Credit Card Debt

[Guest The Pom Queen]

With the way things are more and more people are using credit cards for day to day living, I just wondered what the maximum debt you have ever had on a credit card is, please don't worry the poll is private.

[3FatCats]

We have credit cards, but they get paid off each month directly. This doesn't mean to say we won't need to change in the future!!! Sometimes even the best made plans can go to pot, or an unexpected bill or problem comes up, if credit cards didn't exist it could leave folk in a pickle. Also, credit cards are invaluable when travelling.

[RockDr]

I've always paid off my credit card in full every month, only use it because it's accepted more places than my debit card and doesn't have daily limit hence useful for flights etc.

 

The only debt I've ever had was my student loan which was paid off in full from savings I made while on my PhD stipend.

[Guest The Pom Queen]

I remember my grandma always said no one needed credit cards and people should live within their means, probably in her day and age this would be right but the cost of living these days makes it very difficult for families. We had credit cards in the UK but once we paid them off we said we would never have them over here.

[Guest littlesarah]

I use my credit card a lot - because I want the points! I pay it off in full every month, and I figure that way the money stays in my account (offsetting the mortgage) for a few weeks more too.

 

However, it's a strategy that requires quite a bit of discipline, so not necessarily good for all (contrary to what the banks would have us all believe!).

[RockDr]

I use my credit card a lot - because I want the points! I pay it off in full every month, and I figure that way the money stays in my account (offsetting the mortgage) for a few weeks more too.

 

However, it's a strategy that requires quite a bit of discipline, so not necessarily good for all (contrary to what the banks would have us all believe!).

 

I find the opposite, I'm far worse with cash, because that's already left my account and isn't traceable, and many cash spends don't have receipts, so if I use cash, I find I just fritter it away, whereas using a card shows up straightaway in my account and I can keep tabs on how much I've spent.

[Guest VickyMel]

Have always paid it off at the end of the month. I like them as it means I don't have the cash handy sitting in my purse that would just disappear on anything - but if I can't afford to pay it off at the end of the month I don't spend.

 

One time when I was really strapped for cash and I would have used it to pay for the cat vet bills when he had a big collision with a car. Bit of an emergency and depending on what was needed I wasn't sure if I could pay outright. But that is what they are there for in my mind - convenience and emergencies.

[Johndoe]

Never had a credit card in my life and never had HP in 25yrs.............The way my first wife behaved with HP (all of which she left me with), I've made sure that it would never happen again.

[fleabo]

We pay for everything we can on a credit card - why miss out on 50 days of interest? You just have to make sure that you are living within your means and can pay it off at the end of the month.

[Freckleface]

I used to be a loans manager. The largest amount of cronic core debt I saw on a single credit card was $72,258. The card holder was in their early 20's. Terrifying!

[Guest The Pom Queen]

I used to be a loans manager. The largest amount of cronic core debt I saw on a single credit card was $72,258. The card holder was in their early 20's. Terrifying!

That's just irresponsible but how did they manage to get so much on a credit card, is there no credit limit?

[northernbird]

We use ours for everything, we get frequent flyer points and we have an offset mortgage so our money stays in our bank the whole month and we just pay one bill. Will reduce our mortgage term quite substantially. Probably owed about 3000 GBP in the early 90's when we had 16.5% mortgage rates and periods of unemployment.

[Freckleface]

That's just irresponsible but how did they manage to get so much on a credit card, is there no credit limit?

Yes but in this case every time the limit was breached a somewhat short sighted (or just plain irresponsible) branch manager increased it. By the time I became aware of what was going on it had turned into a massive problem. Still makes me angry thinking about it:mad:

[Guest Guest16631]

...OH has a credit card and uses it a lot .......................for flights and car hire when he travels................usually paid off in time...............................me ,I like cash................I work for cash in hand..............and my fruit sales are cash.................never earn that much.............and if I don't need it all I put spare coins in a pot in the kitchen................after a while when it builds up buy something nice................!

[Guest GoldCoastMag]

Flights would have been our biggest cc debt but we also put everything on a card and pay it once a month, so I cant really decide which part of the poll to vote in.

[Quoll]

In the 80s/90s we struggled with mortgage and through the roof interest rates, school fees, cost of two cars etc but once we knocked off the credit card debt we now use cc for pretty much everything and, like lots of other people here, pay it off each month. It was never something I was very comfortable with though and we worked very hard to get rid of it as soon as we could and we lived very frugally for a very long time.

[Mr Fabricator]

3 months ago i owed 9K on one card , £3.5k on another and nearly £4k on a third , Along with my bank loan !!!!!!!!

 

In fairness id used the money for works on my house and materials ( well nearly all ) but with work slowing down and not having any spare money the interest was being paid but nothing off the ballance ,

 

Im not a daft chap , saw ythe debts hadnt been reduced at all in 2 1/2 years so i bit thre bullet and juggled a few assets to wipe them clean :-) Lesson learnt for me and a valuable one .

 

Yes theyre convienient , and purchase insurance is a good bonus , but mine are in the bin to avoid temptation . if i cant aford it , i cant have it ...

 

lee

[Guest VickyMel]

Well done Lee

 

Having helped a friend to get rid of her credit card debt I know it is a major struggle to get there once you have built it up. I think the main thing that helped was the knowledge that she could use all that money she was paying in interest to buy more for herself :yes: