Debt

[Courtney]

it really really sucks having debt hanging over you. Even though it was all worth it it's very tough
I go to school full time so i don't work enough to even remotely pay it off...and it's jsut really hard because I know I need to go to school and pay off all this debt before I can even think of moving out but it's just a really hard position to be in, wanting so much to move out and be independent but being stuck in such a rut..
its really depressing...
November is the worst month of the year

[mojo]

http://www.sada.org.uk/whatis.htm
check it out.

Also, it is normal to feel the weight of debt over you. Get associated with it. Odds have it staying there for most of your life.

[Guineveire]

What I'm worried about is my parents debt getting passed on to me when they croak and dont pay it. [ They dont even want to pay it. ]

[project.one]

I hate debt. I wish I had someone to blame for it besides myself! Oh well, Im not doing to bad since last year!

[LLaaUUrrYYn]

I know the feeling.

I dont really think about it anymore though..I just have all payments directly from my account every month on the same day..and as long as I know I have the money in there..Im fine.

Just try not to think of it that much ;D

Good luck!

[neoh]

I can happily say my debt will be paid off this month.
It's a good feeling, that took a long time.

[Webber]

figured best way to move out on my own is to get a mortgage.
If you're going to be in debt may aswell make it a big one...I'll be debt free in 2026 hopefully

[project.one]

Originally Posted by neoh

I can happily say my debt will be paid off this month.
It's a good feeling, that took a long time.

Congrats! Fucker! LOL

[galaxie]

Originally Posted by Guineveire

What I'm worried about is my parents debt getting passed on to me when they croak and dont pay it. [ They dont even want to pay it. ]

Um, I'm pretty sure you can't get stuck with anyone else's debt unless you co-signed with them on loans or have credit cards in both your names.

And yes, debt sucks. A LOT.

Originally Posted by Guineveire

What I'm worried about is my parents debt getting passed on to me when they croak and dont pay it. [ They dont even want to pay it. ]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA - all kinds of dumb.

You can't inheirit someone elses debt unless you co-signed for it. Besides most lenders have insurance that in the event of death, your credit card/mortgage/loans are paid off.

[Guineveire]

Originally Posted by Avana

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA - all kinds of dumb.

You can't inheirit someone elses debt unless you co-signed for it. Besides most lenders have insurance that in the event of death, your credit card/mortgage/loans are paid off.

Alright, cool I didn't know that, thanks for informing me. :)

[t-skywalker]

Originally Posted by Courtney

it really really sucks having debt hanging over you. Even though it was all worth it it's very tough
I go to school full time so i don't work enough to even remotely pay it off...and it's jsut really hard because I know I need to go to school and pay off all this debt before I can even think of moving out but it's just a really hard position to be in, wanting so much to move out and be independent but being stuck in such a rut..
its really depressing...
November is the worst month of the year

if u need some advice pm me=)

[t-skywalker]

Originally Posted by Avana

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA - all kinds of dumb.

You can't inheirit someone elses debt unless you co-signed for it. Besides most lenders have insurance that in the event of death, your credit card/mortgage/loans are paid off.

^^^this is all very true.=)

Originally Posted by Courtney

it really really sucks having debt hanging over you. Even though it was all worth it it's very tough
I go to school full time so i don't work enough to even remotely pay it off...and it's jsut really hard because I know I need to go to school and pay off all this debt before I can even think of moving out but it's just a really hard position to be in, wanting so much to move out and be independent but being stuck in such a rut..
its really depressing...
November is the worst month of the year

I used to have a tonne of debt. I learned to pay it off, and quickly. This is how I did it.

1) Open a savings account, such as an RSP. Potential creditors and banks see this as a positive. It provides you something to fall back on if you need it and it shows that you are capable of saving and not just adding onto your debt.

2) The Latte factor. There is a money spending calculator on Oprah.com. This is how much money you spend, in a day. Whether it be coffee, or food, or smokes, or gas. I did the math, I was spending $24,000 a year on this crap. I make my lunch as much as I can, and my new years resolution this year is to not eat out more than once a month.

3) Give yourself an allowance. Pick a day of the week to take out money from the bank. For instance, my day is Fridays and I have been allowing myself $100 a week. Once that $100 is gone, I get no more cash for the week and I have to wait till the next Friday.

4) Leave your debit cards and credit cards at home. Stops the urge to impulse buy.

5) Tackle the smallest debt first. So if you have 3 different large creditors. Pay off the smallest first, then the second biggest, then the largest. It helps with the feeling of accomplishment and gives you motivation to pay off the rest.

Debt is not something you have to get used to. Having a mortgage isn't a bad debt either. Once you start paying it off, it gets easier and easier to deal with mentally. I was at the worst place possible for debt, I know.

[LLaaUUrrYYn]

Originally Posted by Avana

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA - all kinds of dumb.

You can't inheirit someone elses debt unless you co-signed for it. Besides most lenders have insurance that in the event of death, your credit card/mortgage/loans are paid off.

That is not true. I've known people who've had to pay off student loans because of their child passing away. Unless that person has insurance, or some kind of protection plan..some things can be passed onto family members.

[t-skywalker]

^^if they co-signed yes

[LLaaUUrrYYn]

Originally Posted by Avana

I used to have a tonne of debt. I learned to pay it off, and quickly. This is how I did it.

1) Open a savings account, such as an RSP. Potential creditors and banks see this as a positive. It provides you something to fall back on if you need it and it shows that you are capable of saving and not just adding onto your debt.

2) The Latte factor. There is a money spending calculator on Oprah.com. This is how much money you spend, in a day. Whether it be coffee, or food, or smokes, or gas. I did the math, I was spending $24,000 a year on this crap. I make my lunch as much as I can, and my new years resolution this year is to not eat out more than once a month.

3) Give yourself an allowance. Pick a day of the week to take out money from the bank. For instance, my day is Fridays and I have been allowing myself $100 a week. Once that $100 is gone, I get no more cash for the week and I have to wait till the next Friday.

4) Leave your debit cards and credit cards at home. Stops the urge to impulse buy.

5) Tackle the smallest debt first. So if you have 3 different large creditors. Pay off the smallest first, then the second biggest, then the largest. It helps with the feeling of accomplishment and gives you motivation to pay off the rest.

Debt is not something you have to get used to. Having a mortgage isn't a bad debt either. Once you start paying it off, it gets easier and easier to deal with mentally. I was at the worst place possible for debt, I know.

Good advice.

Leaving the credit/debit cards at home and only having cash works good for me. Im such an impulse shopper.

[LeeBrat]

Originally Posted by Courtney

November is the worst month of the year

i agree with you. i think in general this whole year has been finacially poor

[neoh]

a few ways I manage my debt.

I was living off my credit cards for awhile, and that put a great financial strain on me, especially the interest I was paying.

If you have bad credit, then paying off your debt is even harder then most because of the high interest rates, but I've learned a few things from working for a credit card collection company, here are a couple options.

If you have poor credit, you can call your creditors for a payment plan, sometimes they can lower your interest and payments to a fixed amount, they have 2 year, 3 year plans, etc. Call each individual creditor and find out your options.

If you have good credit, and are just having a hard time paying it off - find yourself another credit card company with a balance transfer deal (usually fixed 3.99%) - and transfer your balance to the credit card and cut it up, even with a $3000 balance, your only paying $5-10/mo of interest as opposed to 18.99% interest and getting interest fee's of $30-$60 on a $3000 balance, balance transfers help you budget and save money.

Now that you've done a balance transfer, your saving yourself $80-$100 on interest fee's alone that can go towards paying off other things.

Just an option.

[Disco_Whore]

Originally Posted by Avana

I used to have a tonne of debt. I learned to pay it off, and quickly. This is how I did it.

1) Open a savings account, such as an RSP. Potential creditors and banks see this as a positive. It provides you something to fall back on if you need it and it shows that you are capable of saving and not just adding onto your debt.

2) The Latte factor. There is a money spending calculator on Oprah.com. This is how much money you spend, in a day. Whether it be coffee, or food, or smokes, or gas. I did the math, I was spending $24,000 a year on this crap. I make my lunch as much as I can, and my new years resolution this year is to not eat out more than once a month.

3) Give yourself an allowance. Pick a day of the week to take out money from the bank. For instance, my day is Fridays and I have been allowing myself $100 a week. Once that $100 is gone, I get no more cash for the week and I have to wait till the next Friday.

4) Leave your debit cards and credit cards at home. Stops the urge to impulse buy.

5) Tackle the smallest debt first. So if you have 3 different large creditors. Pay off the smallest first, then the second biggest, then the largest. It helps with the feeling of accomplishment and gives you motivation to pay off the rest.

Debt is not something you have to get used to. Having a mortgage isn't a bad debt either. Once you start paying it off, it gets easier and easier to deal with mentally. I was at the worst place possible for debt, I know.

I agree with everything above except for number 5. Although it it important to feel the boost of each acomplishment, it is more important to get the worst debt out of the way first. Start by paying off whatever has the HIGHEST interest rate first, then once you've paid that off, continue to make the same payments to the one with the second highest interest and so on.

This helps in 2 ways: paying the highest first saves you spending more on interest in the long run, and the continuation of the same payment makes the rest of the debt disappear faster.

[Carrie]

I tackled my debt in the last year, maybe just over a year now. I agree with Avana, I have a limit to how much I spend on stuff that isn't a fixed expense. I try to eat in as much as possible and bring a lunch to work.

Paid off two student loans, paid my income taxes that I had owing, paid a couple credit cards down to zero and now I just have one credit card that Im working on.

Novemeber is hard because it's before xmas and December is harder for me. I love buying my family christmas presents so I really have to budget for that.

plus ICBC told me they are going to give me a little cash for the accident which is going straight into my creditcard debt.

[galaxie]

I totally agree with Avana. Her methods are a great way to pay debt off in a reasonable time frame.

I have resorted to getting a second job, even though it's only one day per week. I'm also going to be getting a third, to pay stuff off even faster.

For me, the motivation to get out of debt FAST is that I want to move to Miami to be with my boyfriend and I can't afford to move if I'm still in debt. So, every time I think of buying something stupid (like another pair of $250 jeans) I remind myself that the less I buy now, the sooner we can be together.

I think it's about figuring out WHY.
Why you are in debt, then correcting those behaviours.
Why you want to be out of debt, and keep that motivation in the front of your mind.

Edit: It's also craziness to be paying like 18.5% interest on your credit cards. It will take you WAY longer to pay them off at that rate. My advice is to call up your credit card company and request a lower interest rate. A lot of the time they will do it for you. I took the route of getting consolidation loans from the bank - one is at 6% interest and the other is at 8%. That beats 18.5% by a long shot. I have payment plans set up so every two weeks a big chunk comes out of my paycheque before I even see it. And some more goes into my RRSP (increase your net worth!).

[nabs]

Originally Posted by neoh

a few ways I manage my debt.

I was living off my credit cards for awhile, and that put a great financial strain on me, especially the interest I was paying.

If you have bad credit, then paying off your debt is even harder then most because of the high interest rates, but I've learned a few things from working for a credit card collection company, here are a couple options.

If you have poor credit, you can call your creditors for a payment plan, sometimes they can lower your interest and payments to a fixed amount, they have 2 year, 3 year plans, etc. Call each individual creditor and find out your options.

If you have good credit, and are just having a hard time paying it off - find yourself another credit card company with a balance transfer deal (usually fixed 3.99%) - and transfer your balance to the credit card and cut it up, even with a $3000 balance, your only paying $5-10/mo of interest as opposed to 18.99% interest and getting interest fee's of $30-$60 on a $3000 balance, balance transfers help you budget and save money.

Now that you've done a balance transfer, your saving yourself $80-$100 on interest fee's alone that can go towards paying off other things.

Just an option.

thank you! very helpful.

Originally Posted by Disco_Whore

I agree with everything above except for number 5. Although it it important to feel the boost of each acomplishment, it is more important to get the worst debt out of the way first. Start by paying off whatever has the HIGHEST interest rate first, then once you've paid that off, continue to make the same payments to the one with the second highest interest and so on.

This helps in 2 ways: paying the highest first saves you spending more on interest in the long run, and the continuation of the same payment makes the rest of the debt disappear faster.

If you speak with any credit counsellor, they will tell you the same thing.

But my way isn't for everyone.

I do allow myself one purchase a month though as a reward for doing well and I budget only $100 for the reward. I would go crazy otherwise.

[Disco_Whore]

^Oh yes, rewards are a must! If you don't have them, then one day you end up cracking and spending WAY more than what you would if you had let yourself have them in the first place.