how many people are currently in debt

[imblogger]

Hi
I have just came out from financial debt thanks to god just like to know how many are still in financial debt?

[DebbieL]

I currently have no debt

[gamecock43]

I am in debt for my upcoming wedding but will pay it off within 3 months. Then I hope to be in debt again when I buy a house.

[ScrimpAndSave]

I have $1000 on a credit card...but that is what I do. I go up to $1500 on a credit card...then pay it off...then the cycle starts again.

Since it is revolving debt, I am basically debt free. I have the funds to pay it off.

[DebbieL]

Can I ask why you do that? Seems a bit odd. I can see if you just put all your monthly expenses on a card and pay it in full every month (so no interest charges), but building up balances to a certain level then paying them off when you could pay it off each month and not pay interest makes no sense to me.

[kork13]

I do the same thing, I charge EVERYTHING to my credit card--even $10 at the convenience store or $3 at fast food. In the 3-4 years I've had my credit card(s) (... i've accumulated 2 more over time, one for 5% back on gas/car maintenance, another that I was required to get for a club membership, but primarily only use the one), I've only ever carried over a balance once, about 1.5 years in. I saw the finance charge ($3.20-ish), and said to myself "what the...?? this is stupid. never again." I use it to rack up the reward points. Over that time, I now have just about enough for $350 cash back, or $500 credit on airline tickets. I'm taking a trip for thanksgiving, and I think I'll be using some of those points. Result: free trip and an excellent credit rating.

As for the OP's question, I am in debt, but in a very controlled way. I'm paying off the remainder of my car loan next month, and I have a $30k personal loan with my bank...at 1% interest. So I'm dragging that sucker out (investing most of it), with payments automatically coming from my checking account.

Can I ask why you do that? Seems a bit odd. I can see if you just put all your monthly expenses on a card and pay it in full every month (so no interest charges), but building up balances to a certain level then paying them off when you could pay it off each month and not pay interest makes no sense to me.

I think you misunderstood... I think what ScrimpAndSave means is that she does pay it off every month... hence the cyclical/revolving nature of her (and some of my own) debt.

[DebbieL]

Scrimpandsave doesn't spend $1500 per month (based on reading her other posts). I think she is carrying a balance, then paying it in full when it hits the $1500 mark. Seems odd when you could just pay it in full every month and avoid interest.

[tripods68]

$277K Mortgage
$15K 2nd mortgage
$16K Car note (20 months remaining)
$10K Personal Loan
$319K Total Debt

We spend 36% of our combined monthly Net Income towards paying ALL debts.

[kork13]

Scrimpandsave doesn't spend $1500 per month (based on reading her other posts). I think she is carrying a balance, then paying it in full when it hits the $1500 mark. Seems odd when you could just pay it in full every month and avoid interest.

ah, reading it from that perspective, i see what you mean... that is a bit strange.... Scrimp?

[ScrimpAndSave]

I do carry a balance and pay it off about every other month. A use a VISA card with a 4% interest rate to charge my graduate classes. My school district reimburses me for these courses and then I pay off the card with the money that my school district pays me.

Each time I reach 15 credits, I get a sweet pay raise. My next few school years look like this (Not counting $2,400 each year I get for being on a committee):


2008-2009: $50,296 (Current)
2009-2010: $59,525
2010-2011: $67,232 (House buying year!)
2011-2012: $75,849
2012-2013 $84,894

Works for me!

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Mortgage $440k
Student Loans $25.5k

I'm in debt bad. Oh well. The student loans are subsidized stafford loans and DH is still in school for another year or more.

[zakity]

We owe on the house still.

[minnie1928]

Technically, I have 3 debts:

mortgage
sleep number bed
Disney vacation club

I have the money for the bed in my savings account earning 3.25% while the bed is 0% & $0 payments until February '09. I'll pay that off in December/January.

Vacation Club will be paid off in December with annual bonus.

Then it's nothing but mortgage!

[kork13]

Works for me!

hmm.... ::shrugs:: okay, i guess that's what is most important.

I have the money for the bed in my savings account earning 3.25% while the bed is 0% & $0 payments until February '09. I'll pay that off in December/January.

That's a pretty nice way to go.... though I don't think I could do it very well myself. Having things hanging over my head are pretty ominous to me unless I know I totally have it under control. So I'd be fine with it once I had actually done it and set it up (So I didn't have to worry about it, I'd just put in an automatic payment request for way down the road, like in Jan. in your example)... the problem is that i don't think I could convince myself, standing there in the store, that it would be alright to do it in the first place! lol

[maat55]

Owe 115k on house, house is worth 150k. No other debt.