Our goal this yr is to be debt free, no car payments, CC payments,loans etc. Monthly bills such as cell,cable,basic utilities excluded of course. At one point in our lives it seemed like an impossible wish, but it feels soo good getting close to our goal. The older I get the more repulsed I become with paying bills that have a 21% interest rate. We made a LOT of dumb money mistakes in our 20's that took us a decade to rectify but in about 6 months we will be at a place financially where all we are paying are the necessities! Gasp we may finally be able to put away for savings now!! Anyone else living debt free or close to it. Some advice I'd like to give those who may be young and naive like we were. Stay away from consolidation loans(yes, it sounds good in the beginning b/c they show you how much you are saving a month but they fail to tell you, you will be paying on it for 10+yrs), second mortgages, and only place ''emergency'' charges on CC.
I was raised with a mindset acquired from constant warning from my parents.Don't buy anything if you can't afford.Don't even think about Lay-a-way.Don't go there.I followed that golden rule all my life until the 2006 and it was suggested I better start paying off some loan to increase my credit score.I never had any outstanding credit always waited till I had enough in the bank to buy a new car. My Home Mortgage was a 10 year balloon. So I took out a loan to buy a 2nd motorcycle.I financed about half of it.Worst decision I ever made.I think I missed one payment by mistake { just forget about } and payed late.That's where they get ya.You pay a late fee and then some lending institutions have the option to mandate a new {higher} rate for the loan. So I took my time and payed off the bike loan but will never again buy a major purchase via a loan.I use a credit card for major purchases and try to pay the entire amount off each month so there's no Interest.Again,make just one late payment and pay a late fee ALL the Interest and then worry if I'll get accesses a new higher rate. Obama did mandate legislation {bill} where lenders can't pull that crap.But the main thing is discipline.It's no fun being at the mercy of Loans and that monthly statement.
I've been debt-free for quite a while. I had huge debts for a long time, but gradually paid them all off. It took a while, but was worth it. It is amazing how it works, now I have more than enough money to buy what I want - without needing to go into debt.
My house is paid for, and my car is paid for, and the only way I'm able to NOT have debt is because I don't have kids.
I have a HELOC that I pay $400 a month to and withdraw $300 a month from, so apart from having a $100 a month HELOC debt I have a $4000 medical bill for eye surgery for my wife to pay off... $100 a month oughtta do it. My ex wife was and is the queen of debt. When she kicked me out of the house, she ran up $60,000 in debt that first year. She had to pay me to buy my half of our house just to refi and pay off her CC bills. The did another $60,000 paydown last year from inheritance money. She apparently does not know how the game works. Even spoke to her once and concluded her house was under water and she's still there paying $3400 for what was once an $850 mortgage.
Well, I owe a few thousand in ambulance and hospital bills, but a former landlord owes me something like $6000 and a former roommate owes me another $900.
I wish I was debt free. I was so close until I ran out of college money and had to take out loans, the guy who took out my car and forced me into a car loan didn't help either I'm not drowning in debt though. It just sucks.
I have hundres of thousand in debt. I am like the USA state public educations systems, I spend out of control, and there is no accountability. Like religious fools I say "money will come". And like the stoner who is on the gubment cheese for restless leg syndrome I say "you gota have money to make money". Money is virtual and digital. Like the poor bastard who has no money I say "money can't buy everything". Like the semi retarded president who looked like Alfred E Newman I say "What, me worry". I like to pay 29.999% for creditcard debt. I maxed it out at $15K and they will not let me charge more. I pay the minimun of $15 each month and after a few years the debt is now $72K. I know I'll never pay it off. But good news for my benificaiaries when I die, they will be stuck wih the debt, when the gubment passes the new law allowing banks and lenders to go after family members for debt collection. I'll never pay off my house that is worth half of what I owe on it. And the banks will also go after my family for it. I just love to rack up debt. To have debt is to be american. And when my benificiaries die, they will end up owing even more than they were in debt. This is a great new law to have in the USA.
yes due to filing for bankruptcy a few times, didn't have to pay off the old mortgage got to live there for free for a year and a little extra. same with driving a nice car and living the high life off some old credit cards its refreshing starting over and being debt free again
All I have is my mortgage (fixed, 3.9%)...should be paid off by summer 2016. Had planned on sooner, but a while back I had to pull some money out...I wound up doing a new furnace, a new roof, a new pressure tank for my well pump, some plumbing work, \a major electrical upgrade, and a new kitchen ceiling, all in the space of six months.
I was completely debt free until about 6 months ago when I started graduate school. I have funding and grants to cover much of the costs, but I needed to take a few thousand in loans as well(when tuition is $40,000, that isn't surprising). Otherwise, I have no credit card, and I never have, and I have no other type of debt either. So over all, not bad.
This sounds like the average *entitled* American. Live the high life while doing nothing and have the rest of us hardworkers cover for your incompetence.
In our thirties we owed thousands of dollars of school loans, a house, 15,000 worth of back taxes (don't ask...long story). By early forties we were debt free---house even paid off. Of course since then we've bought a bigger and better house (debt, debt) and a new car (debt, debt). Old habits die hard.
those school loans are hard to get away from, they don't let you waive them in any bankruptcy filing, only way is to work a federal government job for many years. probably has do with being tied to public institutions and subsidizing etc..
What is bad about school loans....is if you don't pay them on time they start to double. I paid thousands more then what I should have. Such is the consequence of irresponsiblity.
yea that is one debt they won't let you get away from, they even garnish your checks and treat it like tax debt.
He doesn't like responsibility... he is a liberal. He thinks it is our responsibility to work HARDER to provide for him.
Actually yes you can... and thanks to Obama you can do it even quicker now. http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...s-appearance/2011/10/26/gIQAOcDNJM_story.html Federal loans forgiven after 20 years? Bull(*)(*)(*)(*). Why did I pay my loans back then... oh maybe because it's that I am responsible.
Or responsible and smart. I love the way that so many things that only "rich" people do are actually things that many responsible middle class people do. But then again, that kind of behavior is how people get rich, so eventually those responsible middle-class people will become rich.