Creeping on the TIP board... Anonymous poll: how much CC debt do you (both) have?

jena.n.ross

There's some hubbub with a woman whose husband has $13k in CC debt.  Which, she didn't find out about until after they were married.  Ugh.  

One of the regs said she could maybe understand it if they were early 20s, but that you have to learn to be responsible with money.

So, nosy, bored, and wondering, between the two of you, how much cc debt do you have?  (Discluding other debts: school, cars, mortgage.)

 

[Poll]

AlwaysABridesmaid...

He has absolutely no credit card debt. He pays off his cards pretty much every month. I have some from when I was younger that is still following me around, but I am very slowly paying it. It is less than $4k though

Xan921

I know this is supposed to be anonymous but I'm pretty proud of myself because I may have $600 total credit card debt.  I worked my butt off a couple years ago and paid around $10,000 of credit card debt off, now all I have is one small credit card that I use once in a while just to show good payment history, and one store credit card which is pretty much the same thing.

Jason on the other hand has at least several thousand dollars that he's working on paying.

becca474

I had some CC debt from when I first graduated from college and moved into my own place - it took some time for the paychecks to start coming in. and I also had some IOUs for my parents. I paid it all off a few years ago though, and just used my CC for gas to basically build my credit more and paid it off each month.

DH never had a CC, I had to force him to get one to build some credit and he used it for a while and paid it off each month, but recently we both decided to lock up our CCs and just use our check cards for everything, and I'll tell you it is SO freeing. The only thing that goes on a CC now is purchases that sort of "have to" - aka my old internet bill had to be charged to a CC and i don't like automated stuff coming out of my bank account - and my EZ pass replenishment.

It is so nice to know I have one less bill coming each month.

We each have car loans that are relatively small and will both be paid off in the next 18 months, but we consider them "good debt" and don't really worry about it.

Dyork

Between the 2 of us we have 3 CC's....and it wasn't an option up there, but we have no CC debt. My mom would have b*tch smacked me if I spent more then I had and wasn't able to pay off the full amount at the end of the month. So I was always really careful about it.

Of course I understand there are emergency situations where people have to use CC's to pay, and they have debt. We're just lucky enough so far *knocksonwood* to never have gotten into that situation.

hz80408

Xan921:

I know this is supposed to be anonymous but I'm pretty proud of myself because I may have $600 total credit card debt.  I worked my butt off a couple years ago and paid around $10,000 of credit card debt off, now all I have is one small credit card that I use once in a while just to show good payment history, and one store credit card which is pretty much the same thing.

Jason on the other hand has at least several thousand dollars that he's working on paying.

Thatta girl Xan!

I voted no CC's, but I'm not sure if that's supposed to be the same as $0 owed?

Similar to Xan, I racked up a bunch of CC debt btwn moving to Chicago from college and taking 3 months off of working btwn graduating and starting work.  At one point I maxed out a CC at $5,500 and was freaked the $hit out.  I also put small wedding purchases on the CC intending to pay off...but I finally buckled down and pay off everything after the wedding when I had extra money again. So I say $0, but I have a few reoccuring charges, but they're paid off at every check (like my chiro, etc).

So yay, no CC debt for this couple! (DH doesn't have a CC in his own name, we have one joint, but basically just use it for points and pay it off from our checking immediatly when I get home)

Patineuse1124

I pay for most things on my CC but typically pay it off at the end of the month.  Occasionally if I have a big purchase like a computer (to replace one that died) it may take me 2-3 months to pay it off.

I did have about $2500 in CC debt the summer I graduated from undergrad before I got a job.  I actually ended up borrowing money from my brother to pay it off b/c the interest was killer and he didn't charge me any interest.  

DH had about $8-9k in CC debt (from his business) when we started dating, as well as over 30k in student loans but he paid them both off before we got married (he didn't want to bring any bad debt into the marriage).  The only debt either of us had when we said I do was DH's car loan which I don't consider bad debt as long as it's worth more than you owe.  Pretty soon we'll have a mortgage together, but that's not bad debt either as long as you owe less than value of house and we're putting 20% down so the equity should cover any fluctuations in the market.

Boynton1286

I said less that $1000, it is really only $368 that is from two things I bought in March and will be paid off this month. I do have $100 on my Kohls charge from my new Rachael Ray pots and pans I bought myself. In November I paid off all of our actual credit cards and last month I paid off my rings which was an awesome feeling!! 

I had a pretty decent amount of CC debt from after my car accident, I was struggling to pay on my doctor bills so they wouldn't ruin my credit while I was waiting to settle, which meant  that I did need my CC's for some purchases.

I am really proud of us for getting all of this paid off and now we are putting a significant amount into savings which also makes me very happy. I have never been able to save since I have had to pay out everything I was making, so this is a very welcome change!! 

Tisharp

We no longer have any major credit cards.  We have a Home Depot card, a Lowe's card, and a Best Buy card.  But we only by things we "need" for the house and such with those, and only when it's 0% interest, and always have them paid off before the term for the 0% is up.

But, I voted for a higher number than what we actually have with those right now, because about 4 years ago, I still had $10,000 in credit card debt, just from being young and dumb.  I had too big of a credit card for an 18 year old, and was stupid with it, so I carried that around for years.  I always only paid the minimum, which was my other mistake.  So, finally, 4 years ago, I went and got a signature loan and paid the credit card balance off.  Now I've got roughly one year left of $250 monthly payments to get it that totally taken care of. 

So after that, we'll only have the small store credit cards, car loans, and mortgage.

kjhharris

I put "Less than $1000" as I interpreted "No CC" to be you don't use them.DH and I have several credit cards (joint, and each of us have 2 personal cards), but neither of us ever carry a balance on the cards.  We do charge almost all of our daily expenditures to our joint card, but pay it off in full every month.

We were also blessed not to have any student loans (my parents paid for undergrad and I worked during the summers; DH worked and had investments his father made for him that paid for it, and his work paid for his masters), we've both paid off our cars, so our only debt is the mortgage on our condo, and soon-to-be mortgage on our new house.

alecat9

I interpreted it the same as Keena. We have credit cards but we don't carry a balance on them. We have one joint CC, Nick has a credit card through his credit union, and I have a Kohl's card.

The only debt we have is Nick's car loan and our mortgage.

jena.n.ross

Hm, I should have thought about the no CC vs. no CC debt thing.

I have a whole $290 on my cc, and H doesn't have one at all.  Which I need to remedy, because his credit sucks (student loan issues, I hate Nelnet btw).

My older sister racked up a huge amount of CC debt when she was young, and it took her a LONG time to pay it off.  At 18 I had my little $250 Capital One card, can't get into too much trouble with that.  I still have the card, but the limit is $1500.  Enough for an emergency situation.   

rccola1981

after I voted on our credit card debt that he has a card for our rings but we are less that $4,000 and it is pretty much our only bad debt.  We have my student loans and mortgage and both of us have car payments, mine is under 2 years to pay on it and his is close to 4 years to pay but we plan to make some double payments to get both paid off and get a second family car before we expand our family too much...