Personal debt?

tonton

This is related to the thread in Political Outsider, minus the politics.



How much do you owe? Are you paying it off?



I've owed about US$5000 for the last three years, and I haven't really been very successful paying it off because I'm underemployed and have a lot of expenses. But it hasn't gotten any worse in that time. The credit card companies love people like me.



Am I a horrible person?

gene clean

I don't owe much; about $1,000 and I make regular payments. I'm down from $3,000 and plan to have $0 personal debt in about 2-3 months.



It's a big pain in the arse if you ask me.

groverat

My first two years of college I carried about $500 in credit card debt (unpaid balance) at any given time. The first week of my junior year I vowed to never do it again and I haven't. I lived a Ramen life for a while, but I've been CC-debt-free since February 15th 2003. I'll remember that day (the day my payments cleared and I was officially without credit card debt) for the rest of my damned life.



Student loans...

~$23,000 for me.

~$61,000 for my wife (damned law school).



WOOHOO! \

gene clean

Quote:

Originally posted by groverat



Student loans...

~$23,000 for me.

~$61,000 for my wife (damned law school).



WOOHOO! \

Oh I didn't count those. For me:



~ $15,000

trick fall

My finances were out of control a couple of years ago and last January I got on a mission to straighten them out. I paid off about 15k. Luckily I was able to do it in a year, but I can see how people just lose it. The funny thing is one of the major reasons things got so bad was because my wife and I were both working 60 to 70 hours a week and were so burnt we didn't pay attention to the situation.



I actually love how now, you really don't need a credit card. I love that you can use your bank card for a lot of the things that traditionally you would have to put on a credit card. From now on the only debt I'll carry is either a mortgage or a car payment.

omega

I owe about a years worth of my current income before tax. However this is a drastic reduction from the 1.5 years worth it was about a year ago. At my debt peak I had 50% of my years income sitting on my CC earning a fantastic rate of interest!



How much do I owe? Not telling.

shawnj

0 in my 3rd year of college. I'll be in Groverat's wife's position soon. Well, you know what I mean.

ibook911

Let me count the debt...



$25 on CC1

$260 on CC2 (stupid NFL playoffs)



$1190 on CC3



However, the $1190 is at zero percent until next January. Its the remaining balance on my powerbook and cinema display, so I don't mind that debt too much.



The $260 for NFL playoffs is also on zero percent, until March 2006, so that is about $20 a month to pay off.



I don't normally use CC, so these debts aren't a big worry to me. (I hope).

hardeeharhar

Technically I have student loans in my name -- however my parents are graciously paying them off.



I try to pay my bills every month, but I am bad when it comes to bills I cannot pay online -- however, I paid the last one of those off two weeks ago in a maddening rush to the post office.



So I guess I am debt free. I am saving roughly one quarter of my monthly stipend (I am a grad student) -- the last four months will be going towards a holiday...

e1618978

paid off my last debt two weeks ago, first time since age 18 that I have been debt free. Yay!

slughead

Free and clear, myself.. though I don't own my car anymore



Want to earn a 12% return on your investment every month?! Pay off your credit cards!

johnq

I have 2 charged off credit cards that are seemingly not increasing in totals. I was robbed by my *ahem* father and had to live off my credit cards at the time (never get a joint bank account with anyone other than perhaps your baby momma). That was about 4 years ago.



They are not aggressively coming after me of late, I assume it's too little for them to sue over, not sure when it'll be "forgiven". Last I checked they were offering substantial reduction in the total, unfortunately I'm unemployed, so it's moot. It's about 8K, and not enough to bother to go bankrupt over, according to several lawyer's advice so far.



I do want to pay it off, but full-time work is hard to come by, at least the kind that'd give me enough left over to pay that off.

burningwheel

Quote:

Originally posted by ShawnJ

0 in my 3rd year of college. I'll be in Groverat's wife's position soon. Well, you know what I mean.

relic

0 and I have never been in debt. I didn't get a American Express card until I was 25, If the money isn't in the bank don't spend it.

ijerry

Most of mine came from custody and divorce battles fought and mostly lost since I am a male. Then of course my back surgery didn't help things either since I couldn't walk, much less work to earn an income. I am however back on my feet(so to speak, I just broke my ankle), however am enjoying my work. I have about $7k in lawyer fees, which I hope to get them to come down on, but we will see. I have my two cars, which comes in at about $25k, total credit card debt is about $1700, and a sig loan at $2200. Then if you factor in my house at $252k you will have a grand total of $287,900. Not too bad huh?! Most of that is in assets, so I don't really care about the large number.

dmz

I owe about $19,000 on my house. Sooooooooo close!

playmaker

My wife and I had amassed about $17,000.00 in various CC's and credit accounts. I know that feeling of loosing track of how much you owe and letting it get way out of control in just a few months. We have successfully cut that number in half and should be debt free in 6-12 months. I am a firm believer in teaching responsible credit to kids in High School. I dont blame anyone for alowing my debt to get out of control but think I could have been beter prepared for dealing with it.



Fortunatly we were able to dig ourselves out of the situation, or at least thats where we are headed. I do have right at $40k in student loans to pay off beyond that however I look at that a bit differently than I do credit card interest. wow this is such a sobering subject.

buonrotto

Let's see... college (5 year program, Ivy league) + car + just moved (OK, tax rebate will help) + expensive taste = a lot. I'm paying it off though, just over a long period of time. With exception to the college loan which goes for another 12 years or so, I plan to be debt-free in 3 years, most of it in the next 12-18 months. I was very irresponsible coming out of college with spending money, but my other debts are so big that they dwarf my mistakes.



I really have to finish my taxes. With my job search and move, I should be getting a fat check from the federal government, but I will probably get screwed by NJ and NC to dampen that windfall.

ipodandimac

zero debt for me, even after my massive G5 purchase but then again, i never buy anything using finacing plans or whatever unless its a car (or house in the future). i figure if i dont have the money up front for it, i dont need it.

kung fu guy

Zero debt. Never have. I too didn't get a credit card until I was 25. I was turned down initially. And I thought credit cards were easy to get when you're a student. I'm not rich and make a modest salary. But the credit card company keeps bumping up my credit limit to $14 500. Knowing full well I'll never borrow from those bastards.

jesperas

Student loans--about 6 years left on the 10 year plan--but no credit card debt. Car is paid off too.