How can people get in debt?

Some people go into debt because they have no choice when they need to buy a high-ticket item like a car. Others go into debt because they have no self-control and spend money that they don't have because they can't deny themselves things that they want; they must have them.
 
I first got into debt as a 10 yr old. Lured by an ad in a comic book to send off for greeting cards to sell to make money. I received the cards but couldn't get any orders and wound up selling the cards themselves. No idea what I did with the money (most likely spent at the 5 and dime store).

The greeting card company kept sending me threatening letters about the debt I owed them. I was too scared to tell my parents. Not sure how long it took for that company to give up on the debt.
 
Debt scares the bejeezus out of me tbh... not to say I haven't been in debt when younger and a struggling single parent , but I always paid it off eventually ...but now ..if I can't afford to buy whatever it is..I don't get it..., and I certainly would never voluntarily pay off a credit card at minimum monthly payments...and I hope I never find myself in the position where that will ever be the case
 
Medical debt. Gambling debt. Don't file taxes for years. Falling in love with the first person who shows interest and keep doing that no matter how much money they scam out of you. Start a business then don't bother with a bookkeeper. Get a credit card and keep spending and begging them to raise the limit because you have a certain lifestyle to maintain.
 
Bella said:
go into debt because they have no choice when they need to buy a high-ticket item like a car.
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gee I'd hope if they have such a high credit limit on their card that they would have good enough credit to get a car loan at a better rate. I can easily see things like new tires and car repairs causing an un-pay-off-able balance growing on their card.
 
i
debodun said:
I see a TV ad where a man says that he was so much in debt, that if he paid the minimum each month, it would take him 57 years to get out of debt.

How can it get so out of hand?
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I had a wife who was an expert at getting into debt. She had no Off button when it came to charging things on a credit card and spending money in general.

She overdrew her checking account every month for 25 years. Then got mad at the bank for charging overdraft fees.

So it doesn't surprise me at all that people could have $10,000 in debt.
 
gruntlabor said:
Yes, and I can imagine the miserable parents of today's spoiled child demanding $200 tennis shoes, and the most fashionable phone.
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oooh I see it all the time.

little children just toddlers some of them young enough to still be in a pushchair, with an ipad and tiny top of the range trainers.. which won't fit them in a month's time.. and the parents driving a gas guzzling 4x4.. yet no obvious sign of income..
 
@Bella, part of what you said described my SIL.

She does not & will not comprehend that you can't spend money that you don't have. She had no problem maxing out cards & throwing the bills into the trash when it came. She lived with her mom until she died & for 20 years had free rent & utilities. The only thing she had to do was to buy SOME of the groceries & put gas in her car. Oh, & when the debt collectors called and/or sent notices, she ignored them also. After my MIL died, we found out just exactly what kind of financial nightmare was ahead.

We tried to help her, but couldn't do it ourselves. We learned there is more to debt reconsiliation that just paying off the amounts, so we had her hire an attorney to do it. I told the attorney exactly what was happening & left nothing unsaid about her actions. The attorney asked if we were willing to help her manage her checkbook & we agreed. With his help, the outstanding debt was handled over a 2 year period & that part is over. We managed the checkbook & made sure the bills was paid. That should have started to give her some positive credit history.

She was handed back her debit card on her request at the beginning of the year & had been doing pretty good at staying within her budget & not buying BS. Her brother had phone alerts which kept us aware of her spending from the beginning.

As soon as she told us she was moving out of our rental to an apartment in late August, I told my husband she was going to have to start managing stuff herself. She said she had no problem keeping a checkbook as she did it before. I had everything caught up & balanced with the bills paid. Then suddenly, she started to go off track on her spending like there was no tomorrow. Husband finally said himself that after that spree he was now done & that she was on her own.

Yesterday the movers arrived & emptied the house of her belongings. I handed over all of her banking & information, explained everything was balanced & what she had to do to maintain it. I made sure the first month rent on her apartment had been paid & I walked away from it.

When she was married, she wrote checks on her account even though there wasn't money to cover them. Her husband went behind her cleaning up her mess around town so she wouldn't be arrested for passing bad checks due to insuffient funds. Between this & her lying about money & house bills not being paid, he was fed up & divorced her.

Maybe people who don't pay for their credit card bills should be treated the same way as people who paid with checks that had insuffient funds in their accounts by making it a criminal offense. Some people who choose to steal from others do it with credit cards. I see no difference between the two.
 
Lilac said:
@Bella, part of what you said described my SIL.

She does not & will not comprehend that you can't spend money that you don't have. She had no problem maxing out cards & throwing the bills into the trash when it came. She lived with her mom until she died & for 20 years had free rent & utilities. The only thing she had to do was to buy SOME of the groceries & put gas in her car. Oh, & when the debt collectors called and/or sent notices, she ignored them also. After my MIL died, we found out just exactly what kind of financial nightmare was ahead.

We tried to help her, but couldn't do it ourselves. We learned there is more to debt reconsiliation that just paying off the amounts, so we had her hire an attorney to do it. I told the attorney exactly what was happening & left nothing unsaid about her actions. The attorney asked if we were willing to help her manage her checkbook & we agreed. With his help, the outstanding debt was handled over a 2 year period & that part is over. We managed the checkbook & made sure the bills was paid. That should have started to give her some positive credit history.

She was handed back her debit card on her request at the beginning of the year & had been doing pretty good at staying within her budget & not buying BS. Her brother had phone alerts which kept us aware of her spending from the beginning.

