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After taking out loans to pay off scammers, Katrina is now wary of talking to strangers online

18 September, 2023/in Other

Katrina and her son Dan were caught in a scam a few years ago. They took out personal loans to give to people they met online.

Eventually, they were stuck with substantial debts that they couldn’t pay off.

“There were two people living overseas who both asked for lots of money. I used my credit cards and talked my son Dan into helping as well. We were promised large amounts of money. It’s a stupid thing.

“I asked the banks for personal loans, but I didn’t give a reason why I needed these large amounts of money.

“I felt that I couldn’t speak to anybody about it because I felt so ashamed, at my age to be conned into giving lots of money to people and then expecting to get something out of it.

Katrina was referred to Way Forward by CommBank.

“I got involved with Way Forward because I was having trouble in making the repayments for the credit cards, as well as the Commonwealth Bank and the ANZ loans that I had taken out.

“It got too much so we stopped giving the scammers money, but I still had these loans and these credit cards to pay off.

“We never got anything back from the scam.”

It’s easy to fall prey to scams

Katrina says that the scam began with a person sending her a message on WhatsApp and said their name happened to be the same as Katrina’s.

“I thought we had become friends.

“The woman told my son Daniel to pay money to different people all over the world. She said this will help them to pay something off, and they promised to give it back.

“We became suspicious because they constantly asked for money and promised that we were going to get money back, always after one more payment. This went on and on so Daniel decided to stop paying money.

“In the beginning, I was wanting to be friends with everybody because that’s my nature. Then, my sons warned me that I cannot be friends with everybody. Now I’m extremely wary.

If somebody on Facebook or Instagram asked me to be friends with them, I now think that I don’t know this person, and I delete. I don’t want to be friends with anybody because of what I had put my son and myself through.

“It was all because I wanted to be friends with people.”

Completing a debt repayment plan

“Every week when I received my pay, I would leave aside the amount of money to contribute to my repayment plan with Way Forward, which was $81.07.

“I always made sure that the money was there and that it was never going to be touched because I didn’t want to miss a payment. I wanted to finish paying it off all together.

“I started in 2020 and finished last week.”

Katrina says that now she budget’s every week and it’s made easier by having paid off her debts.

“I get paid once a week from my job from Coles. From my wages, I work out how much to put money aside for bills or petrol or insurance, then use what I need for those expenses from a smart access account. Then, whatever money I do not use, I put that into a net saver and that money will build up every week.

“Since my husband died nine months ago, my son and I are living by ourselves, so we pay the house bills.”

“Then, when I need to utilise the money in that net saver account for things like car repairs or bills, then I shift it from one account to the other. When the money I’ve saved is gone, I start saving again and transfer money to the net saver.

Katrina says that her future is looking better.

“I promised myself that I would never get into that bad situation again. I’m going to make sure that everything will work out this time, a lot better than it has in the past.

“The Way Forward team are very kind. I could not have done this all without assistance from Way Forward. I can’t speak highly enough of them.

“If you’re in the same situation as me, you must get out of it, try asking for help and support somewhere.”

I was buying Visa gift cards with Afterpay to afford groceries, because the credit card payments were swallowing up everything I earned

12 September, 2023/in Stories

Marie has lived in Perth for 12 years after relocating from the UK for her work.

She’s always been employed but around COVID, she suffered a pay cut when she was moved into a lower paid position. Her husband’s work has been patchy, and being a tradesperson in a state that is particularly vulnerable to economic downturns, experienced long periods of unemployment.

Added to this, one of their children was diagnosed with a disability at age seven, which meant paying for extensive therapy.

They ended up using credit cards constantly.

“It got to a point a couple of months ago where I realised we’re just drowning in debt. Every time I got paid, I could only pay minimum payments at hefty amounts on a number of credit cards.

“One of my credit card companies wouldn’t allow me to stay on a repayment arrangement, so recommended I look at financial counselling.

