To ask how much you owe on credit cards ?

[anxiousmotherof1]

Getting to the end of maternity leave and i just realized i owe quite a bit on credit cards ! Dont think is that much but my husband is of the opposite opinion !
So how much you currently owe ?

About £40 on this months one. I pay it off in full every month. DH does the same with his.

We have £20,000.

We have had a hugely varying income over last 4 years and at one point had to live mostly off them for a few months. It was a risk but we were convinced it would come good and it has. (I'm not sure even that is a reasonable excuse for the amount if debt though!) Planning to have them all paid off by summer 2019. Just paid £1500 today in fact!

I wouldn't recommend it as a financial strategy. It's worked out for us but could have gone either way!

We also have £3500 overdraft limit.

It will all be gone by the time we put the house on the market next year.

Zero.

They're never a good option and just leave you in a cycle of debt. Pay it off and cut it up!

I have about £5k on one and £6k on another
Both on 0%

I use them for holidays, nights out or away.
I couldn't care less, I'm not a huge earner but I can pay some off every month
I refuse to spend my life not e joying myself or taking trips with the dc
No ones cares when your dead, I'd rather my dcs say they had a ball with mum rather than 'my mum died with only £10 on her credit card'

But I was an ITU nurse and saw all manner of shit so my life philosophy may be different to most

Another zero here. We buy everything on credit card, but pay it off every month. We get a lot of cashback that way and credit card protection on all of our purchases. But we've never paid a penny in interest charges.

MiddlingMum--not sure of your age (I'm 45), but that sounds a lot like me. Growing up poor made me the least interested in 'stuff' person going (obviously some people it has the opposite effect). Also realised with my scattiness, I would either forget to pay off a CC (one reason why I also never went on the Pill) or would lose the paperwork.

Only twice had an issue with not having a CC. One was trying to book online with an overseas airline. The other was trying to book accommodation for work travel with the works travel booker (my employer a supposedly diversity-friendly civil service) and being told a CC was necessary to secure it...

I only use them to pay for something like a holiday so that I get protection. I will then clear it in a couple of months.' Don't live beyond your means' is what my mum always said and I'm glad of that advice.

A poster said its not representative of average debt is 8k or something. Well lots of people have no debt outside the mortgage.

Its partly about how you manage your money and your values. Attitudes to debt has really relaxed. I couldn't get into debt for non essentials but can understand for essential house renovations / IVF etc.

Zero. I'm retired so if I spent on a CC I doubt my income would be sufficient to pay it back so no CC. If I need something I save for it.

I can't get my head around going into £5,500 debt from buying clothes and eating out

No ones cares when your dead, I'd rather my dcs say they had a ball with mum rather than 'my mum died with only £10 on her credit card'

They'll probably say "We didn't get any inheritance because any money mum had went towards her debt. Fuck knows how we're going to pay for the funeral" You can have a ball in ways that are inexpensive and within your means.

Zero - I've got about 20k available in credit, but try really hard not to use any of it as I've been stuck in that hole before when I came out of Uni.

If I do use it (security for purchase, emergency spend etc), I'll pay off as soon as possible, usually within a month or two.

It's all very well saying that you won't care when you're dead, what if you lose your job? I know someone who lived like that and recently lost their job and is dealing with bailiffs at their door. Their children aren't really enjoying that either!

Zero. Last week I paid off the couple of hundred for theatre tickets I bought last month.

Nothing, I've never had one and don't ever expect to.
I'm the old fashioned type who saves or does without

Mozzchops that’s how I feel

Nothing

If you pop your clogs then your estate will surely have to pay your debts so that could be your kids inheritance blown

I pay it off in full every month automatically but only use my credit not debit to build up air miles. Probably about a grand right now, but I don't consider it debt.

If I lose my job they don't get paid simple
They're not secured on my house
My kids don't become responsible for my debt when I die, the credit cards will die with me
The mortgage will be paid by life insurance

And I'm not not living a life for my kids to have an inheritance
I've never had one, it's not compulsory
The house will be theirs to sell and some life insurance

Credit cards are the work of the Devil.

Sorry ladies I just can't get my panties in a wad about it
We have great holidays and enjoy life
That's what it's for

Fuck loads. About 25k I think.

But mortgage is nearly paid off so will plough funds into getting rid of this debt ASAP.

£48.68. It is paid off each month.

Sorry ladies I just can't get my panties in a wad about it
We have great holidays and enjoy life
That's what it's for

You would if you lost your job or became incapacitated and started getting behind on payments and had to compromise your credit by negotiating payment deals on your debts or worse. I made that mistake in my 20s, ended up with an IVA and spent years restoring my credit. It totally sucked because it impacted everything and was extremely stressful. I changed and learned to enjoy life within my means and never looked back.

💁🏼‍♀️