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HomeUncategorizedHow much debt do you have?

How much debt do you have?

I’m keeping it simple on this lovely Friday afternoon. I’m gonna ask a simple question and would LOVE it if ALL of you who read this, responded in the comments below. This is a great opportunity for you creepers that have never commented before to finally contribute 🙂 Ok, here’s the question….

How much debt do you have?

Booya. Nice and simple right? Just add up all debts you have (not including house) and post the total below. If you want to elaborate further, some additional questions are…

How many different debts do you have and what are there balances? (2 credit cards, 1 auto, 2 school loans, etc)?

What is the interest rate on each debt?

What was each accounts original balance?

When do you plan to be debt free?

Here are my answers…

Total Debt: $4,500 all student loan debt at 7% interest.

Original balance: $28,000 on (02/01/2008)

Debt Freedom: I will be debt free by 08/08/10

That’s all there is to it kiddos. I’m really curious to see what your balances are, not so I can compare myself to you, but so that WE can encourage eachother. Statistics say the average americans credit card debt is around $8,000. Will that hold true for PDITF readers? Indulge me please and take 5 minutes out of your day to respond.

Happy friday 🙂

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78 COMMENTS

  1. total debt: $7,099.98; $552 @ 8.99% interest (and on my pay-in-full cc, so no worries), $6547.98 @ 2.99% student loan

    original balance (when i started punching debt): $31,145

    debt freedom: not planning to overpay student loan anytime soon so prob. 2 years. could make it by the end of the year, but savings goals are tempting me now! what a complete change in mindset *that* is.

  2. Hi Ninja… Per your request:

    Total debt: None. I use credit cards that I pay off in full each month as I prefer this method to cash, but there's no debt associated with them.

    Original balance: Over the course of my life I've had $14,000 in student loans, $20,000+ in car loans, and $7,000+ in credit card debt.

    Debt Freedom: July 2008 when I paid off my car loan. 🙂

  3. 139K in debt between my wife (26) and me (30). Every penny is student loan debt. We've managed to pay off about 15K in the last year. Kind of overwhelming at times, but we are doing alright–between us we gross about 110K/year, and live in a lcol area, and maintain a pretty frugal lifestyle. We're socking a lot away each month in investments and savings. Once we have a bit more in our cash position and investment portfolio (probably around the end of this year), we are going to turn our attention toward really punching this debt in the face. Keep up the good work Ninja–reading the posts gives me a lot of ideas on managing the debt, and staying motivated.

  4. 10400 car loan @ 3.99%. Will be paid off by 7/2011. Original balance was 22500.

    8900 student loan @ 4.50. Will be paid off by 12/2010. Original balance was 12000.

    I am a 25 year old soon to be married male. She also has a car loan at 4.99% with a balance of 12500. We both have no credit card debt and have saved up an emergency fund of 20k (which is about 12 months expenses for us).

  5. Canadian Student Loans: 39 000, 7% interest (have just started paying)
    C.C. #1: 7600$, 11% interest (8300$ original balance)
    C.C. #2: 900$, 19% interest (1300$ original balance)

    CC#2 will be payed off in 3 months, and CC#1 in about a year (I hope!)…as for the student loan, well that's going to take a while on my income.

  6. We have about 95K in debt, of which 65K is my graduate school loan. 14K CC, 9K car loan, 4500 family loan. It's a mess. We've been sort of picking at it for a couple of years but didn't get intense until a couple of months ago.

  7. Debt to Dad for down payment and university: $525 0% interest (school was ~$8000 and down payment was $10,000 two years ago) will be gone next week =)

    Car Payment: $1,000 0% interest will be gone in August.

    Thats all of it except for the pesky mortgage.

  8. $0 Yay!
    Although that looks misleading to me considering we have a mortgage. I know you said not including the house, but we have a $234,000 mortgage at 4.5%. It was $285 when we bought 5 years ago and we plan to have it paid off in 10 years. That will be a fabulous day:)

  9. No credit card debt but…
    $38,000 in student loans, with two more years of law school to go.
    I cannot wait to start seeing that number go down instead of up.

