Curious how much debt is normal?

[Mummabear04]

Just being nosey really to see what's the average for other people but how much debt are you in excluding your mortgage? I have just under 4k of debt between DH and I due to student loans but don't have anything else other than the mortgage (we have put paying back our loans first and only saving a little each month instead). How about you?

Mortgage only here. Hasn’t always been that way, my younger self had debts, always for ‘sensible’ things like a car (got a car allowance from work) or home improvements.

I didn’t have any savings post divorce. I’ve been able to change that thankfully, not remotely smug or relaxed about my financial position, there by the grace of god and all that.

Only few hundred on card/over draft between us which will be paid off at end of the year. Otherwise its the mortgage just under 70K. DH 50 I'm 48.

Dh missed the loans and I caught them at start - though went into debt for masters paid it all off in 20s and started to save house deposit bought when I was 31- okay paid graduate job but frugality lifestyle - wasn't doing holidays and expensive stuff.

Our DC uni education alone will put them in huge debt for years but few local options for work and no access to higher paying jobs without a degree here.

I don’t live in UK but just this week there was a report about debt levels in country I live in. They are crazy high as bad as they were pre credit crash.
. No debt from either DH or myself. I save to change car or do jobs around the house. Mortgage got paid off early due to an inheritance. I am not far off 40 so been around long enough to remember struggles people had with large debts and no job when economy went bust.
To add I grew up poor and was first person to get a degree in my family. So didn’t start off life with any help from family.

Mortgage and about 1k left on my student loan which will probably be paid off next year with my statutory + voluntary repayment contributions. No credit cards. No car on finance.

60k between us plus the mortgage. Cc, loans, car loans.

Mortgage and car finance. But no other debts.

no debt. I was brought up that if you can't afford it you don't buy it so I have never lived beyond my means, or bought things on credit that I can't afford.

I will buy on 0% credit and pay in instalments so that I can leave money in savings.

I buy everything day to day with a credit card and pay it off in full each month.

I don't view student loans as debt - it eventually gets written off and no one is going to turn up at your door demanding stuff if you forget to pay (you can't anyway!)

Mine is over 50k - couldn't give a shit!

As a house hold (husband and I)
cc :£1800
od : £450
old catalogue stupidity £1000

so £3250 total

we don’t have a car on finance, and do have a small mortgage.

compared to the national average it’s low , but it’s a lot to us .

our income has gone up a lot this year (job change and small pay rise ) so hopefully we will make some better choices/ clear more off next year

£150 savings

Paid off mortgage and student loans. Own our cars outright.

Right now, there is £1200 on the AMEX & £180 on my credit card which will be paid off at next payday.

£250 ish on Next account which will also be paid off at pay day.

I’m mid 30s but aware this is unusual for my age to not have debt.

Technically about £800 but that will be paid off this month. Other credit cards are used for rewards but then paid off in full every month.

It was as high as 12k at one point, but was on interest free and was for home repairs so wasn't really fussed about it as was manageable.

I guess I have 8k of student loans but I ignore those as an actual debt. It will get paid off whenever from my salary- I think maybe in like 3 or 4 years?

We are fortunate that we don't need to take on debt however for bigger things I tend to do on credit for additional protection. Or it just financially makes sense to have debt on interest free while we make money off our savings.

DH and I both 34. Just the mortgage but neither of us went to uni so no student loans.

Mortgage free for a long time but car on PCP which I suppose is a debt

None, but I am now old and spend a lot of time thinking about saving for my retirement.
When I was younger I did at one point accumulate unsecured debts of about £30,000, fortunately at the time of high house price inflation in the early noughties, so paid it off easily when I sold my house.

Most of the people you get replying are going to be the ones with little to no debt. Probably doesn’t reflect the reality of working age people in this country.

Student loan and mortgage (could actually pay that off but savings earn more).
Never had any debt besides those, always been lucky to have a job when I need it and am happy to live very frugallywhen necessary

No debt aside from the mortgage.

I think people who have no debt love to respond on these threads. I think - and the figures show - that in real life a lot of people have a LOT of debt.

We have about £9k of debt spread across cc and overdrafts. It doesn’t bother us at all. We just chip away at it and mainly use credit cards for booking a holiday and then pay it back across a year or two. We have no mortgage etc. No student loans. In our 40s.

Mid 30s, we have ~15k on 0% credit cards from our wedding this year.

I don't really see it as debt in the sense of "oh gosh we owe £xx money" and a sign of living beyond our means, just a tactic in our financial management.

We have the cash to pay it off tomorrow if we wanted, but the interest rate on the savings means that would be silly when we can wait till the 0% CC period ends next year at some point and just drip-feed the minimum payments in the meantime.

In the past I had a large personal loan to cover a negative equity malarky. That made me very wary of debt as it worried me a lot and it meant my outgoings were more than I was earning. It was a worrying time. I was living on 9p tins of beans. I met my DH during that time and he used to take me to the supermarket once a week and pay for a decent grocery shop for me.

30 years on, with all that long behind me, I am in my 60s now, and I am conscious it won't be so easy to pay off debt as my earning potential will diminish at some point, so I avoid it. But I do use my credit card in preference to my debit card. I rarely have a zero balance on my credit card but apart from holidays and Christmas, the balance is rarely more than £2k. That's my comfort zone. I do have savings now and could clear the £2k in one go, but they are currently earning interest so I am happy to leave the debt on my card.

No debt, it would stress me out. DH and I live within our means but we are lucky enough to earn reasonably well and are closing in on retirement.

Went to university in the 80s so no student loans and had a full grant.

Cars are usually old, bought with cash, though the last one was paid for via an inheritance.

The mortgage is paid off.

Nothing other than mortgage. Hasn't always been that way, about 7 years ago we had 28k of unsecured debt, mainly credit cards and overdraft, plus car pcp. But now nothing - we use the credit card for big purchases for the security but then pay that off.

About 5k on 0%, I had lots more at one point and I’ve been chipping away for ages. I’ve just moved it to 28 months 0% deal and if I can get that gone by the end of then I’ll be delighted.

And student loan in addition to that debt as well - paid off 3 ish years ago

None but I'm 51.

When I was in my mid-twenties a fair amount - student loan (overpaid and paid that back before 30), a car loan/finance, and between DH and I a £15K bank loan (fixtures and fittings on first home/furniture etc).

Actually between DH and I we do have some but we could pay the whole lot off with cash we have readily available several times over so I don't really see it as debt. Just made more financial sense to take the interest free loan for things rather than lose interest. To DH anyway. I cba with the paperwork but he can so...