As soon as she told us she was moving out of our rental to an apartment in late August, I told my husband she was going to have to start managing stuff herself. She said she had no problem keeping a checkbook as she did it before. I had everything caught up & balanced with the bills paid. Then suddenly, she started to go off track on her spending like there was no tomorrow. Husband finally said himself that after that spree he was now done & that she was on her own.

Yesterday the movers arrived & emptied the house of her belongings. I handed over all of her banking & information, explained everything was balanced & what she had to do to maintain it. I made sure the first month rent on her apartment had been paid & I walked away from it.

When she was married, she wrote checks on her account even though there wasn't money to cover them. Her husband went behind her cleaning up her mess around town so she wouldn't be arrested for passing bad checks due to insuffient funds. Between this & her lying about money & house bills not being paid, he was fed up & divorced her.

Maybe people who don't pay for their credit card bills should be treated the same way as people who paid with checks that had insuffient funds in their accounts by making it a criminal offense. Some people who choose to steal from others do it with credit cards. I see no difference between the two.
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What a great personal credit counselor you are. I hope your SIL is grateful enough to stay on track despite that slip.
 
they will give a credit card to anyone and some with poor or NO credit have interest rates that would blow your mind.....like 25%
it is the attitude of you can just charge etc..... why wait for a new gadget or whatever

the new thing..... i find insane is bank apps one has a girl on it said "she hates bank fees especially those pesky overdraft fees" like that is banks fault not her spending issues .........so the " Chime app " and a few others allow you to overdraft up to $200 a month .........fee free
they create the next group of debtors
 
My father's sister, who probably had dementia, got a credit card and started to buy all those gadgets you see advertised on TV. When I cleaned out her house when I did her estate, there was boxes and bags stacked up of things that looked like she never even opened them. She just spent and spent and, like Lilac's SIL, just ignored the bills that rolled in. I doubt she understood that eventually she had to pay off the credit card debts.

When she passed, she was over $40K in debt. The estate attorney managed to negotiate it down somewhat, but for all the trouble I had with the estate, I only ended up with about $3000 (I had to share the bottom line with 3 other cousins who did nothing to help me). They got about $1500. Mine was more because it included the executor fee. About the only asset she had was her home which was in bad shape. I think I got $14,000 for it and most had to go to the creditors. Aside from the cash, I did manage to keep a few mementos from her house.
 
Judycat said:
Medical debt. Gambling debt. Don't file taxes for years. Falling in love with the first person who shows interest and keep doing that no matter how much money they scam out of you. Start a business then don't bother with a bookkeeper. Get a credit card and keep spending and begging them to raise the limit because you have a certain lifestyle to maintain.
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Being in the UK - I couldn't imagine how that must feel, not being able to afford medical treatment and/or going into debt to get treatment.
Is there a system over there where those who can't afford medical treatment get it for free?
 
How?

By listening to the dominant media and swallowing their societal narrative because well... doesn't everyone do it? Of course that is paid for mostly through retail, auto, and bank advertising with an agenda to make profits.
 
debodun said:
I see a TV ad where a man says that he was so much in debt, that if he paid the minimum each month, it would take him 57 years to get out of debt.

How can it get so out of hand?
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What was the product being advertised? Seems like a huge scare tactic using fear to make sales to the fearful.


Quackers said:
Being in the UK - I couldn't imagine how that must feel, not being able to afford medical treatment and/or going into debt to get treatment.
Is there a system over there where those who can't afford medical treatment get it for free?
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Yes there is a patchwork of programs ranging from subsidized health insurance to totally free depending on the individual's circumstances.

There always seems like there is a gap in the programs somewhere that effects really hard working people that aren't quite wealthy enough and not quite poor enough for gov aid. And that seems to be common for many social safetey net type gov operations.
 
David777 said:
By listening to the dominant media and swallowing their societal narrative because well... doesn't everyone do it? Of course that is paid for mostly through retail, auto, and bank advertising with an agenda to make profits.
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yes that is why so many places get into the credit game ...... airlines ./ retail stores... ect .... then they tell you what a good deal you can get you are "earning " rewards or money ........ better deals if you use their card .... so many have a card from everyone they can to get on deals.
Cash back is NOT earning money....... it is getting a discount and some small amount of your own money back.

MarciKS said:
medical debts and not getting enough of a living wage will do it.
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The term Living wage is undefinable as people have very different definitions..... maybe even based on place they live .... high cost of living areas the living wage would be higher

while some medical debt cannot be helped ......emergency treatment for example ...........but some can when people view their treatment as transactional with the patient being the customer... ..... some Dr will tell a patient this test MIGHT show something but it will not be conclusive ..... people can then say no thanks if is is not worth the cost. ....
some Dr play CYA so much they will order any test possible... being a good medical consumer helps i saved a lot in unneeded tests etc
Another issue with medical is some people do not read the fine print until after the fact .....and do not understand what is covered and what might not be.
 
againstthegrain said:
What was the product being advertised? Seems like a huge scare tactic using fear to make sales to the fearful.
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it is for a Company that for a fee they negotiate a better deal with creditors ......

a practice many could do for themselves if you are forceful card companies will generally give a promo rate or a temp halt to interest for like 3 months etc..
i find it interesting that the item written on statements about if you pay minimum it equals X amount of years if you pay Y amount more cuts in half etc....
I wonder if some people who set up auto pay has just the minimum billed paid as opposed to going in and paying off all or as much as you can each month to limit the interest.
 
I got my first credit card at age 20 .. overdid the buying, and took a long time to pay off the debts. Learned a hard lesson.

Only recently, did I get a credit card, which I rarely use, and when I do, it is paid off very quickly.
 
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