how much do you owe in mortgage/loans/credit?

[eeky]

I'm feeling really glum today about our debts. We have had a really rough few years financially, due to dh having a chronic illness which means he cannot work, but apparently not entitled to benefits either, and no sick pay as was effectively self-employed. We have had dd and ds in 2 years, so my wages have been much less due to mat leave and pay. I am in a well paid job, but no permanent full-time position at present - a few sessions fixed but otherwise relying on agency work and locums. The work is still available but very unsettling not be sure of a full wage coming in. We have gone down to prob a third our previous combined incomes from 4 years ago! Also paying p/t nursery as dh not well enough to do childcare full time.

Although we earnt really well, we borrowed accordingly too. Just about managing after taking repayment holidays on loans and mortgage during last mat leave. Things will improve soon as expect within the next year to get a full-time position. We have a great house with a good bit of land which we bought 5 years ago as a renovation project. Due to lack of money and dh's illness (he's the builder!)we have not yet started the planned extension which would double the size of the house. Can't afford to pay anyone else to do it.

Just wondered how much other's owe... we have 17,000 in bank loans, 2000 or so on credit card and 175,000 mortgage, currently low repayment as fixed term has finished. 20 years left on mortgage but really hope to repay it sooner.

Am I worrying myself stupid over a "normal" level of debt these days, or do most owe less. Would be interested and maybe reassured to find out.

if you are not planning any more DCs (so no more mat leave) then I think you're doing OK.
Is your DH working (wasn't sure about your "he's the builder" comment!).
We have a very similar mortgage level at the moment, few hundred on CC which will be paid next month and no other debts. We do have a few thousand saved. We're still getting back into the black after I've returned from ML.Assuming we both stay in our jobs or similar paying ones we hope to have the mortgage paid off in about ten years.

oh sorry, missed the "means he cannot work" line

Stick with it, you will pay it off one of these days.

You must be a lot younger than us (we're mid forties) but until recently we had a massive mortgage.

As of last Friday, we've cleared our mortgage, but it's been a really hard slog. We worked out that we'd paid, with the interest, over £700k over 11 years, and in that time we were really really tightfisted with ourselves.

We also recently cleared DH's car loan, and again that was crippling.

Try not to worry too much, but the only thing I'd advise is not to do what you're thinking about clearing your mortgage while you have other debts which are almost certainly costing you a lot more interest than your mortgage.

Well done :o

thanks both, glad to here our debts aren't outrageous! No dh not working, hope if health improves to finish our house then maybe to buy property for him to renovate. However in next few years to pay off cc and loans asap, then to work as hard as we can at paying off mortgage.

How I wish we'd saved a little pre-children! Although to be fair I was paying off debts from university until not long ago (mature student). I am 40, dh is 45 so not that young! I know we will get there steadily, just seems endless economising at present. No more dc's planned so at least can work steadily.

Feel better now, just a bit glum earlier. Thank you

Total debt just dropped below half a million last month. House mortgage, business development loan and business mortgage. The really scary thing is the bank manager says our debt has not peaked yet.

Around £415k, almost all of it mortgage.

'Normal' level of debt is entirely dependent on your earnings/household income and affordability though. Ours is 'normal' for us as it is manageable and not a problem to maintain, whereas it may well be a nightmare thought for someone on a lesser income. Likewise, it is probably piffling to your average millionaire .

Wow. I fret terribly about my debt. Although DP and I are together as a permanent fixture, he came out of his marriage with a poor credit record. Paid off now and in the clear, but our borrowing is all in my name. So, 98k mortgage, a 20k student loan which doesn't count because it comes off before tax, and £500 on the credit cards. Having said that, our income is about to drop to less than £1000 pcm due to my ML and DP's hours being cut to one day a week. So we can't actually afford any of our debt.

I'm young though, and this thread has made me feel much better - I always panic about the short term when I need to stay sensible about the long term. Interest only mortgage and ride out the next couple of years. And back on the bloody pill I guess :(

Owe my mother £9k as she was cheaper and had better repayment terms than the bank, have a loan of about £4k still with bank, £500 on CC and o/d of £1300 on 2 accounts.

Bollocks, I forgot about the overdraft. £1100.

I'm not being funny, but why are you putting personal financial stuff like this on the web? You never know who's reading. (I mean people who think they might know you in real life and fancy nosing through your posts...rather than MI5 or anything dramatic...)

My mortgage amount isn't a secret.

Why's it a secret Une? It's a very British thing, this cloak and dagger thing about income. Probably why we're all up to our necks in borrowed money so we can drive as shiny a car as the Jones next door ...

Because I know someone who in the past would have read my posts and used financial information to make snide comments in posts, and it pissed me off.

You just need one disgruntled family member or ex-friend, for example, to do a search on you and find out things that they don't need to know.

I AM overreacting but the snippy posts got to me SO much after a while....

I think we're all big enough and savvy enough to decide whether we've got an adequate degree of anonymity. I've been using Mumsnet for over 3 years now but I've had over 20 names. Catch me if you can!

Just to be clear, she didn't know anything much about our finances, she'd just made a lot of assumptions. I can only imagine how much worse it would have been if she actually had figures.

We're mortgaged to the hilt, no other debt but we obviously have a much lower income because we don't owe much compared to most on this thread!

well, we have struggled while ive been part time but i have a full time job lined up.

we have overdraft of about 2000, loans of £14,000 and mortgage of 110,000, plus by the time i start new job i reckon credit card will be at about 1,200. i dont get paid for 5 weeks, but after than my wages more or less treble.

its not great. but its doable when i start my new job. we live hand to mouth and ill be glad to pay off the debt and sleep at night. and never again.

ours is about £3 K

about £9500.

Total.

No mortgage.

We have 2 mortgages totalling £60k but are trying to sell our old house and get rid of £35k of that. No overdraft, we got rid when the bank introduced stupid daily charges. Owe £1500 on credit card which we are uncomfortable with and trying to get shot of quick! No loans but that could change if the car decided to conk out.

Nothing but a tiny mortgage.

Last child finished university the same month as we paid off our mortgage ( We are very old ) It's so lovely to have come out of other side of years of scraping but Dh has no pension with this job so are salary sacrificing like mad to build up pension pot BUT we have NO debts.

We are very fortunate - paid off our mortgage some years ago; no loans / credit outstanding (ie: pay off credit card each month) - own our own business with no bank loans. I appreciate how lucky we are (note - we are in our 50s).