How much debt are you actually in?

[Tricham]

That’s amazing! We have 26 years left! I’m 43

It might not be forever with us though. We may outgrow this home and get a mortgage on a new property later down the line. We have been thinking of starting a family so I wanted us to be paying less out every month, as I would probably stop working, for a while, once we have a child. Also, the amount you save on interest by overpaying is motivating!

 

[Lyds26]

I’m 33 and have a mortgage of £59000 with ten years left to run, i live in Belgium and we get tax benefits for having a mortgage so there’s no point in paying it back early.
I have £100 on a UK credit card that I clear off every month.
And that’s it, we have about £30000 in savings. I got a Saturday job when I was 16 and my Dad made me contribute to a pension scheme, this continued until I was 26 and left the UK. When I left it had 23k in, 7 years later and I haven’t contributed a penny since and it’s now worth 36k. My goal this year is to start contributing again, our money at the moment just goes on holidays, we do live comfortably compared to others our age.

 

[Goodmorninglovelies]

£400 overdraft
£1500 car finance
Student loan- god only knows

My partner and I have a joint income of about £50,000. Still need to buy a house and would really like to get married. Seems there's always something to pay for.

 

[Mulholland Drive]

Just a mortgage and a few hundred on my credit card.

Fortunately I have just started on a 10 year fixed rate mortgage, so at least I should be safe from any possible interest rate rises during the next few years of economic uncertainty post Covid.

The only downside is I am a self-employed IT consultant, so work is never guaranteed.

 

[Zenchick101]

0 debt and so far and fighting to keep it that way as I go through uni

 

[Noname12345]

Student loan around 9k
Leased car 3,3k to pay

We're getting mortgage of around 340-400k in the next year or so.

No other debts.

 

[Zozo]

Mortgage is in my partners name
Both our debts come to about 3k, wish we could pay extra each month but with the cost of living right now it's impossible. My mother in law is waiting for a pay out from asda equal pay so she said she will pay our debts off so hopefully be debt free some point in the new year x

 

[jarv]

Just 7k to clear on one loan. It seems a lot but a couple of years ago I had nearly double that split across multiple credit cards, store cards, overdrafts and loans. I'm in a good position now where I can get the rest paid off in the next year or so. I just have one credit card now which is only used for big purchases/emergencies and it's paid in full each month if it's ever used.

Oh and I have student loan but I don't even think about it as I'm not at the threshold yet and it's just another tax as far as I am concerned

 

[crankypants]

Hi all - just advice if possible. So I’m 26 and have roughly £28k worth of debt, luckily I am on a good salary so the repayments were never a problem. Got into debt due to a family member taking a loan out in my name when I was 20 and on less than 10k a year, that’s when the vicious cycle happened. For reasons I will not go into, I couldn’t take the family member to court.
As my interest rates were so high I’ve recently entered into a DMP, now me and my other half are looking to buy a house: he has no history of debt and we have a deposit of £35k on a house value of bran £175-190k.Has anyone had experience with obtaining a mortgage witha DMP, currently I’m able to save £750 a month after paying my monthly DMP payments. Would my other half credit history balance mine out or would lenders see me as untouchable.
I will add that I’ve never missed a payment or defaulted

 

[CatVonMe]

I’ve been out of work since having my son but my husband owns his own business and said maybe he could put me on the payroll for a few months to bump up our borrowing, does anyone know if this can be done?
I am dreading telling him about the hmrc debt he knows I have it but doesn’t know the extent of it and I think he’s assumed it won’t affect the mortgage because everyone has to pay their tax so it’s not like a normal debt. Hate myself for being so stupid and not looking in to what I owed tax wise earlier on

Don’t worry these things happen a lot more than you think. It’s an awful situation to be on when you were just trying to work and earn money for you and your family. You should get a good mortgage broker. They’ll be able to advise you best.

 

[mrs.darcy]

Mortgage 85k that is shared with boyfriend
Car finance- about 18k but it’s on pcp so I will just hand back and hopefully get a cheaper car next!
Student loan-about 7k but I don’t worry about that, it’s just so annoying seeing £70 come off my pay each month
Credit car-7k- this is the debt that worries me, if just never goes down. I did have 9k inheritance from my grandma last Xmas but that was spent on moving house/house renovation. It did feel good having that money in my bank for a while!

The credit cards were the most difficult for me to get rid of, it took a long time and I ended up cashing in a pension to clear the final balance as I felt it was never going to get paid down. I set up a direct debit for the card with the biggest balance and just checked it every so often, cut the card up so I wasn't tempted. It went eventually but took years to pay down.

