Bloody Hell
I've read about half of the first page of this QOTW and I'm depressed!

I work in a bank. Part of my job is to chase people who aren't paying. It's a shitty part of the job, and one that brings out the anger in me.

If you can't pay - Fine. Talk to me. Tell me you can't pay and the reason for it. If it's genuine, I can probably give you advice on how to save money.

If you're out of work and getting no income - Fine. Talk to me. Chances are you have insurance on your account and that will pay your loan repayments while you are out of work.

If you've gone to a Debt Management Company - Fine. I don't agree with a company charging you £50 per month to fuck up your credit rating for the next seven years, but it's your choice. Talk to me. I'll tell you how to get a company to do the same thing for you, free of charge.

DON'T lie to me. DON'T think that by ignoring my phone calls I'll go away. DON'T think I don't know every excuse in the book.

For anyone badly in debt and struggling, heed this advice - Talk to your creditors if they can't help you, or even worse, if they WON'T help you, at least you've tried.

And for anyone thinking of going to a Debt Management Company, ask yourself this - If you can't afford to pay the bills you already have, how the Hell can you justify paying a company who are basically going to NOT pay your bills?! Go to CCCS - Consumer Credit Counselling Service. They will do the same thing free of charge.

Sorry for the rant.
( SeasonTicketless is too often the statue, and rarely the pigeon., Thu 23 Nov 2006, 21:19, Reply)

Bitch
Basically I got married. It failed. I now owe her a load of money that I earnt. I should really take my money and run, cos I know she can't do that...

Cheers, Paul x
(Foz, Thu 23 Nov 2006, 21:02, Reply)

not me
by keeping a student house over a two year period , i ended up staying the summer with two people who had lieteraly no money. Im talking about having to save up coppers to get a bottle of pop. I was forced into paying any bills that arrived whilst the other flatmates were away for the summer.

none to happy to part with my hard earned money, I decided that i would only pay the bills on the last day of the red bill deadline, or sometimes after. the phone was disconnected three times. the reasoning behind this was the money would stay in my account longer gaing more interest.

However the bills were in the name of flatmate who whent home for the summer. (thats what you get for having the iniative to set up all the household accounts). when said flatmate returned in september he duly informed us that his credit rating had dropped so low that he couldent even get a phone contract! let alone the credit cards he needed.
( willenium Fist bump for verification, Thu 23 Nov 2006, 20:58, Reply)

Hah
Maxed out two credit cards. Got a restructuring loan and blew that instead of paying them off. Overdraft at limit.

Monthly debts far in excess of actual income. So what did I do?

I moved out of my flat and left them to it.

Big tip - stay off the council tax register / electoral role.

Now - no debts, no credit cards, no loans. La la la.
( Bad Horsey Bring back Dr. Ubes Rub!, Thu 23 Nov 2006, 20:56, Reply)

Houses are a bloody rip off
I bought a house at the peak of the market in 2004 with my then girlfriend and because it is in such a popular area for student by-to-lets, we got stuck in sealed bid after sealed bid. So we paid 7 grand over the asking price for this one we liked (to make a nice round 132,000).
So what happened next?
- The house dropped 15 grand in value
- I split up with the girl in question and owe her about 5 grand from the whole sorry process
- Water started pouring in through the chimney (I still can't afford to get it fixed)
- I discovered the list of house prices in my area on Yahoo finance, and to my horror, the value of the damn thing has gone up (I kid you not) 100 grand in between 2001 and me buying it in 2004.

Thanks goodness for lodgers and parents. I'm actually doing quite well now. It just seemed like my world was imploding at the time
( ZoomZoom, Thu 23 Nov 2006, 20:54, Reply)

Bear in mind I'm on in my second year at uni..
I owe £2750 to two separate banks (two student overdrafts... woops)

Whatever to the Student loans people, and I'd also ran up about £600 on a credit card over the summer..

I don't have a job, and have no way of getting any money from parents etc (nor would I expect them to bail me out, it's my mess, I made it)

Ah well (not as bad as some people I'll assume)
(comrade^, Thu 23 Nov 2006, 20:53, Reply)

Those SLC bastards
I recently found out that the interest free student loan we get here in England charges interest.

The fact that it was practically shoved in our faces that it was an entirely interest free loan is beside the point. The interest on my interest free loan has been steadily climbing for a year.

I'm due to start paying back in 2009. Regardless of 15k income. Which is another thing they advertised. No repayments until 15k income.

I'll be giving money to cunts. In an ideal world that would only happen in strip joints.

