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Why do people get in debt?

Gorgeous_George
Posts: 7,964 Forumite

Having read some of the posts on here, I got to wondering why/how people get in so much debt. I know there'll be 101 reasons/excuses, but if the causes of debt were talked about more openly, perhaps more people would be able to avoid it.
Seeing that some people owe more than a year's salary on credit cards is really scary. Why do they allow themselves to get in such a mess?

GG
Seeing that some people owe more than a year's salary on credit cards is really scary. Why do they allow themselves to get in such a mess?

GG
There are 10 types of people in this world. Those who understand binary and those that don't.
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Comments
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Because you often don't realise it is a mess until it is almost too late.
We got ourselves in to a mess. I shopped a lot to make myself feel better - I felt fat and worthless and unable to be the person I wanted to be. So I bought nice clothes, presents and ate well to try and make myself something else. Didn't work of course but in the process I used a lot of credit. At the time the repayments weren't an issue. We can still meet our monthly payments and over pay by 50% - we are lucky although very foolish to have got in to this position.
I suppose you live and learn. For me it was character building. And only now, through budgeting and working hard, am I really learning who I am and what I want out of life.0 -
For us it was:
* keeping up with the Jones (nice car, furniture, holidays)
* laziness (takeaways, buying presents on the last minute)
* entitlement (husband works hard, so why should we not have nice things?)
* large rise in income (an interesting one. My husbands wages have tripled over the past 2 years, leaving my frugal ways of the past to go out the window)
* I found credit very easy to get, despite having 3 CCJ's
It is frightening to think none of the debt was because of need (illness, loss of job etc)
About 4 of my close friends owe £30k plus on credit cards. It does not seem to worry them. We owe around £8k and have nipped it in the bud before it got too bad. It seems many people just keep on spending and forget the future.0 -
Going to uni did it for me, then living the uni lifestyle with my earnings from work when I graduated - out most nights spending money instead of saving
!!!!!!!0 -
stupidness. we went through a really rough time recently and needed to use the credit card for some stuff and kept using it. suddenly the debt we had got down had mounted up again. just plain stupidness.back to comping in 2017, fingers crossed :beer:0
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I'm in debt cos I spent money that wasn't mine! Simple as that...
:heartpuls CG :heartpulsEver wonder about those people who spend £2 apiece on those little bottles of Evian water? Try spelling Evian backward.0 -
Mine started with negative equity on the sale of our first house and we never got straight after that really.
A lot of stupidity was also involved :mad:Is it better to aim for the stars and hit a tree or aim for a tree and land in its branches :think:Loves being a Wonderbra friend :kisses3:
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Letting my parents lend me money too oftenNo longer using this account for new posts from 20130
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Not realising that the little things add up, sticking my head in the sand about "paying it off later when I earn more" and also taking on large debts to live when I had a very uncertain income at the start of my career.
All my own fault though as really I should have known better and lived within my means!Grocery Challenge: target 400: so far spent 247
Credit Card [STRIKE]3231[/STRIKE] 3218
Overdraft [STRIKE]1215[/STRIKE] 1122.270 -
my debt started when i got divorced , starting from scratch nuff said !!
megabroke990 -
Being unrealistic did if for me...wanting things NOW, of course I could pay them off in the 0% period! I still fight the urge but I make the right choice and don't bother anymore!January budget
Nothing left!0
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