I have been deep in debt years ago but worked out of it and now have a morbid fear of going back into debt

penners I was the same. We also have no debt and I’d never get into it again. No help from either set of parents and I have mh problems but I will never use overdrafts or finance ever again.

No mortgage, no debt, credit cards paid off in full every month.

DH earns a good salary and we are good at saving (and living well).

Household income of nearly 100k. Mortgage but no debt. We pay credit card off in full monthly. We bought secondhand cars. We don't buy things we can't afford to pay for outright (except the house!)

My student loan is £42,900 :(

Never had a credit card or other loan though. Never understood having a credit card. Just spirals into debt. I just have my debit card and savings.

“Never understood having a credit card. Just spirals into debt.”

The point of having a credit card is that it offers you full protection on purchases over £100, should a company you’ve bought a new bed or kitchen from go bust, for example. Pay by debit card and you get nothing. I would never put a purchase like that on a debit card for that reason, but I also pay my credit card off each month in full.

Was in so much debt but got out of it now only about 2k and it will be paid by end of year. Debt is do stressful I avoid credit like the plague

“Never understood having a credit card. Just spirals into debt.”

Not if you manage it properly. Many, many years ago I was in the cycle of paying the minimum and just accruing more debt each month.

Now I'm in a completely different situation and we know we can pay it off every month. We use it for reason like Crimson posted, and also because we get a percentage credited back to our account each year.