“I explained my situation to the counsellor. It’s quite tough putting all that out on the table because you feel like you’ve failed.

“Thankfully, they put me in touch with you guys because, given you’re a charity, I wasn’t charged setup fees.”

“Whilst I’m on a fairly good salary and had good credit rating, lenders were offering cards with very high limits and not explaining the implications.

There’s a lot of jargon in the agreements that are difficult for even a reasonably well-educated person to understand, so you just accept the terms.

“I know what a credit card is, what it does and know how to use it, but you don’t think about the implications of the interest, even though it is there on the statements.

“The only lender that allowed me to start on a payment arrangement for an extended period of time was Citibank, which is where my biggest debt was, but I ended up having to use the card again.

“Some companies were not helpful, in particular, the big banks. There was a lack of flexibility, particularly from ANZ and Westpac.

Way Forward offered a plan

Marie has always tracked her expenses using a spreadsheet.

“I’ve knew what was coming out when and pay utilities bills, but the amount of credit card debt we had meant that after paying the minimum repayments, what was left over got smaller and smaller.

“This meant there was never enough to pay for everything.”

Marie has been working with Debra from Way Forward, who was in contact with Marie constantly to help her through the process.

“Debra was phenomenal right from the word go.

“We would schedule a call and talk through the budget planner, why it was important to think about all my expenses so that we could get into a point that hopefully lenders will accept an arrangement.

“Without that preparation, through those discussions with her, I would have shortchanged myself a lot.

“She was clear that I should be mindful of all expenses, not just monthly, but those annual expenses too so that I don’t get caught out again.

“The meant that I wasn’t just thinking about here and now but that this is a five-year commitment, and whether, after I’ve paid off my debts, that I might get into debt again because I didn’t budget for all my expenses.

“We don’t need to eat out all the time or go to the cinema but that we should budget to do those things infrequently to make sure that we’re allowing ourselves enough for those reasonable expenses.

“I’ve been really impressed with Way Forward, getting me through, also emotionally. Making sure that I’d really considered every angle was fantastic.

“I’m just so thankful and grateful that organsations such as yours exist.”

BNPL made debt problems much worse

“I was going into Big W buying a Visa gift card with Afterpay to buy groceries, because the credit card payments were swallowing up all their disposable income. And also paying the gift card handling fees.

“It’s gut wrenching because I had to get a gift card to pay for the shopping. The kids knew so they didn’t want to ask for anything because they didn’t feel there’s enough money.

Marie’s advice is simple: “Put aside enough each month for those small and unexpected things and use a separate account, just to make sure that doesn’t get touched.

“Think carefully about using credit facilities, and the accumulation on your life. Looking back, I would have made different decisions about what we spent our money on.

“Just making sure that, regardless of your situation, you have some sort of mechanism save and make more budget friendly choices.”

Life on the farm as a working parent and main breadwinner meant Laura needed to deal with their debts or be overtaken by them

31 July, 2023/in Stories, Reduced income, Illness or disability

Laura and Darren’s money problems started when Darren fell ill a couple of years ago and could only work on and off.

The family was carrying a significant amount of credit card debt and that meant when their income was reduced, at times, to one, their ability to even get close to staying on top of their debts was gone.

“My husband has probably only worked about two and a half months in total this year just because of illness. He has no sick leave left and has dipped into long service leave to take the time off.”

Added to this, Laura and Darren are primary producers. But with four bad droughts over the last few years, most of their income has gone to feeding their livestock.

“We had to utilise credit cards to feed our family and pay our bills, because all our other income was going on trying to keep the bank from repossessing our farm and keeping our animals alive.

“We can’t let our animals suffer so we suffer financially as a result.

“We thought we were starting to get back on track and that our cattle were worth money again, but another drought hit and the whole cycle just continues.

“Luckily, at that stage we weren’t in mortgage debt but still had these credit cards that kept growing. We couldn’t keep up with the interest repayments.

