What is your most embarrassing financial confession?

swshaun

I took out a loan in for £4k 2003 after graduating purely for the purposes for leaving my parents home after being forced back there owing to my own stupidity with regard to a job where I was living (I did something very dumb and the job offer was revoked!)

The loan went belly up in 2001, along with all my other debts (a cc of £1750, pay day lending which got frozen at £1k, I can not remember what else) with debt collectors, CCJs, the court bailliff paying a visit, the whole nine yeards.

The loan got restructured to a stupendously high rate (from 7.9pc to 29.9pc) and got paid off with another loan in 2008 which was managed to stay in check.

I am still in debt to this day but have somehow restored my credit rating to such an extent that I can take advantage of 0% offers and now the debt is finally coming down at a good rate (approx £800 a month), but there is a long way to go. Thankfully I have a wonderful partner who has been an excellent stabilising influence, and in many respects got me to budget properly.

So the upshot of this is...

A £4k loan has turned into the region of £16k (add the credit card on top which is lord knows how much)

If I had stayed at home for a few months and buckled down in 2001 (it was a terrible year for many other reasons but that is more of an aside), it would not have set me back financially the best part of a decade.

On the upside, all of the bad debt is long gone, and the CCJ has fallen of the credit file, I seem to be able to get mainstream credit to reorganise everything to minimal cost and have learned how to budget properly and also make the most of things that could save me money, but most importantly, manage credit properly to overcome shortfalls for non trivial things such as medical expenses or other true emergencies, and also manage my partners debt as well as we joined everything up a couple of years ago.

Oh and we are on course for being debt free by the early 2013.

It saddens me greatly to be typing this out, but to anyone reading please do not get in the same mess I have done!

Learn how to budget properly and know that money is not just a function of how much you have but also a function of time.

There is a good case (if it not done already) to teach financial responsibility in schools!

There is no need to learn the lessons of finance and budgeting this way!

Absinthe_2

We've all made mistakes. I did, especially when younger. Credit is fine, as long as you pay it back promptly. No point otherwise.

I had about 6 cards at 22 (all up to the limit). Just because I wanted to party with friends, and look good too. I learned (eventually).

I was lucky, as got good financial advice (and endless nagging) from my dad, so repaid the lot within 2 years.

allybee101

Mine was moving from a quiet market town to a city and getting a social life! Combined with a salary about £5000 higher I thought I was loaded (forgot about the higher bills, council tax, rent etc). My overdraft reached about £2800 at its worst point before I saw sense.
Like others have said - not much to show for it! Sigh.
Nearly 3 years older and sorting out my debts now.

166million

Don't know if it's embarrassing, but definitely stupid. My worst mistake that I can think of was getting 3 payday loans in as many months. Also spending 10k on a house deposit that I'll never get back doesn't seem like a good idea.

shopaholic2

Get this....bought this house in September 2004, for £132,000 CASH, as I'd got a compensation payout for medical negligence,
Now owe over £100,000 in a mortgage and secured loan. Nowt to show for it either.
I used to buy clothes from next, simply be, classic confidence, Kay's, littlewoods, try them on and if they didn't fit/look right I'd give them to a friend or charity shop!
Stupid doesn't cover it!

Brenster

Stupidly put a deposit of £12,500 on a apartment of plan, prior to the housing collapse (without partner knowing) took out a loan to finance it, i thought it would be simple and the value would increase and by the time the apartment was complete and built I would have made £20k without doing anything. Unfortunately prices collapsed and it was worth £25k less than the amount my deposit had secured it at. So i had to either sign up for a mortgage £25k more than the value of the property or wave good bye to my £12.5k deposit, losing my deposit seemed the lesser of 2 evils. That was 3 years ago and i still have £4k of debt. My partner found out and we separated for a short while, we are now back together, but it is the biggest regret of mylife, and i cannot wait for the day that i can put it behind me.