How old are you?

Ames

I'm 27. I got my first credit card at 19 and paid it off till I became a student at 22, and had a nightmare time getting the benefits I was entitled to (I'm disabled). Housing benefit took a year to correctly assess my claim, so I was living off a loan (some of which went on furniture in my first flat) and making repayments on the loan (it got a bit strange, I was planning to pay off an older loan but then there wasn't enough to do it, so I had two loans to pay off together). Eventually the loan ran out so I was living off credit cards. All I've got to show for the debt is a fridge freezer and sofa

asp746

i'm 40.


1st got in debt at 28 (old enought to know better) and got out of debt at 37. took a yr to rack £15k of debt up and 9 yrs to pay it all off:eek:

never, ever again - apart from the mort, i don't owe anybody a penny and that's how its gonna stay.:T

meerkat2007

I'm a month off 46, and have been in debt since about 1985 - about half my life.

My debt peaked at the value in my sig, and as of today, stands at £54,973.88. This is everything I owe, including the full current year's council tax and the mortgage. I have it all planned out in a spreadsheet, and if all goes according to plan, I will be debt and mortgage free in September 2012 (must update my sig), when I will be 50 years and 4 months old

I've assumed no pay rises (unrealistic, but you can't count what you don't have) and no interest rate changes after the reduction in my mortgage rate that kicks in on May 1 - again, unrealistic, but we don't know what's going to happen in the future.

I would like to think that at some point, I will receive a pay rise that will enable me to give myself the best present ever for my 50th, and that will be being entirely debt-free.

Oh, and if I could share one more thing - I've just paid off Barclaycard! :j

skint_spice

Symbeaux1 wrote: »

40 tomorrow, first debt aged 23 (mortgage)

Happy Birthday Symbeaux!:beer:

Puzzledbubbles

Im 25 at the mo and despite a student loan at 18 (which personally i dont count as debt) I had a credit card and interest free overdraft which i didnt touch as I worked through uni and made enough to do everything i wanted without getting into debt.

Then went to the US (on a scholarship) but spent more than i was paid while i was out there, got a job that didnt pay as much as my lifestlye needed when i got back but didnt change anything. That was when i was 21 (almost 22) and the overdraft came into play, thank god it was still interest free (and still is if i ever needed it but its at a limit of £50 now)

The hubby and i got married (on a loan) then used my unused cc for house stuff, then got a cc for holidays, then got a new car, then consolidated the loan and my overdraft, then got another cc .......

The story goes on from there in a very predictable way, but in feb we realised even though we are making more than the minimum payment on everything its not going down fast enough so here i am, and im so glad im here!!!

Bonbon

PasturesNew wrote: »

Looking at the above list, I am the oldest by a good fistful of years.
Not in debt, but that was because I chose not to have the life that debt would have bought.

Scrimped, missed out, stayed in instead. So no fun times, no holidays, no activities, no life, scraped by, no new clothes, no new things, no technology, no gadgets. No dating, so single. Makes you wonder if I did the right thing after all, eh!

At least you all enjoyed getting your debt! And they can't take those memories away from you.

Hey, PasturesNew, looks like we're of the same thinking! I scrimped for years and can now 'proudly' say that I have never had a debt in my life. I was brought up to have only things I could afford ,and if I couldn't, then I saved for them. Of course, there was the mortgage, but even that's paid off now . So, I've missed out on a few things in the past, but now I have no financial worries and can do whatever I want. Does that make us the lucky ones? I suppose it depends on a persons attitude.

penniless96

I'm 25 and had a few 'smaller debts' whilst i was at uni but nothing unmanageable then met my husband at 21, got pregnant quite quickly and moved into rented accomodation then we lost our son to SIDS and thats when we just let loose. I spent to cheer myself up,bought a new house and 4 years later we've sorted ourselves out but we are 35K in debt for it and have another hard 5 years infront of us!!!!

We will do it though!!!

Little_Chicken

Bonbon wrote: »

Hey, PasturesNew, looks like we're of the same thinking! I scrimped for years and can now 'proudly' say that I have never had a debt in my life. I was brought up to have only things I could afford ,and if I couldn't, then I saved for them. Of course, there was the mortgage, but even that's paid off now . So, I've missed out on a few things in the past, but now I have no financial worries and can do whatever I want. Does that make us the lucky ones? I suppose it depends on a persons attitude.

You are definitely the lucky/smart ones. If you look at all of the people on here who have nothing to show for their debts...:beer:

lisabell

Im 24 (well will be in a couple of days)
Been in debt since 18 £3000 gone in a week!!
Debts now at there highest on a DMP

babes21

I'm 23 and have had no big debts, i joined here at 21 as i had a couple of hundred pounds on a credit card which is now paid off, it was manageable and could be paid off within a couple of months.

I like being part of DFW as it teaches me how to budget/spend/save my money wisely, just like the general atmosphere of this board.