How badly are you in debt?

I typically have $1K-$1500 in debt at the end of any given month. I usually pay off all but a few hundred on my no-interest card each month, then rinse, wash and repeat. I'll be getting an extra job in a month, though, so I should be clear pretty soon.
 
[quote name='BillyBob29']In general I agree that paying down debt should be a top priority. However, a good student loan should be at much less than 8% interest while a half-way decent mutual fund should be averaging 8-10% per year return over the long term, after expenses.[/quote]

At that point all it comes down to is how the interest is compounded ;)
 
since i go to an inexpensive community college (its roughly 700 bucks for the 9 credit hours I take a semister) my student loan is like 1K.. i unfortunately do not have an amazing job that lets me save 1000s of dollars a month.. so i pay about 70 bucks a month to the loan..

i used to have a maxed out credit card (it was only about 500 bucks) but I have since stopped using a credit card at all (i do have one in case i really do need something) but yeah.. i own my own car, i pay rent (since I live with the GF its about 150 a month.. i probably pay 300 total for entertainment/electricity/water/gas) so i make enough..

i plan on becoming a college professor when I get out of school.. so i'll be in school for a while and wouldn't mind taking out a ton of loans out but right now i don't need to.
 
[quote name='Magehart']At that point all it comes down to is how the interest is compounded ;)[/QUOTE]

True, as well as if your student loan interest qualifies for a tax deduction.
 
Some of you no debt guys need to keep in mind that credit isn't necessarily bad. Everyone should try to get some credit history built. Never using credit will hold you back more than using credit responsibly.
 
[quote name='homeland']I use to be bad with money. but then I got married. problem sovled.[/QUOTE]

I used to be great with money, then i got married. fuck!
 
I wish my school's tuition was only $700 a semester, mine is about $1500 for full time.

Anyway, I've paid for all of it in student loans so I'll probably be around $10,00 or more in debt by the time I'm done. Yay me.
 
Pretty bad from grad school. Around $50k. Tuition was high and I had no funding my first year. Have had tuition remission the 5 years since (and next year as well) but still had to take out a little bit of loans to get by living in the DC area on a measly grad student stipend salary.

Also have a car loan of around $18k.
 
[quote name='JolietJake']I wish my school's tuition was only $700 a month, mine is about $1500 for full time.

Anyway, I've paid for all of it in student loans so I'll probably be around $10,00 or more in debt by the time I'm done. Yay me.[/QUOTE]

its not 700 a month.. its 700 a SEMISTER.. (which is roughly 4 months.. so about 200 a month)

is that 1500 or 15,000.. because my GF goes full time and she pays a little over 1K a semister (she has a scholarship/federal grants.. so she doesn't pay anything really) but yeah its nice.. i can't think of a time i won't be taking college classes i really like it.. even when i'm finished with a degree.. i'm probably still going to be taking classes for the fun of it..

anyways.. debt is all relative you can go to debt settlement (like my parents who have like 27,000 of credit card debt they'll eventually only have to pay about 10,000 of it.)
 
[quote name='btw1217']Some of you no debt guys need to keep in mind that credit isn't necessarily bad. Everyone should try to get some credit history built. Never using credit will hold you back more than using credit responsibly.[/quote]

Well, I've got no debt, but have had car loans, student loans and a current mortgage. Its put my credit score way up there.

My point, you DON'T need to be in a crap load of debt to build a credit score.

TBW

Also, one of the things that factors into your credit score is a ratio of available credit to debt. What happened to a friend of mine, was that he cancelled cards he didn't use and his score dropped.
 
[quote name='urzishra14']its not 700 a month.. its 700 a SEMISTER.. (which is roughly 4 months.. so about 200 a month)

is that 1500 or 15,000.. because my GF goes full time and she pays a little over 1K a semister (she has a scholarship/federal grants.. so she doesn't pay anything really) but yeah its nice.. i can't think of a time i won't be taking college classes i really like it.. even when i'm finished with a degree.. i'm probably still going to be taking classes for the fun of it..

anyways.. debt is all relative you can go to debt settlement (like my parents who have like 27,000 of credit card debt they'll eventually only have to pay about 10,000 of it.)[/quote]That was a stupid mistake, i know it's per semester. Don't know why i said month. It is $1,500 per semester here, it at least stabilizes at that point, you could take 12, 15, or 18 hours and it would still be that same amount.