Bah...
(Dyslexic Pidgeon, Thu 23 Nov 2006, 20:52, Reply)

Cars
Bought car 3 years ago for £10,500... spent in the region of 50 grand on it... never driven it for two years... was making 2mpg... car is almost 14 years old... I'm an arse
( GeordieSteve, Thu 23 Nov 2006, 20:40, Reply)

i think i'm too young for this....
£9000 to SLC (Student Loans Company for any 'merkins)
£1400 bank overdraft
and the piece de resistance...

a £143,500 mortgage. I'm only 20.



(and now a little depressed)

length... extraordinary, 25 year mortgage!
( Mister B is eating an icanhazcheezburger with lmaonaise, Thu 23 Nov 2006, 20:37, Reply)

Stick debt up your arse.
Got out of college with no debt thanks to playing guitar in pubs with three chords and one blues position.

To philistines.
( collapsibletank procreates, Thu 23 Nov 2006, 20:34, Reply)

No money
I have no money....
I have no credit cards....
I have no debt.....


Um, do I have no life?
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Thu 23 Nov 2006, 20:33, Reply)

Fear of the tax man
Only fair that I chip in with my story.

I didn't pay tax for four years. My financial affairs were chaos. I got to the point that I was having proper panic attacks (out of body experiences, cold sweats etc), all because I refused to deal with it.

Basically, being freelance and doing weird web projects I had all sorts of odd bits of money coming in and no way of working out how much of it was mine, and how much the Government wanted.

Eventually my wife found a nice accountant. Best thing I've ever done. Turned out that I had saved more than enough cash to keep the tax man happy with a nice healthy profit to boot.

The panic attacks have stopped and I can now afford to actually spend a little of the money I've earnt.

My tip to the self-employed. Get an accountant. Get one now, and stop worrying.
( rob, Thu 23 Nov 2006, 20:33, Reply)

not that i blame her
but my girlfriend is pregnant. i've only just turned 20 and she was 18 when "it happened" so um, yeah... over the next 20 or so years, that will be my money fuck up.. not buying a fucking condom
(Memorex don't you have anything better to do?, Thu 23 Nov 2006, 20:33, Reply)

I will keep this short
BSc= £12,000...owed to twunting dtudent loans
MSc= £14,000 owed to my bank.

In order to borrow the money from the bank in the first place, i had to take out life insurance as well, I am 22 fucking years of age with life insurance...i suck!
Plus i am not in a job yet i am still a student and only being paid £11k a year, although we get a free laptop, not a shitty one either.

At least i will be getting paid shit loads when i finish!
(GIbbonsrwild, Thu 23 Nov 2006, 20:29, Reply)

My northern friend Brett had to go to
debt couselling for being over 30 grand in debt


he's 21 years old!
( SickRik float like a camembert sting like a brie, Thu 23 Nov 2006, 20:25, Reply)

2 degrees
= lots of debt from SLC but not as much as if the NHS hadn't funded me for the second one.

Have just spent a year paying back the money my lovely dad lent me- £7K in total (and that is before the loan he's given me for my car, that I am paying him with interest. He really is the Bank of Dad). Plus I have also paid off my overdraft and credit etc.

In total, in a year I have paid back the best part of 10K. I work long hours in the NHS; I may have had no social life but I have also got 4 grand savings and some shiny new Stuff to boot. I am a story of Hope for you all... because to accrue this debt I:

-went drinking a LOT (depressed)
-went shopping a LOT (depressed)
-did a degree that had 45 week years and got a chronic condition so couldn't work on top of degree so got more depressed and also much, much poorer
-lived in Winchester. That is the worst one I think.

All it taught me is that money comes and goes but your experiences will stay with you forever so you can afford to go to Africa if you want to.
(Clarabelle is reverting to type on, Thu 23 Nov 2006, 20:21, Reply)

I do mortgages
which in itself ain't very exciting, but I do meet a lot of people financial problems who really do put life into perspective, last week alone:

One guy, earns £36k (which is alright), car loan- 25k, unsecured loans £12k, credit cards, not joking, £80k. He wonders why I say to him "Please don't buy a house".

Lady, 29 years old, £65k on plastic. Just made redundant from £31k a year job.

21 year old, bungled a biz startup, going to be bankrupt in time for Xmas.

Best one thus far; guy, 22, girl 19, two loans, one is from Ford motor company (for the Focus RS) and the second "it's from Bupa" says the girl. "Oh, everything alright?" I ask, "yeah", says the guy, "six grand buys a fantastic pair of tits, don't you think?"
(Waisted Fred I say who Sir, you Sir?, Thu 23 Nov 2006, 20:19, Reply)

18 years old and already in debt.
Luckily to my parents who lent me it all in the first place.

Little red car- £2000. Am just down to my my last £500. Yay. Lucky I have a job, even if it is shit.

