neil b

I am 20 and owe about £10k

4k to Egg and about 6k to the old man and overdraft is at max

I am in a sh*t paying job and have a problem with spending money, what happens if you declare yourself bankrupt

Mice_Elf

You declare yourself bankrupt you can say goodbye to any credit at all. It's a black spot on your name that I THINK is cleared after 6 years (?) but remains to be seen for a lot longer.

Bankruptcy really is the LAST option that you want to go for.

bros2

[Edited by bros2 - 7/3/2003 8:39:27 AM]

darlodge

I owe £130,000 to the Halifax for our mortgage, and £600 to Egg on my Credit Card and I'm only 21

Darren

Sue

I was always brought up to never spend on credit, money that you havent got backed up in the bank..credit cards are simply a way of managing money,not a loan scheme..I have always adhered to this system,paying them off religiously every month and going without many things that my friends had in order to be able to sleep at night. I always bought my cars for cash (last year I owned a P1 and an MY98 modified turbo).
Last year I also discovered that my husband had (without telling me) given up work 12 months earlier..gone into arrears with the mortgage,run up over £45,000 debt on various credit cards,got 2 outstanding personal loans for £20,000 and was doing nothing about trying to find any more work.
Debt is not good..I speak from experience...I have a 5 year old to support through private school in addition to the above,which,by the good fortune of my own finances being in order and the quick sale of 2 Scoobs,a share portfolio,the clearance of 2 savings accounts,the conversion of all my pension arrangements and the re-mortgaging of my house I was able to clear in order to start again.I started divorce proceedings after setting us back on the straight and narrow and bought 3 apartments as "Buy to Let" investments with the proceeds of the re-mortgage to provide some sort of security for me and my son.The husband was "encouraged" to obtain a contract in London (he works in IT)and I am now recouping the money that I paid out to bail us out
In total my mortgage commitments are £459,000 on 4 properties,but theres no debt other than that.Im driving round in a Daewoo Matiz which is a hard pill to swallow,but Ive got my eye on the savings account with a steely determination!!!!
It seems an old fashioned view nowadays but the only way is to pay as you go,sometimes you do feel hard done by,but at the end of the day theres a pride to be taken in knowing that if everything goes wrong you can cope,and no-ones going to come knocking at the door!

bros2

[Edited by bros2 - 7/3/2003 8:39:43 AM]

Sue

thank you...I appreciate that....you tend to feel very isolated when you're going through the mire!
its why I havent been online for so long...used to post a fair bit

south-star

Last year I also discovered that my husband had (without telling me) given up work 12 months earlier..gone into arrears with the mortgage,run up over £45,000 debt on various credit cards,got 2 outstanding personal loans for £20,000 and was doing nothing about trying to find any more work.

Sue,that is just unbelievable......what a $hithead..

Personally i'm the same as you,i hate getting into debt,have always saved up for everything.Never had a personal loan or paid a penny interest on ANYTHING..(cept mortgage).

Avi

WTF was your husband doing all day, that you didn't even notice he wasn't at work

AnDy_PaNdY

Looks like he was out shopping all day

No debts here either.
Well done Sue, you have a similar outlook to my wife and I.
I always pay cash for cars (after a LOT of hard saving) and find I enjoy the car much more as a result.
When I bought my s2000 for cash a few years ago we got a few comments like " At least my car is paid for" etc. I just soak it up and plan for my next purchase.
Currently saving up to pay off the mortgage before quitting full time work and going part time.(I'm 33).

Sue

WTF was your husband doing all day, that you didn't even notice he wasn't at work

He'd set up a Ltd Co. in 97 and was an IT contractor.He'd started out contracting back to the company that he'd worked for for about 8 years and that had worked out ok for a couple of years..to be fair to the guy,it wasnt all his fault..US Co based in London got hit badly by the Worldcom crash and got rid of all outside contractors instantly,he was having problems anyway with the IR due to IR35 (those of you in IT as self employed contractors will be familiar with this precious nugget!!!)and so found himself under investigation by the IR and without work....what I simply cant fathom is why he didnt talk to me about it,but he went on as if nothing had happened...we have an office at home and I was used to him working from home,I just assumed that when he shut himself away every day at 9am and reappeared at 5pm he was working as usual...he paid me my housekeeping every month so I had no reason to suspect....I found out later that hed got the money for this from credit card cheques...
Made me a stronger person though (if a little less trusting!)