All i have are loans, i'm not poor enough for the pell grant. I haven't looked much into scholarships as they usually get taken by the people with the best grades, a 3.0 GPA isn't bad, but it isn't extremely high either. We have a lottery scholarship here, but the conditions are ridiculous. Basically, you have to be either a year out of high school or over 25 years old i believe. I fall right in between those, so no lottery money for me. When i go for my bachelor's however, i hope to qualify for the lottery scholarship.
 
[quote name='TheBlueWizard']Well, I've got no debt, but have had car loans, student loans and a current mortgage. Its put my credit score way up there.

My point, you DON'T need to be in a crap load of debt to build a credit score.

TBW

Also, one of the things that factors into your credit score is a ratio of available credit to debt. What happened to a friend of mine, was that he cancelled cards he didn't use and his score dropped.[/QUOTE]

Definitely. I totally agree.

Just because you have it doesn't mean you have to use it, but everyone should at least have something going to build some credit. Ratio of revolving credit does account for 30% of your credit score, so that is something to consider. That's something that can be changed relatively quickly though, if you can have it paid off whenever. The most important thing is your payment history, which accounts for 35% of your score. Never get credit for something you can't make on-time payments for. Missed payments take much, much longer to rebuild.
 
[quote name='Xevious']I was 7 grand in credit card debt not too long ago. Now I reduced that figure to under $500. I will be completely debt free in a few months.

The big thing about me is that I don't have a car. Not having a car was the way I was able to pay off my debt but at the same time it really sucks not having a vehicle..[/quote]

*two weeks pass*

*Xevious comes back into thread, posts about his new thirty-thousand dollar debt*

... ;)

I kid, Xevious. Good job on reducing your rather large debt to such a manageable amount, and I hope you stay debt-free. :)
 
[quote name='JolietJake']That was a stupid mistake, i know it's per semester. Don't know why i said month. It is $1,500 per semester here, it at least stabilizes at that point, you could take 12, 15, or 18 hours and it would still be that same amount.

All i have are loans, i'm not poor enough for the pell grant. I haven't looked much into scholarships as they usually get taken by the people with the best grades, a 3.0 GPA isn't bad, but it isn't extremely high either. We have a lottery scholarship here, but the conditions are ridiculous. Basically, you have to be either a year out of high school or over 25 years old i believe. I fall right in between those, so no lottery money for me. When i go for my bachelor's however, i hope to qualify for the lottery scholarship.[/QUOTE]

i thought that was what you meant.. but you never know right?

my GF actually pays for me to go to college.. (because she gets a lot of money.. like 3 grand a semiter and she only uses about 1000 or so for actual school expenses.. ) so thats my scholarship... but if you want scholarships you should look into departmental scholarships.. they usually don't require a GPA to get them and they usually go unclaimed..

but back on the debt talk (didn't want to thread steal).. seriously something that has helped me is to budget. (i know it sounds easier than it is) but i've been rationing out money on what i use and in a few months you notice like hey i got a lot of money..
 
They've increased the amount you can borrow, thankfully. Before, i didn't have enough for books, so i had to buy them out of pocket.
 
Just a few hundred dollars on my credit cards which I pay off every month. I'll probably get a mortgage eventually but right now I'm just renting a place.

I use to have a $9000 auto loan for a car which died after a year. It was a pretty difficult time for me but I did pay it off after 4 years. I learned from that never to take out a loan for a car ever again.
 
[quote name='Magehart']You do know that paying down debt > putting money into an IRA right? The interest rate of debt > interest rate of investment.