“We were spending $2,600 a week just on grain and $1,000 a month on silage for our cattle and when my husband’s only earning $3,200 a month, it doesn’t get you very far.

“You feel like you’re the worst person in the world because you can’t meet your requirements to pay back your credit card debt, but you needed those funds available at the time.

“You can see yourself spiralling further into a dark hole that you’re not going to be able to get out of.”

Now that Laura and Darren are on a Way Forward debt repayment plan, they can make repayments on one income – Laura’s.

“Those five credit card companies ringing and harassing you; having that pressure off and knowing everything’s taken care of and that all the accounts are closed.

“Knowing that chapter is almost closed is a nice feeling.”

Life on the farm

Laura explains that it is common in the farming community for people to be running at a major loss all the time.

“You could sell everything up. But we like being able to deliver a good quality product for Australians to eat. We’re proud of our product.

“I’ve always worked, and my husband has always worked both on the farm and full time as a plumber.

“However, there’s no way we can both be full time on the farm because the income is not there.

“My husband is a fifth generation cattle farmer, so he doesn’t want to let that go.

“My in-laws live next door, and they are in a very similar situation. At one stage, their overdraft was up to $750,000, they were living was off this.”

Overcoming barriers to asking for help

Laura says that she and Darren needed to put aside their feelings of pride to ask for help.

“You don’t want to admit defeat. But emotionally and for your family’s wellbeing, it gets you down and affects your relationships.

“The biggest thing I would say to people is, don’t feel ashamed about the situation you’ve got yourself in.

“Particularly people from rural communities, we’re quite resilient and we don’t ask for help. We’re stoic, keep our heads down, and keep going.

“We don’t like to admit defeat or put our hand up to ask for help.

“But don’t be afraid to just get information and see what you think, because your situation might be improved.”

Adapting to new circumstances

“At the moment, I’m studying and working so hopefully I can earn a higher income and provide more money for our family. That way, if Darren needs to stop working altogether because of illness, he can.

“Now, I can at least sleep at night, rather than being awake until 3am wondering how I’m going to pay this bill or where I’m going to get that money from or how I can juggle things around.

“With my husband’s health the way it is, I was worried I’d be left with three children trying to raise them and provide for a farm and to do it on one income.

“Now we’ve got this plan in place, I know that we can manage all of that, regardless of if it’s just me working.

“I’m quite confident moving forward, that everything is going to be okay, whether he’s working or not. If we do hit tough times, we would be able to make it work.”

I had to go through quite a bit in my life to get to 38 years old and feel like the most ‘important purchase’ is a contingency plan

20 June, 2023/in Addiction, Separation/Divorce

Joseph’s problems started with gambling and impulse buying.

“When I was young, I started gambling on pokies. I had what they call the ‘phenomenal first win’—bells and whistles go off, and you win dream money for a night. You think that’s going to happen all the time.”

“I was also undiagnosed with ADHD and it played a big part in impulse control.

“When you start trying to gain control over impulse gambling and shopping, it’s almost harder than quitting smoking. It’s not just that you lose control of yourself, but your brain is almost a separate entity. It becomes an enemy.”

Joseph worked for months to put in place ‘accountability’ measures to ensure he stopped gambling.

“I gave my housemate my EFTPOS card and said that the only time I need it is to pay a bill online, and to do that, I’ll need the three digits on the back of my card.

Joseph knew that the only way out of his gambling and impulse buying problems was to make a conscious effort to not have easy access to money.

“I’m more honest now than I’ve ever been in my life. I told everybody because I needed to put a system in place that would guarantee accountability.

“I told my friends and family not to give me cash. And if they do, I provide a receipt.”

When Joseph eventually approached Way Forward for help with his debts, he knew he needed bank statements that showed a track record of no cash withdrawals. He waited several months before asking for assistance.

“You can’t just go to Way Forward and expect to be rescued. It must come from within you.

I didn’t want someone like Deborah [Way Forward hardship advocate] to put an excellent plan in place and then repeatedly fail on my end.”

Buy Now, Pay Later made problem gambling worse

Joseph started using BNPL to purchase everyday items to cover up gambling losses.

“I bought gift cards with Afterpay and Zip, and that accelerated my gambling. Some modern gamblers will be doing things like this.

For example, if you’ve lost $400 gambling, you’ll do a $400 shop, but instead of using savings, you use Zip. The deception is that the shopping is done using debt, and the money that’s been lost gambling is covered up.”

Create a personalised budget

Having a budget planner that Joseph designed himself was also an effective strategy to proactively understand his finances better.

“I have a budget planner, and knowing that I have ADHD, I’ll literally check it eight or nine times a day.”

Focusing on daily progress and thoughtful, intentional spending is helping Joseph get where he hopes to go.

“If I want to get to where I want to be, I’m not going to win money gambling. It has never happened in all these years.

“I had to get out of the mess slowly—dollar by dollar. Everything I’ve done up until this point was chasing a quick win.”

Budgeting has also been critical for Joseph’s financial recovery.

“I’m a data analyst, so I made a spreadsheet for my budgeting. The budget is set up weekly, but then I’ll also be able to look weeks ahead and start prepaying or preplanning for certain bills.

“It’s something that works for me.

“As time goes on, I can change it as I please. It started off with over 35 categories, and over time, you start to narrow it down and know which categories you can merge.

“If I had to stand on stage and talk to a bunch of people who were like me, I’d say that instead of taking someone else’s template, take all of them, copy and paste those random pearls of wisdom that you find that apply to you and make your own cheat sheet.

“A lot of them are unreasonable and don’t address what’s behind the spending.

“I had to go through quite a bit in my life to reach 38 years old and feel like the most ‘important purchase’ is a contingency plan.”

Finding a way out

For a long time, Joseph says he couldn’t see a way out.

“Now, I am very happy, and that is largely thanks to Way Forward. There was a late-night moment of desperation, and I stumbled across your website, and I thought this is my last chance.

“By the next day, I’d already lost that spark of motivation because I thought there’s no way anyone can help. I’m better off just hiding until the world blows over.

“But Deborah kept calling. A few times when I did want to answer but I was stuck in meetings. But she didn’t give up for a solid week. And then she did catch me. She believed she could help.

“She empathised, and there was no judgment, so I felt a bit of positivity after that.

“I told her everything. I might have even spoken too much, but she didn’t seem to be saying that there was nothing they can do.

“I had been turned away from other counselling places before, so I felt sorry for myself and thought, now she’s just going to come back and say that she can’t help.

“But no, she worked magic. There was literally a way forward.

“I was going in circles before. 90 percent of my pay was going to a debt with massive interest, and even in that, I’d be skipping a payment just so that I could have food.”

Lenders kept offering money

“I remember when the bank sent me a letter for the first time saying that I qualify for a credit card with a $10,000 limit. I thought, if the bank thinks I’m good for it, then surely, I am. You’re very frugal with it at first and feel pretty good about yourself, and then you have a big night out and run out of your own money.

“I was surprised that I was approved for some of the loans that eventually put me into hardship. Out of desperation, you look for signs, so when you might receive a text message offering ‘$2,000 today,’ you accept more loans.”

Humility is the Way Forward

“You must humble yourself. The biggest challenge is, how do I tell the people that care about me and only want to see me succeed that I have repeatedly failed to control myself whenever it mattered?

“You start by pushing your ego to the side and go to those people who you not only love but those you are sure love you back and say to them: I don’t want your judgment, but this is what’s going on, so help keep me accountable.

“I have some totems, which are a few purchases that are utterly useless. Like a 3D maze that was $60. It’s a bowl inside the little ball that goes around, and I’ll never solve it. I keep it there as a reminder to not buy things I don’t need.”