Driving lessons and test I will one day sit but have paid them for so they can use check book: £500. Luckily they gave me ten lessons for my birthday (stuck to ten little toy cars) and I had enough will power not to spend £200 of my pay.

Things I will need to buy to pass this term at uni- £toomuch. I wanted to save for chrissy, buy a pc and a pink psp. No chance of that. I've now got to buy two hundred million sketchbooks and stamps to make a nice cd cover.

I did enter a competition to win £250 so I've got my fingers crossed. Some things on that site I know a few people would like. Also, I want a usb watch....
( vix0r was not Matthew on, Thu 23 Nov 2006, 20:19, Reply)

I am:
£2000 in debt because of various car-related things (insurance, MOT etc.)
£150 in debt to Burtons because I was gay enough to take out a store card (but I do have a trilby now).
I owe vodafone a lot of money for missed bills.
I also owe my mother a substantial sum of money for bailing me out on various occasions when I have gone £5 overdrawn and have been charged £40 by the bank at 30% per week.
The time I wasted answering this question has probably cost me a good 11p, too.
( BraynDedd Natasha Kaplinsky's labia majora, Thu 23 Nov 2006, 20:18, Reply)

I've....
- Never owned a credit card,
- Never taken a loan,
- Went through university through a combination of scholarships ("of course Mr. Blair, I'd love to join the army after finishing university"), parents and having a pretty decent waiter job

What did it get me?

I can't get a fucking mortgage due my credit rating being a pile of wank.

Porn? Well, I've come on a girl's tits a few times....

They appreciated the length, and so should you.
(rhyswynne - on every social network mullarkey known to man, Thu 23 Nov 2006, 20:18, Reply)

Bwahaha
I bothered to ask for my bank charges back. I got over £3500. It pays to take on the big boys now and again!
(JonnyWad, Thu 23 Nov 2006, 20:17, Reply)

I love using credit cards
though I've been good so far this year, but I currently owe about 11 thousand over two cards.

it's now so much, they i've passed the 'credit card event horizon' and no longer worry about it :)

pathetically, my parents bailed me out of debt to the tune of 6k about eight years ago, managed to clear my cards, but just got more.

I'm pathetic with money as you can tell.

oh, I also have a 6k loan with the bank.

thankfully, I earn just enough to live and pay slightly more than the minium payment, and in about fifty years, I'll be debt free!
( spiny - things are looking up, Thu 23 Nov 2006, 20:15, Reply)

£32 grand at the moment with no assets
and have just been advised to make myself bankrupt. But I can't afford the £500 they charge you to become bankrupt. I'm not sure if that's meant to be ironic.
( nick the greek, Thu 23 Nov 2006, 20:13, Reply)

i missed 6 minimum payments on a credit card recently
and now i cant get a loan, with anyone, at all.
even a company i have had finance and loans with for nearly 7 years, and never missed a payment with, have refused me on the grounds of my current credit rating.

if i found a delorean tomorrow, and i looked like michael j fox, i would travel back to 2002 and tell my self "dont get that credit card" (and also take a list of football results ;)

i do feel if i were a student/imigrent/dole seaker and the like, the bank would have rolled out the red carpet. but seeing as im just a regular full time worker, who pays his taxes, im not good enough. oh well
( Johno says the chances of anything coming from mars are a million to one But still they come on, Thu 23 Nov 2006, 20:13, Reply)

ccj
I applied for credit cards as soon as I was old enough, £1600 straight away, no questions asked, I filled out all the forms honestly and the daft twunts didn't even notice I wasn't even making minimum wage. Maxxed them out and forgot about them. 1 CCJ later and they still occasionally send me threatening letters about garnishing my wages or something, stick £20 in an envelope, post it off, shuts them up for a bit.
(jowl, Thu 23 Nov 2006, 20:11, Reply)

According to a recent statement
I am £12327.11 in debt to the Student Loans Company.
( idonthaveafunnynickname Drink-Aware? Sure. I'm aware I want another drink., Thu 23 Nov 2006, 20:10, Reply)

this and that
managed to rack up loads of debts at uni, thought they were all cleared, go to bank and sorry black listed, took ages to clear:(

owe the bank £150k ish but have got a house for it, first mortgage, just need more jobs. Sometimes freelancing sucks
(inkworm, Thu 23 Nov 2006, 20:03, Reply)

I owe my wife £10.
Did that make you cum?
( the RAND corporation a.k.a. Kevin Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Thu 23 Nov 2006, 20:03, Reply)

debt.....
over 20k student loan debt... + tuition fees
and what will I get as a state pension?
60 quid a week...
what bollocks this country is

woo yay first post!
(Herr Oberfeldwebel Steh auf oder stirb auf die Knien..., Thu 23 Nov 2006, 20:02, Reply)