Do you class Mortgages & Student Loans as debt?

wannasavemoney

I count our mortgage as a savings scheme which is untouchable. We only owe a third of our house in mortgage to the building society so to my reckoning two thirds of what the house is worth is ours and if push came to shove, we could downsize and be mortgage free. I think the arguments for and against counting mortgage as a debt is just as individual as anything else to do with money. Believe me, the option of downsizing and being mortgage free has crossed my mind more than once, especially when I look at some of the holidays we could go on:D . The only thing that stops us is the fact that we are happy here and willing to pay the mortgage repayments as they are. At the end of the day what you can live with and makes you happy is what matters and when we retire and the kids have left home we're going around the world and downsizing to a caravan:rotfl:

Kaz2904

I count our mortgage as debt. Although we own about 1/2 of our house the 70 odd thousand that we have tied up in it would not be enough to buy anywhere outright. After we had paid fees etc we would only have around 65k. This would buy a shoe box.
We are "lucky" in the fact that we bought a nasty house with no heating or hot water which needed completely redoing. We were lent money by my mum to pay for heating, the kitchen and to pay for the house as we had a purchase fall through on a different house so lost money and were unable to borrow more than 90k.
We haven't borrowed any more money to do work to the house we have just saved to get things as and when we can by doing overtime or DH going out and plastering somewhere. We also do all of the work ourselves when we need anything doing to the house because we just can't afford to pay other people to do it. We are therefore in about 92k worth of debt and are overpaying each and every month.
We are going on holiday this year but will not next year I wouldn't think. I think a family holiday every other year is an acceptable allowance to make even with debt so long as you don't blow the budget and do save for it. Our holiday is costing us £850 for 2 weeks in a villa in france in August so I think we got a good deal. I will keep shopping online with Mr T as he is paying for 1/3 of our holiday. I know that we would not be going nor would BIL and family if we did not have £830 saved towards it!
Anyway, I lost the topic a bit- Yes a mortgage is a debt!

Dithering_Dad

Kaz2904 wrote: »

Anyway, I lost the topic a bit- Yes a mortgage is a debt!

lol, I love it when people ramble on and go off topic. I'm always doing it, so I'm pleased when other people do

Actually, I usually find a good ramble can throw up an interesting side topic... My first home was a "doer-upper" and I also didn't want to borrow more money against my mortgage (actually I was hard-pressed financially as it was, without adding to it) and so did the house up as and when I could afford it. I must admit that by the time it was done I was heartily sick of living in a building site and would never do it again!!

If Mortgages are not debts (as such), are additions to the mortgage such as extensions, refurbishments or even debt consolidations also not classed as debt?

Kaz2904

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

I must admit that by the time it was done I was heartily sick of living in a building site and would never do it again!!

I said that last time with our flat!!! Then saw this house and knew it was our house. It just should not have ever happened so I think someone upstairs meant for us to get this place!:D
I told DH about it and said "You'll love it, it's got no heating or hot water, it needs every room replastering, it has the most horrendous carpets you've ever seen and we're buying it!":rotfl: :rotfl:
I have helped, I even pulled down the ceiling in the kitchen despit there being big beasties up there and I'm digging up all the concrete outside the house now to get rid of the damp:A
- well obviously not now because I'm on here when I should be in bed:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: