What was the stupidest/highest value item you bought that contributed to debt?

Gillby1

My debt started with my car. I bought it on finance for £6000 four years ago, and later paid the loan off with a 0% credit card, which stood at £4500. I'd pay off £200 a month, then spend over £200 per month on clothes and stuff!

I kept paying off and spending, and transfering the debt to new 0% cards, so my credit rating was (and is) great - my CC limits were increased without my request etc... so pretty soon i owed £6500.

Still, i have loads of clothes, and a car (now only worth £3K tho!). I wish i'd done things differently, but i'm gradually paying things off and have definitely learnt my lesson!

zeddy_2

Two big holidays when we couldn't really afford them, but we felt we were young (and stupid) and deserved a treat of a break after the hard slog of our degrees. Unfortunatley you tend to get into the habbit of spending spending spending when you're on holiday and things don't seem quite so expensive when they are put in foriegn currency!

ffs

Some shares that lost 80% of their value in two weeks. That was £4k I could have done without wasting, and obviously nothing to show for it.

That was several years ago, and the last shares I ever bought, so at least I learnt something.

However, it's worth noting that had I not been on a DMP for the last 12 months, I would have spent much much more than that on interest on my debts over that period.

Entrepreneur_en_faillite

£250,000 on a business in 2000 that went into liquidation in 2002 Doh! :doh:

skintchick

My car's the biggest, but not necessarily the stupidest.

I think clothes and going out are the worst in terms of necessity.

Oh - perhaps spending £5,000 on having my garden landscaped, but it does look lovely

VenuS

My really dumbest purchase ever was a Computer in 1997 From Allders, for £1800, which was a super fast 133mhz, 2gb HD, 16ram, with the sound and graphics off Noahs Arc.

And Im still paying for it today! No interest though, /phew


(Thank you CCCS )

johanne

£399.99 (doesnt sound too much but when you consider my debt is only £1000ish) on a brand new computer in August this year when i moved out from my parents. I had a basic "hand me down" one from then only thing i needed to get was a 56k modem and a printer.. so what £50 quids worth of stuff? But decided to "splash out" on a decent new one with a HD 10 times the size of the one i had, flat screen LCD monitor and a CD burner etc etc.... now found that i only really use the thing for the internet, the odd wordprocessing of letters, budget spreadsheets and ive burnt 1 track onto a CD since i bought it in august! So i would have been better off just buying the bits i needed.. and saved could have saved myself at least £300!

Biffa

Stupidest thing we bought was a Kirby generation 5, which cost £1500 and most expensive was my camper van, bought for £600 and then spent £1200 on a new engine, head gasket, carburettor, more engine work and finally written off in an accident. Claimed the insurance, bought another for £1200 and sold it 3 weeks later for £600 after finding it needed a new clutch.

youngandreckless

Sim free mobiles. Always had to have the latest phone and I've owned something stupid like 16 phones. Terrible...

bazzaang

The car, got a loan to cover my debts, car needed some work, about £600 worth so spent £7200 on a new car, crazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Learnt my lesson now and still paying for my stupidity