There's *lots* of people in "serious" debt.

Shineyhappy

I havent read the article (sorry being lazy) is that just unsecured debts as I would imagine the secured debts that used to be unsecured and remortgages to cover debt would add an awful lot more to that figure.

rog2

Shineyhappy wrote: »

I havent read the article (sorry being lazy) is that just unsecured debts as I would imagine the secured debts that used to be unsecured and remortgages to cover debt would add an awful lot more to that figure.

Just 'click' your mouse on the link, in ZTD's opening post, SH - probably use less than 1 calorie. :rolleyes: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Shineyhappy

Sorry I have been engaged on another thread, oh and occasionally working! Although very occasionally I might add!

Broken_hearted

Idiophreak wrote: »

Does anyone know if it includes student loans?

No idea, I don't include mine I keep hoping they will disappear.

Bunnyinthelights

Well, I'm in 'serious' debt x4.7!
And I know a lot of others in the same position...not a good place to be.

PixiePie

Crown wrote: »

I think saying that debts of over £10k are serious are a little misleading. It all depends on your outgoings/Income ratio. If I was a Trader in the City then my 40k debt wouldnt matter as my bonus would clear it.

I'm not picking, but isn't this some of the trouble though and the overall attitude that is part of our current 'debt culture'? What happens is the city trader (touch wood) is run over in a tram accident, looses both his/her legs and half an arm, and their sight, and therefore looses their job? Therefore they get no bonus that year. Therefore they can't pay off the loan, and there is no compensation as they should have looked where they were going and not stepped out in front of the tram. Then they are in huge huge debt with no chance of ever paying it off (maybe).

I know this is an extreme case I've outlined above, but just because you earn a lot of money, shouldn't mean 'oh it's ok to have debt' surely it doubly means you shouldn't as with a bonus of £K a year you are more able than a lot to save a hell of a lot and buy very nice things outright (Hypno, your's would still cover a very nice car (nice in my eyes) outright, or a lovely super duper holiday).

Until we accept as society and as a nation that debt just is not good no matter the circumstances, for everyday life, then this will just carry on.

(totally agree with the bits I cut from your post btw )

ZTD

Crown wrote: »

I think saying that debts of over £10k are serious are a little misleading. It all depends on your outgoings/Income ratio. If I was a Trader in the City then my 40k debt wouldnt matter as my bonus would clear it.

But equally for some people, £1,000 is "serious".

ZTD

keren29 wrote: »

I don't know how many DFW'ers there are in MSE land, but I'm guessing it is less than 1% of the 8 million featured in the report.

Well 1% of 8 million is 80,000 people. I've never seen more than 200 people reading dfw at any one time.

It gets chaotic at times as it is...

red74

ZTD wrote: »

But equally for some people, £1,000 is "serious".

Absolutely. When my debt first hit £1k I was horrified, now it's been up to £10k, that £1k feels like small-fry!

Whilst a lot of people do just generally not keep track of their cash-flow and end up overspending a bit here and there until it gets to huge amounts, from what I've seen on here, there's a huge amount of people whose debt has occured from a change in circumstances. And I think this is one of the major problems today, we might live comfortably within our means, but we don't have contingencies in case something happens such as divorce, job loss, disablement, bereavement etc.

ZTD

PixiePie wrote: »

I'm not picking, but isn't this some of the trouble though and the overall attitude that is part of our current 'debt culture'? What happens is the city trader (touch wood) is run over in a tram accident, looses both his/her legs and half an arm, and their sight, and therefore looses their job? Therefore they get no bonus that year. Therefore they can't pay off the loan, and there is no compensation as they should have looked where they were going and not stepped out in front of the tram. Then they are in huge huge debt with no chance of ever paying it off (maybe).

That's the thing with debt. It's not just about incomings and outgoings, it's about the unquantifyable. Risk. It's all right talking about probabilities, but something could be a million to one against - and still happen, or it could be almost inevitable - and not happen.

PixiePie wrote: »

Until we accept as society and as a nation that debt just is not good no matter the circumstances, for everyday life, then this will just carry on.

Debt is good in some circumstances. To grossly oversimplify. If debt is for production - then it is good debt. If it is for consumption, then it is bad.