Joseph says that the bank he uses, Up, includes features in their products that are incidentally ADHD-friendly.

“There’s a side savings account where you can just put money in. But if I want to take money out, there’s a three-hour delay.

“If you’re out shopping, and you know your weaknesses, you can’t impulsively take that money out. If there is an emergency, you can text a friend who can release it, which is my housemate. He’s my accountability coach.

“If you’re struggling with impulses, and some of us might enjoy having those impulses because it’s rewarding to fulfil them, the challenge is how are you going to put an external measure in place?

“For some people, feeling like a failure or the fear of rejection is a hurdle to seeking help. What if you tell people about your problem, and they can’t help you? Or what if they call you a loser and want nothing to do with you?

“It’s hard to be vulnerable, but that’s a risk you have to take.”

“My friends and my family joke that money burns a hole in my pocket”

8 May, 2023/in Addiction, Separation/Divorce, Reduced income

Like many people, Sue developed unhealthy online shopping habits during COVID lockdowns.

“I racked up about $15,000 in debt using my Westpac credit card, Afterpay and then I discovered Zip Pay. They were my three main debtors.

“I knew that it was getting out of control when my repayments were more than I could afford.

“I talked to a counsellor and realised that my online shopping was an addiction. I didn’t necessarily need the stuff that I was buying.

“I decided to do something about it, so I spoke to a couple of free services and then found Way Forward.

At first, I didn’t understand what was going on but once I spoke with Bianca from Way Forward, she made it simple.

“We started documenting my debts and repayments. Then, things changed 18 months ago because I separated from my son’s father, which meant I became solely responsible for new expenses like rent and bills.

“In the past, I had never worked out my incomings and my outgoings, but I’ve done this now.”

New opportunities

Sue was given a lump sum of money once she had separated from her former partner. She’s using the lump sum of money firstly to repay her debts, which are currently managed by Way Forward.

Sue has goals she wants to achieve including buying a home to live in. She’s currently looking for a mortgage broker since she’s received a lump sum payment from the separation with her former partner.

She is optimistic about the future.

“The next time a mortgage broker investigates my finances, they’ll see only good things whereas only 18 months ago, it would have been quite dire.

“I’m working out how I can keep that money safe. Habits that I’ve had for my whole life aren’t going to go away just because I’ve got a large sum of money in my bank.”

Changing habits

Recently, Sue saw a free financial counselling service to help with budgeting.

“Not to say that I’m completely healed but I’m now keeping track of my spending.

“Way Forward and counselling has taught me that my finances are my responsibility. I’ve never had that before and I’m 47 years old.

“It’s about time to really knuckle down.”

Being open to changing her habits and behaviours is something Sue takes pride in.

“I’m not scared to reach out to whoever can help me. There are many services out there for someone in my situation and, as an example, I’ve been able to get free counselling.”

Sue has words of wisdom for people in a similar situation.

“Check out all the terms and conditions if you are engaging someone to help you.

“I almost used a particular company but when I started asking questions and reading more into it, I realised that it could be worse for me in the future.

The only trouble is that Way Forward is a well-kept secret. And I wish that that wasn’t the case.

“I’m good at researching, which is how I found Way Forward. But other people might not necessarily have that tenacity to find answers to questions, they think this is just too hard.

“I would love for everybody to know about Way Forward. I’m sure that given the amount of people I’ve spoken to, I’m not the only person that during COVID when we couldn’t get out and travel, got themselves into an online shopping habit.”

“Whatever circumstances or your social economic background, asking for help is not a bad thing”

28 February, 2023/in Stories

Dinesh was in a well-paid job as a high functioning insurance professional who never thought he would be facing threats of repossession from payday lenders.

But that is exactly what happened when he ended up in financial hardship.