  10. Total Debt:

    CC #1: $1700 – Started at 2560
    CC #2 $400 – Started at 1500
    CC #3 $0!!! – Started at 2300
    Car $20,221 – Started at 24,000
    Student Loans – $22,000 Started at 32,000

    Total = Too high. Hoping to be free of all but student loans in 12 months.

  11. Thank you for asking this painful question. I've only just started to get on track with this money stuff — my parents taught me to hold on to every penny I had, but not how to spend it wisely, and I have a bad reaction to low funds (which is to open a credit card and spend there!) — so this is a pretty distressing sight.

    Total debt: $37,080

    Split:
    Student Loans (a UC (1 year), a community college (1 year), UC Berkeley [2 years])
    $22k @ 5.875% (Federal student loans)
    $2400 @ 2.23% (Private student loan #1)
    $5500 @ 2.5% (Private student loan #2)

    Credit Cards
    $1800 @ 9.9%
    $4600 @ 20.24% (!!! That one made me physically cringe. Going to be calling about THAT one!)
    $900 @ 13.24%

    Much of the credit card debt comes from the period BEFORE my bipolar disorder was diagnonsed. That's what mania will do to you. By my current schedule, it will take me about 5 years to pay it all down. I am really, really looking forward to being debt-free by the time I'm 30!

    • I'm so glad you have gotten a diagnosis and are working to control your finances. Spending is a rarely discussed, barely touched on part of Bipolar disorder that cripples so many people. And thank you for sharing so openly! You are well on your way!!

  12. $6,079 in cc debt; $5420 of it is at 0.99%
    $51K in student loan debt at 3%

    cc debt will paid off this year
    Student loan… well, let's just say no time soon 🙁

  13. Student Loan1 – $20000
    Student Loan2 – $5000 (from family for Grad School – totally cool)
    CC – $2000

    Hubby and I make 135k combined – so hope to clear all of them in 2010

  14. i use credit cards as my main currency but i pay it off every month
    only debt is student: 24,000 at 5 percent interest

    🙂

  15. $18,000 Student Loan (Deffered for the year due to AmeriCorps program- aka National Volunteer Service)
    $4,500 Credit Card (Started at $5,500- been paying it off WHILE being paid at the poverty line and have not added)

    Debt freedom? Too far away, talk to me once I have a salary over $10,000 per year.

  16. wow this is hard to do but as of the beginning of April i have a total of $69,440.59. This is down from the $76,696.48 when i started the TMMO in October/November or last year. In april i had:
    2,922.50 on one CC
    10,052.30 on another CC
    8,854.01 on one studen loan
    28,056.43 on another student loan
    19,555.35 on a car loan
    The first credit card should be gone by the end of June 2010, the second CC should be gone by the end of April 2011, the small student loan should be gone by Nov. of 2011, and after that it is to far out to think about but i should be done with debt in 4 years i currently pay more than half of my incom towards debts… the moral of this story is dont by a big truck then a second big truck. that really hurt me and caused most of my problems

  17. Total: $27,836

    Student loan: $9k @ 5.75 (may pay this off this month).
    Truck loan: $18K @ 4.99, started at $27K.

    Paid off in the last year:
    CC balance: $14k @ 0% (thank you, 12mo balance transfer)
    HE loan: $40k (Boo hiss, failed business)
    Car loan: $9K

    Mortgage: $282k @ 5.125, started at $320K in 2003

  18. My Fiance and I are $64,545 in debt (not including my house)

    $14,180 Car Loan 6.23%
    $1,812 Credit Card 0%
    $48,553 Student Loans (ranging between 3.8% and 6.8% for undergraduate and masters degrees)

    I had no idea how long it will be until we are debt free… how should I figure that out? The car loan will be paid in 2 years probably, the credit card in 1… the student loans I have no idea! 10 years maybe?

  19. 4500 CDN @ 3.25% (remnants of a student loan)

    Not sure when I'm going to pay it off. It's scheduled to be paid off by July, but I could wipe it out right now with my tax refund.

      • Trouble is, I think I'd rather have cash on hand to deal with some major transitions coming my way this summer. We have a pretty sizable reserve fund stashed, but considering the loan is due to be paid off anyways by July… I flip-flop back and forth on this one all the time.

