Are you in debt?

[magic moments]

I think so long as you can comfortably pay back the amount of 'debt' such as mortgages, car loans,hp agreements, credit cards etc then I guess it doesn't really matter so long as you are paying them back without struggling to pay for every day stuff such as food and electric.
If you borrow and end up struggling to pay back money owed to companies then that is a very different matter...
I don't see anything wrong with borrowing money if you are sensible.Apart from the mortgage I have piece of mind I can pay them off in full at any time.
I only ever borrow money at interest free or very low interest rates.

[juliab]

When I first met my fella he had quite a bit of debt and it really scared me. The reality was in comparison to what people owe these days it was nothing. Over time I got his debt down then we started saving and since then the only debt we have had is our mortgage.

[danisleigh]

Originally Posted by magic moments

I think so long as you can comfortably pay back the amount of 'debt' such as mortgages, car loans,hp agreements, credit cards etc then I guess it doesn't really matter so long as you are paying them back without struggling to pay for every day stuff such as food and electric.
If you borrow and end up struggling to pay back money owed to companies then that is a very different matter...
I don't see anything wrong with borrowing money if you are sensible.Apart from the mortgage I have piece of mind I can pay them off in full at any time.
I only ever borrow money at interest free or very low interest rates.

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I agree that some debt is scarier than others. My car finance doesn't worry me as I can always hand the car back if cirumstances were to change. I think if you have credit card debt and take advantage of 0% offers then that is manageable. It's when you have card debt and the interest is building up and you are paying a load off every month but hardly touching it due to the interest. We have been silly with cards in the past but pay in full now as we felt out of control before even though we could make the payments. I think if you feel like the op feels than it is an issue and she has done the right thing talking about it and making a plan.

[anniee]

We have our mortgage and our new suite is on interest free credit. I use a credit card for online purchases (don't know the pin) but always clear it off.

I will take out a credit card (interest free) to part fund a holiday but always pay it off as planned. I know some people will frown upon this but it works for me. I also put Christmas spending on a credit card but know what bonus I am getting in December wage (I have already earned the bonus it just hasn't been paid yet), I pay that credit card before the bill has even arrived.

[Tbone]

We have very little debt we have a mortgage (which we greatly reduced last year after the sale of another property) and we generally try and purchase large items using interest free finance so we can build our credit ratings but I feel very uncomfortable with this because it still feels like debt. We have CC each which we took out before our trip last year for emergencies but they don't get used.

With everything else we save and then buy something in regards to holidays we book them only if we know that we have most of the money before or will have it all before we go. I didn't go to university because I found the idea of putting myself in that much debt very worrying.

Generally it seems very acceptable to go in to debt and very easy for it to snowball.

[Junogirl1]

Does student debt count? I have quite a bit of that.

[JSP]

No debt here, no mortgage, no loans, credit card is paid off in full without fail every month

[Guest]

We have no debt (apart from our monthly credit card bill which everything goes on and is easily covered each month).
We paid our mortgage off very early (31) and we are both debt averse. We have a house that is more than big enough but still people expected us to move as an 'investment'...nope, happy here thanks knowing no one can kick us out!
We have used debt to our advantage over the years (0% finance on various things) but always had the money there to pay it off straight away if we needed to.
Debt seems the norm nowadays and I think DH and so are of a minority of people our age...we only buy it if we need it.

[jocat]

Have been in debt with credit cards when the children were small, (nothing too over the top compared to some and they have been cleared for several years now), but now just have a mortgage which will be paid off in 2017.

We do still use credit cards, but they are only used for larger purchases (eg flights), then paid off in full when the bill arrives.

We're just considering a small kitchen extension, but have the savings to pay for that now, whereas a few years ago we'd have probably added that to the mortgage.

I was a bit scared by the thought that you only need to worry about debt if it's more than your annual net salary! That would seriously worry me.

[Buzz n' Piglet]

Originally Posted by Junogirl1

Does student debt count? I have quite a bit of that.

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Well you don't need to pay it until you earn a certain amount, and you also can't avoid paying it when you do earn enough, so I would say no, It doesn't count.