The problems started when his wife became unwell and couldn’t work anymore, meaning he was the sole breadwinner. Expenses to fund her recovery from a chronic condition, stretched their family budget beyond what they could afford.

“My wife had to travel overseas a few times, she was hospitalized a couple of times, plus, psychiatric treatments are quite expensive.

“I was able to manage the day-to-day expenses but the extra expenses plus living on a single income for two or three years, meant that even though I’m on a decent income and I’ve got a stable job, all of it was going into the debt payments.

I’m pretty good with numbers and had a detailed Excel sheet but it was just mathematically impossible to make the repayments I owed with the income I earned, even though I had a decent income.

“For example, on one credit card I was paying $300 per month but $150 was charged on interest. The balance wasn’t really moving anywhere.

“I applied for financial hardship with my creditors, but it was only a temporary arrangement. There wasn’t like a set plan like Way forward does where you’re making a lump sum payment.

“After exhausting all my options, I became very stressed. My credit score was affected. I had reached that point where I had run out of all my options.

“I was not sleeping and only thinking about debt and finances. That went on for about six months. Out of desperation one night, at like 2am, I was looking online and came across Way Forward.

“I was aware of debt agreements and bankruptcies, but my situation wasn’t that bad. I didn’t want to go down that path anyway.

“Most hardship arrangements gave me repayment relief for a three-month period and the maximum was six months, but you are charged interest and a late fee. This extended the term of the loan, so my overall situation remains the same.

“For the 3 months I was on hardship, I used any income I had to pay another debt. After that hardship arrangement finished, I was back to doing the same thing with another creditor, and then paying another. Once you’ve exhausted all your options, you’re back in the same situation.

Payday Lenders were ruthless

Most of Dinesh’s debts are with payday lenders, who he describes as “ruthless”.

“The difference between a larger institution who are professionally trained and accountable to the regulators means that the banks show more empathy and listen to your situation, whereas with the secondary lenders, it’s a difficult conversation.

“Rather than listening to what repayments I could afford during a period of financial hardship, the payday lenders were ruthless. They told me that default will be listed and that they can start repossession.

“I was getting so many phone calls and it was creating a lot of anxiety. If you miss a payment by one day the calls from payday lenders start coming in one after the other.

It had a huge impact on my mental health anxiety. I’ve never had a drinking problem, but I started drinking more just to just to numb out that pain and just forget about my worries for the night.

“They are threatening compared to large institutions.”

Mental health impacts of debt

Dinesh explains that impact that had on his wellbeing: “I was living a double life where in one part I’m high functioning individual going to work every day in a senior to mid-level position, but the other is that I’ve got nothing left in my bank account and people are chasing me.

That has an emotional impact on you. You start questioning your life choices: where did you get wrong?

I can handle pressures but this time it just broke me. I was just not sleeping. It got to a point where I stopped picking my phone up.

Dinesh felt he was alone in managing his financial issues.

“My wife has gone through serious mental health problems, so I wasn’t able to share my wife.

“I shared with my father, but there’s not much he could do.

“My family had already helped me out a couple of times, but then in the end it’s even worse talking to them because they understandably think that they can’t fix it for you, so I kept it to myself.

Way Forward offered hope

Dinesh has been working with Kelly from Way Forward who spent several months co-creating a budget and repayment plan.

“Kelly explained that we work through a solution together.

“Having someone listen to you carefully to understand your situation gives you hope. I remember sending an email back to Kelly to say, thank you, I’ll sleep well tonight.

“Kelly has been patient and regularly keeping me up to date about the process.

“We went through a detailed budget that she had shared with me, which made sense. And then we worked on it together to ensure it was realistic. The whole process took 4 to 6 weeks.

Going through that process with someone who’s obviously done that many times with others was very beneficial.

“With my budget, I had all the expenses like utility bills, and internet, car registration, or most of that stuff was covered, but what I forgot was my own personal needs.