I have absolutely no debt right now but I may have to take out student loans to get my masters.[/QUOTE]

The loans are a priority, I paid off 13K in 6 months, but I have no faith in social security and want to build as much as possible for my later video gaming years when I can play all the games I bought throughout my life. My job matches me half so I only have to come up with 2K a year from now on and they'll match me. Add the profit sharing from my last job and by the end of the year I'll have over 12K for retirement and I'm only 24. The loans are at a decent rate of about 5% but I've put so much on it and I continue to that my next payment isn't due until 2012! There is currently no interest on it and whatever interest does accumulate is relatively nothing. I will probably knock it down to about $4,000 or so and than just slow it down to about 500 a month, currently doing 2,000 a month and not much of a social life.
 
I have a fool proof way to not get into debt. Don't buy things you can't pay for. Easy, huh? If you don't have enough cash in your pocket to pay for it, don't buy it.
 
I had $5k left from my first degree to pay off then decided to get a second degree so I'll be about $55k in student loan debt when it is all said and done in 2 years from the looks of it. As for my credit card debt I'll have the 3k I owe left on the final card I have by July if all goes as planned.
 
[quote name='Access_Denied']I have a fool proof way to not get into debt. Don't buy things you can't pay for. Easy, huh? If you don't have enough cash in your pocket to pay for it, don't buy it.[/QUOTE]

But you need to build credit history unless you plan on paying for everything in cash; cars, houses, baby giraffes...
 
[quote name='gamefan1686']None. If I cant pay cash for it I don't buy it.[/quote]

Same here. But that also means I have no credit history.
 
[quote name='btw1217']But you need to build credit history unless you plan on paying for everything in cash; cars, houses, baby giraffes...[/QUOTE]

Thats why you buy it with your credit card and then pay off the balance every month.
 
I think I have about $7K left in student loans from my first degree. Thankfully my significant other is out of college and with a very well paying job, so he's been slowly digging me out of the hole.
 
[quote name='cletus']
I use to have a $9000 auto loan for a car which died after a year. It was a pretty difficult time for me but I did pay it off after 4 years. I learned from that never to take out a loan for a car ever again.[/QUOTE]

The key it to make sure you have a warranty that lasts at least as long as the period of your loan. Getting the gap insurance that will pay the difference between what you owe and what the insurance pays if your car is totaled or stolen and not recovered isn't a bad idea either.

[quote name='btw1217']But you need to build credit history unless you plan on paying for everything in cash; cars, houses, baby giraffes...[/QUOTE]


Yeah, it's pretty much inevitable to have to go into debt at some point be it for college, grad school, a car, a home mortgage etc.

Unless your rich or just live in a city where you don't need another car and are fine always renting rather than owning I guess.
 
[quote name='TheBlueWizard']Well, I've got no debt, but have had car loans, student loans and a current mortgage. Its put my credit score way up there.

My point, you DON'T need to be in a crap load of debt to build a credit score.

TBW

Also, one of the things that factors into your credit score is a ratio of available credit to debt. What happened to a friend of mine, was that he cancelled cards he didn't use and his score dropped.[/QUOTE]

You understand the way the credit game is played... take my CC debt right now (about 2 grand)... on a ratio of credit to debt is VERY VERY low as my 4 cards have available credit of somewhere close to 80000.
I doubt I will get rid of them or start any new cards ever, as another important part of your score is the length of time you have had certain accounts. The last card I got was in 03 I think.

Like I stated before, with 2 new cars in the past year (yes we needed them), car, and student loans... we are well north of 150000 in debt... but Id say in 5-6 years that will be cut in half at the least, the house will be paid off well before 30 years are up... not worried, I keep paying my bills on time and my credit score will improve (I did have over 800 score BEFORE vehicle purchase)
 
I have about $10,000 left on my student loans, which I've knocked down from $30,000 since I graduated two years ago. I have no problems making good on any other debts, though I wish I put more into my 401k since I get to retire in 40+ years. :oldman:

I'm looking at stocks since I've never invested in that market, though I'm thinking whether it's good to get in while some stocks may be low, or to save in case the US economy goes further south.
 
I have about $90,000 in medical school loans but otherwise no other debt whatsoever. I pay my credit care balance in full. It's not worth carrying a balance that accrues a double digit interest rate simply to improve your credit score. It's also not worth forgoing paying off your credit card debt for the sole reason to build savings. Credit card debt should be your number one financial priority, as it's like making an investment with a guaranteed rate of return to the card's interest rate.
 
