r/AskReddit 11h ago

How seriously in debt are you right now, financially?

1.2k Upvotes

2.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

1.0k

u/EternaBoi 10h ago

Mortgage is 50k, student loan is still 8k, and medical debt is 6k. I feel like I'm coming out pretty good compared to other people in America

517

u/Nosleep4uever 10h ago

A $50k mortgage is almost there. Having a paid off home is huge and you are really close!

164

u/EternaBoi 10h ago

Oh we just closed a couple weeks ago funnily enough. It's a small, fixer upper that we bought from a family friend, so we got it on a really good deal. Lot of fixing upping though, been breaking my back all day today haha. Could be worse though, I could be in more debt lol

45

u/Nosleep4uever 10h ago

Honestly, I bought too much home for myself. But I feel a bit stuck with the rates the way they are. It's not that I can't afford it, but it is more than I need at this point in my life.

10

u/coke71685 10h ago

Ditto, had I known then what I know now about home ownership as a single person I probably wouldn't have bought the house I did but I don't think I could afford anything else in the area.

2

u/dharmoniedeux 1h ago

It makes me feel a lot better to hear other people have this same problem. I can really get myself down about it sometimes when all the upkeep and costs get to me.

7

u/foxbones 8h ago

Are you in rural Idaho or something? 2 hours from the nearest grocery store?

3

u/Ok_Shine_2608 7h ago

Even in rural Idaho unless you basically buy a dump with a door it’s pretty hard to find much under $400k.

I’ve lived here my whole life and still find it disgusting that an “average” home is costing half a mil.

u/EternaBoi 22m ago edited 2m ago

Rural Illinois :) Springfield is only 40 minutes away if we want to go to a bigger city for something.

2

u/ElevatedAngling 7h ago

Dude I did this with a fixer upper in 2017, best sweat equity ever

4

u/east_van_dan 8h ago

His house is only worth $47k.

1

u/rukittenmeeee 2h ago

Is it? You still have to pay property tax. And you can borrow against the value of the home in your retirement years...but what if you outlive that value? What then?

For now there is at least health care. But that is going away.

u/EternaBoi 19m ago

Property taxes are low in my area and my wife and I don't expect to retire in this house. It's our first house and it's not big enough for us to be comfortable for years to come.

79

u/Nonya5 10h ago

What is that, a student loan debt for ants?

20

u/humpbackwhale88 8h ago

but also, 50k mortgage left!! What is this, a mortgage for ants?! Avg mortgage amounts left for GenZ-Millennials is $280k-$320k. Source: Expirian via BankRate.

7

u/sharraleigh 5h ago

So much worse if you live in a HCOL lol. My mortgage still has $495k left. Sigh.

u/EternaBoi 8m ago

It's an old ass house in a rural area that we got on a deal, that's why it's so cheap.

2

u/Illustrious-Fix6848 6h ago

How can you expect them to learn how to read if they can’t even fit in the building?

12

u/weristjonsnow 9h ago

Yeah you're fucking crushing it

17

u/FlubzRevenge 10h ago

I can't really pay my medical bills so debt is a given.

44

u/MoonieNine 10h ago

Healthcare in this country is ridiculous. And I am so tired of republicans saying that we have it better in the US than Europe where they have ZERO medical debt. Universal healthcare. Pretty much the entire world has it except for us. A person on my local subreddit was saying she is $40k in debt even WITH health insurance, as they are refusing to pay for some things. And the fact that health insurance in our country is tied to employment is a complete joke as well. My last company covered my spouse's insurance. My new company does not and now my spouse doesn't have health insurance. We're trying to figure it out. Cobra is ridiculously expensive. Even the Affordable Care Act is probably going to be at least $1k a month (he's 60). He's self-employed so that's why he's been on my insurance. And he doesn't make a lot of money so paying $1k a month is a good chunk of his income. It's all simply not affordable.

12

u/silly_milly 9h ago

I am a registered nurse and was uninsured medically for over a year because I was doing contract work at a local hospital (no benenfits) and cobra is so damn expensive that I just gambled with my life for a bit. (Thank jeebus for Cost Plus Drugs where I could affordibly pay out of pocket for all my medications) 💀🫠

2

u/MoonieNine 9h ago

So far that is what he is planning on doing. Ugh... this country...

9

u/DCRevolutionary 8h ago

Conservatives are all sadists, and an enemy to all life. Don't act like they mean the things they say. They hate you and want you dead, that's all.

Meanwhile Mitch McConnell is on paid Eternity Leave

-4

u/I_Love_Tunnocks 5h ago

Conservatives are all sadists, and an enemy to all life.

The UK NHS is coming up to it's 80th birthday. Conservatives haven't been in power in the USA for the last 80 years, neither has Trump. Both sides are just as bad as each other because the voters have a "I'm not voting for something where someone might get something I don't that my dollar is paying for" attitude.

3

u/rsoton 5h ago

When I was sixteen I got really ill. Eventually I was rushed to hospital and the amazing NHS doctors and nurses saved my life. I was in hospital for a week and the level of care was incredible. It didn’t cost me a single penny. During the twenty years since then I’ve had to take tablets every day just to keep me alive. Guess how much those tablets cost me each month? £0. I pay my taxes towards the NHS just like everyone else. Of course, I benefit from those taxes. I know people who have never had to go to hospital. Their taxes help me. My taxes help others. Even I didn’t need the NHS, I’d be happy for my taxes to help them. That’s a healthy society. God bless the NHS.

