How did u get into debt ?

Wee_Pilsbury

Mine are -

• Using credit cards to buy "stuff"
• "Paying off" credit cards with consolidation loans
• Running up more debt on the credit cards but still having to pay loans
• Getting more loans to "pay off" my credit cards

etcetera, etcetera

I always would plan to get out of debt without addressing the problems that got me into it - that is, spending more than I earned. I had actually got myself clear about three and a half years ago when I had relationship problems and found myself on my own, buying a house and having to find a deposit plus legal fees plus money for furnishings. So I then used credit cards to buy "stuff" ........................... but didn't consolidate this time thank God! - Perhaps that was a flickering lightbulb .

Trajal

Wee_Pilsbury wrote: »

Perhaps that was a flickering lightbulb .

Or a generous mummy, you lucky devil

Trajal

burgels wrote: »

Just found this forum. Got into debt in the usual way. Car loans, credit cards etc. Paid off all but 2 school loans and one car to this point using the Dave Ramsey plan.

Hoping to be totally debt free by the end of 2012. Any other TMMO folks on here?

I think quite a few here will have read the tmmo stuff

For me it was my introduction to snowballing debts (which frankly has saved me about 3k to date) but others may be more deeply involved.

Welcome though, I'm pretty new too.

Wee_Pilsbury

Trajal wrote: »

Or a generous mummy, you lucky devil

I love my mummy . Thanks to her my slog ended sooner than it would have and you just never know what you can be tempted with when you get desperate - and I was getting desperate - don't think I would have done anything daft but ..............................

Wee P

monicamj

I had no debt when I got married. Then the ex lost his job, my wage wasn't enough to cover all the bills so I had to use credit cards to manage.

When he eventually found a job he proceeded to spend all of his money on gambling, technology and alcohol. He hid several debts from me that he didn't pay for 8 months or so. When I kicked him to the curb there was about 4k in debt on cards that were registered to me and I had to take out a overdraft of 1k to move into a house on my own with the assumption I would be able to do overtime to pay it off and then overtime was stopped!

I'm making slow but steady inroads into the debt but the most irritating thing is that my ex quit his job after we split up and then got a DRO to wipe out all of the debt in his name!

cloudcuckooland_3

Hi everyone
We all have to take responsibility for our debts but there was a debt lifestyle going on during the 80's and beyond! I ran up a lot of debts whilst I suffered from depression during the 1990's. I had glandular fever when my daughter was 4 years old and couldn't seem to recover. My husband went to a 'carers' group and met the love of his life in the form of a social worker. They kept this secret as apparently social workers and clients weren't supposed to mix. He divorced me when I was really ill (triggered by the glandular fever) and obviously I had to stay there for my daughter - now 10 years on I'm doing care work to make sure we are ok until she goes to 6th form college. My debts have come partly through depression and because I am on my own - it's a lonely path and I often feel fed up and desperate.
Hope you can find a way.

rising_from_the_ashes

bobtail_5 wrote: »

As soon as I turned 18 my parents took out a provident loan in my name, I just had to sign on the dotted line and go along with it. Then they started charging me board when I was in my first year at college and only worked part time, could no longer afford clothing or bus fare so I took out store cards and credit cards. I did this for a couple of years and because I could no longer sustain my college lifestyle with my part time work (because of paying board) I just used the cards as free money. I bought an iPod on credit and had a year to pay it off without interest but that never happened.

Then my parents bribed me to take out a bank loan otherwise they wouldn't help me get to uni. I now have £5000 of debt from this loan which I pay myself as parents don't pay it on time. I also have two overdrafts I took out at uni to help with accommodation :-(

Bobtail, that's terrible, I'm shocked that they did this.


Most of mine was living expenses & when I got my 1st place I needed the "usual" (essential) stuff and got loads of stuff on HP etc.

Then spent too much money on non-essential things (clothes, holidays etc) and ended up not being able to pay more than the minimum each month.

Took out a loan to pay everything off but did it again - have def learned my lesson now.

imogen-p

I was okay until my husband lost his job (off ill to much) just after we got married. Had to use the credit card to cover some of the bills, pay the mortgage etc.
Eventually he got another job, and we'd paid off a good chunk of it, then the recession hit, he lost his job again and I found out I was pregnant.
We're managing now though with my wage and tax credits to pay everything back.
One of the loans will be paid off next month, and so will the last of the credit card. Which leaves one loan and the overdraft. So looking at my debt free date being in a couple of years time. Aiming for it to happen by the time DS goes to school.

dreamdreamer

Mine was a little bit of student debt (overdraft of £2k) plus my ex walking out when i was suffering with depression. Got left with a house i couldn't afford and no job as I'd just been made redundant. Spent a year feeling sorry for myself and clocked up another £14k of debt (nearly all living expenses) by the time I got a job and sorted myself out. The only "treat" i had to show for my £16k of debt was a trip to Tokyo a couple of months after I got a job. The rest of it was just mortgage, tax, bills etc.

Took me a year to get most of this debt and 3 years to get rid of it! Go figure!

bobtail_5

Yeah they were desperate at the time on the brink of going bankrupt but they used the loan for something silly and aren't very good with money. I decided to just pay it off myself instead of relying on them as my credit history will be messed up and I won't be able to take out a mortgage :-(