    • It occurs to me that I forgot to answer part of the original question! The debt was originally at 19k, at an interest rate of 7% (although it was a government student loan, they apparently like to fleece us!). 10k was paid off in 2 months after I volunteered to work in a war zone, the rest has been chipping down ever since.

  20. $31,966.48 in student loan debt, average interest rate of 4.95% (I've got seven student loans managed by three different companies – two federal, one private – with interest rates ranging from 3.25% to 6.8%). I'm not sure when this will be paid off. Ideally, as soon as possible, but my life plans are all over the place right now, so I'm going to beat the debt down while I've got the extra money now, while continuing to save in a "minimum payment fund" for times I won't be positive I've got guaranteed income.

    No credit card debt (I just made my last payment two days ago!) – I paid off about $11,000 in 19 months.

  21. Total Debt (not including mortgage)- $ 7,259
    Student Loans- $5,377 @ 3% Original balance- $6000
    CC- $430 @ 9% Original balance- $5000
    Medical- $1453 @ 0% Original balance- $1553

    Payoff Dates- My student loans are in deferrement since I am still in school, however I am not adding to them since we are paying cash for my tuition now, but hopefully will have them paid off by Dec.2011; The credit card will be paid off by this June; The medical will be paid off by this Dec or hopefully sooner.

  22. I am sure writing this out will be a shock.

    CC – Paid off monthly, so no debt
    School Loans (law school/MBA) –
    me: $19,775 at 6.8% and $40,000 at 0% (family loans)
    him: $45,000 probably at 3.5% (still finishing no additional debt will be taken out)
    Cars –
    me: none
    him: $650 (2 payments left)
    Wedding/Honeymoon this year (paying for ourselves) so we are not adding any debt but only making minimum payments at this time. Next year that will all change and we will agressively pay off the debt. We are in our mid to late 20's for reference and our combined income is 130K.

  23. How many different debts do you have and what are there balances? Only a credit card, but I pay off the balance each month.

    What is the interest rate on each debt? No idea, since I've never paid interest.

    What was each accounts original balance? N/A

    When do you plan to be debt free? Yesterday! 🙂

  24. I am in quite a mess but I won't bore you with the details. I have quit charging and am now on a good budget and trying to dig out of this hole with a spoon.

    $31,500 CREDIT CARD DEBT
    $ 6,500 CAR LOAN (which I got to consolidate debt but then charged on those cards)

    It's such a slow process and it's so hard sometimes but then again it can be fun when I make a game of it. Baby steps. I am happy I am at least going in the right direction now. I've learned a lot from your site and a few others. Can't believe I was never taught how to handle money buy anyone – not school, not parents, nothing. I don't understand it. Why don't schools or something teach this stuff? Everything you see in the media was just pushing me to spend and I didn't even know I had a problem. It's kinda like being a drug addict or alcoholic. I really did say I could stop at any time. I thought I had things under control.

    Thank you, Ninja. You've helped open my eyes.

  25. Credit card debt = $0
    Mortgage = about $24K left on my $87K co-op, 20 years into a 30-year loan at low adjustable rates.
    Car = just bought a new car two months ago, paid 1/3 down, about $16K at 3% interest with 4 years to pay.
    Otherwise, I owe about $2500 to two NYC galleries for original art pieces I'm buying; paying about $400 a month.

  26. total debt: $0. i've never really been in debt. sometimes this was dumb luck (college costs) and sometimes this was by choice (avoiding living beyond my means and lifestyle creep).

    my goal is sustainable early retirement by means of financial freedom.

    i subscribe because i like how you present personal finance with a twist of humor!

  27. 150k in student loan debt (55k at 9%, the rest is under 6.5% for now)

    10k in car debt
    betwen my fiance and I.
    I've been ignoring it for awhile since I've been unemployed for about 6 months. But I need to start paying attention to reality since we'll be running out of money soon

    • Depending on how long until I start working and how much of a salary cut I need to take, hoping to be debt free by YE2019 (Yikes!). Sure sucks compared to last year when I was hoping YE 2013. Time doubled ):

  28. 13,088 @7.5% = Car
    7,102 @ 1.88% = School#1
    0$=Credit Card
    0$=Mortgage (I rent)

    More School loans to come!
    I just finished paying off about 6,000 in Credit Cards in 15 months 🙂 I'm very pround!

