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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:
thegreylady · 19/02/2021 09:38

None mortgage paid off small savings hate debt

Porcupineintherough · 19/02/2021 10:18

You know what's privileged @opalescent? Assuming that credit is something that was available to everybody. When I was earning £2.31/hr at 18 no credit card company would have touched me with a barge pole. Same when I was self employed and living hand to mouth in my 20s. I didnt even have an overdraft facility with the bank, cost me a fortune if I even went a few pounds overdrawn.

opalescent · 19/02/2021 10:29

I respectfully disagree porcupine. I think not giving a credit card to an 18 year old who is earning £2 an hour is very sensible. I wouldn't have been able to get one either at that age.

opalescent · 19/02/2021 10:31

And I will add that I said in my previous post- I feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to get a mortgage at all.

StephanieSavetowin · 19/02/2021 10:34

I have a student loan, but obviously don't think about it as a debt. It's just something that happens sometimes. I have been super lucky to keep my self debt free after crawling out my overdraft quite a few times in my student days. But I also find that I am terrified to make any big financial desicions or save and feel, exacerbated by lockdowns, in stasis, like I have no interest in buying a shared ownership flat which s the only thing I will ever, ever afford.

I have been trying to save money thought. I found the book 'Money, a User's Guide' by Laura Whatley super helpful. I started to change my behviours and started to sell my stuff. I sold my wedding dress on www.bride2bride.co.uk/ which brought in some cash. I am thinking about doing my mums clothes on some vintage platforms too.

Is anyone else completely terrified of credit cards? I've never hard one!

Porcupineintherough · 19/02/2021 10:35

I'm not disagreeing about that @opalescent, obviously I couldn't have afforded a credit card. And that's my point, the idea that people are only ever debt free out of privilege is rubbish. I dont know about today but not that long ago it was also perfectly possible to be debt free because you were hard up.

Mammyloveswine · 19/02/2021 10:39

About £10,000 credit cards and loan, £80,000 left on the mortgage...loan paid off next year though so that'll be a big chunk paid off so will use the money we used for that to pay off the credit cards quicker plus no childcare from April when youngest gets his 30 hours so will have a lot more disposable income to pay off the credit cards quicker!

We will be looking to move next year though which will mean a bigger mortgage however the equity in our current house will mean our deposit will be more, we will have some money for savings and won't have credit card debt. Plus my career is on the up and in the next 2 years I'm hoping to have increased my salary by. £15,000 and DH is in the final stage of applying for a new job which is almost double his current (low!) salary so the next few years should prove a lot more comfortable for us!

Bluesheep8 · 19/02/2021 10:44

I have a student loan, but obviously don't think about it as a debt. It's just something that happens sometimes.

I thought of mine as a debt rather than something that happens sometimes...

BarbaraofSeville · 19/02/2021 10:53

Student loans from the SLC should be thought of as a graduate tax, rather than a debt.

Too many people are either put off by the headline debt value, which most people don't even make a dent in, or do stupid things like overpay when it doesn't make financial sense for most people.

BillThePony · 19/02/2021 10:55

Around 300k mortgage and around £900 on cards

All manageable.

Chewingle · 19/02/2021 12:04

Absolutely no one
NO ONE!!
Has boasted on this thread

They have simply responded to the OP’s question, and that sometimes has involved zero debt.

If you ate up to your eyeballs in debt, you may see that as boasting but it’s not!

Ninkanink · 19/02/2021 12:16

It’s a bit like the ‘how much do you drink’ threads...

If you don’t want to hear from people who don’t drink, you need to state that in the title/OP. Otherwise people will answer based on how much they do (or don’t) drink, which for some people will be ‘nothing’.

RubysArms · 19/02/2021 12:17

@Chewingle

Absolutely no one NO ONE!! Has boasted on this thread

They have simply responded to the OP’s question, and that sometimes has involved zero debt.

If you ate up to your eyeballs in debt, you may see that as boasting but it’s not!

Weird statement to make. You have no way of knowing this to be true?
biibbiibobby · 19/02/2021 12:27

If OP didn't want to hear from those with no debt then the thread should have been called "If you HAVE debt...how much do you have?"

