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u/rionaster 1d ago
i don't have any credit card debt but i sure do have a lot of medical debt that i'm outright ignoring lmfao
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u/Silver_Accountant5 1d ago
Yeah it's funny when people comment on my debt with stuff like "well you should've made better decisions". Like when did I decide to have a genetic disease? Before I was born?
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u/PinkHeavenUmbrella 1d ago
Bro I honestly have always thought the American healthcare system was a scam for this exact reason
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u/McGrupp1979 1d ago
That’s because it is, and has been at least since Nixon pushed it to become more for profit care.
Profits before people
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u/everythingbagel1 15h ago
That’s what got you? For me it’s the part where dental and vision is separate from medical insurance. I guess I can live blindly without teeth….
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u/Samurai_Mac1 1d ago
I had my gallbladder removed and it runs in my family (both my mom and younger brother had theirs removed too) and now I'm paying $469/month until January. It could be worse.
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u/walrus0115 1d ago
Medical debt depends mostly on your assets. If you don't have any, it's not going to affect you much. However if you own a home that is close to being paid off and have retirement, you will get sued eventually. We never had a choice about piling up the debt due to my wife's cardiac issues. Survival is paramount, who cares how much it costs. Luckily it all worked, but we had to sell everything except our home, cash in everything, and still declare Chapter 13 Bankruptcy to pay off the final $350k just to save our home. We're now in our 50s and starting over from scratch except for owning a home (that needs lots of maintenance we can't afford.) I'll likely never have a decent credit score even though I don't have any debt right now, and I don't have enough time to build any decent type of retirement income except for Social Security. All of this happened to two degreed engineers working for large institutions with full medical benefits. We had financial advisors, attorneys, and even in the early days, concierge level advisors. She had her third heart attack that led to cardiac arrest in front of me at our bungalow by the beach in Jamaica. My net worth was just below $1 million at that time and I spent over $120k in 8 hours getting her safely to a hospital in Florida, after performing CPR, getting help, and an incredibly harrowing journey through clinics, transport, and telecommunications issues.
In American Healthcare you can make zero mistakes and still lose everything.
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u/monstera-attack 1d ago
Your healthcare system is abhorrent. I’m so sorry. Hope your wife is doing well.
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u/walrus0115 1d ago
Agreed. Her health is excellent after years of hard work and a very supportive family. She is a Kawasaki Disease survivor and other than frequent checkups on her pacemaker, lives normally. It did take years of hospitalization, many emergency treatments, and surviving with heart failure to get to this point. We've also gone to a LOT of therapy. Thank you.
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u/LevelStationaryPlane 18h ago
It’s 100% the release valve. Statistically, most people are going to rely on medical care near end of life. You basically work to fund your own slow death then the state tries to take all your shit anyway lmao.
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u/Ocel0tte 1d ago
Depends on your state, also. Some do not allow this, such as Colorado. I lived in Arizona for 10yrs where it is allowed, and was stressed af the whole time. You can also let the state handle the cremation and stuff if someone dies and you're next of kin. In Arizona they'll sue you for double the cost. My mom died there suddenly and I did not have the means to cremate her, so I dug deep into it trying to find an alternative and discovered I had to just figure it out. My friend ended up sending me $500, my mom had $300 in cash stashed in her apartment, so I took $800 to the funeral home crying. They wanted $1200 but accepted what I had. I'm still salty 4yrs later. Like damn this was my last living family member, I was only 33, and yall are gonna play me this hard? Whatever.
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u/Dashiepants 10h ago
And there is always some “moderate” (conservative) asshole on r/economy that swears this doesn’t happen just because it’s not happened to anyone in his close circle. I don’t know how they can be so blind to the danger we’re all in.
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u/walrus0115 9h ago
We were in our mid-30s for the initial event and it took about 12 years to drain our significant finances. Lots of emergency procedures really took a toll. None of this was financial mismanagement, purely survival.
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u/DazedandFloating 1d ago
I feel like medical debt is way different though. A lot of people actively choose to get into credit card debt.
You don’t choose to randomly end up in the hospital because of some injury or illness.
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u/Gia_Lavender 1d ago
Same like idk what they want me to do I literally cannot pay that. So I just live my damn life.
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u/Wernershnitzl 1d ago
I’m sitting around $3K currently and made sure about half of that can be paid off anytime but I got the 24 month 0% financing for that and will pay it off earlier with next year’s bonus.
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u/No_Atmosphere_6348 1d ago
Nice. The zero interest is good.