 

[midnightrose]

Credit cards with £7,500 Is it worth taking a bank loan to pay them off? Anyone know how this will effect my credit score.. currently only managing min payments on them but really want to get them gone? Feel like a consolidated loan and closing the accounts may help?

Yes, I’d recommend a bank loan and consolidate. That’s what I did, and I’ll have it all paid off in 5 years. As long as you can afford the monthly repayment. I’d recommend using comparison websites to find the best deal. I used money saving expert, but ultimately went to my personal bank as they’d written to me prior to offer a loan.

 

[Hendrix]

Write to the council, ask them if they can take the debt back, tell them you are traumatised by the debt collection agency and that you didn't mean to miss the payments and they are not being dealing with you in a fair way, if you are vulnerable in any way (young kids / single parent / mental Ill health / illness) include that on your letter, offer them a payment to get started and hope they take it back in house. It worked for me years ago.

Sorry I should have explained the situation better. When I phoned the debt agency they said the earnings arrest will be cancelled once I’ve paid my missed payment to them when I get paid next week. I’ve been on the payment plan with them since last year and everything was fine until the last payment was missed. Our council are crap, once the debt is passed on they want nothing to do with it. Really frustrated with myself I let the debt get so far and now I’m in this mess.

 

[Bhunaluna]

3 credit cards totalling to £2.5k
Overdraft £400
Car on finance £3.5k left to pay for the next 2.5 years
Just took out a bank loan for £5k
Student loan £7k
27 year old single parent to 2 kids paying private rent so I’ll probably never end up buying a house and I work part-time

 

[Brianbadonde]

This is relatable to me as a single parent to a teenager. I am always around 3 grand in debt at any given time....clear it and then it’s Christmas again. I always put his presents on either my argos or very account with the interest free option. He loves a gadget and I’ve always got him the same as his friends have who have 2 parent households.

I have a mortgage too and a car on finance which will be paid next year but will be getting a new one. These are essentials to me so don’t class as debt.

I hear you big time, luckily her dad does all the gadgets. It’s difficult trying to keep up with peers and them not feeling left out in the social structure. my debt is just years of every day stuff really being a single parent, sometimes the food shop and petrol had to go on it. the plan is to seriously try and pay it off after our first ever abroad holiday in 2020 as currently saving my bum off to pay for that (and not add it to the CC)
Good luck getting yours paid too

 

[tskiry56]

The only debt I currently have is paying car finance.
I was lucky enough to work during the summer holidays while I was at uni and use savings to pay tution fees.
I owe my parents massively as they helped me buy my first house so I only had a mortgage for half the house. They then bought my 2nd house as the buyers kept pulling out of the sale of the house I was in and they knew I couldn't stay there any longer. I'm hoping I'll be able to get another mortgage this year so I can pay them back for helping me so much.

 

[Gembo]

Me too, it makes no sense if you do the maths. Also, it looks ridiculous when you see someone who is renting or doesn’t earn much driving around in a car worth £40 or 50k. It’s obvious they didn’t buy it, and it’s on credit, all for show. I know people who pay almost £1000 pcm for a car. It’s madness.
Also, I’d hate to have that as a monthly outgoing. Buy an old car that you can afford, at least if you lost your job, you still have a car.

£1000 a month on a car?! Christ!

 

[Chocolate Caramel Brownie]

I was lucky to receive inheritance a few years back, Which went towards a house. A family member lent me the rest of the money towards my home which I pay back monthly. So by the time I am 40, I will be mortgage free which is amazing. I know I am very lucky! I wasn’t able to get a mortgage as I had history of a pay day loan on my credit history so any lender wouldn’t touch me i then got into around £10k worth of debt on 3 credit cards. Basically living a life I couldn’t afford so I used credit cards instead. I wouldn’t even be able to tell
You what I put on them. I got a bank loan to control the debt as it was getting out of hand with all the interest on the credit cards. January was my last payment and I can’t tell you how good it feels

 

[mermaidexoxo]

Age 26:
£58,000 in student debt, as the year I started my degree the government increased tuition fees from £3K a year to £9K. I did 4 years of BA degree a placement year then on top of that applied for maintenance loans each year to pay my rent.
I very much doubt I’ll pay the whole thing back.

 

[Hc68759]

Do you mind me asking how you went around getting a mortgage? Im 23 atm, on a debt management plan that will be paid off around october. Got into too much trouble with payday loans at uni. Credit score isnt that great but doing my best atm to build it up. Any advice would be so appreciated - in the next few years my boyfriend and I would like to get our own house

My credit score is really good now but it’s taken 6-7 years to get to that point and being really careful with money (had a credit card with small limit which I spent a small amount on and paid off in full every month. Also stopped every getting things on finance too). My partner has perfect credit rating and always has done so the mortgage initially went in his name but I’m now on it too.