How long have you been in debt????

mogwai

My debts started with my student overdraft at 18, and I've never been debt free since then (28 now) - 10 long years!! But since last year, from a credit card balance of £12,000 - I've managed to pay my credit cards off - will never use these again (unless for cashback purposes)!

Still have overdraft debts of £1000 to clear, and student loans of £14,000 (!!)

rluc

Meerkat- blimey you have done so well, that must have seemed like an insurmountable debt when you started.
Lilmissmup- 6 years is long enough, congratulations on nearly being there:T .
Parlesse- It just seems to happen that way as I can figure out. One day you seem to be in control of it then all too quickly it has gotten away from you and you are not quite sure how!! But I think it takes that out of control bit too happen before you start to really sort it out. I have been through all the guilt,embarrasment and complete failure stuff and when I have my down times still return to it!!
At least on the bright side when we all are finally debt free we should definitely appreciate it

Bayblue

rluc wrote: »

At least on the bright side when we all are finally debt free we should definitely appreciate it

You're right rluc, we should appreciate it.

Hopefully I will, but I often find my self sort of daydreaming about what I'll be able to do with the £400 or so I currently spend on repaying my debts.

Sometimes I think 'oooh, what will I spend it on? and somehow I'm not sure that I quite have the right attitude just yet!

Melmoneysaver

Wow, I can't believe how many stories sound similar to my own, which started when I was 20 or so and a £500 cc, I'm now 33 and only had a lightbulb moment when I started looking into my dad's debts for him and thought I may as well sort my own financial life out too!

Melxx

rluc

bayblue- just imagine earning that money and not having to pay it out on debts for stuff you can't even remember spending on, how nice will that be!!!:j Mind you like you say it will be hard to not just blow it on more useless stuff

mel- I think by the sounds of it there are a lot of us out there who have spent a lot of money somehow and generally have very little to show for the actual debt:o

At least I don't feel quite so alone now!!!!

Walshyboy84

It's been since I was 18 for me.

So 6 years.

Obviously I know I can't make things feel better but once you've had the lightbulb moment, there's only one way from there on in! And two years is nothing!

If it does make you feel better (which I hope it does), reading through these diaries and posts actually has given me my LBM much earlier and I've seen how certain patterns can lead to these huge amounts of debt so I've decided to steer well clear of them!

I mean, a certain stroke of luck and you mgiht find yourself a big step out and the date will go down. Two years of hard slog will make the rewards all the more sweet when you come out of the other side!

Aylana

Student overdraft and credit card at 18, 27 now. Seems to be a common theme. If only when I was school age someone like Martin Lewis had come in and told us all about debt etc things might have been different. I might have been more aware of the downward spiral I was gleefully whizzing down.

I haven't worked out (realistically) what my debt free date is yet, but I am aiming for 1st October 09 (I'm an optimist!). So in total that will be 10 years of my life in debt. What a waste.

lauzjp

I have been in debt since I was 18 and managed to get a littlewoods catalogue! now I'm on a dmp with cccs and I know it will go down eventually. unfortunately I got my husband caught up in it too, and he has a dmp with cccs too, but we're getting there.

angeldiva

I like threads like this becuase you can actually share and compare your stories.

Ive been in debt around 10 years, it started with my shiny new Barclaycard and escalated from there, the kept upping and upping the balance and I like a fool not understanding that one day they would want the money back, I kept spending on it! (I even brought a car on it :eek:)

Anyway in 2007 straight after xmas I had my lightbulb moment! becuase of ths website I found out all about payplan who have been brilliant!! and now for once I can see light at the end of the tunnel!

mummytofour

I am 30 and I have been in debt since i was 17, I lied and got a next account...
I dont think I will ever be out of debt as I owe a lot plus have a huge mortgage. I am just going to uni and so is dh and we will run up about 21k each. I dont know how things will pan out but if I one day end up BR I really wont be surprised.