how much credit card debt do you have? do tell please

[Anonymous]

"How do people get such high cc debt, don't they get their card declined? Do they have a huge amount of cards - if so that's just asking for trouble (however I understand how money/bills can really add up so I hope those that have the debt can stick to a plan to pay it off and I'm sorry for your stress). "

Impulse/luxury spending. OP said "Christmas is bad".

[Anonymous]

We had $50k in CC debt for about 5 years. It sucked, but it was a difficult time in our life and we felt we didn't have many other good options. Last year we sold our home and moved to something smaller, paying off all of our debt. It is a great feeling. Sometimes I miss our nicer, larger house, however the peace of mind is worth it.

[Anonymous]

None, I've never had any. I'm a big saver though, I always had a hefty emergency fund even before I knew that was an actual term. Any large unexpected expenses come out of that, and then it gets replenished. I've been fortunate though to have no layoffs, medical debt, or other genuine emergencies that would deplete my reserves long-term.

[Anonymous]

$20k which we will literally be paying off in 48 hours (we were waiting for the tax refund and a bonus).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

How do people get such high cc debt, don't they get their card declined? Do they have a huge amount of cards - if so that's just asking for trouble (however I understand how money/bills can really add up so I hope those that have the debt can stick to a plan to pay it off and I'm sorry for your stress).

Before the recession the credit card companies gave me ridiculous credit limits and we spent just about up to those limits. Of course we spent it so I'm not blaming them entirely, but now it's much harder to get credit and for us that's a good thing. It's helped discipline us. All our cards are closed and we're just paying off what we owe. I'm glad that when we pay it off there won't be this big line of credit tempting us to splurge on a vacation we can't really afford or buy some new toy/bike/jacket that DS or DH "need".

[Anonymous]

Income well over $360K, and CC debt about $100K. Just what happens - to make a lot of money, you spend a lot of money - it's all float, and most is at special rates or even zero -- lower than our 4% mortgages (which only total about 40% of our home values).

[Anonymous]

Zero - I don't have a credit card, just debit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Income well over $360K, and CC debt about $100K. Just what happens - to make a lot of money, you spend a lot of money - it's all float, and most is at special rates or even zero -- lower than our 4% mortgages (which only total about 40% of our home values).

What do you mean by this?

[Anonymous]

We were up to $70,000 at one point when my husband was out of work for 2 years and staying home to care for our DC. It will be paid off by late spring. No car payments, our mortgage + HELOC is less then $2,000/mo, but student loan debt is over $50,000.

[Anonymous]

I had been feeling really terrible about our roughly 10K.

Our HHI is about 70K. Things come up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had $50k in CC debt for about 5 years. It sucked, but it was a difficult time in our life and we felt we didn't have many other good options. Last year we sold our home and moved to something smaller, paying off all of our debt. It is a great feeling. Sometimes I miss our nicer, larger house, however the peace of mind is worth it.

Definitely worth it!! Good job!

[Anonymous]

Zero, but that is a little misleading. We pay our cards off in full every month. But, when we have something big going on where several large charges hit the card at once, we have an unsecured personal credit line with a very low interest rate we can use to help with the cash flow issue. Right now, we have a very major thing going on, so the line is almost fully drawn at $50,000. It sucks and I hate it, but we hope to have it paid off within the next year after building back some of our savings. This is a real estate inflicted wound, which will get better this Spring. Our income is fairly high, though, which is why we are eligible for the line. The point is not that we have things so well in hand. We don't at all. The point is without good money habits your picture can be ugly at any income. We just got serious about getting a real financial advisor and he is guiding us through this. He wants us to build some liquidity before getting rid of all the debt so that we don't end up in another pay off then redraw then pay off then redraw cycle.

Good luck to everyone getting their financial house in order, and special kudos to the PP who resisted the real estate lure in favor of some good financial sense!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

How do people get such high cc debt, don't they get their card declined? Do they have a huge amount of cards - if so that's just asking for trouble (however I understand how money/bills can really add up so I hope those that have the debt can stick to a plan to pay it off and I'm sorry for your stress).

Before the recession the credit card companies gave me ridiculous credit limits and we spent just about up to those limits. Of course we spent it so I'm not blaming them entirely, but now it's much harder to get credit and for us that's a good thing. It's helped discipline us. All our cards are closed and we're just paying off what we owe. I'm glad that when we pay it off there won't be this big line of credit tempting us to splurge on a vacation we can't really afford or buy some new toy/bike/jacket that DS or DH "need".

But why would you use those limits as your budget, rather than your actual income/available cash?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Income well over $360K, and CC debt about $100K. Just what happens - to make a lot of money, you spend a lot of money - it's all float, and most is at special rates or even zero -- lower than our 4% mortgages (which only total about 40% of our home values).

Explain please. How does spending $100K on (presumably) consumer items using credits cards make you money?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Income well over $360K, and CC debt about $100K. Just what happens - to make a lot of money, you spend a lot of money - it's all float, and most is at special rates or even zero -- lower than our 4% mortgages (which only total about 40% of our home values).

I don't get this either, unless you are funding a start up business on your credit cards. With income over $360 you shouldn't need the float or to pay interest on consumer purchases unless there is something really unusual (and even then you should have savings). I make a lot of money, started up a business and have 0 credit card debt.