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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask how much debt you are in?

776 replies

Sunshine3013 · 18/02/2021 07:04

Just that really.
Wondering how much debt the average person is in.. Including mortgage, loans, credit cards, overdraft?

Just curious!

OP posts:
MissMarpleDarling · 18/02/2021 12:25

None. You reminded me i owe my son £10 which i borrowed from his money box for someones bday card.

AnneElliott · 18/02/2021 12:27

Mortgage of about £160k and loan of about £17k.

StaffRepFeistyClub · 18/02/2021 12:28

No debts. Paid off mortgage. CC paid in full every month.

I do a FIRE approach occasionally to cut down outgoings massively and that helped with clearing the mortgage. Also debtfreeliving group has lots of ideas

We have all been sucked into a consumption society and have FOMO. People need to think - does Olivia need to go to all those clubs, is tutoring essential that often, how much needs to be in Christmas/Christmas Eve/Easter boxes, do you really need to buy that many presents for child/ren, how much do you need to spend on adults presents.

Its now about being mean it is about being realistic and managing expectations. Debt, other than a mortgage and student loans, should not be normal.

I was raised in a debt-riddled household and I remember the guilt I felt on birthdays and Christmas until I put my foot down and set a limit, even now my parents are not allowed to give me more than bottle of wine or a plant.

Baby steps is the best way to turn around finances

CorianderBee · 18/02/2021 12:30

Including student loans? £65,000.

Not including student loans... zilch. Paid everything off two years ago.

PritiPatelsFacelift · 18/02/2021 12:30

Three hundred thousand, and thirty four, nine hundred and seventy four thousand pounds

StarsonaString · 18/02/2021 12:31

Am early 30s and single.

About 8 years left on my student loan assuming I don't get any payrises/promotions before then which I will aim for. Mortgage £110k with around 50% LTV currently. Overpay as much as possible so hoping to have it paid off by the time I hit 40 unless I move to a more expensive house. Overpaying instead of adding to (currently emergency only) savings since interest rates are so dire.

Most months anywhere between £500-1000 on a credit card but pay it off in full for the points.

In the past, have had interest free kitchen loan which I could have paid in full at any point but left money to gain interest in the meantime. When I last moved, I wiped out all savings so lived off an interest free credit card while house was being done up and paid it off over the next 6 months in manageable chunks while rebuilding savings.

ManCubsMama · 18/02/2021 12:31

None, except a mortgage (do we consider this debt??)

If you asked me this time last year I would have said I had a 2k overdraft and 5k credit card, both maxed. But I managed to clear this with a nice little windfall of redundancy money (every cloud).

Since I have cleared it I have managed to keep out of it and even now have £12k in savings.

Once you clear your debt and manage to save, it just grows and grows seemingly easily.

Lepetitpiggy · 18/02/2021 12:32

After being completely useless with money and running away from debts and creditors for most of my life, I am now in a position where, because we were either sensible or selfish, we bought our social housing property 12 years ago. Living in a really expensive part of the country the value has shot up 3 times what we paid so we have this as our retirement fund. We owe £180,000 on (interest only, but paying back as much extra as we can every month); we never spend more than £1000 on a car as it is absolutely not a priority to have a big fancy one and we dont use it often enough; we have just paid off an extension which we had 12 years ago and have about £700 on cc. Due to a bereavement and taking my old pension from a job I had 20 years ago, we also have savings between us of around £25000. Dh retires in August and will have a very tiny pension but a lump sum and so we should be ok.

The plan is to wait for final dc to leave home and go to university in three years and we intend then to sell the house and move somewhere smaller. This has all come about through sort of luck I guess - annual income between us has never been more than £32,000 but the house buying and deaths have propped us up. I'm never sure whether to feel bad or pleased

savvy7 · 18/02/2021 12:32

No debt here

TwoZeroTwoZero · 18/02/2021 12:33

No mortgage because we rent.
14K on credit cards
1 or 2K on the car
4.5K on a loan
600 on overdrafts
2 or 3K on various other things.

The loan is due to finish next year. When that's out of the way we're going to use the money to bump up the cc payments and get them out of the way. 2 - 3 years and we're out of the debt hole, fingers crossed.

picknmix1984 · 18/02/2021 12:35

£129000 mortgage, 3k on credit card and loan but as a household we earn nearly 100k. Your thread doesn't really capture people's circumstances at all. Do you include the fact that we cover my daughters rent because she doesn't get the full student loan for example? In a way that's debt!

