What is the most amount of debt you've ever had and why?

[bjl584]

I saw this posted elsewhere and thought it might make for interesting conversation

I'll go first.

The most debt I've ever had at once was around $200K
It was a mortgage, student loans from grad school, and a car payment.

Today I have $136K.
Mortgage debt only

[james.hendrickson]

At one point my ex wife and I had like 1.5 million in mortgages on three or four properties. All of them were above water and producing cash, but it was a lot of bank debt.

[Tabs]

Right around my divorce many, many moons ago, my ex-wife and I had a combined debt of say $350k. Part of it was the mortgage, part of it was student loans, two car loans, and credit card debt. By itself, it all sounds very normal I guess? However, that was also when we were raising two kids with a third on the way. We were barely able to afford the monthly minimums. I was freaking out, and our finances were entirely out of control.

Perhaps I don't owe the most amount out there, but I never want to go through that again. Today, I carry no debt. Even the credit cards get paid off every month.

[MonkeyMama]

$470K for two mortgages. I forgot initially and started to post that the most debt we ever had was one $230K mortgage.
Why? We had the luck of listing our first home the week of 9/11, something like that. We took a gamble (went through with planned home purchase) that the market drop was very short term and the whole thing was *shrugs* in the grand scheme of things. We just had the two mortgages for a few months. We've never borrowed for anything else. This probably plays into my *shrugs* feelings about it. It would obviously been more difficult if we also had other debts. We also lived very far below our means and were in the process of moving to a 75%-cheaper city. I mean, if we ended up with one $300K mortgage at the end of all this, would still be better than any other alternative. (Our Plan A had been to only take a $150K mortgage on this house. Owned two homes and lost some equity due to unforeseen events)

Today: $65K left on mortgage. Plan is to live a debt-free life once the mortgage is paid off. Probably in our early 50s.

[kork13]

About 10 years ago, we had $330k on our primary home, $100k on our then-previous home (turned rental property), and also about $10k on my wife's car. About $440k total debt.

That period of time was rather stressful, because I'm just very resistant to debt & I hate having debts hanging over my head. Gratefully, this was also a point when we were earning the most we ever have (~$220k-$230k), so over the next couple years, we funneled ALOT of our income (~25% gross) toward the debt, especially the car & rental property. Within 2 years, we had both paid off, and our total debt was down to $290k on our primary home's mortgage.

Today, we're totally debt-free, and have been since ~Jun 2020. Whenever we move back to the states, we'll probably need too get a mortgage again for our next home ... But we should have a significant down payment in place (probably 30-50% or better), and we'll pay it off ASAP. I hate debt.

[Dido]

At most, about $108k, back in 2011. I'd left my first career and was working only temp/part-time while I changed careers, plus traveling back and forth multiple times per year from the east coast to CA because my mom was dying. The career transition was rough, but the debt has been under $100k for a decade and, now that I paid off the existing non-mortgage debt and the mortgage is getting close to being paid, it's been down as low as $18k. However, I am transitioning to retirement in about 2.5 years and trying to get some home improvements done, the first of which happens later this month. I'll also buy a new car before retiring, so, after this month, it might be another 6-8 years before I am truly debt-free.

[riverwed070707]

I think at the peak I carried around $600k - all mortgages, 4 in total. I didn't get into real estate investing until my other debt was paid off. They are all on 15 year mortgages except 1 so today I owe around $435k on those. They're worth a little over $1M.

[Drake3287]

Buying our second home in 1993, $150k mortgage, almost laughable now. Zero debt after all these years now.