Debt - how did you fall into debt?

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Forum -> Household Management -> Finances

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amother

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 6:57 am

I’m curious.
Not talking mortgage and car payments.
Was it irresponsibility or a crazy life circumstance?

amother

Whitesmoke

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 6:59 am

amother OP wrote:

I’m curious.
Not talking mortgage and car payments.
Was it irresponsibility or a crazy life circumstance?

We accumulated debt with major loss of income, but we had an intentional plan for paying it off with future large one time income.

amother

Pear

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 7:51 am

The year our child was diagnosed with a mental health condition. Psychiatrists, therapists, etc...all mostly out of pocket.
BH we got out of debt, but it took time. And BH child is doing great. It was worth the costs.

amother

Fern

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 7:54 am

Bh not personal experience, but in the US, th number one cause of personal bankruptcy is medical bills.

amother

Purple

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 7:56 am

Costly house repair that the insurance was supposed to pay for but didn't.

NotLazySusan

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 7:58 am

Psychiatry and therapy

amother

Copper

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 8:01 am

Cancer diagnosis

mikayla18

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 8:03 am

People have college debt alot and yes agreed with above poster- #1 is medical/health

amother

Sapphire

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 8:06 am

Isn't the answer the same for everyone? More going out than coming in. And I believe in more cases than not it's not from reckless spending but simply having needs beyond income level.

amother

Dodgerblue

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 8:21 am

saphire there's a difference between not earning enough to cover your expected costs like mortgage and G-d forbid getting diagnosed for cancer and all of a sudden needing to pay all this money out of pocket.

amother

Red

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 8:26 am

Tuition!!!!!!!! I paid tuition with my CC because we didn’t have the funds . As the interest grew the more we owed the less we could pay the CC and it put us into years of CC debt.

amother

Canary

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 8:28 am

We both have college debt. I have about $30k

Other than that, for me it was a major car repair I couldn’t cover - 2k loan taken out against the car (paid cash for it originally)

And about 2k credit card debt over several years of not being able to make ends meet and overdrafting my bank account. It would balloon in bad times, I’d be able to pay some down, then hit another rough patch and it would get big again. I’ve never had a physical card to use so it’s not like I’m using it at stores - the credit account is specifically a backup for my checking so it’s often autopay bills that end up on the card.

amother

Azure

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 8:44 am

What do u mean it’s easy to understand. Lucky you that you can’t understand this. We put tuition, gas, food, diapers, toilet paper etc Dentist, copays, deductibles on the credit card and couldn’t pay it off every month and now with the interest we are 20,000 in credit card debts. We pay a few hundred a month and will take years to pay it off

amother

Nemesia

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 9:17 am

amother OP wrote:

I’m curious.
Not talking mortgage and car payments.
Was it irresponsibility or a crazy life circumstance?

Not being born into money

amother

Aquamarine

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 9:23 am

Living a frum lifestyle with kids is unbelievably expensive. You need to earn several hundred thousand annually to have a mid sized or large family. That’s not a normal salary expectation - earning that much is rare. So a large part of our community is in debt.

amother

Seafoam

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 10:03 am

First Infertility
Then Dh illness
When I thought we were finally on stable ground in both areas bh with a solid plan to pay off the debt, I unexpectedly lost my job.
It's been 4 years and we're still in debt. Bh we can both work now but it Wil take a lot to dig us out.
And yes, I have some cleaning help. I'm not going to lose my life to being overwhelmed and not coping because of circumstances that were beyond my control.

amother

Lightblue

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 10:54 am

Getting a masters in speech (94k).
Husband being in yeshiva up until we got married with no vocational training, started training the year we got married and took 2 years to learn the trade. Started his business 6 months ago and not making alot yet. But BH getting more clients now.

Tearing so badly during my first that I needed to go for corrective surgery and pelvic PT that wasnt covered by insurance.

BH we are making our way out debt slowly now. Married a couple of years with 2 babies.

Not sure how we will ever ever buy a house. Speech doesnt make much and I dont know how Ill pay back my loans when I make less than a secretary does

chocolate moose

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 1:32 pm

student loans and credit cards.

amother

Mint

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 2:14 pm

We were scammed.

amother

Midnight

Fri, Mar 31 2023, 2:31 pm

amother Sapphire wrote:

Isn't the answer the same for everyone? More going out than coming in. And I believe in more cases than not it's not from reckless spending but simply having needs beyond income level.

This. People look down at those who have debt And there is a lot of shame in it. But it's not always about being reckless

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