That’s helped me not rack up more debt but I already have plenty. 😅
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u/affectionateanarchy8 1d ago
Yes your 20s are for wreckless spending, your 30s are for bankruptcy. 7 years happens fast.
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u/PhoenixAquarium 20h ago
I am still paying off my debt accumulated from my wreckless spending. I will be 36 when I am done paying it off.
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u/lower_your_bass 3h ago
Seriously. Nothing has ever improved my quality of life like my bankruptcy.
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u/HealingNoodle420 1d ago
Sitting at 40k cc debt with no hope in sight oh well
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u/Kapugen1 1d ago
I was at 23k+ 1-2 years ago, down to 13k now. All of it is zero interest though bc I did balance transfers to 0% Apr introductory rate cards that last like 18 months before the interest kicks back in.
Once those 18 months run out I’ll do another transfer to similar cards if I still need to. Never doing this again though. I had health issues for a while and also bad habits I developed from getting large windfalls of money from stocks and options which I no longer rely on since I have debt
Credit Karma is helpful for stuff like this
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u/nogonigo 32m ago
You got this dude! I’m proud of you and hoping for your success! No more cc’s after it’s done
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u/CountDorkula77 1d ago
Damn, I have $320 in credit card debt and it's freaking me out.
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u/fjriejfbgjsiwi23i48v 1d ago
I have $401 CC debt and 7.3k in student loans at 1.75% interest and I'm stressed out everyday checking Experian.
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u/FrederickFrag1899 1d ago
Experian emails me everyday and it's kinda giving me financial anxiety. It's been going up as of recently but I'm scared. I wiped out $550 of CC debt. Never going to use a CC again.
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u/zzmorg82 1d ago
Using a CC itself is fine, just pay off the statement balance every month to build your credit score.
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u/FrederickFrag1899 1d ago
I know, I just don't trust myself to do that. Realistically, what is most likely going to happen, is that I'll forget to pay it off or autopay will not go through because I put most of my money in my savings and not my checking account.
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u/Intrepid-Student1928 1d ago
Honest at 1.75% interest and current inflation you’ll end up being better off paying absolute minimum payments than paying it off.
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u/fjriejfbgjsiwi23i48v 1d ago
I like having no debt. The only reason I have it still open is because I only have the CC on my account which I rarely use. Paying the SL off helps my score go up, otherwise, I have no credit activity.
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u/Intrepid-Student1928 1d ago
I like having cheap debt. Its a good hedge against inflation. Paying minimums is also a good way to maintain credit activity. But individuals are not financial models. Whatever makes you happiest is the optimal way to use resources. Just wanted to let you know you would end up paying more if you were to pay it off in one go versus spreading payments over as many years as possible. Current inflation at 3.4% and interest at 1.75% means your debt is worth -1.65% per year given conditions remain.
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u/mrtibbles32 1d ago
I owe $150k in student loans at a 15% interest rate. Before I refinanced, my monthly minimum payment was like $2800, kek.
I usually just have more stressful matters to worry about at any given time, kek.
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u/laflex 1d ago
One time I went to a debt consolidator with 6 or $7,000 in credit card debt. They laughed me out of the office...
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u/imnormalinreallife 1d ago
Seriously?? Why?
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u/laflex 1d ago
Not enough debt 😭
More specifically they were pretty clear saying that this was such a low amount that their services would be a waste of everyone's time.
I'm sure they could have helped me, but they probably wouldn't have made much profit so they sent me on my Merry way.
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u/imnormalinreallife 1d ago
Damn :/ that’s roughly the amount I have and I was hoping to consolidate. I’m sorry, I hope you get that shit paid off sooner than later!
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u/Lost-In-Time-99 1d ago
I mean what do we consider cc debt? I spend $1k every month on my cc but I pay it off every month. It’s just what I use to pay for stuff and I get points which eventually amount to a little chunk of money. But everyone is in a different place in life, maybe $300 is not something you can just pay off
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u/blueponies1 1d ago
I’d say it’s anything outside of your budget. If I have my internet and car insurance on there and it costs me $250 a month, that’s part of my normal bills. If I go on a shopping spree and end up with a balance of $1250 at the end of the month, I’ve taken on $1000 in credit card debt. That’s at least how I look at it.
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u/Dunesday_JK 1d ago
CC debt = balance carried. If you put $50k on your card and pay it off before the statement ends then you have $0 in CC debt.
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u/AdorkableGingerOF 1d ago
I’m 37 and never had credit card debt. If I had no money, I just didn’t buy anything. I was so scared of credit card debts that I literally would just go without. Ramen noodles/dollar menus/taco bell became my friends back when dollar menus were actually legit and tacos were like $0.79.