Sue

Hey...I got a corner too (once a muppet always a muppet!!!!)

MarkO

When I said I had two invoices outstanding, I was speaking as the director of my company.

Obviously, personally I don't have any invoices outstanding.

carl

[Should have said: "We have two invoices outstanding....." ]

[Edited by carl - 4/25/2003 9:03:41 PM]

zoog

You only live once and theres no rewards for not having debt. When you're eventually six feet under they can't get you. I say Spend Spend Spend!!!

UHF

I think a little debt is useful, like buying something up front and then paying it off on one of those interest free jobbys over 6months, as long as you keep it at that.

I got a loan for my car but that was INSTEAD of spending savings, makes sure I pay it back you see

and i got 3k on Credit cards BUT its 6months interest free and I thought why spend my money which is earning interest when I can have an egg card, the danger is of course keeping spending which if you're gonna use credit you should learn not to do

MarkO

Naah. No 'we' - there's only me in the company.

Leslie

You are a star Sue, my deepest congratulations for coping with all that.

Les

carl

But of course you have to have at least two officers in the company (a director and a CoSec, and they can't be the same person).

BTW are you a member of the PCG? There's a C# contract going in Edinburgh on their notice board.

south-star

theres no rewards for not having debt

Being able to sleep easily..

unclebuck

"theres no rewards for not having debt" Wrong. For a start you get to sleep at night.

Check out: Spend Spend Spend - BBC2 Saturday at 7.00pm

Quote: 1 of 3. First in a new documentary series investigating the supposed link between material wealth and personal fulfilment. In an attempt to establish why, 50 years after the `affluent society` was defined, Britons in general do not seem any happier.

It's an interesting series.

ub

south-star

Who needs the TV times when Uncle Bucks around..

MattN

debt is acceptable in todays society.

Who cares about total debt anyway? Surely all you need concern yourself with is the minimum payment? You don't try and pay a 200k mortgage in one month do you?

Credit cards are a useful cashflow tool.

How's this for twisted logic.

I wanted a 100k mortgage to move within 0.5 miles of work. My lender said no. The extra mortgage cost was £57 a month. The fuel I use driving to work is £90 a month. The lender thought I was better off spending MORE money on fuel, literly BURNING MONEY!

Crazy how this borrowing money lark works.

logiclee

Have £60k mortgage

£10k left on car loan.

Pay credit cards of at the end of each month.

Its the monthly Direct Debits that are frightening when I add them up. Sky, mobile phone, water rates, tv licence, car insurance X2, house insurance, council tax, broadband, phone, rac etc. etc.

Lee

Jonto

Keep up the good work people, i work in insolvency, dealing with bankrupts, liquidations etc for one of the big 4 We have got cases coming out of our ears at the moment !

You wouldn't beleive some of the situations that people get themselves into with credit cars, unsecured loans etc

Cheers
jonathan

Leslie

I suppose it is worth remembering that money lenders are out to screw as much money out of you as they can and if you can't pay them back they will break you in half!

Les

MarkO

Wife's the CoSec. But I sort out all the invoices.
Used to be on the PCG, but don't bother now. Thanks for the heads-up though (although C++ contracts would be better than C#... ).

fast bloke

150k mortgage
10k car loan
15k on credit cards
1.5k a laptop
2.5k to DFS
2k to Phoenix gas
30k for motorhome

I only pay interest on the mortgage. The rest is all on interest free credit of some shape or other. There is about 61k sitting in my offset mortgage account taking large chunks out of my mortgage while various other banks pay for it

Debt is good!!

Eldar

Debt is OK, as long as you can afford it. Out of control debt is major league stress.

Having experienced both, I prefer to owe no one any money. Credit card paid every month, no loans, no mortgage. I could probably live better if I borrowed a bit, but I'm happier. And so is the scoob

Colin.

south-star

Blo0dy hell Fast bloke....how do you afford all that on your pension..



[Edited by south-star - 4/28/2003 5:49:17 PM]