MojoJojo71 · 18/02/2021 12:37

Other than the mortgage I have about £500 on a credit card but it’s still in its 0% introductory period and I’ve got about £5k in savings

wendz86 · 18/02/2021 12:37

Only debt i have is student loan which is around 9k. I rent so don't own a home.

StarsShiningUpAboveYou · 18/02/2021 12:38

1.5k Sofa (DFS) will be paid off by May.
240,000 20yr mortgage! It'll be paid off by the time I'm 50.
No credit card debt.

Tightwad2020 · 18/02/2021 12:39

How's it going on that question about debt levels of the 'average' person, OP???

How are you defining average (people who log into MN and answer your question?)

Are you pulling together a spreadsheet from our answers and, if so, what is the average so far i.e. average among those who answer?/

namechangetheworld · 18/02/2021 12:40

Around £100k left on the mortgage between DH and I, but hoping to upsize soon so that will increaze.

Around £1000 left on a loan for one of the cars.

Around £1000 on a credit card in DHs name.

I do have a student loan but don't even think about it as I'm a SAHM and don't pay it and probably never will ahem

Lovemusic33 · 18/02/2021 12:47

£2000 tax credit over payment

No credit cards, no loans, no mortgage and nothing on tic.

Wendyhause · 18/02/2021 12:47

I had a small debt with a credit card about 20 years ago as it was the only way I could buy new things for myself or home. It was awful because I only managed to pay off the minimum monthly payments which meant the debt barely came down at all.
Eventually I was free of it and since then have not had any debt at all. My home is all paid for and I have no loans etc. I make sure my bank overdraft is never used either. I have enough personal worries now without trying to cope with financial ones too.
Some of the few posts I have read here have been quite shocking to be honest.

JufusMum · 18/02/2021 12:54

About £20k left on mortgage.
Nothing else.

AledsiPad · 18/02/2021 12:55

Credit Card is used for monthly spends and paid off in full so not sure that counts? I've paid of the 0% 'Christmas' credit card in full today, that was £500. Have about £250 on my next account but that will be paid off in full once the statement comes too, I prefer to order through catalogues at the moment as I can't try anything on in store obviously, and I'd rather not pay out if I don't like something, it doesn't fit etc. Next means I can send it back for free and not be out of pocket. DH owes about 6k on his car, and that's the biggest debt we have, but it doesn't bother us to be honest.

We don't have a mortgage (rent) and we're unlikely to for the next 5 years at least (I'm 33), due to having kids early and being stupid in our youth. We're hoping to buy a modest home when 1 or 2 of them move out. Sort of skipping the 'ladder' bit and just going straight to downsizing! Grin I used to stress about it, but I just don't have the energy now. We'll be homeowners eventually however it works out.

ProfessorofCunning · 18/02/2021 12:58

£0.79 interest payment left on my credit card! Be debt free for the first time in 15 years next week. Sadly had to sell our house and rent 5 years ago, but the relief of not having £120k mortgage was so immense that it’s been worth it. We rent from family, who are in the process of leaving it in trust for my children, so we’ll technically rent from them. So incredibly lucky after the financial shit we went through.

MyDiamondShoesAreTooTight · 18/02/2021 13:05

I know people are saying that they know nobody who has paid their mortgage off but 50% of owned houses are owned outright.

Not everybody tells people they are mortgage free. Everyone thinks I’m mortgaged up to the eyeballs but actually i paid it off over a year ago but people in real life are non the wiser!

11112222 · 18/02/2021 13:07

£200k on Mortgage.
But due to covid that amount is increasing because we've been taking payment holidays. We have received no gov help despite dh's work being closed since last March, so we're just slipping further and further into debt. It's very worrying. We really need DH to be able to get back to his normal work. But realistically, that may not be until Autumn/Winter. 😟😭

Devlesko · 18/02/2021 13:08

None, and don't have a credit card either.
Have a stash of savings in the house though.

crazychemist · 18/02/2021 13:10

Mortgage of just over 60K. Still have 10K on my student loan (would rather pay off mortgage, because better rate in student loan). Probably going to increase debt over the next couple of years though - hadn’t planned on having twins, so childcare costs are twice what we had budgeted for!