Is your mortgage the reason for your debt?

new_leaf_6

When I bought my flat I had to use credit cards for basics until I was able to get a better paid job. Looking back I realise that my debt was caused by my mortgage payments. Now that house prices are so high and so many people are in debt do you think that your mortgage is the main cause of your debt? What percentage of take-home pay has to go to pay your mortgage (or rent)?
Mine was 60%. Too high to live without getting into debt.

Broken_hearted

To get a mortgage we first had to raise our credit limit as we had never had any credit before. So yes it did introduce us to debt, but no I don't think it caused our debt. Overspending did that.

lynzpower

i was in debt when i got my place, and it just made it worse. Ie ive got my sofas on 0% credit etc. I had to get pretty much everything from new, and I am only just getting finally sorted for everything for the house now with my new lodgers income. Ive had lodgers before but sqaundered the money. I can pay my mortgage comfortably, its the debt I cant afford :rolleyes:

crawley_girl

My debts have accrued due to my reckless spending! But I was in the same kind of situation as you describe New Leaf. Orginally my mortgage was about 60% of my take home pay.

4 years later, and with a better paid job, a 2nd job and a lodger it currently is about 25% of my take home pay with another 50 - 60% going on debts including credit cards, a loan and furniture bought on 0% interest

:heartpuls CG :heartpuls

*Louise*

In a way I suppose we wouldn't have had so much debt if it wasn't for the mortgage.

When my OH was seriously ill, we had to live off incapacity benefits for a year and a half. We couldn't get any help with the mortgage, whereas if we were renting, we could have had it all paid for us:rolleyes:

So we had to pay the mortgage first, which is why we ended up defaulting on loans, and having to use CC's to buy food and essentials.

Getting back on top of it all now though.

THE_LONE_RANGER_4

my debt was caused when i lost two well paid jobs in a row having a mortgage was a help cos we sold it wiped out half our debt and 18k to go rented a large house on a local landowners estate now have a 15 year lease no matter what i earned i would never have been able to buy a house like the one im in now im in the country side no body lives near by and ive found my heavan and now debt free so no mortgae was not the cause of my debt

Broken_hearted

*Louise* wrote:

In a way I suppose we wouldn't have had so much debt if it wasn't for the mortgage.

When my OH was seriously ill, we had to live off incapacity benefits for a year and a half. We couldn't get any help with the mortgage, whereas if we were renting, we could have had it all paid for us:rolleyes:

So we had to pay the mortgage first, which is why we ended up defaulting on loans, and having to use CC's to buy food and essentials.

Getting back on top of it all now though.

You should have been able to get help with mortgage payments after 6 months.

scheming_gypsy

Wouldn't say my mortgage but buying the house was. Like Lynzpower said, it's all come about buying furniture

Kevicho

Im probably going to realise this cost next year when i move (hence the desperately saving now)

However my planning on where i live to be very sparse of furniture (i have visions of a buddhist temple when i think about it lol (without all the ganesha statues all over etc) )

I already have my pc chair and my bed should be easily transportable, will try and get the cheapest deals on kitchen appliances (will be 2 of us buying these so they shouldnt break the bank)

Already have my PC and a TV (which i want to cut out alltogether - cept for dr who) so i have all that i need entertainment wise

Does this this realsitic? Or am i living in cloud cuckoo land lol

*Louise*

Broken_hearted wrote:

You should have been able to get help with mortgage payments after 6 months.

Well, I thought that as well - but we were new to the benefits situation and didn't know what we were entitled to.

The only stuff we got was what we found ourselves and applied for - no-one ever told us about anything else.:mad:

I wish I had been a member here at the time lol

Ali-OK

No, my mortgage hasn't been a problem and I've had one since 1985, so I count myself as one of the lucky people who bought before the boom and didn't move (upsize) during it, so didn't get hit with the bust/negative equity either.

Was never in debt (apart from one £4K car loan in the mid-90s) until DS arrived and I became a single parent. Mortgage alot less than my debt now!
But I do feel for everyone starting out on the property ladder these days - it is beyond reach for alot of people (I had to sell my car to increase our deposit, but it was worth the sacrifice).

I know I'll sound like my parents when I say this, but when we first started out with our own house, we didn't have anything new (except the bed ) and went without a dining table, television, hoover and other stuff until we could save and buy it. We had a few hand-me-down items like a carpet-sweeper, towels, saucepans, etc, to get us going and it took us 4 years to fully furnish the house.