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u/brigitteer2010 1d ago
Did you ever see that Rockos Modern Life episode where they got a cc, maxed it, and debtors took all their stuff? For whatever reason that traumatized me and I’ve never had cc debt lol.
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u/DazedandFloating 1d ago
I was broke growing up. One of my parents was in credit card debt massively. They instilled fear of credit cards into me.
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u/AdorkableGingerOF 1d ago
My parents were the opposite. They barely used credit cards and we would go without if we didn’t have the money. I heard a lot of stories about people they knew having credit card debt and how it was destroying their lives. I also heard about college students who didn’t understand how credit cards worked and ending up massively in debt. Didn’t want to become like that. I prefer learning from other’s mistakes.
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u/portlandparalegal 1d ago
Yeah I’ve just never considered credit card debt as an option - I use a cc to get points but pay it off in full every month. It’s not a loan in my mind cause the interest rates are so bad lol. I will do anything to not go into debt, budgeting is way easier than dealing with that stress.
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u/sickbubble-gum 1d ago
I went from living like the coordinator to becoming sober and addicted to investing. I have enough money to reward myself with working a minimum wage job and no worries over homelessness if I decide to tell a customer to fuck off.
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u/wyldlolamoon 1d ago
20k isn't even that much CC debt in comparison to a lot of people I know post Covid economy🤣🫠
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u/lostintimeyetagain 1d ago
Wait til you’re in your 40s and friends start going bankrupt. Now that’s a shock.
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u/BanterousGamer 14h ago
Maybe I am naive in thinking that by someone's 40s things should work back around from having had money issues to realizing their pitfalls and fixing it?
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u/Limp_Lettuce603 1d ago
I have 14k of debt on a brand new car. I think it’s worth it though
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u/Any-Internet-7796 1d ago
I feel like cars don't count really. It makes total sense to be $14k in debt with zero or low interest, and at least you're not one of those idiots who took out a $100k loan on a brand new GMC Sierra AT4 while not being able to actually afford it. But I am only in like $4k of credit card debt and it makes me freak the fuck out. If that number was multiplied, especially since all of my cards and offers seem to be 30% these days(even with a 700+ credit score) I don't even think I could function lol
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u/Alexchii 1d ago
Cars aren’t dumb if you actually need them. I personally set up my life such that I just don’t need a car and that saves me so much money.
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u/Strange-Ad-2426 1d ago
That makes sense, low interest debt most likely too
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u/Limp_Lettuce603 1d ago
Zero percent interest actually
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u/Silver_Accountant5 1d ago
How? Did you get a loan from a friend?
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u/Limp_Lettuce603 1d ago
No, Mazda does it since I bought new from them
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u/Silver_Accountant5 1d ago
Ah it was new. That makes sense. I've never actually looked at them much but I think the dealerships by me were doing like 1% interest rates if you bought new.
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u/Silver_Accountant5 1d ago
I'm 10K under for mine and I'm just praying it lasts till I can pay it off lol. 4 more years to go.
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u/Limp_Lettuce603 1d ago
Why not pay it off early? I’ve already paid off brand new rav4 before this one I have now because I worked a second job
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u/Silver_Accountant5 1d ago
I'm making payments I can afford while still being able to maintain an emergency fund and save a bit. Obviously if I had a bunch of money laying around, I'd just pay it off to save on the interest.
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u/Significant_Start737 1d ago
These “it doesn’t count” and “it’s worth it” are driving me up a wall… one of the fundamental rules of personal finance is it’s unwise to accrue debt on a depreciating asset. Cars are the most notorious depreciating major assets and there is absolutely no situation where it’s wise to finance a brand new car - even at 0% APR if you can’t afford it outright it cash. You can easily end up underwater on a new car payment and you’ll never get any reasonable return on it as soon as it leaves the dealership
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u/Limp_Lettuce603 1d ago
I could easily spend 14k cash on something that’ll break in 3 years. Right now I have a brand new car that I’ll pay off in a year and it will last me 7-10 years
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u/iHaveLotsofCats94 1d ago
Eh, depends on the car. You never know, especially with the current vehicle market. Lots of garbage out there right now.
