how many people are currently in debt

[FrugalFish]

Just a mortgage.

[Fizgig]

Mortgage 115k
Car Loan 11k
Student Loan 2k

I may soon have an additional loan because my home flooded with 2 feet of water from Hurricane Ike, and there is a big question mark on how much insurance will cover. We will see.

[kork13]

Originally Posted by Fizgig

I may soon have an additional loan because my home flooded with 2 feet of water from Hurricane Ike, and there is a big question mark on how much insurance will cover. We will see.

I'm really sorry to hear that... I grew up in a typhoon (hurricane) zone, and completely understand... You can build a good home that can survive winds (REINFORCED CONCRETE AND BRICK, PEOPLE!!! NOT WOOD!!!), but damage from flooding is almost impossible to prevent--it's entirely based on the placement of your home.... Hopefully you had flood insurance? If so, most all of your damage should be covered. If not, ...... insurance might only cover things that were actually broken, and can be reasonably blamed on winds/rain/debris.

[mladyd]

Mortgage, HEL, 1 Car, 1 Student Loan, and just recently a $1400 charge on my Visa.

I also use CC's for many things I could pay cash for. Usually for cash-back rewards (5% off gas and groceries...how could I not?) or for other rewards. I pay them off in full immediatey, I usually don't even wait for the bill to come and just billpay the amount over to the CC when I get home from shopping.

[fruitbowlk]

I'm in cc debt.

[JinCO]

I have both student loan debt and mortgage debt. I will pay off the student loan debt in the next 5-10 years. I don't plan on paying off the mortgage debt until close to retirement. I don't think that it makes sense financially to have your goal to be debt free. For example, I could pay off my mortgage in the next 10 years by using money I could otherwise be investing at a higher return but this would yield me a lower net worth.

[FoolFromAZ]

mortgage 1st - 240k
2nd 40k
cc debt 43K
car loan 24k
-----------------------------
total 347K


$1700 - (first mortgage including tax)
$220 - (Second mortgage intrest only)
$600 - (CC minimum payments)
$700 - (car payment + auto insurance)

----------
$3220

[Exile]

Originally Posted by imblogger

Hi I have just came out from financial debt thanks to god

No debt here, but I've been there/ done that. IMO based on my experience, it's not a debatable supreme being that puts us into debt or gets us out of it. Overindebtedness is usually the result of misfortune, bad judgement, or a combination of the above. Solvency is usually the result of a combination of opportunity, discretion, moderate living, and hard work.

[seattlemanicurist]

I have just over 20K in student loans (A.A. and cosmetology school), and about 3500 of medical debt. I have gotten it down from over 12000, and expect to have it paid off early next year.

[meatloafkend]

We owe on our house and our home equity loan for the pole building weput up in June. It totals about $175K, but that is well within our means. I hope to make the 15K home equity loan disapper soon

[tark]

I am in debt..car, house, kid's school...

[grandmaruth]

For the first time of my life, I am not in debt. I worked for myself and love it. Nobody cares about you as much as you do, remember that before working for someone

[grandmaruth]

I am sorry to hear that! I hope all is well! God bless you!

[grandmaruth]

It is a good idea to pay credit cards instead of cash, only if you can treat it like cash (so you get cash back). For me its difficult to stop spending so the 1-5% isnt worth it

[Pitman]

Just CC Debt & a Student Loan. At the end of the year I'm aiming to pay off the CC, and cut my student loan in half, which will leave it at around 2K, then paying off that bad boy in March/April of 09. I also plan on purchasing a new vehicle around Feb/March, but I plan on buying that outright.

[mrpaseo]

$65,000 on house
$26,718.86 on credit cards (0% interest, money sitting in ING)
$25,189.47 on SUV (5.4% Will be paid off in February).

$116,908.33

As of 28 FEB 09 we will be down to: $64,000 then we will wack 1,000 off the mortgage per month until PIF.

Ray

[paladin]

Just our mortgage.

[mom-from-missouri]

Mortgage and car.

[SnoopyCool]

Mortgage, Car, Student Loan

[tripods68]

Originally Posted by kork13

As for the OP's question, I am in debt, but in a very controlled way.

Exactly how do you control your debt? Do you live below your means...or you have plenty of cash to payoff all your debt if you want to?