To ask how much, if any, credit people have?

[Allinadayswork80]

Not wanting to offend anyone, but having seen previous threads asking how much you you earn, etc. I hope this question wouldn’t be unreasonable to ask.

Curious to know how much credit/debt people have and what for? I was brought up with the attitude that if you can’t afford it, you don’t have it but I also have friends whose attitude is “life is too short and have what you want”. There’s lots of things I’d like, new clothes, upgraded furniture/white goods but we live within our means and generally only buy what we can afford or have saved for. Whereas we have friends with lovely newer cars, latest clothes, American fridge freezers with ice dispensers etc. all on credit. I personally would find this stressful. I’d love to know the general consensus on peoples’ attitudes towards credit and if I’m cutting off my nose to spite my face?

Mortgage and car loan. I see the car as a tool I use for my work/life and prefer a cheap loan from the bank rather than a lease arrangement (have done that once).

Car is mine to sell and loan is for 50% of the cost of a six month old car so I would never be in a position where I couldn't sell it and pay off the debt.

Credit cards - one used monthly for shopping/life, paid off in full each month and I never pay interest.

No 2 is 0% for 30 months and has been used for significant house repairs, will be paid off without interest by the end of August. I'll be glad when it has been paid off as I am throwing between £1,000 and £1,500 a month at it atm to clear it quickly even though I think I've got until mid 2023 to pay it off without charges.

I've got a £500k mortgage plus the £31k I said earlier

I know it's been addressed already, but I just want to put in my vote for people to try to use the right words. How much credit someone has is a completely different question from how much debt they have, which was what was actually wanted.

I admit I was able to guess from the OPs post that what she was actually asking was not the question in the subject, but my brain cells did not need the extra exercise involved in working it out.

It's interesting to me that people have all this credit.

My credit limit is under 4k and my credit card recently refused to increase my limit. I earn a good wage and have no debt except a small mortgage. And never HAVE been in debt. I have no defaults. I am on the electoral roll etc etc. But I can't get credit.

If I look on MSE it shows me as N/A chance of getting any top credit card. It's actually worse since I became a higher rate taxpayer than it was years ago when I was on benefits - my credit rating I mean.

It's a pain because to buy large things with section 75 protection I have to move money around through Paypal. But it makes me wonder, who is getting all this credit. I'm not!

Anyone can get anything these days with a bendy, it’s paying it back in drips that mounts up to problems. Work with a young person 24 yrs old, gets his wages every week on Friday, by the following Wednesday he absolutely has no money & starts bleating about not being able to do this or that, because he’s paying off ( if ever ) 3 cards. I have tried to get him to see reason but hey ho. He’s on minimum wage and spends Monopoly money, you can lead a horse etc,& guessing this is how the first thread is in reality. Take home 1£ outgoing £1,01 = trouble

I have a few thousand limit in a credit card

I thin your question is about credit card best thought, not credit?

I have no credit card best. I use my card manly for online purchase and pay it off in full every month.

No debt. Not allowed any credit. DH allowed 1k.

Have 4 credit cards with my H, haven't applied for either. all together appr. 20k on it. They keep bumping us up for no apparent reason.
used it 2x and paid back within 10 days. Mattress and sofa. We had the money, but my debit card didn't work.
Also use it as deposit for car rental if needed.
Had a car finance for 4 years. HAd the money upfront, but they offered 0% interest + free yearly service for 3 years. Made sense.
WE both believe to only buy what we can afford. Would never use it for luxuries like holiday. It's not an essential spending. If we have money for travel yey and go. If we don't we stay put.

P.s I'm not allowed credit as I don't work. And DH is allowed 1k as he has 4 dependents. i.e me and kids. And doesn't earn massive amounts.

I've never owned a credit card. If I can't affford it on my debit card I don't buy it. I have a small mortgage which I overpay whenever possible

@RandomLondoner

I know it's been addressed already, but I just want to put in my vote for people to try to use the right words. How much credit someone has is a completely different question from how much debt they have, which was what was actually wanted.

I admit I was able to guess from the OPs post that what she was actually asking was not the question in the subject, but my brain cells did not need the extra exercise involved in working it out.