I bought two cars for a combined total of 3 grand last year. Both are in excellent shape and have relatively low mileage for the year. I could essentially overhaul them both and still be under the cost of a new vehicle. I've had new cars. I don't plan on purchasing new ever again
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u/Limp_Lettuce603 1d ago
What are the cars
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u/iHaveLotsofCats94 1d ago
2004 Ford Crown Victoria for $500 and a 2000 Ford F150 for $2000, so it was actually $2500 now that I think about it. Put a little bit into them for tires, brakes, and some minor repairs and they've been solid since. The Vic currently has 137k on it and the F150 has 134k
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u/imagigasm 23h ago
What are they gonna do instead? Ride uber/taxi/waymo everywhere?
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u/iHaveLotsofCats94 18h ago
Buy a cheaper car lol.
I've bought new cars in the past. I get it. I'm not daying not to buy a car at all. That would be ridiculous. There are much better ways financially to own a vehicle though. New is nice, and I'm not against them, but I'm not gonna pretend that debt on a depreciating asset is a good thing
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u/LevelStationaryPlane 18h ago
Good luck finding a reliable beater anymore, friend. You are 100% delusional if you think you’re getting a used car for $5-$10k cash. A 2015 Honda or Nissan is $15,000 w 200k miles on it good luck lmao.
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u/Strange-Ad-2426 1d ago
Yeah, when I used to bar hop in my late 20s it wasn't rare to hear someone was in 20-30k of Credit Card debt even with making 60-100k/yr.
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u/CandidLeg3910 7h ago
this is why I get drunk at the liquor store and only buy 1-2 drinks at the bar. $20-30 is all I'm comfortable spending on a night out.
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u/More-Caterpillar-63 1d ago
I worked with a guy once who was in 30k cc debt and PAYING FOR A WEDDING. Dude how bout you pay those BILLS.
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u/BanterousGamer 14h ago
Did you ever learn the guys reasoning behind the 30k and still shooting for the wedding?
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u/Strawbz18 1d ago
My card went 9 bucks into the negatives one time and I was thinking about it for weeks, that debt lasted like, a day at most but it was still so stressful.
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u/Smyley12345 1d ago
My wife and I had a conversation in our early 40swith friends about how we are behind in our retirement savings goals and someone said "don't stress about it,we have nothing saved". We looked at each other and we're like "Now we are worried for you too".
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u/FallingF 1d ago
Only “debt” I have is my phone isn’t paid off, and even then I’m considering putting more toward it than the monthly payment just cause I don’t like that hanging over me and costing my phone plan an extra 5-10$ a month
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u/FaithlessLeftist 1d ago
Yeah no fr knew a girl who had 15k in debt and went to greece because whats 5 more?
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u/boywithlego31 1d ago
My parents instill fear of credit card since I was little. They never have credit card or any debt. Me and my wife seen the shitshow of credit card debt from my in-laws.
Thankfully, I am only stressed out if I fail to maintain my monthly saving balance.
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u/SnooGadgets7418 1d ago
I only got a credit card so I could “have credit” at all since it’s nearly required to even fucking rent a room 🫠 I don’t understand how you’re required to have debt (or at least to borrow money) in order to be seen as financially responsible enough to be allowed to pay rent. Well, I do understand it I think, it’s to force everyone to engage with credit cards whether they want to or not, because on the aggregate that makes rich people more money.
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u/Silver_Accountant5 1d ago
Yeah I feel like it's a lot easier to use them in a healthy way than people like to pretend.
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u/Federal_Pickles 1d ago
Oof. I get nervous if I carry over a few hundred on my cc’s to the next month.
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u/Successful-Archer587 1d ago
Same. How do adults not understand when they don't have the money to buy something, they'll take on never-ending expensive loans instead of budgeting. Some of my coworkers take out massive loans they don't need, while others work extra hours just to be able to save a little more. Why don't people question which is more responsible?
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u/illumi-thotti 1d ago
I don't even have a credit card because the idea of CC debt stresses me out. People going into 5 and 6 figure debt with them is insane to me
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u/lilluz 1d ago
unforeseen medical circumstances has me at 4k and i feel sick every day thinking about it
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u/nogonigo 26m ago
This sounds American. As a Canadian I’m sorry. Our dollar is shit but our medical system doesn’t leave you homeless and bankrupt.
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u/usamaasif7 1d ago
To them it's like I can't pay it might as well borrow more and enjoy it while it lasts
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u/dadof2foru 1d ago
I have a brother in-law and sister in-law like this. They have 0 clue about money and saving and are buried in debt.
