How did you get into debt

Hi All,

I was thinking this morning about how I managed to get into so much debt and realised that the following is responsible:

Had 1 creditcard when met my husband which had about £500 on it, husband was with his Ex and she led a very champagne lifestyle on a lemonade budget (My husband didn't help and just agreed to everything that she wanted to buy).

However love is a strong feeling and I decided that I loved him debts and all and we took out a consolidation loan to get rid of the credit and sell his flat.
However it wasn't long before we brought our own house and the debts were run back up again. So I think alot of our debt comes from running up and consolidating and some from shortfalls on car agreements as my husband used to go through cars like I go through hot dinners. We also had over £7000 worth of stuff stolen from our house just before our wedding and the insurance company didn't pay up, so we spent alot replacing things like the computer and the television etc.
Anyway I realised that all I have to show for my debt are a few nice things in the house (Like the tv and computer).

So image how angry it made this morning when I went to the post office (to post all my cd's to clear my debts), to hear one awful women going on about how she's refusing to pay her debts cause she can't afford it. I just wanted to grab her (cause I know she doesn't work) and say get on this website and get a part time job, you got yourself into debt take some responsibility for your actions there are other people out there like you and they are doing what they can to clear their debts.

Anyway just being nosey really and wondered if anyone wanted to share their reasons for getting into debt.

Laura
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Comments

  • Silverbird
    Silverbird Posts: 782
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker Debt-free and Proud!
    Forumite
    Cool thread!

    My situation is incredibly similar to yours.

    I had one credit card with about £1,500 on when I met hubby. He had a large amount of debt (still has about £15,000). It didn't bother me, as I loved him to bits.

    We moved out of our parents' homes in April last year ... 180 miles away! I had secured a job before we moved, but hubby hadn't. Unfortunately it took him a long time to get a job and he was applying for anything and everything. During this time I was paying every single bill and expense, my credit card bill and all of hubby's debt repayments. Needless to say I was having to put more and more on my credit card and I used up all my savings (about £3,000 or so).

    Finally hubby got a job, but the damage had been done. Because of the delay in him getting employment we hadn't been able to save what we'd wanted for our wedding in December that year, so I decided to take out a small loan.

    Hubby is contributing about £100 per month as of now towards bills etc and he pays for the petrol. All of the rest of his earnings go to his debt repayments.

    It makes me sick when I hear about people who are defaulting and sitting at home doing nothing about it. I'm not surprised you got mad.

    I must say that despite the gloomy outlook on our debts and the fact that we can't even consider trying for children for a few years because of these debts, I feel so much better for actually doing something about it, however small.
    Thrilled to be DEBT-FREE as of 26.03.10 :D
    Hubby DEBT-FREE as of 27.03.15 :D

    Debt at LBM (June '07): £8189.19
  • taxi73
    taxi73 Posts: 20,815 Forumite
    Hi there,
    Well I got mine in the usual way...consolidated a couple of times while keeping a failing business afloat...have now changed companies and even though I'm off sick and with fantastic advice on here am managing to clear the debt and turned the business around...there was no extravagant living involved or luxury...just a combination of not shopping around for best deals on household bills and shopping and being on a poor firm....nothing exciting
  • rayday2
    rayday2 Posts: 3,960 Forumite
    Well I guess we were bloody stupid! Not from buying read on... I will collect the dunces hat later!

    I divorced my first husband left him with a £120,000 house, all the furniture had to set myself up in rented with literally everying - bar the tumble dryer I took that and he moaned!!! It then came to the financial settlement, he lied on his paperwork so was entitled to free sessions and I had to pay - so I accepted £7k ish after all the years I had worked.

    Away from the session he said he would make it 10k if I bought a house we had seen a house for 60 k so we went for it. He dragged his feet we ended up getting a loan of 8k to pay for fees and deposit. A month after we moved in he presented me with a cheque for 7k.

    Well it didn't pay the loan off and the house needed repairs so we used that money, then somehow we ended up with cc, I already had one to buy all the furniture etc so we could set up home in the first place.

    We were working 5 jobs between us, I got pregnant and was ill our work dropped from 5 to one each and it all caught up with us.

    So I think with all honesty I was very nieve and stupid but I have a fantastic husband (now!) three lovely girls - a house that still needs a lot of work but it will be there when we can afford it and house prices for those fully modernised are now £110k so the foundations to a stable future are there.
  • flis21
    flis21 Posts: 1,842 Forumite
    Mine started at University. I did work part time, but couldn't work all year as I had to do long work placements as part of my course and it was a 4 year course. Got out of Uni with a £12k student loan, £3k overdraft and about £5k on credit cards. Then couldn't get a job for about 6 months, so more spending on Credit Card. Then hubby (well, he was my fiance then) and I decided to move in together and had to move away from my family to where I could get a job, so more money on household stuff etc. Then we got married, which was the nail in the coffin. Wedding and honeymoon was really expensive, we took on a bit more than we could comfortably afford, then I became ill and had to change to a lower paid job and we could no longer afford all our minimum payments.

