1. I knew someone who got a loan for their wedding, but decided to blow it all at a casino. Now they have a loan for 20k to pay off and nothing to show for it.
2. A coworker I used to have worked every second of overtime he could for several years to save up for a house. When he applied for the house loan, he based his mortgage payment on all of the overtime he had been working. I tried to tell him that wasn’t a good idea but he didn’t want to hear it. He ended up divorced a few years later because his wife got tired of him always working.
3. Had a co worker with 5 kids who could all go to USC for free once he has worked there for 15 years (even if he quit). He quit at 14.5 years for a job that barely paid more than he made at USC. Cost all 5 kids a free education at a top school since he couldnt wait 6 more months.
4. My supervisor took out a loan against their 401k to pay their rent because "their credit cards were maxed." Two weeks later, they bought a brand new 60k Lincoln with basically nothing down because "her daughter just had a baby and I need a bigger car for that."
5. My friend bought a used Hellcat Challenger yesterday at 10.5% APR and $380/mo insurance. He lives in my other friend’s spare room.
6. My roommate buys doordash almost every day. They’ll maybe cook for themselves once or twice a week but other than that they order food in 5-6 times a week. I know how much they make and I have not a clue how they can afford that
7. My brother’s ex fell for a Craig’s list scam. She found a motorcycle and the guy "needed money up front to pay bills" before she even saw it. We told her don’t do it, it’s a scam. She said she already sent $1000. Of course, he was never available to show her the bike and we found out from my brother after they broke up she actually continued sending him money in hopes of getting the motorcycle. I think she was out $3,000 by the end.
8. My (awful) aunt was the trustee for my grandparents’ estate. When they passed, she decided to sell their house to a random realtor who put a leaflet on the door. TO the realtor, not WITH the realtor. It wasn’t put on the market, and the aunt rejected a matching offer by me after I argued hard to actually list the house and have people bid on it. The realtor slapped a new coat of paint on it and sold it a couple of months later for literally a million dollars more than she bought it for.
9. A guy I dated for a short time had been joining a MLM scheme selling insurances. I listened to his monologue and told him I had no money. He was furious and tried to sell insurance to our waiter at the restaurant. He failed again. I’m still laughing today, he was no good guy.
10. My cousin spent 100% of her inheritance and took out a loan on her home to buy a 2nd home in the mountains… thing is it was being pushed over by a mountain…and they thought they could fix it… I went and seen it and every door jam was crooked and the doors wouldn’t shut.. They took me down into the basement and they were trying to use I beams to "stop the mountain from pushing on the home". I was just like "what the hell are you doing, that won’t solve anything" fast forward 6 months and they asked me for 50k to help and I declined. Fast forward a year and the home collapsed and now they owe over 300k+ for a home that doesn’t exist and if they don’t make the payments they lose their other house too because they used the original home as collateral and could not get insurance on the 2nd home..total money lost upwards of 700k
11. They won thousands of dollars and bought a new entertainment system instead of getting current on their mortgage. Foreclosed on later that year. The thing was, the area had recently become the new it area for young families, and housing prices had skyrocketed. They easily could have just sold the house, paid cash for a larger house 20 minutes up the road, and still had tens of thousands leftover.
12. I used to run heavy equipment in Virginia. I made $13.50 an hour. A guy on my crew was making $12.50 an hour. He purchased a 5 bedroom 3 bath 2500 sqft home for $425k He was the sole income for the household of 6 people. They talked him into an interest-only loan. 6 months later the housing market crashed he lost his job and lost the house. I tried to explain to him that an interest-only loan was a scam and he didn’t make enough to afford that house and 4 kids with a wife that didn’t work. I felt bad the next time I saw him and he was living in an RV on someone’s property.
13. Friend on diablo immortal is 50k in debt for an ego stroke
14. Pretending their debt didn’t exist
15. Had $800 in his bank total. Spent $784 on an airbnb for a single night to throw a party for his birthday when the owner said no parties. Lied to management at his job to throw it. Got kicked out of the Airbnb in 30 mins and fired from his job for lying. He was gas station clerk. Couldn’t get a refund either. "Bro I’m so broke, why does all this bad stuff always happen to me."
16. Seen someone sell their house and take out a much bigger mortgage to buy a pub that had failed 4 times in 3 years. It failed and they couldn’t sell. It bankrupted then and they lost everything
17. Passed on a full ride masters program at Stanford so she didn’t have to move away from her boyfriend.
18. Going broke keeping up child support payments to a cheating ex for a child that is likely not his. He saved enough for a DNA test. Bought a new iPhone instead. Will continue payments gor 18 years for a child he has never met, for a woman who never loved him.
19. Complains that they are 40k in debt. Buys Tesla.
20. I am a Realtor in Southern California. A couple took out almost 120k equity in their home to buy Lotto tickets. They thought with over 120k worth of lottery tickets, they would have a really good chance of winning. The biggest issue they had was trying to buy 100k worth of lottery tickets within the timeframe between drawings. Not only did they fail to buy 100k of tickets but they didn’t win the drawing either. What they did with the remaining money is anyone’s guess. People using their home equity for dumb purposes happens more often than I would like to admit.
21. An intern at our local wild animal rescue admitted she racked up $150K in student debt getting a degree that pays well below min wage. Our interns get a $1K/mo stipend, some food, and housing. No medical benefits. From what I understand, they’ll have to do that for a couple if years and then they might get a min wage job at a zoo. Mostly they end up getting a masters degree to become teachers.
22. Military dude married a girl 3 months after starting to hook up. He thought she had a good job because she liked expensive things. Turns out it was daddies money and cut her off when she married the dude. Dude went from kinda struggling to 70k in debt overnight. His wife was a massive bitch and refused to change her spending habits.
23. I watched a kid I worked with take a $20k heloc loan out on his house he planned to build a garage with. One of his friends hit for $15k playing black jack so he had the bright idea of he could double the money gambling he could build his garage for free and pay back the heloc. He lost every penny.
24. Had a friend who sold his house to move into a new one. The sale would essentially payoff his new one except for a hundred thousand dollars or so. But, because interest rates were so low, he decided instead to put the majority of it into crypto. The crypto crashed and it’s essentially worthless. Wasted over half a million on crypto and has nothing to show for it, or could have had a beautiful paid off house with all the equity.
25. I let a well respected guy in my industry but on the dealership side buy into one of my businesses. We had a fantastic first month and he made like 30k. He went out and got himself a 1600 dollar a month car payment. The next month wasnt so hot and he made 12 grand. He had to move his wife and 3 kids out of their home and and into his mother in laws house because he couldn’t afford his mortgage. He rented it out to someone on Craigslist who quickly decided to not oay him and squat. Amazingly stupid human being. He then decided he wanted to be bought out and buy his own shop. So i bought him out. He promptly bought the worst shop with astronomically high rent, hired two employees that we had fired and gave them big raises. He lost the shop after 2 months. Such an amazingly stupid human. One of the employees he rehired was actively suing our corporation for a disability claim. The truth is stranger than fiction.