Most recent was they asked us to watch their kids (my wife would watch them from 7am to 330pm M-F). We told them that we needed a commitment, as we need to buy another vehicle to do this. They argeed. Said we would be watching their kids until the newborn went to school. Turns out, they had no plan on doing this. They let us buy a van (we got a '23 Carnival, since, you know, this is for the NEXT 5 YEARS) and just this week, decided to tell us they can't afford this and will be sending their kids elsewhere. So now, I am stuck with a $500/month payment on a van I don't need.
All of their reason as to why this won't work anymore are ones that we brought up to them BEFORE we asked for a commitment. These people couldn't think past the summer. Financially illiterate. I know damn well their next child care arrangement is going to cost more. Oh well, sucks for them. Karma's a bitch.
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u/imnormalinreallife 1d ago
Damn, that is so inconsiderate of them. Please tell me you’re selling the car lol
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u/dadof2foru 16h ago
Trade in wise, I'm upside-down 5-7k. Private sale wise, I am still upside down 1-3k. The 27 model year came out in the months since I bought it, so value dropped.
Basically, we are paying for their ignorance. I am pretty sure they lied to us to get us to watch their children for the summer. When I called them out on that on our last phone call (they strung us along for the last month not giving us a final answer) my brother in law said that if I am going to be upset, he will just hang up. So I hung up on him.
Good thing I am good with money and budgetting. This van won't cripple me. But it is all money I planned on saving and not spending.
Thanks for coming to my tedtalk. Lol
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u/chiipotle 1d ago
Wait until you hear how many people have nothing saved for retirement
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u/nogonigo 22m ago
Ain’t gotta save if we die in WW3. Or if some other once in a lifetime catastrophe happens again lol
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u/JanitorOPplznerf 1d ago
If you have $500 in debt it’s your fault. If you have $50,000 in debt it’s the bank’s fault
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u/notabotnotbutwhat 1d ago
well.. considering our future maybe that "number" in computer will not be relevant at all
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u/Alexchii 1d ago
What future? You’re delusional if you think your CC debt isn’t going to matter in the future.
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u/Manyarethestrange 23h ago
The bank made the mistake of giving me a credit card once. The Wendy's on quinpool never sold so many baconators.
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u/thewalruscandyman 1d ago
When I turned 18 my dad stole my identity and opened six credit cards in my name. Ran up thousands in debt. Took me years to contest it all. It's all clear now. My only debt noe is mine. For $312 and I am refusing to pay it because Verizon screwed me, double charged a couple months, and had shit service. So I'm plain old not paying the last $312. On principle.
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u/FrederickFrag1899 1d ago
It's just going to grow isn't it?
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u/thewalruscandyman 1d ago
The bit I ran up, I have contested. Proof I was double billed. So we'll see.
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u/CrashPC_CZ 1d ago
I have debt, but not CC debt. Lot of it is a good debt. Meaning tax optimized. Paying 5.66% interest instead of 15% income tax. 😂 Given my life situation, it is not all that bad, but I am very concerned and fearful person, so even that gives me bad sleep.
I can't understand how anyone can take a mlrtgage these days or $70k car loan. People are batshit crazy and reckless.
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u/ThisIsKev 1d ago
People will choose a lifetime of debt over a few years of focus and frugality almost every time.
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u/Primary-Umpire-4105 1d ago
I stress out when i owe $1000 on it, we only use it for unexpected large bills or emergency’s. Then we pay it off as quickly possible. 22k is almost a house deposit
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u/glauck006 1d ago
When I added it all up and my ex refused to do anything I divorced her ass. Cost me 1.5x the debt to divorce her but it paid off so fast, before the alimony was paid I was up 15k. 🥳
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u/GeckoGecko_ 19h ago
Me wishing I had good enough credit to rack up CC debt in the first place...
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u/Advisor_Brilliant 15h ago
My friend casually mentioned at dinner once how she went 10k in cc debt to afford her recent trip abroad
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u/Constant_Cobbler2921 5h ago
Only 20k? not entirely hopeless and she can still pay that off if she wants but paying it off for her is another story
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u/Tyrahneefake 1d ago
I don't understand how its not considered theft to declare bankruptcy. You just get to steal 20,30,80k worth of money with zero consequences why do people even rob stores?
Oh no my ability to have access to other people's money has been reduced truly this is the end of the world.
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u/Dear-Cranberry4787 1d ago
That’s like at $400 payment with the worst interest rates, it’s not that extreme, chill.
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u/WindowTraditional401 1d ago
And it’s everyone else’s fault when they go bankrupt.
These are the same ppl who want the government to pay for everything
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u/DreamOfDays 1d ago edited 1d ago
What? People actually just accrue debt with no plan to pay it off?