  29. Debt: $0

    Debt free as of early 2009, when I paid off the last of my ~$7k student loan. Paid off a $10k car loan in September 2008.

  30. Total Debt: $9,854 car loan at 4.6% interest.

    Original balance: $17,635 on (05/08/2008)

    Debt Freedom: I will be debt free by 08/01/11

  31. Total debt $0.00
    The last big debt I paid off was 13k student loan in October. Since then, nothing but money in the bank 🙂

  32. Total debt other than mortgage: None (Yay)
    Credit card gets paid in full every month
    Mortgage debt: $24K

  33. How many different debts do you have and what are there balances? (2 credit cards, 1 auto, 2 school loans, etc)? We have a car loan with about $3,000 left on it.

    What is the interest rate on each debt? 2.9%

    What was each accounts original balance? about $20,000.

    When do you plan to be debt free? August

  34. 29 years old, single, make $40k/year.

    Original debt (8 months ago) = 25k student loans (7.25%), 5k car loan (7.25%).
    Debt today = 20k student loans
    Projected debt-free = 3/1/2012 (about 2.5 years total)

  35. Total debt: $11,180

    All student loan debt @ 5.25 %

    Original balance: 2 accounts at $18,500 in Aug. 2007

    Plan to be deft free: April 2014

    Sadly, I save away a lot, but start at such a low income, I'm not able to put as much to loans as I'd like.

  36. $7,426 total credit card debit, with $6,000 at 0% (recent balance transfer) and $1,426 at 6.71% (which will be closed out at final payment). Balance was well over $10,000 in January and I hope to have it paid off by February 2011, provided all continues as planned.

  37. I just found your blog a few weeks ago but I love it!

    Between my husband and I, here is our debt:

    $11,000 – his student loans – 1.5% interest
    $ 38,000 – my student loans – 3% interest

    We paid off both our cars last year and have no credit card debt. We're hoping to get our student loans paid back in the next two years. I really want this to happen b/c then we can think about having a baby (but not until we are out of debt, except for our house)!

  38. Total Debt: $27,516

    I have one large student loan on which I currently owe $15,688 @6.8%. My other student loan is "only" $4,028 @3.6%, and I have a car loan which has a balance of $7,803 @7.4%.

    Last year I paid off a personal loan (which I took out to pay off my credit card), which started at about $5,500 @17.99% and just this morning I paid off my Best Buy credit card, which had $1,014 @ 0%.

    So no more consumer debt for me!

  39. I have three debts not including my morgtate:
    Car Loan#1 $18,048 @4.9%
    Car Loan #2 $20,506 @4%
    CC # 1 $2,937 @ 15%

    So Far we have paid of a little over 8K in Credit Card debt and our last credit card will be paid off in less than 7 months. Yay! Then on to tackling the car loans.

    It feels like we will be in debt forever, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel!!

  40. My debt is $2100. I owe it to my family. 0% interest but I'm giving them an extra $100 as a thank you.

    My original debt was $32,000 in student loans.

    I plan to be debt free by December, likely earlier but I have a trip planned and a bunch of savings goals.

    However I also have little assets. I have an old car and live with my parents and am a supply teacher.

  41. sourceaprbal 4/1/10original
    CC 117.90%43315000snowballing now
    401k loan 16.00%1061000pd in full next week
    401k loan 24.25%17309555pd in full July 23
    CC23.99%27102900pd in full by May 2011
    Dad0.00%88009100paying $100 /month
    Brother0.00%20002000will pay in lump sum
    car7.25%89951192048th payment Feb 2013
    TOTAL2867241475

  42. A Line of credit with 2,300 in debt. at a rate of 17.5%

    The origional balance was almost 4,000 dollars
    And my current goal is to be debt free by the end of the summer (so mid to late august)

  43. CC#1 – $1479 @ 22.9% original balance $1700
    CC#2 – $2430 @ 9.9% original balance was about $5500
    CC#3 – $1330 @ 6.0% original balance was $4000

    All CC's will be paid off by June 2011.

