We're not on our own

Mrs_Sparkle

I am constantly amazed at how many people are in serious debt. Today I heard that a member of my team is £30K in debt- and he's not a high earner. The person who told me of the debt (his line manager who works for me) then told me she also owes around that figure. So I told her my figure too of course. It's really scary just how widespread this is. I really hope that we can reduce the stigma of having substantial debt and work towards positive solutions and not shamefully hiding away.

This forum should be compulsory viewing for anyone in that situation I reckon.

livinginhope

Thanks for that mrs sparkle.My closest friends know that we are 'tight' with money,but they are all anti debt,or so they say,I have noticed CC statements on notice boards with balances of 16k,so I know they are not telling the truth.I have not told my friends about our massive debt because of their attitude,I know they will look down their nose at me,when they are not debt free as they claim.
I have recently got friendly with someone I have met through DS,she is lovely and I actually told her the extent of our troubles,she then confessed she had 30k debts aswell,so no we are not alone,this seems to be in nearly every household up and down the country,these people don't live lavish lives,they have old bangers and cheap clothes,credit is used to survive the cost of living.

loulouloulou_2

Its so true.

You think your all alone - but we're not at all.

I didnt tell anyone untill i read this site - then slowly, i told my OH and my mum... recently whilst chatting to people, my neighbours told me they're well over 30 grand in debt and my friend is over 20 grand in debt.

People just dont talk about it - i know i didnt before now because i was embarrased, but this site really helps you to open up and it was like a huge weight was lifted!!:D

GreyPilgrim

Mrs_Sparkle wrote:

The person who told me of the debt (his line manager who works for me) then told me she also owes around that figure.

Isn't that a hugely serious breach of confidence there? I'd be livid if my manager discussed my financial affairs with his boss!

In_Search_Of_Me

Think grey pilgrim could be right about the confidentiality bit but the fact remails that there are thousands of people in debt! Since starting my journey & fessing up I've been amazed how many people are in debt and how it creeps us on people. People found it impossible to belive that you could be 35000 in debt & not notice & to be honest so do I now but thats the way it is isnt it. The main thing is that we're on the right track & can spread the word!

Mrs_Sparkle

No it wasn't inappropriate. The person concerned may have to go bankrupt and he has involved us for this reason.

going2die_rich

I am not in debt (other than the daft student loan) but I have to say I am amazed at how many people are here asking for advice and their debt levels being £20k+. I am also really surprised by how many actually reduce their amounts when you see that they have wiped thousands off it within such a short period of time.

Although I am more amazed about how many posts come on here asking where the best place is to put £100k+ to get the best interest rates. I am obviously in the wrong proffession!

Storm

There was a report recently about a spate of burglaries in Halls of Residence for the local uni - they were saying that students now tend to have laptops, printers, iPods, TV's, DVDs, stereos etc and were therefore being targetted. When I first started uni at 18 I had an old B&W TV (less license fee to pay!) and a very battered old radio cassette player - neither of which were worth anything!

I think we've got to the point where various material things are seen as 'the norm' rather than a luxury - there's many SoAs posted on here that include sky or cable TV (mine included!) where we see this as the norm and almost our 'right' rather than a luxury any more.

I think the advertising of various goods & services, coupled with low interest rates and easy-to-get credit has played a large part in the increase in the number of people getting heavily into debt. Add to this the way house prices have soared in recent years and people taking on larger & larger mortgages...

I'm very grateful I found this forum when I did, so I'm making inroads now into my debts before they got to 5 figures, and to everyone here that helped me get my lightbulb moment when I was still a lurker!

Storm

Mrs_Sparkle

GreyPilgrim wrote:

Isn't that a hugely serious breach of confidence there? I'd be livid if my manager discussed my financial affairs with his boss!

No it's not a breach of confidence if it is directly affecting the employee's ability to work.

GreyPilgrim

Mrs_Sparkle wrote:

No it wasn't inappropriate. The person concerned may have to go bankrupt and he has involved us for this reason.

Gotcha.

I did think that I was the only one (or one of a tiny minority) who was in serious debt, and that everyone else in the world was pretty mature and sensible and organised with money. Finding this site woke me up to the fact it's more common than one might think. It also made me more aware of news articles about the general financial health of the rest of the country, so I started to take notice more, and to pay more attention to how destructive the "buy now, pay later" trend in marketing really is.

cattie1

I'm one of the lucky ones!:rolleyes: my debt is just over £5000 and I found (well ...was advised by a workmate to go on) this site before I got any more debt.:T
It is good for me to see people who have got into this debt and are sorting themselves out as when they tell me of their experiences it makes me realise how scary it can be and that I never want to get that far in debt, so although it is awfull for them, they are helping others by posting on here and dettering many people from more debt, (does that make sense?! lol):eek: