Are You In Debt?

[Mary Ann]

Yes, credit cards which I use to pay for my university courses and any emergency bills that pop up inbetween paycheques. I also have some store cards but I do my utmost to pay these off every month.

I'm very fortunate in that we own our home and car outright. However to pay cash for the house we had to buy a fixer-upper, so any savings we manage to accumulate go straight back into the house. We really have no savings or pension fund to speak of (my work pension currently stands at £20.87 per annum), and, at the age of 42, it dents my pride if I have to ask my dad for a loan to tide us over (like when the washing machine died). Husband and I both have part-time jobs at the moment, so it's a hand-to-mouth existence.

 

[Marie1]

No debt for me- my friends have been a bad enough warning.

 

[AdAstra]

Yeah, I bought a house a year ago so I'll be deep in debt for another 24 years

Other than that, I have a CC but that's paid off every month. I'm currently renovating and buying furniture and stuff with it, so it's a bit more than I'd like, but the month is almost over!

 

[Harvey]

I just accepted 50,000 dollars in debt to pay for graduate school this year, although with a research assistantship and an apartment that costs far less than the university estimates, I'll probably end up "only" taking out 40,000 dollars this year. Ugh.

No credit card debt, though.

 

[auntiehill]

Well, we have our mortgage and our car payment (which we not only pay on regularly, we OVERPAY), but no credit card debt and no student loans. All in all, we're doing fine. I would feel better if we had more in savings, though. Right now, we only have about 3 or 4 months salary in our savings account.

 

[Bears Discover Fire]

Renting is just the same as paying a mortgage, except that a mortgage is actually an asset which accrues value so long as it's maintained. That's why mortgages shouldn't be included, since everyone pays for accommodation one way or another once they leave the family home.

I agree that everybody pays for accommodation one way or another, but if I stop paying rent I won't incur in financial issues, while if I stop paying a mortgage the bank will seize the house.

If you stop paying rent you'll be evicted, which is a massive hit to your credit and makes it almost impossible to find another landlord willing to lease to you.

 

[clint g]

I just accepted 50,000 dollars in debt to pay for graduate school this year, although with a research assistantship and an apartment that costs far less than the university estimates, I'll probably end up "only" taking out 40,000 dollars this year. Ugh.

No credit card debt, though.

Well, at least your debt has a tangible benefit to it Right now I'm sort of regretting my car loan. I rarely drive my vehicle so it feels like a waste. At least I'm building credit though.

 

[Kirby]

I voted No, but I meant to say Yes. I have a mortgage of about $160k. That's it.

 

[RoJoHen]

Renting is just the same as paying a mortgage, except that a mortgage is actually an asset which accrues value so long as it's maintained. That's why mortgages shouldn't be included, since everyone pays for accommodation one way or another once they leave the family home.

I agree that everybody pays for accommodation one way or another, but if I stop paying rent I won't incur in financial issues, while if I stop paying a mortgage the bank will seize the house.

If you stop paying rent you'll be evicted, which is a massive hit to your credit and makes it almost impossible to find another landlord willing to lease to you.

Maybe. Depends on the landlord. Aside from my first and last name, my landlord has absolutely none of my personal information.

 

[Bears Discover Fire]

I agree that everybody pays for accommodation one way or another, but if I stop paying rent I won't incur in financial issues, while if I stop paying a mortgage the bank will seize the house.

If you stop paying rent you'll be evicted, which is a massive hit to your credit and makes it almost impossible to find another landlord willing to lease to you.

Maybe. Depends on the landlord. Aside from my first and last name, my landlord has absolutely none of my personal information.

Here landlords get your name, social security number, rental history, employment history, references, and access to your credit, where they are allowed to do hard inquiries, etc and report eviction and nonpayment. In CA, an eviction can fuck up your credit as much as a foreclosure, and ironically, people in foreclosure have a better chance of securing an apartment than renters in eviction.

I'm yet to apply to a place where any of the above is not SOP when applying for a lease.

 

[RoJoHen]

Well, it really just depends on how thorough the landlord wants to be. I'm renting a house from a random dude. It's hardly a big official operation.

My old apartment complexes had me give them all my info, but this guy didn't, and when I rented houses during college, as long as the landlords got their money, they didn't give a shit who was living there.

 

[Bears Discover Fire]

Well, it really just depends on how thorough the landlord wants to be. I'm renting a house from a random dude. It's hardly a big official operation.

My old apartment complexes had me give them all my info, but this guy didn't, and when I rented houses during college, as long as the landlords got their money, they didn't give a shit who was living there.

Thats...alarming. Sorry, some really bad experience talking here. Be careful, that could come back to bite you hard.

 

[RoJoHen]

It's actually very common around here.

 

[Bears Discover Fire]

It's actually very common around here.

So the chances of getting screwed if things go south is that much more likely, then.

 

[RoJoHen]

I really don't see it.

 

[BigFoot]

Nope, I get a decent paycheck every month, and I don't really have any financial responsibilities (no family to support, no student loans). So I've actually managed to save up quite a bit in the last few years.

 

[Deckerd]

I voted No, but I meant to say Yes. I have a mortgage of about $160k. That's it.

I think we're agreeing that a mortgage isn't debt in the normal sense of the word, since it's more of an investment.

 

[Guartho]

I voted No, but I meant to say Yes. I have a mortgage of about $160k. That's it.

I think we're agreeing that a mortgage isn't debt in the normal sense of the word, since it's more of an investment.

Even Dave Ramsey still let's you call in to his show and scream "We're debt free!" if you still have a mortgage. He does make a big deal about you if you have also knocked out the mortgage on top of all your other debt though.

 

[Bears Discover Fire]

I really don't see it.

He could claim you're squatting and have you arrested and evicted with no notice, for one.

If you're injured on the property, you're SOL as far as your rights as a renter go, for another. Ditto for obscene raises in rent, property damage you didn't cause, the landlord illegally entering the property, etc.

If he's not paying the mortgage, it becomes that much easier for the sheriff to toss you out in the middle of the night if there's not much info on you.

I've got horror stories on losing utilities and never getting them restored again, then having to abandon the place because the landlord decided he didn't need to file any info besides my name and some cash before he jetted off out of the country. It still bit my credit when I left. You'd be amazed what a spurned person can find with just your name.

Just because something's a common arrangement in your area doesn't mean it's a smart idea.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I really don't see it.

He could claim you're squatting and have you arrested and evicted with no notice, for one.

If you're injured on the property, you're SOL as far as your rights as a renter go, for another. Ditto for obscene raises in rent, property damage you didn't cause, the landlord illegally entering the property, etc.

If he's not paying the mortgage, it becomes that much easier for the sheriff to toss you out in the middle of the night if there's not much info on you.

I've got horror stories on losing utilities and never getting them restored again, then having to abandon the place because the landlord decided he didn't need to file any info besides my name and some cash before he jetted off out of the country. It still bit my credit when I left. You'd be amazed what a spurned person can find with just your name.

Just because something's a common arrangement in your area doesn't mean it's a smart idea.

Hell, even if you do have a lease, you can be screwed if the landlord quits paying the mortgage. That happened to me once. I got a Notice of Sheriff's Sale. I did not stick around to find out what would happen if I was still there when the house got auctioned--I got the fuck out ASAP.

Here in New Jersey, I have a signed lease but I did not have to turn over any particularly noteworthy information, just my name and some contact info. No SSN, no previous addresses, nothing like that. He didn't ask about pulling my credit or anything.

Come to think of it, I've never had to give my SSN to a landlord in either Indiana or New Jersey. I wonder if that's mostly just a California thing?