I think it speaks to general financial literacy.

This should be taught in school - life skills. We should all understand the terminology so people don’t get bamboozled.

I know a few educated people who do t understand mortgages at all. That’s how people got into bother with interest only, some simply didn’t understand the concept.

@Woofwoofbarkbark

P.s I'm not allowed credit as I don't work. And DH is allowed 1k as he has 4 dependents. i.e me and kids. And doesn't earn massive amounts.

Allowed by whom?

1200 on a cc for dental work. Will pay off in the next 6 months. A phone contract but I use it for work too. Car finance. We owe 12k. 2 years left and a loan owing 3k left on with a year left which we took out to help our business. I have access to more credit. Probably 10k if I needed it but I don't use it

@Mellowyellow222

Credit card companies

No debt whatsoever. The only thing we pay monthly on is the council tax, it’s a terrific feeling when you know everything in the pot is accounted for & no getting. letters that get hidden from people.

Roughly £85k mortgage.
£3k credit card limit, balance around £600 after last minute wedding/honeymoon bits. Gets cleared at £100 a month, could easily clear it but would rather build the savings back up.

Nothing other than that, we don't drive, all our furniture etc was paid for outright when we moved 2.5 years ago. We are starting to upgrade a few bits eg storage, bedframe etc but these will be paid for outright. We have modelled our lifestyle on only one income in case one of us gets made redundant etc we would still be able to pay the bills with a little left over, but that means we have made a conscious choice not to drive (financial, ecological and personal reasons) and also no kids.

@FloatyBoaty

I think you’ll get a very biased response here, OP.

I also want to say something to the “I was brought up if you can’t afford it you don’t buy it” posters...

I also think that there’s a lot of misunderstanding on this thread about how credit it used by many- particularly since the pandemic.

When I separated from my H, I was still (quite early) on maternity leave. I had to use my credit card to relocate my son and I 300 miles to a different city. I had no job to go to. I took very little with me.

I ran up CC bills on... 3 months rent in advance, a whole new house of furniture (just average, most second hand, nothing naice), living expenses for the last 4 months I took of mat leave- food, nappies, public transport ...

I then found a job and went back to work early- but tax credits didn’t NEARLY cover the shortfall in 30 hours free- so I topped up nursery fees on... my credit card.

And guess what? By the time DS was 1, after leaving a toxic relationship, relocating to a town with little by way of a support system, working 50-60 hour weeks and breastfeeding all night so serious sleep deprivation- I’d unsurprisingly begun to experience some increasingly serious MH issues. The NHS said it would be months for a counsellor or therapist. Did I want drugs to tide me over?

No I didn’t want drugs. So I paid for private therapy ... on my credit card! It saved my life. No regrets. But it cost me.

But ... None of these were purchases I WANTED to make- but had to- I figured getting back to work faster would mean I could get back to my pre-maternity salary quicker, and it would effectively be a debt run up at point a), to get us ahead in future . Paying for therapy kept me at work, kept me earning, kept me moving forward...

I don’t have a car. I don’t go on holiday. I don’t have nice things. I don’t get my nails done. I don’t go out to the pub etc. I don’t have loads of tech and gadgets- just what I need for my job. Credit for me filled a gap between the cost of living and my salary and tax credits- which as a median earning lone parent with a baby/toddler and long working hours/high childcare costs - was significant.

Anyway- I just think people need to be mindful that not all credit is frivolous. Not everyone who lives on credit is doing so without understanding what it means. Not everyone has a choice- particularly if you fall into the gap between benefits eligibility and the real terms living wage.

And this will only happen more as the cost of living continues to increase whilst wages stagnate.

Single parents are particularly susceptible to being caught in this trap, for reasons most often beyond their control.

So please before you post a sanctimonious “I was brought up if you can’t afford it you don’t have it” statement- think about what that means. For me that would have meant:

• a house with no furniture with an under 1
• less nursery hours restricting my employment opportunities
• no therapy- meaning long term medication and debilitating MH issues

For others that will mean not buying food, school uniforms, warm coats for kids...