    We are now starting to get some of the debts paid off, but we have a long way to go!!
    Sorting my life out to give a better life to my
    :heartsmil 2 gorgeous boys :heartsmil
  • dianadors
    dianadors Posts: 801
    First Post
    Forumite
    Not really in too much debt now, but the first time I ever got into debt was the first time I had a really well paid job!!! When I had to stick to a strict budget I was fine, as soon as I had excess cash, I would spend it 3 times over! I also spent to treat myself and family to make up for the stress and time away from my family caused by my well paid job!! Credit cards were my downfall - putting stuff on them, then not paying it off the next month. I never use them at all these days.
  • Oh and I have never been very good at budgeting, but we are not extravagant. We have never had much money as one or other of us was a student, then had 3 children which impacted on the cash flow a heck of a lot.

    Over a number of years of spending a little bit more than we earned every month, the debt just grew and grew without us really even noticing it!

    Until we had our lightbulb moment in Jan 2006, when we had bills to pay and no money after christmas so couldn't afford debt repayments for first time.

    Now all credit cards but one are on low interest for life of balance and debt is lower than it was at lightbulb moment all thanks to this site!
    Finally Debt Free After 34 Years, But Still Need to Live Frugally
    Debt in July 2017 = £58,766 😱 DEBT FREE 31 OCTOBER 2017 :T 🎉
    EMERGENCY FUND 1 = £50/£5,000. EMERGENCY FUND 2 = £10/£5,000.
    CHRISTMAS SAVINGS = £0/£500. SEF = £1,400/£12,000 PREMIUM BONDS ME = £350. PREMIUM BONDS DH = £300.
    HOLIDAY MONEY = £0 TIME LEFT TO PAY OFF MORTGAGE = 5 YEARS 1 MONTHS
  • immoral_angeluk
    immoral_angeluk Posts: 24,506
    Combo Breaker First Post
    Forumite
    Mine was basically looking at the minimum payment rather than the whole balance and accepting anything I was given.
    Total 'Failed Business' Debt £29,043
    Que sera, sera. <3
  • coops024
    coops024 Posts: 166 Forumite
    Most of mine was getting on the property ladder !

    We had to take out a £7000 loan to boost our deposit and already had an £8000 loan (for the car) so yeah now have £15000 to pay and a £120,000 Mortgage ! :confused:

    But I am a big fan if this site and these forums ! so hope to pay it off sooner that the bank have planned !

    Its funny but I didnt see the £15000 as a huge debt but after reading loads of posts on here It does seem quite high !
    LBM - 20/05/07
    Well that all went FUBAR
  • joeblack066
    joeblack066 Posts: 1,757 Forumite
    My first husband and I had been married for 12 yrs, three young son's, and had just got ourselves to a position where we could earn well when he ran off and left me, homeless, broke, having to go onto benefits and overdrew our joint account by £350. Dragged myself back to subsistence level again, met my 2nd husband, had got 7 kids collectively but were both working and things were ok. Then he became controlling and violent, got made redundant and never worked again, spent loads on booze and eventually I left for mine and my kids' sanity, about £7.5k in debt, most of it joint but they chase me not him cos he's on benefits. Got it down to £1.5k, bought a house, last relationship ran up lots of debt in my name (online gambling, mobile phone etc) so kicked him out, and am now back on the road to debt freedom. Have great trouble trusting anyone, but have just started seeing an old friend that I know well, and feel that I can trust. It's not easy tho! To top it all, 1st ex has £40k a year job and 3 foreign hols a year, 2nd ex has more income than me and he's on benefits, 3rd ex has never paid back any of the money that he owes me. Hey ho.
  • Storm
    Storm Posts: 1,749
    Debt-free and Proud!
    Forumite
    I have no-one to blame but myself. After graduating I moved back in with my parents for a year & paid off the OD & CC I'd got then (about £3.5K), and once it was gone I moved out... to an unfurnished flat! I got a graduate loan to furnish it, and also at the same time started driving lessons (and saving £100 a month towards buying a car) I just looked at the minimum payments on the CC rather than the OS balance, was constantly at the limit of my OD, and I think I had it in the back of my head that once the loan & driving lessons finished I'd be fine again!

    Well, loan finished last September & passed my test 2 weeks later - which is the first time I actually added everything up - and it scared me, cos the snowball said at least 18 months to pay it all off!

    Part of me is grateful that at least I've got some worthwhile stuff to show for my debt (loads of furniture & a drivling license!) but so much more got frittered on nights out, food and general [EMAIL="cr&#64;p"]cr@p[/EMAIL]! It's awful to think that a year ago at the end of the month I'd buy my lunch on the credit card, £4 say, and I've not actually paid it off yet!
    Total Debt 13th Sept 2006 (exc student loan): £6240.06 :eek:
    O/D 1 [strike]£1250 [/strike]O/D 2 [strike]£100[/strike] Next a/c [strike]£313.55[/strike]@ 26.49% Mum [strike]£130[/strike] HSBC [strike]£4446.51[/strike]@15.75%[STRIKE]M&S £580.15@ 4.9%[/STRIKE]
    Total Debt 30th April 2008: £0 100% paid off!

    PROUD TO [STRIKE]BE DEALING [/STRIKE] HAVE DEALT WITH MY DEBT ;)
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