Debt/Credit: how are you doing?

Necuno

Necuno

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So a few months back I paid my overdraft back in full, closed it and then having that amount available in my cheque each month. Now today I've paid back most of my credit card leaving about 3k still outstanding. I still have my car loan, personal loan and a small amount on my woolworths which is up next to clear out. At least then its just the personal and car loan still hanging over my head until I buy a house ;)

So... How are you doing with your credit / debt ?
 
Necuno said:
So a few months back I paid my overdraft back in full, closed it and then having that amount available in my cheque each month. Now today I've paid back most of my credit card leaving about 3k still outstanding. I still have my car loan, personal loan and a small amount on my woolworths which is up next to clear out. At least then its just the personal and car loan still hanging over my head until I buy a house ;)

So... How are you doing with your credit / debt ?
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Just a personal loan I took out to help out family, Should be sorted end of this month. Nothing else really.. Trying to take the pay cash approach.
 
Yo. Horrendously. I need clearout my credit cards and cancel them. One should be paid up this months. Then the other is 4 months. Paid for studies with credit card
 
Normally I do quiet well, but just bought a house, and incurred a whooping 100k of depost/ lawyer fees , so both my and my wife's credit cards are wiped out,

Will have it all sorted out by mid to end 2014 though
 
2 car loans (selling one, so that will be better), a personal loan for a bike(will pay it off really quick once I'm not paying for 2 cars) and just under R3k on the credit card(Will be paid off by December).

A few months back I owed almost 20k on my credit card, and R4k to Edgars. I'm behaving now :)
 
What level of granularity are we talking about here? All debt, including house and car?
 
We have no debt whatsoever. We don't own a home though so whenever that happens we'll need to take on some debt but I guess that's good debt. And in the next year I want to get a second car for myself.
 
Sinbad said:
Horrendously. :/
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Shame man, I know the feeling. :(

We are managing, debt is being paid and coming down slowly. 2 years left. However, the husband had a few months this year where he got extra money from commission that helped out a lot with our day to day expenses so we didn't have to use credit cards. That being said, its been an incredibly tough financial year. Xmas is usually a nightmare financially (4 kids) but Im getting a small inheritance in the next month so for once, we are looking forward to a relaxed December. Sadly, the amount isn't really enough to make a huge dent in our debt so we are using the money for some serious DIY our house needs and our kids, who so often go without.

I really hope next year is relatively stable with living costs, with pay increases in the pipeline, we may just break even every month and be able to kill more of our CC debt, which imo is the hardest debt to kill for us currently.

Being in so much debt absolutely sucks!
 
i have never ever had any debt of any nature and never will. it kills me to know that each month i will get a bill from telkom and the electricity department. to me that is debt. it's owing someone money in a way even though it's for utilities.
 
cerebus said:
We have no debt whatsoever. We don't own a home though so whenever that happens we'll need to take on some debt but I guess that's good debt. And in the next year I want to get a second car for myself.
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i suggest a home :)

plus im sure your rent is crazy that side of the world so buy now :D
 
I'm in over my head - I owe over a million rand to a large, powerful and well connected organization. I dont know what to do.










They gave me a nice flat though.
 
Ancalagon said:
I'm in over my head - I owe over a million rand to a large, powerful and well connected organization. I dont know what to do.










They gave me a nice flat though.
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I'd suggest you keep paying the protection money ;)
 
There is a few ways of looking at this.

1. Debt / Assets. Take your debt and divide it by the MARKET VALUE of your assets. Don't over complicate it. Debt should be all short and long term debt. Assets could be cars, home, retirement saving, savings etc. Logically, if the ratio is above 1, you should be worried, because your debt outweigh your assets. So, if you don't get an income. Mine is currently 0.17 : 1. Meaning, for every R1 asset, I have 17c debt.

2. Total debt / Gross income per annum. I use this, but it might not be of value to most people. It is a quick indicator on how far down the line you are with your debt. Remember that the gross income include salaries, rental etc. Mine is really low, due to only a home loan being paid off. 0,51 : 1.

3. Total payments to debt / Net income (can be monthly or yearly). If I recall correctly, the average South African is about 76%. So, how much to you pay back on home loan, car loan, clothing accounts, cellphone etc. compared to your net salary. Mine currently is 15%.

Note, that my nickname in my family is Scrooge or the Jew. (no, I'm not Jewish). I'm quite conservative with debt and debt accumulation.

EDIT: Last note. I had a conversation with someone yesterday. We sacrifice long term savings for retirement for instant gratification like gadgets, clothes (and cars). Most of us will pay off our debt, but in 20-30 years time when we retire, the retirement amount will be too small, because the money spend on luxuries could have gone to savings for the future.
 
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I.am.Sam said:
house is not debt i think

a car is
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Since when do you know anything about finances? :p

Good point though.

In that case I'm fscked :)

Paying for my wife's car and paying for my car...which was written off and the insurance never paid. That's R2780 per month down the drain. Only have about a year left though.

I also have a biggish personal loan and smallish credit card and overdraft which I'm looking to kill next year.
 
Actually doing really good.

  • Bought a house about a year ago (and paying in as much extra as we can)
  • Bought a motorcycle 4 months ago (nearly paid off)
  • Credit card - R0

That's about it,
and if anyone was wondering, I am 24.
 
For me the problem is getting through the month without having to use the CC.

Each month we have to clear the previous month's CC and then we don't have enough money for the next month so we have to use the CC again.

A vicious cycle. Luckily we're not going backwards, but we are also not going forwards. The jump from indebting ourselves every month to using the previous month's salary is very difficult.

And we don't buy luxuries. Luckily a big chunk of our salaries goes into our mortgage. The rest goes into plugging the previous month's holes.

I started using http://www.youneedabudget.com/ and once we budgeted for everything there is very few Rondts left :wtf:
 
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