Most people who posted here said they are debt free. I think people who do have a lot of credit card debt are embarrassed to post anything on this thread.
 
$0 - unless you count car loan, mortgage orstudent loans...

Never had a credit card balance carry over a month, hopefully never will.
 
[quote name='Pookymeister']unless you count car loan, mortgage orstudent loans...[/quote]
Well hell, if I don't count all my loans I'm debt free too! ;) Awesome!
 
I'm married and have two kids, surpirsingly my debt really isn't that bad. Yeah I have the mortgage and a car payment. Credit card debt is around $3,000.

I know all about debt. I had a great job, just got married, we found a great house, put all our money into the house, then I got laid off from the great job. Well my wife was pregnant and we didn't have insurance, imagine that hospital bill! No job meant that all my credit card balances were maxed. The creditors would be calling my house non stop. After 9 months I finally found another job making good money, and between that and money that my father lent me I was able to get on my feet again. I was really close to having to sell my house, which thankfully I didn't have to. After working at the new job for two years and still having the house, I was able to refinance working all my debt into a new mortgage. The day I signed those papers was a great day, like a big weight had been lifted.
 
$8k.

All for college tuition, but it should be Zero. I'm just stupid. It was estimated that I would need about 14k for each year so I took a loan of $5500, but ended up having about $6k left over. So stupid. I only took ~$3k the next year thinking it'll help me pay for books and other expenses. This year, I just let my financial aid pay everything off and just used my own money to buy books.

I really don't know how I'm gonna pay off that loan since I don't even know what to do once I graduate.
 
I have right about 20 thousand in school loans, that I guess I should look into paying off Friday since that is when I graduate.

I was planning on paying off a good hunk when I graudate but it turns out I blew a lot of money instead going to Japan, Canada, and other travels throughout the summer.

I'm all set w/ a job when I start working, but I still have to negotiate the pay. I'm looking at starting between 55-60 thousands a year. So... hopefully the 20 thousand won't take long if I really keep in reined in the first year, so I should be able to knock off a good hunk. I also have about 7 thousand in savings, but I don't wanna blow all on loans right away in case my car shits the bed, etc.
 
bout 4g on the cc. will have it paid off before the end of the year

quick note: call your cc company and ask to lower your interest rate. i once had like 16% interest or something crazy like that and called them up one day and just simply asked if they would and instantly it was lowered to 4% starting the next month. crazy stuff.
 
[quote name='sonicfreak5']im 16 years old and i still haven't paid Columbia house[/QUOTE]

You should get started on paying them back. No sense ruining your credit for a few free movies.
 
I have about 7 grand left in student loans.

There is a pretty good blog to check out for info about getting out of debt called getrichslowly.org
 
[quote name='bmachine']
dr_evil_1-747960.jpg
[/QUOTE]

:)

Currently 0, though that will change very soon seeing as I totaled my car last week and am in dire need of a new (as in used lol) car very quick. Won't be more than a $4k loan though. No tuition expenses yet (family had money for college to last me a few years), and no credit card (though I'm getting one soon to build credit).

So in other words, I'll be dead in debt within a year =p
 
I'm not sure of the exact amount, but I owe in the low five figures in student loans. I've still got another year left, but aerospace engineering pays well, so I'm not too concerned about being able to pay it off. :)
 
You don't need a credit card.

thats right..

You don't need a credit card, just get yourself a checking account and get a debit card to make your everyday online purchases. Pay with cash and if you can't afford it, save up for it after all of your non-house debt is paid off because NO one gets wealthy with credit cards. No one.

Credit Cards are the debbil.

(Don't pray to the altar of FICO, there are a few places that make home mortages the old-fashioned way with an income check to see if you can TRULY afford a home.)

I also recommend to go to Dave Ramsey's Website and read up on the website and listen to his weekday radio show.

Dave has a book (Total Money Makeover) and also has a "Financial Peace University" which is a 13-week program. Often on his radio show he gives this and/or this book out for free to callers that really need it.

Getting out of debt is only 80% behavior and 20% head knowledge.
 
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