To ask has anyone else been able to do this in life?

[flamebuoy]

Woman I work with has claimed she has never had...
A credit card
A loan of any sort, student, car, personal etc
Or A mortgage (she owns a house outright)

I know it's possible I suppose, she's not loaded etc...but is it more common than I think?

She couldn't have done it without the purchase, sale and profit from another house, which required a mortgage. So that part is not overly remarkable

Never had a loan or credit card. I just use debit and spend what I have.

I knew a teenager with a house outright as her aunt had left it to her.

I've never had a loan

Could live without a credit card easily. only ever use it for the added protection

Unusual to own a house without ever having a mortgage

@Idony

Never had a loan or credit card. I just use debit and spend what I have.

I knew a teenager with a house outright as her aunt had left it to her.

What’s the position with inheriting a house that was not your home? Would you have to pay capital gains tax, or would you if you sold it?

That doesn't sound common at all, and it's not like she achieved it all herself, as it sounds like a significant proportion of the house money was her DH's.

I'm 52, only ever had one loan for £3k, don't use credit cards, and used to have a sole mortgage. Easier for my generation than the current one because of lack of tuition fees and lower house prices in the past.

ConsellorTrol, no, but there’d have been inheritance tax on the value of deceased estate.

But I don’t understand how someone in her mid-30’s could have gone to uni without racking up any student debt?

Either way it’s very impressive to’ve never needed loans etc and saved up instead.

What’s the position with inheriting a house that was not your home? Would you have to pay capital gains tax, or would you if you sold it?

Tax-free if the total value of the estate (including the house) was below the inheritance-tax nil-rate band (currently £325k, or £500k if left to direct descendants).

[quote flamebuoy]@CounsellorTroi she says she saved and then met her dh who had a mortgaged property so he sold (at a profit I presume) and then they pooled their money and bought outright...very plausible I suppose [/quote]
So she married money. Not everyone can do that !

I don't know why it would matter. Getting credit to purchase a house or other necessities is just a way of getting what you need when you need it. I've had mortgages, credit cards, personal loans , heaps of things like that. It meant that I've had a comfortable life and I continue to do so. I don't see it as a medal of honour to have no credit history.

DP has never had a credit card, loan or a mortgage. He only owns 50% of a house outright (paid cash no mortgage), though, his brother has the other 50%.

I've never had a credit card or a mortgage and my only loan was my student one.

Never having a credit card is nothing to boast about.

Being able to manage money is more important than never having a mortgage or credit card.

Marrying someone who has capital is lovely, but it's not success. I'd be more impressed with a 30 yo who had bought a house with a mortgage in her name & hadn't got into unsecured debt 💁🏻‍♀️

I don’t consider this aspirational. Even if I could afford not to have a mortgage (technically I could just not where I live) I would still have one, because it’s cheap credit and I would invest the money and get a better return on it.

I can get a 0% credit card and it gives me better protection for buying eg holidays etc.

Likewise I’d rather get a 0% finance agreement for things like phones, windows etc when available and in the meantime the money is earning me interest.

However, that’s very different from spending more money because you can via credit eg getting a nicer car on credit.

@MurielSpriggs

Loans don't mean you have any more money in your life. They just redistribute the income from one point in your life to another (and cost interest, so in fact overall you have less). If you've got a pretty stable income they're not necessary.

This is a great post and a great way to think of it. You’re just moving money from the future to the present, not getting any more of it.

Sometimes you need to do that to buy a large asset though. You have a stable income but need to move money from the future flows to be a lump now. I think that’s fine as someone else said, you have an asset so your balance sheet is ok.

My friend didn't have a credit card until she was 45. She has never had a loan and no mortgage because she rents. She also has no pension or savings, lives hand to mouth really. She's 62 now.

Prime example - my parents.

Both early 60's
Not university educated.
Bought a small piece of land when they got married, lived in a mobile home while they saved & built house accordingly.

Never a mortgage, loan, car loan, finance, credit card, everything paid off, in full.
Mum doesnt even have a debit card, so I have to purchase everything on line for her.

Dad self employed mostly paid by chq.
Mum employed paid into building society.

Live by the motto if you cant buy it you can't afford it

Very disappointed when I said I have to get a mortgage to purchase a house. I was 22!

Yes this is possible. My parents earned fairly well (not millions, but around 100K per year) and were frugal. They saved a lot of money to buy property outright because in our culture there's a certain stigma attached to loans. Cars were also bought in cash, not leased or loaned. My parents had no financial support from family at all as they were first generation immigrants. However this was in the 90s/early 20s where property prices were more reasonable than now.

We did end up getting credit cards for practical reasons since the rise of online shopping meant you had to have a CC to purchase or book things online. The card is linked with a direct debit so the amount is automatically paid off each month.