Bad debt is the type of debt that most people have. It is where someone has built up an overdraft or spent a lot of money on a credit card and can hardly afford to pay back the minimum repayments each month. With a credit card, this means that it is likely you are only just paying above the interest amount and so it will take a very long time to pay back. With an overdraft you do not have to pay back any of the balance, just the interest, so the loan could just go on and on. Not being able to pay out the minimum, may mean that a new loan has to be taken out to help with those payments, this means that debt with increase and unfortunately this is pretty common. Despite the credit crunch, it is still fairly easy to borrow money and all too easy to get in to trouble for it. It does seem very easy to allow debts to get out of hand and so it is important not to borrow money without thinking about how you are going to afford to repay them. Many people do not realise how stressful it can be, being in debt and how much it can take over your life, if you do not keep it under strict control.