How long have you been in debt????

dotstar24

got my first loan at 18

i had 2000 loan, 5000 loan and a 2000 cc debt that i've not heard about for few years now. i lived in a caravan for a yr (not as a traveller, partner works in construction and goes from job to job, at the time we both did, in the caravan....had baby so in house now) so sort of lost touch, and not one of them have been intouch since. so yeah 18

i remember phoning hsbc for an extention of my overdraft when i was about 19, think i wanted £500.......went to the bank and my available balance was £50,000. obviously some muppet at the call centre had typed to many 00's called straight away to complain, would i do the same now.......dunno and thats the honest answer not very DFW i know.


anyway i'm rabbiting now.....soz xxxxxx

rluc

Thanks again everyone, like I say think I am just having some down days and feeling sorry for myself days!!
Hopefully getting paid for some jobs I have just completed today so hopefully that will help, just have to make sure that I don't go and blow any of it to make myself feel better like I used to:o !!!

poppy_f1

im 31, and since i was 18 really, been times when i've been close to being debt free however its been quick to spiral back, although im only about 5k in debt so compared to other people on here its peanuts, and im trying to have the balance of paying things off but still maintaining a reasonable lifestyle

sarahb123_3

Hi rluc, I am 36 and have been in debt since I was about 20, thanks to a student overdraft and a student credit card, have never been out of debt since. I have paid a lot of it off, but still have a fair bit to go, and still haven't managed to get my own home. My debt free date is August 2012, by which time I will be 40. Am hoping to make it sooner though. At one stage my repayments were £500-600 a month, now they are £200. Keep going, there are lots of us here in the same boat and it can be done. 2 years is not that far away, you will be amazed how quickly it passes, and each month will bring you closer to being debt free.

rluc

Thanks to everyone:) . I did get paid today so am going to be really good and pay off some extra on my Lloyds CC which will bring it down below £11000:o ,silly I guess but I do get a little bit of excitement about dropping below the £1000 milestones! Next big one will be to get below £20k total. Hoping for before the end of the year for that one!!!!
Poppy- I have done that yo-yo debt thing a couple of times including one consolidation loan but it always seemed to bounce back up. Getting rid of my credit cards from my wallet was really hard but also one the best things I have ever done, mind you It did take my marriage going down the pan to kick start me!!!:o
Sarahb123- hopefully that house will become a reality for all of us that dream about it
Everyone has been so nice and it is good to be able to talk and get support without having anyone judge me.

Daisydoll

I have been debt since I got my first loan for a car and credit card at 18:o it's currently at around 5k. I have had the same amount of debt for a couple of years, only being able to pay small amounts off but now I have split with husband and am a working single parent I will actually have more money to throw at my debts(as OH used to keep most of his share of his wages to himself!:mad: ) so feeling pleased about that, and should be debt free in a year!:D

beckseven

I'm 33 and have been in debt on and off since I was 20 and a student and HSBC 'kindly' offered me a credit card, then I graduated to a Miss Selfridge card, overdraft etc etc. What annoys me is that most of the spending was stupid-clothes and holidays and that i could have easily cleared them if I had
put my mind to it as I had far more spare income then. I've cleared my overdraft before as well. I am determined to be debt free by 2014-when my unborn child starts school as will have little available income to pay any more than the minimum until then! How depressing but totally my own fault!

Bayblue

I was thinking about this the other day. I realised that I've probably been in debt one way or another, for pretty much most of my adult life and not really been concerned about it.

My redundancy turned out to be bigger wake up call than I'd ever thought it would be. I think that before that I'd have been quite happy to trundle along just paying off a bit each month, and I'd possibly have got to retirement age, still with debts.

I can't quite believe how daft I was. I mean, I had my own rules, no overdraft- no cash advances on cc cards- no late payments, pay everything on time, and I naively thought that made everything OK!

The funny thing is, I think there are a lot of people like I was..

heppy23

I'm 38 now and have pretty much been in debt all my adult life. It started when I was in my first job and wanted something I couldn't afford so I bought it on HP.

I don't know if there is a personality type that is prone to being in debt? I am a very impulsive person prone to comfort eating and "retail therapy".
I don't know if I will ever be "cured".

Mozette

For about 5 years, and as I'm well into middle age, I suppose that's fairly recently. I could make excuses, but basically I kept spending more than I earned.