How did you get into debt

tracepppp

Sheer stupidity on my part. Spent most of my 20 yr married life in debt. Have been threatened of taking away my home (thank u to my hubby's aunt for bailing us out) and attemped suicide! Ok now! but worrying about money all my life is not good! starts off by being nothing, but by god does it snowball....then the bank and other penalty charges, after that, youre a gonna!! i started off borrowing thinking i could manage everything then it spirralled. hopefully, if i get my bank charges back, that will be a start of a brand new era for me!!
Good luck to everyone

newmum1

My debt is all my fault but I remember how it all started, I went into barclays to pay some moneyt from my part time job into my account, when the cashier said ooh you have no overdraft i stupidily said yes not even knowing what one was and here I am with approx £9000 in debt from 2 loans, 1 credit card and an overdraft which has had the limit varied many times over the years. Im 27 now and I WILL be debt free by my 30th birthday in december 2009. So I can spend my 30's actually having my wages to spend rather than debt repayment.

katemcg

There are lots of stories here of STDs - S-xually Transmitted Debts! I know I have been through the same and am still wary of trusting my current partner - and I have told him I will always keep a separate account in my name as an emergency fund.

Would be great if Martin could write an article on do's and don'ts when combining finances with a partner. I think a lot of us are quite naive on this issue.

moontree

Mine started in uni, but was nothing too serious - I would run up credit card bills and my overdraft during term time but was always able to pay it off by working full time in the holidays. (I also had student loans but I don't worry about them too much as I only have to make repayments when you can afford to!)

During my last year at uni I became ill with depression. Budgeting became a huge struggle, so I stopped doing it and just tried to match my spending levels with my friends', knowing they had similar income and expenses to me. This failed spectacularly and my credit card bills soared. I also developed the bad habit of buying myself things I couldn't afford in an attempt to cheer myself up (the worst thing is, it didn't even work!)

After graduating from uni I only managed to get low-paid secretarial jobs for the first couple of years, and also spent some time on benefits (because of the depression). It was a financial nightmare. I ended up withdrawing money on my credit card so that I could then make the minimum payment on that same credit card. I consolidated my debts into personal loans a couple of times when I was working, only to end up seriously struggling to make payments when I wasn't working.

Gradually my health improved and thus so did my finances - I've been in a full-time, permanent, graduate-level job for over three years now. However, I still tended to spend slightly more than I earned and my debts have crept up. I consolidated an £11k loan into my mortgage but still owe nearly £8k on credit cards.

Last December I finally felt ready to face up to my debts and take action. I've drawn up a budget I can stick to and am paying off £100-£200 a month on top of the minimum payments. The biggest change for me has been withdrawing my "spending money" in cash at the start of each week - it's so much easier to keep track of that way. I'm also learning to find ways of treating myself that don't cost much money!

In_Search_Of_Me

steve700 wrote: »

You've got to admire his cheek - maybe not at the time, but looking back now................;)

Err no...:D Maybe its a guy thing! All I thought was thank goodness she got shot of him! You're not her x are you?!! :rotfl: :rotfl:

nicola1982_2

Lol - no he isn't ex wasn't called Steve. I laugh now at all the awful things he did. My current partner was a friend of my ex and sadly these things happen, we fell in love (not whilst I was with ex though!) - when my ex spoke to my best friend he said - 'I may owe her £3500 grand, but she owes me a friend' - what a joke - he chose to break down the friendship!

He thought he was going to be a musician and spent hours working on his band and his 'solo projects'. He told me that he couldn't do his normally job working in a picking factory because it had become 'too stressful'.

God I could write a book about all the dumb things he did - that's before getting onto his crazy family too!

steve700

fishface-69 wrote: »

You're not her x are you?!! :rotfl: :rotfl:

I wouldn't have the heart (or the nerve!!) to treat a girl like that;)

steve700

nicola1982 wrote: »

God I could write a book about all the dumb things he did - that's before getting onto his crazy family too!

You miss them then..............:D

nicola1982_2

Like a hole in the head.

He had this crazy gran who used to ring every 5 minutes to find out where he was. She'd ring anyone and whenever he used her phone she'd get the number off her itemised bill and save it to ring.

She was obessessed with what we were up to in the bedroom. She rang his mum once to find out if we were using condoms!

LaraCroft_2

katemcg wrote: »

There are lots of stories here of STDs - S-xually Transmitted Debts!

Like it! :rotfl:

I did take on my OH's debts as he was paying just ridiculous interest rates but he has also been supporting me the last few months since I have been off work with depression, and I also had debts as well, so its a joint thing. We are both as stupid as each other.