Poverty looks very different in 2022- it’s time to people started opening their eyes to that, and being a bit more compassionate.

I completely get this. I was a single mum many moons ago and racked up so much in debt just to be able to afford winter jumpers for my child, food on the table, bus fair to school. My wages and tax credits paid the rent and the bills, there wasn’t much left over for everything else my child needed. I was working long hours too.

Years later I married, debts paid off and we bought a house in late 2019. Had a 6 month old and life was good.

Then the pandemic hit.

Hubby lost his job a week before lockdown was announced. He had no payout, no furlough, nothing. A month later I was told by my employer that I wouldn’t be returning after my maternity leave as my whole team were being made redundant.

We couldn’t pay the mortgage, the bills, food, nappies, clothes for the baby. We fortunately were able to claim for a mortgage holiday for 3 months and universal credit but we still had a shortfall of 1k plus the mortgage once the holiday was over. So it was back in debt again just to get by. That went on for 9 months until hubby found work again so we’re in a lot of debt, but luckily can easily afford the repayments.

I hate that we have the debt, but at the same time I am thankful for it as it got us through some trying times and we could have lost our whole livelihoods.

Not everyone is able to save enough to cover all possible future eventualities. And it’s not like the old days, the cost of living far exceeds many people’s income. It’s not a case of ‘can’t afford it can’t have it’ when that ‘it’ is a necessity to survive.

I too got into debt in my twenties and early thirties from paying for weekly therapy (for six years!) I was in a bad place and making terrible relationship decisions. A decade on, I'm in a very happy marriage with a lovely man, with a good job, and I feel like it was worth every penny. There's an unpleasant edge of sanctimony to the comments of the 'I was brought up to think you shouldn't buy what you can't afford' crew... people can end up in all sorts of different life situations they never expected to be in, it's not all Gucci, cars and big TVs

[quote Woofwoofbarkbark]@Mellowyellow222

Credit card companies[/quote]
Thanks

I have never heard eligibility discredited in that way - and thought you were referring to your parents or something😂

@Mellowyellow222

Sorry, I'm not the greatest writer! Eligible would have been a better word!

As other people have said it’s about awareness. We are currently quite cash poor as paying school and uni fees. Needed a new mattress as old one is 17/years old so bought one on 4 years interest free credit. Means we could spend 1400 and buy something decent and it’s not costing extra. I also use pay in three a lot. I’m clear that I can manage the payment ps though and am in a secure job.

Described not discredited!!!

@Mellowyellow222

Described not discredited!!!

It's ok, I knew what you meant. Predictive text will be the death of us!

@lomoloko

It's interesting to me that people have all this credit.

My credit limit is under 4k and my credit card recently refused to increase my limit. I earn a good wage and have no debt except a small mortgage. And never HAVE been in debt. I have no defaults. I am on the electoral roll etc etc. But I can't get credit.

If I look on MSE it shows me as N/A chance of getting any top credit card. It's actually worse since I became a higher rate taxpayer than it was years ago when I was on benefits - my credit rating I mean.

It's a pain because to buy large things with section 75 protection I have to move money around through Paypal. But it makes me wonder, who is getting all this credit. I'm not!

Having no debt will give you less chance of obtaining good deals and higher limits. They like to see you using and managing debt well, it’s part of the risk assessment. Having hardly any evidence of this on your credit report won’t score you very highly. So it’s not just a case of having no defaults etc, it’s also a case of showing you can use any credit available to you properly and manage it well.

In terms of available credit - an eye popping £49,750 is available to me on five different cards. I closed one recently with a £10,000 limit.

Apart from the one linked to my bank account - the one I use every day, they have all been applied for for 0% deals. I am planning to close them all apart from one as I will never use them unless there's a 0% thing going on.

I read on MSE that closing too many accounts in a short amount of time can affect your credit rating - seems back to front but I am planning to close one every six months.

@lomoloko, I think that the reason I have got such high credit limits is because whenever I have used an interest free deal for something significant at home I tighten my belt and pay off as much as I can every month to get rid of it. The credit card company seems to think that I have got ££££ free to pay it off and before you know it they've added £5k to the limit - ridiculous really.