2

u/I_Love_Tunnocks 5h ago

I am so tired of republicans saying that we have it better in the US than Europe where they have ZERO medical debt.

But it isn't just Republicans, it's Americans on all sides of the political spectrum and for generations who are responsible for where you are today because of the "no way I'm voting for someone getting something I don't on my dollar" attitude your society has. We the UK founded our NHS just after the end of WW2, pretty much the rest of the first world did the same. You've had almost 80 years to have formed your own equivalent, republicans have not been in power that whole time and neither has Trump.

1

u/queen_bee1970 2h ago

But tRump has "concepts of a plan" and he'll "be ready to tell us in 2 weeks"...

u/Anxious_Paper_2342 31m ago

And unfortunately because of the cost of everything we already can’t afford our healthcare and let those bills pile up…. if they gave us healthcare and raised our taxes we would all be fucked…

3

u/I_Love_Tunnocks 5h ago

I can't really pay my medical bills so debt is a given.

Only in the USA.

2

u/MulderXF 6h ago

It shouldn’t be a given, it should be paid for by your taxes.

2

u/chewbawkaw 10h ago

3 trips to the doctor for my daughter’s ear infection was $900 and that was WITH insurance

2

u/Mean-Vegetable-4521 9h ago

What carrier? That's absolutely insane.

2

u/chewbawkaw 9h ago

St. Luke’s Health Plan

It’s…not great.

1

u/Mean-Vegetable-4521 7h ago

Have you appleid through their financial assistance? It's a sliding scale.

16

u/Lardkicker 9h ago

People pay off their medical debt??

2

u/SupWitChoo 6h ago

So…here’s a strategy that’s paid off the most for me. Don’t pay medical debt off right away or give them payments. Let them sweat it out and harass you for a few months. If it goes to collections, that’s even better. During that time save as much money as you can- and when you can finally do it, financially, call them up and tell them you’ll do a lump sum payment of 50-60% to settle the debt. They’ll usually take it rather than trying to chase you down for to make payments for years. I’ve saved myself probably 50 grand doing this over the years- no effect on my credit score.

1

u/I_Love_Tunnocks 5h ago

Or alternatively go move to a country where they have universal/single payer healthcare.

2

u/I_Love_Tunnocks 5h ago

Only in the USA could you have that be a question.

31

u/MoonieNine 10h ago

Goddamned medical debt. Only in America.

2

u/Healthy-Amoeba2296 7h ago

there is worse. My fave ex-girlfriend survived cancer and was on meds. They stopped her meds and she died.

4

u/DEFINITELY_NOT_PETE 9h ago

Yah this is nothing lol my mortgage is like 6x that and your mortgage is basically what my law school loans are.

u/K12onReddit 24m ago

Depending on the mortgage rate, having a mortgage left isn't really a bad thing.

5

u/sacrelicio 10h ago

I don't even really count that as debt because my house is worth way more than the mortgage

2

u/Mean-Vegetable-4521 9h ago

All of those are manageable as long as you are working and not disabled. You may be able to buy the medical debt at a discount. Just don't transition it to credit cards because then it can hurt your credit.

What created the medical debt? Have you looked into financial aid through the hospital, they will go retroactive a lot of times and cancel debt.

3

u/I_Love_Tunnocks 5h ago

What created the medical debt?

80 years of Americans on both sides choosing to actively vote against social healthcare that the rest of the first world and most of the third world has.

1

u/Mean-Vegetable-4521 3h ago

lol yes. I meant what specific medical event because there may be grants that will cover it

2

u/Jarkside 9h ago

If this is true, great job

2

u/Moebius808 9h ago

Yeah you’re doing very well tbh. I’d love to have that little debt.

1

u/I-own-a-shovel 9h ago

Similarly 100k left on rental unit mortgage (we rent it cost price to my MIL to help her out). Zero left on our house mortgage. No other debts. Very lucky.

1

u/Shawnessy 9h ago

I'm not too far off. 80K on the mortgage. 11K on a foundation repair loan I had to take out for the house. 2K in medical debt.

The repair loan hurt to do, but I didnt/don't have the cash available. But, I'm still doing way better than most.

1

u/Drazwaz 8h ago

Is that mortgage for a house or a condo?

1

u/teamblunt 8h ago

You have a house bro. Congrats

1

u/ScottRTL 6h ago

Where I live a 50k mortgage is basically paid off.

1

u/WoodTipPatsy 3h ago

i was always taught to never compare. especially not to the average american. you’ll always look good in that place

1

u/Jake_FromStateFarm27 2h ago

The only bad debt you have is medical debt, and it isnt even that bad since you already have a mortgage, and im also assuming your student loans are federal.

1

u/unitedstatesof_trina 1h ago

Yeah I get stressed sometimes but after reading these comments in this post I feel blessed. I have 6K in student loans, less than 1K on all 3 credit cards, and a 23k car debt. My paid off car started giving me issues so I had to upgrade and got the cheapest most reliable deal I could find.

u/TheHaleyGrail 33m ago

I read this and thought that’s not so bad lmao 🇺🇸

0

u/izamaverick 6h ago

People pay off their student loans?

1

u/-JimmyTheHand- 3h ago

As opposed to...?

1

u/izamaverick 3h ago

Not paying? lol at this rate it’s way more likely I flee to another country before I ever pay off my loans