    Then I have a leased car which I think I'm going to end up buying. If I don't I have to pay to get the windshield replaced and pay $.15 a mile for anything of 30K miles. I'll have about 10K more miles than I should. So I'm looking at about 2K to give it back (and then buy a used car) or 10K to buy it. What do I do people?

    Finally I have 19K in student loans @ 6.25% which I'm not even paying on until I get my CC's paid off.

  44. $0 !

    Long road to be here, but worth every second! My home mortgage is about $190,000. It's a short term mortgage and my goal is to pay it off sooner than that!

  45. CCs: None, originally $2500 at 13%-23%

    Student loans: $14,660, originally $17,300 at 2.2% to 6.8%

    I could probably pay these off before the end of the year if I didn't save as much, but I will be going back to school in fall 2011 to get my MBA so my focus is on saving for an emergency fund and school.

    My BF is going to law school this fall so he will likely have about $150- $200K when he's finished. When we get married in a few years, we could easily have about $250K in student loans between us (yay for private schools). Clearly, its going to be a while before we're debt free.

  46. $0

    We do use our CC but pay it off each month so I don't include that.

    We only have a home loan which will be gone when we sell the house at the end of the year. So we will be completely debt free for 12 months till we buy another house in Tasmania (going to rent first to make sure we like it).

  47. $0.

    Originally had $23K in student loans at 8%…and a $15K personal loan for a car that I bought from a family member. 0% interest

    Wow..these people with $150K in student loans..I hope they are making a ton of money. Loans were actually a deterrent for me to going to med school. I was too risk averse to be that much in debt.

    Been mostly focussing on paying off house mortgage while doing 20% in 401K. It's a pretty simplistic plan but it works.

    I won't consider myself debt free until the mortgage balance is gone.

  48. Total debt is about $40,000-All credit card. Interest rates range from 8.4% to 28%-Although I've been 'trying' to pay it off for years, this time I'm serious. Four years is the goal. I'm six weeks in and going strong.

  49. Mortgage definitely counts as debt. Why do so many people act like it is not?

    Our debt is our mortgage, around $97K and falling fast.

  50. […] Ninja over at Punch Debt always seems to be funny, witty and if he was not engaged i would totally set him up with my sister… if i had one.  My point is, he always writes articles i wish i had written, like his recent article on how much debt you have. […]

  51. Currently $25,000 all Sallie Mae.
    I started paying on it last September and I plan to be DEBT FREE by Dec. of this year. The starting balance was $50,000. Interest rate is between 2-6%.

  52. My husband and I just bought a new house and are moving next month. We are renting our old house to *gulp* a family member. The mortgages on the houses are our only debt.

    Old house: $30,000
    New house: $70,000

    We are snowballing and killing that $30K in just a few years and then our new mortgage. Probably get it all knocked out within 7-10 years, if we stay focused. We aren't making any money on the first house, just enough to break even.

  53. 0–my debt is 0. I've been out of debt since I paid off my student loans. We may get a mortgage someday, but I'm still talking things over with the husband on that.

    Um, where we're kind of sloppy, however is protecting our savings/emergency fund from inflation.

  54. Total Debt: $ 0
    Previous Debt: $12,000 on a LOC at 6.5%
    Time it took to pay it off: 19 months
    Was Debt-Free on: March 25, 2010 !!!

  55. 2 student loans $42,000 @ 0.65%, thats right less than 1%

    Two years ago we had $55,000 but we paid off the loan at 4.25%

    With so many things to save for and car loans to prevent paying off a debt at 0.65% makes no sense at all. Plus our mortgage is at 5.75%.

  56. $.0.00 is the answer to your question, but we are currently trying to pay off a $316K mortgage in 5 years. We are 20 months in and basically on track. Our balance is $233K

  57. In addition to the debt below, I have a credit card that I automatically pay off in full every month. I use it for all regular spending,because I earn reward points, so I consider it an extension of my bank account rather than debt.

