How did you get into this debt?

skye

I was 18 and the bank called me in to update my account ended up giving me an overdraft and a credit card (for emergencies!!). Credit card got used at christmas, took out another job to pay it off, overdraft got used and upped. Bank called me and wanted me to take out a loan to get rid of overdraft (around 19% interest + redemption fee + they made me take out a select account, £5 per month to get a better interest rate - did not understand about rates back then). Got new credit cards, took out bigger loan at better rate to pay off credit cards & old loan swearing never again. Gave up 2nd job after 2 years as I was shattered (and I was paying £30 a night just on taxis to go out to clubs to meet current boyf after work, let alone drinks etc), moved in with boyfriend started with overdraft & credit cards again.

I think I am finally at the point where I realised I have to do something (now around £12,000 in debt on loan & 4 credit cards). The worst thing is I haven't got anything to show for the debt (maybe if I had had a holiday or a car or something it wouldn't be as bad), I have just spent money on crap.

However this is the first month I have not used credit card, gone into overdraft (£8.88 in credit), so although its going to take a while, finally this month it has gone down instead of up.

Jacster_2

What a wonderful thread! Thanks for this Justindebt!

When I got into debt it was entirely through spending habits I created at uni, which was the place at which, for me, debt became acceptable and normal.

I hadn't thought that way about debt before - prior to uni it had been something I would have avoided.

But free overdrafts, student loans and credit cards became a way of life. I didn't realise this had to change until 10 years later.

What an expensive degree!

the_canty

Moved to London in 2000 after graduation, and was rather excited by the big city & bright lights.

I went out 3/4 times per week to the pub / club / gigs etc was buying quality clothes in the big dept stores, holidays to Ibiza & China. I know it's not much (compared to some of you) but after 4 years I found myself in almost 4k of debt on overdraft & credit card. Most of my mates are older then me, so I was going out with people earning a lot more cash, but being pulled along by what they were doing and spending.

Last April I set up a spreadsheet budget planner. I've (almost) lost the overdraft excpt for the final few days of the month, switched my credit card to 12months interest free, and been putting £366 a month into an ISA since this March. I'm now only 1.1K in debt - I will hopefully have it all paid off by 1st September when I'm moving to Japan.

It's reading other peoples stories that gave me the hope to do something about my debt, and although not quite paid off yet. I know I'm almost there, and it feels great. - I can't imagine how good it's going to feel to be in credit once and for all.

It's feels really strange for me, as i don't feel that I've cut down on the things that I do - I still go out a lot to gigs, and have nice holidays (usually on ryanair), but i now live within my means each month. It's so easy to let things drift, and the effort it requires to be in control of my finances these days is so worth it.

skintscotsman

the_canty wrote:

Moved to London in 2000 after graduation, and was rather excited by the big city & bright lights.

I went out 3/4 times per week to the pub / club / gigs etc was buying quality clothes in the big dept stores, holidays to Ibiza & China. I know it's not much (compared to some of you) but after 4 years I found myself in almost 4k of debt on overdraft & credit card. Most of my mates are older then me, so I was going out with people earning a lot more cash, but being pulled along by what they were doing and spending.

Last April I set up a spreadsheet budget planner. I've (almost) lost the overdraft excpt for the final few days of the month, switched my credit card to 12months interest free, and been putting £366 a month into an ISA since this March. I'm now only 1.1K in debt - I will hopefully have it all paid off by 1st September when I'm moving to Japan.

It's reading other peoples stories that gave me the hope to do something about my debt, and although not quite paid off yet. I know I'm almost there, and it feels great. - I can't imagine how good it's going to feel to be in credit once and for all.

It's feels really strange for me, as i don't feel that I've cut down on the things that I do - I still go out a lot to gigs, and have nice holidays (usually on ryanair), but i now live within my means each month. It's so easy to let things drift, and the effort it requires to be in control of my finances these days is so worth it.

are you scottish by any chance? i know someone who is moving to japan soon.

the_canty

skintscotsman wrote:

are you scottish by any chance? i know someone who is moving to japan soon.

no - english

janiewai

Mine is a House repo and then I had a child with Downs and was told that every day may be her last so I spoiled her, shes still here 11 years later and I am saving like mad to declare the big B

empfun

Excellent thread! Thanks to all who've contribued!

arethusa82

My wife suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder. when we met 4 years ago. I had no debt, no credit cards and £3000 in savings. I had no idea what was about to happen. We bought a brandnew house in Aug 2002, and had a son in Oct 2002. by Sept 2003 we had to move to rented accommodation because she could no longer live in our house because of her fear of contamination. We moved into rented and took a mortgage holiday for 6 months in order to pay the rent. The intention was to uy another new house, but couldn't put the old house on the market as it had to be "de-contaminated" House eventually went on market in Aug 2004 by which time I was paying mortgage and rent. We had to pay bills and food using cc. Took out a loan to clear overdraft and cc. Despite lots of interest in house, no takers. As we were buying brand new property we had to exhange contracts....so faced with the prospect of not being able to complete and all that entails. We were within 6 weeks of completion date.. when surprise surprise our Mortgage Advisor's daughter was looking for a house, came to see ours and made a ridiculus offer £10k under the asking price. We had no choice, but to accept......thus needed larger mortgage (£180k). Anyway, We now have £12k of debt on cc and overdrafts, a car that can't be used because it is "contaminated" haven't worked out how to pay them off yet... used the snowball yesterday, so it's given me some pointers. At least the spiral for spending on rent and mortgage has stopped as we now live in our new house. There's tons more, but I think I've been going on a bit. For those who want to understand more about OCD please visit http://www.ocduk.org/.

Hubcaps

Justindebt wrote:

OK....I was wondering how we all came to be in this position.

I have never spent more than £200 on an item and charged it to a credit card.

Never even paid for a holiday on one.

Plane fares or hotels I have charged up.....restaurants and the odd suit.

The vast.....no, overwhelming..... majority of my damage is due to gambling.

I was wondering how the rest of you were dragged into the debt trap.

Truthfully? Gross stupidity and having kids.

Our debts (roundabout £10,000) were 50/50 mine and my husband's. One was loan he took and another I'd taken out. There was credit card debt in there, an old mobile contract and some other things I can't remember - I haven't had or applied for any credit in the last 6 years hence the amnesia. Basically just after I found out I was expecting my OH was forced out of his job and it took a couple of months to get another one. It wasn't for as much money which then made us fall behind on all our repayments and then we buried our heads in the sand when the letters came. Then one of our creditors suggested we try the CCCS when we couldn't meet our repayments.

All I can say is thank you CCCS and I apologise if I bang on about them in all my posts but they were our saviour.

Undercovercarrot

I started running up debts at...you guessed it....uni! I was lucky in that the year after I left, I was still on a low rent. Did I save?! Nooooo! Credit cards and living beyond my means meant I got into horrendous debt

So currently, my debts total:
£12,992

At worst: not sure, but around £20,000

Debt free (worst case) August 2009
Debt free (most likely) March 2007
Debt free (best case) December 2006

Bear in mind that this is on current figures. This can only get better! I am now running a structured monthly budget (on which I can comfortably live) and I am happy knowing every month, my loans are being knocked down to size! :T

It may interest you to know that over £3000 of what I owe is interest!