Cooking The Books

Each week the NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB's Cooking The Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's the techniques used by ordinary people to pay off big debt. Hosted by Frances Cook.Most of us know that debt isn't good, but it's shocking how normalised it has become to use it anyway. Any time you use debt, you're paying extra money to get the same thing, because of the pesky interest rates you'll be charged. It can quickly spiral out of control, with some people building up tens of thousands on the credit card. Meanwhile, house prices have gone so high, you can build up a mortgage so big, it feels like paying it off is the same as summiting Everest. Amongst this though, there's a backlash. The debt-free movement is a group of people who want to get rid of every dollar of debt in the shortest time possible. Even if that debt is hundreds of thousands of dollars. They've had enough. They're willing to sell things, take on extra work, and put every spare dollar into that debt to get it gone. Happ