    How many different debts do you have and what are there balances?
    I have only one debt, and that is my Student loan. However, I get the statements, and file them straight away. I'm not sure when I last got a statement, let alone how much it was for.

    What is the interest rate on each debt?
    Right now, it is zero percent, as the interest rate is subsidised by the UK government. In general, it is always going to be lower than the amount I would earn on savings in a high interest account, such as an ISA.

    What was each accounts original balance?
    I don't know the exact amount off the top of my head, but £15k+

    When do you plan to be debt free?
    I don't. An income related amount comes out of my paycheck every month before I even get it. There isn't a simple procedure in place for paying off early, and with the interest rates so low, no real incentive to do so.

  58. Current non-mortgage debt:

    $28,500 for Hubby's subsidized student loans (currently at 2.5%, which is awesme but doesn't really matter yet since they're not accruing interest). We're shoveling money back now so that 6 months after he graduates we can deliver that lethal punch in the face. We've been living on my income for the past 3 years so it shouldn't be a problem to put his entire paycheck towards it.

  59. CC #1: $1k paid off each month
    CC #2: $750, 0%, original balance was $2400
    Car #1: $870, 0%, original balance was $25k (TWO MORE PAYMENTS)
    Car #2: $14K, 2.9%, original balance was $28k (will probably start doubling up on payments on this one)

  60. How many different debts do you have and what are there balances? 1 credit card at about $500, and a car loan that is sitting at roughly $8,000.

    What is the interest rate on each debt? My credit card is 18.5% but I pay it off in full each month, and have never missed a payment. My car loan interest rate was 9% but has since dropped to 8% in the past year.

    What was each accounts original balance? My car loan was for $13,000. This August will mark two years, of my four year term. But I am dropping extra cash on it… a lot of extra cash…so I can have it paid off by this September when I go back to school. Who wants to worry about car payments while in school? NOT I.

    When do you plan to be debt free? September 2010.

  61. Debts: between my husband and I, a student loan for about 21k at about 1.5% interest. The original balance was 28k.

    In the past two years, we paid off a car loan balance of about 7k at 7.2%, and 16k on my student loan at 7%.

    We really don't plan to pay off my hubs student loan early, because the interest rate is SO low.

  62. Debt: $0 as of April 26th, 2010
    Original Balance: $13.5k @ an average of 15% interest on March 1st, 2009.

    It was a tough year, basically went without savings for the year outside of 10% to retirement. Did make a $4000 home entertainment purchase halfway through but it has helped to lower other costs (not going out to dinner/movies) and provided incentive for going to work everyday rather than just kicking debt. Used the highest interest method and whacked a $6500 BoA balance than defaulted to 27% due to a change in limit while I was abroad and told to go screw myself by their management. I also leveraged 0% interest for 6 months offer from Citi as soon as it would fit within my limit which they raised substantially when I offered to move all of my accounts to them. They made a bit of money on my existing balance while I took huge chunks out of the transfers (lowest interest balance was still in effect) but I saved a ton from the BoA and Amex cards.

  63. I guess this will be good for the soul or some nonsense like that. Deep breath, here goes.

    This is where we started in February when I did a debt snowball worksheet. So there is a plan.

    RTO-275 paid in full 4/16/10
    Misc debt-322 no interest will be paid 5/21/10
    CC#1-375, 29% int.
    CC#2-475, 29% int
    CC#3-585, 29% int
    Misc debt-630, 0% int
    CC#4-1264, 21% int
    CC#5-1500, 15% int
    CC#6-2400, 29% int
    Loan-4800, 6% int
    School loan-6500, 6% int
    Truck loan-10,900 19% int
    Loan-14300, 0% int

    Total-44,326

    If we can stick to 'the plan' we should be debt free other than our house in less than 5 years.

    It looks really bad when you put it all out there like that. I think I might not put my name on this.

  64. Uff! All student loans for DH's B.A. & my law degree.
    $50k @ 5.5% – currently $45k
    $50k @ 6.8% – just started paying, currently $49k
    $5k # ?% – currently $3k
    $4k @ 0% – currently $2,275
    $12k – paid off
    $12k – paid off

    Paid off – in 10 years since we continue to save too; the $4k will be paid off in 2.

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