Poll Results: Debt-Free Forever?

I'm always flattered when I meet people who have taken my message to heart and are headed to Debt-Free Forever. And I like to check in from time to time to see how y'all are doin'. So I asked the question, "How's your debt?" Here's what you said:

18% said you're debt free. Congrats!
34% said you only have your mortgage left. You make me so happy.
And then there's the rest of ya:
11% of you go into overdraft every month. Why? Why are you doing this? Get a grip!
3% of you have a buy-now-pay-later. I hope you're planning to have that paid off in time.
3 people said they have a pay advance loan. Oy!
22% of you have a balance on your line of credit, and
30% of you have a balance on your credit card. But you're working to get these paid of PDQ, right? RIGHT?
20% of you are still paying off your student loans. But you're paying more then the minimum set by the student loan system so it won't take you a decade, right?

When I asked if you know how much interest you paid, 55% of you did NOT. So you're deluding yourselves because you're not adding up what all that debt is costing you. However, I do consider the 45% who have added it up to be a huge step in the right direction.

Sometimes I delve deeper into a particular area with a follow-up question. When I asked "Are you in overdraft?"

68% of you said NEVER. But that still leave 32%, which is higher than the previous poll reported.
8% said All the time
3% said Often… these two add up to the 11% above
21% said Sometimes… you guys are the ones who didn't say yes before… maybe because you use your overdraft so infrequently you don't consider it a problem.

Y'all know that you should check your credit rating a couple of times a year, right? When I asked, "When was the last time you checked your credit rating?" 34% of you said "never." Okay, so you just don't care? Maybe you're not using credit… hey, I'm all for that. And you never plan to use credit. Okay, you don't have to check your credit rating 'cos you don't have one and never plan on needing one. Everyone else, heads up. You need to know what your credit report says about you, and if all the info reported is true. 26% of you said you hadn't checked in over a year. What's stopping you?  You can do so for free once a year, so if you do Equifax in the spring and Transunion in the fall, you've got it covered. For the 40% of you staying on top of this, well done!

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