And I hate when ppl say things like " oh I hate when ppl claim to have No debt...the average debt is xxxx!" To have an average you need to have ppl with little to no debt and those with massive debt essentially

Chewingle · 19/02/2021 12:30

I don’t know whether the posters are lying or not! But that’s different from “boasting”.

To answer the OP’s question - even if that means zero debt, is not boasting.

therealstevebrexit · 19/02/2021 12:38

@Bluesheep8

I have a student loan, but obviously don't think about it as a debt. It's just something that happens sometimes.

I thought of mine as a debt rather than something that happens sometimes...

I have a student loan, but obviously don't think about it as a debt. It's just something that happens sometimes.

Unfortunately that's exactly how so many people end up literally drowning in debts.

Anything that is not paid in full IS a debt.

RubysArms · 19/02/2021 12:41
Confused

My point is that you cannot say that the thread does not contain any boasting because you can only speak for you and the motivation behind your own comment.

Shetoshe · 19/02/2021 12:48

None, I got a bank loan when I was very young and blew the lot and it was painful paying it back, so stressful. Resolved never to get into debt ever again. I'm glad I learnt the lesson while young and when the amount was relatively modest.

I'm a bad enough sleeper as it is - I would lie awake every night worried sick if I had a load of debt built up.

BlueLionel · 19/02/2021 12:54

£106k mortgage 24 years left
£16k car loan 4 years left
£2k (ish) interest free on bed and kitchen appliances 2 years left
£10k family loan paid as and when
Who knows how much on my student loan, but that "doesn't count"

StarsonaString · 19/02/2021 12:56

No this isn't the case with student loans. Even Martin Lewis tells people not to bother paying if if you are under the income threshold or overpay it.

Most debts are due regardless of how much money you have to pay them and you can get in trouble by avoiding repayments. Student loans are only payable if you are above a certain income, are taken off your pay with your tax and are automatically written off after a fixed time.

You won't get into trouble with student loans and if you bob around the income threshold with your pay, it will feel like something that 'just happens' sometimes.

poppycat10 · 19/02/2021 12:59

@opalescent

I respectfully disagree porcupine. I think not giving a credit card to an 18 year old who is earning £2 an hour is very sensible. I wouldn't have been able to get one either at that age.
I remember not being able to get credit to buy a £300 cooker when I was 24! Because I had only just started my first "proper" job. I think my parents stepped in as I only had a £250 credit limit on my credit card.
TravellingSpoon · 19/02/2021 13:09

£76k on mortgage
approx £6k left of student loans
Approx £4k left on my car loan.

poppycat10 · 19/02/2021 13:15

Debt isn't always necessarily bad, expensive, or avoidable

I agree, I don't put mortgage debt into the same pot as other debt - we all have to live somewhere and much better to buy your own house than line a landlord' pockets (I know you line the lender's pockets too but at least you are getting something out of it). However, it's bad debt in that if you lose your job, you could lose the roof over your head. However, that also applies if you are renting and can't keep up with the rent (in normal times).

Student debt affects affordability calculations, but if you are out of work you don't "owe" it, so it's not stressful in that sense.

But I could never justify borrowing for a car when I can buy a cheaper one outright.

I don't like debt. It stresses me. I have never been very good at holding jobs down for long, so I always save as much as I can when I am in work. Even the cashback credit cards are a bad idea from my perspective as you are a month behind with your spending which means if you lose your job you have that extra debt to pay off.

Chewingle · 19/02/2021 13:32

@RubysArms

Confused

My point is that you cannot say that the thread does not contain any boasting because you can only speak for you and the motivation behind your own comment.

But if just stating numbers (whether or not those numbers are true is irrelevant) How on earth is that boasting?

Surely boasting involves hyperbole ie l am brilliant at xyz, I am the best at 123 etc

ReefTeeth · 19/02/2021 13:41

I have no debt. I'm so risk adverse that our first mortgage was tiny even though we could have borrowed more.

We sold that house after 7.5 years and moved somewhere (that was luckily near family) that we could be mortgage free.

It's been some luck and definitely a way of thinking.

I've travelled the world but always saved up to travel. I was 🤯 when I met dh and he'd taken a loan to spend a year in Aus. I paid his loan off and encouraged him to look at money matters differently.