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Truly debt free - owe no one nothing at all.
On the Dave Ramsey show people call in and do the "debt free scream" if they still have a mortgage but have paid off everything else.
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We currently have no debt aside from a small amount currently on our credit card. (Everything else was wiped in in 2012.) And it's only there because we are trying to build credit in order to qualify for a mortgage this fall. Our SUV is also a 2007, so it's only a matter of time before we have car payments again. Hopefully we'll be in a house then since our mortgage will be less than we're paying for rent and we will be able to budget a car payment.
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When people say they are "debt free" I assume they mean everything other than a mortgage. It's not a question of secured vs unsecured, it's just that having a mortgage is so common and makes financial sense for most people, that getting rid of it would be too significant to be a requirement of being considered debt free.
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This is interesting. I had no idea people used the term debt free when they still had mortgage debt! That makes so much more sense now on why everyone wants to be "debt free." My goal has never been to be "debt free" because I always thought that meant literally NO DEBT WHATSOEVER and I see a mortgage as good low-rate debt which I have little interest in paying off early.
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For me owing nothing excluding the mortgage. We live in CA where houses are pricey, and if you buy low and sell high, its more like an investment than a debt, at least to me. That and we will likely have a mortgage for the next 25 years :(.
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Debt free to me means no debt at all. No mortgage, no student loans, no car payment, no CC debt, etc.
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To me debt free means consumer debt free.
Investment debt is a different creature.
I. Personal mortgage on a primary residence = consumer debt. But mortgages on property that generate income would not count for me. Especially if that can be transferred to a corporate entity later on.
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@stiletto_mom: I think a personal mortgage is consumer debt, too. All it takes is a major housing slump or interest rates rising and then housing prices go down. If it's not paid off, people are financially vulnerable to the housing market, to death/illness/divorce/loss of income (unless they have the money elsewhere that they could pay it off in a lump sum if needed).
We have a personal primary mortgage and I totally consider it debt. For us, it's necessary debt...but still debt.
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To me it means everything but a mortgage. Mostly because with housing prices being what they are in most places, I can't imagine anyone not insanely wealthy under the age of like 50 without a mortgage.
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@Anagram: yes. I've included a personal mortgage as debt. But investment mortgages I wouldn't could personally.
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To me it means having $0 debt. Hopefully we will have student loans and credit card bills paid off within 5 years. We plan to purchase our next cars cash or with 2 year loans (which is no time soon). We will not be completely debt free for a while since our house is fairly new and we have a 30 year mortgage.
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I usually say we're consumer debt free, since we have nothing but a mortgage. But I would consider someone debt free if they had a positive net worth, even if they had a mortgage.
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No loans, no mortgage.
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@yoursilverlining: we are far from insanely wealthy, but we would still like to have our mortgage paid off by the time we are 50! Probably not much before though haha
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@Mrs. Lion: come to think of it, I'll have my mortgage paid off at 50 too (only because we refi'd to a 15 year term!), so maybe 50 wasn't a great example number
but when down payments are $75k+ in my area (and much more in other places!), I don't know anyone in their 30's or 40's without a mortgage who isn't very, very wealthy - that's why I keep mortgage separate in my mind since it seems so insurmountable! -
I'd say debt free is no loans, including mortgage. But I think it makes more financial sense in a lot of cases to carry a mortgage versus paying rent.
Consumer debt-free is another story. Next month we're paying off our car and our mower/snowblower and I'm very excited :).
but when down payments are $75k+ in my area (and much more in other places!), I don't know anyone in their 30's or 40's without a mortgage who isn't very, very wealthy - that's why I keep mortgage separate in my mind since it seems so insurmountable! 
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