It’s important to save something for yourself, even if it’s having an occasional breakfast at a cafe to lift your mood or being able to afford a cup of coffee without thinking twice about it. Those little things can make a huge difference to your mental health.

Financial hardship can impact anyone

“If someone can learn something from my story, please know that a program like Way Forward’s is for anyone in trouble, even if you have a high-level, well-paid job. It’s not beneath you to ask for help.

“Don’t be deterred that you wouldn’t qualify, just because there are people in a much worse situation to you.

“I was driven by ego. I thought I could sort it out myself. But whatever circumstances or your social economic background, asking for help is not a bad thing.

“People like me, especially anyone who has a job and might see themselves as high functioning individual might find it hard to ask for help.

“My message to people like this: Way Forward’s program is not just for people who are in a lower socio-economic situation. It’s for everyone.

“Asking for help is a good thing.”

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14 February, 2023

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14 February, 2023

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Sending money overseas to family in hardship tipped Eva into hardship too

29 November, 2022/in Stories

Eva moved to Australia a few years ago from a country facing wide scale poverty.

Her life in Australia provided better economic opportunities. After being asked for financial support by family and friends back in her home country she felt an obligation to provide funds as she deeply understood the inescapable hardship they were facing.

However, Eva eventually ended up in hardship herself, unable to pay for her own essential needs because she was paying for others.

“I wanted to help my family because things were not good for them.”

“I was not too badly off at the beginning, but it escalated from there and I got into a deep mess.”

“It started with a personal loan, and then went into a credit card. My family eventually realised how bad my situation had become and asked that I stop borrowing money for them.

“As the situation got worse for me, I found it difficult to explain because they were overseas.”

Eva hadn’t created a budget before but had not encountered financial problems before she started taking out loans to send money to her friends and family overseas.

“I was not a good budget manager of any sort. When I had money, I knew how much I had to pay to creditors and was making minimum repayments. I was not missing payments.”

Eva was introduced to Way Forward via Christians Against Poverty (CAP).

“Christians Against Poverty gave me a good start. They then sent me to Way Forward who put together a repayment plan.

“Kelly helped me within two months. She had the solution, she was an amazing person. It changed my life.”

Eva is almost at the end of her repayment plan with Way Forward and she will have completed all her debt repayments by August 2023.

“My repayment arrangement was initially supposed to the be 3 years, but my circumstances changed and I had to give up one of my paying jobs, as it involved manual labour and I am older, so my arrangement is now 1 year.”

Eva reflects on what she has learned through the process of becoming a Way Forward client: “I’m rather careful now, I don’t overspend. I live with my sister, which keeps costs down. I’m in a good place.

“I’m still working, and I get a part pension also and I put aside as much as I can.”

For Eva, being upfront about her situation meant her financial problems could be dealt with.

“Don’t be afraid. Way Forward helped me and I know they can help you. Just tell them everything, and they see you through and help you all the way.

“Thank you very much for the wonderful work that Kelly and Way Forward did for me. I’m smiling more now.”

Posts: Call to action

15 September, 2022

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Kelly’s life is improving every day as she recovers from cancer and gets on top of her debts

7 September, 2022/in Stories

When Kelly had to stop work to get treatment for breast cancer, her whole life was tipped upside down. The plan she had for her finances no longer worked and her debts slipped out of her control.

“The money problems were from credit cards and Harvey Norman credit line and family expenses. Having all those debts, and suddenly not being able to work, going down to one income and COVID. I was chasing my tail and not capable of organising anything at that point, because I had no money coming in.

Kelly said she was able to unpack her financial issues when she was undertaking treatment for cancer and found a contact who was an oncology social worker. This person gave her the time to take and provided direction for addressing her debt issues.

It is through this person that she was referred to Way Forward.

“Something I’ve learned from being so sick, is that you when people present you with options, you need to do something, act on it and take the help when it’s offered to you.”

“People are willing to help, and they want to help you.”

Kelly also found doing a budget with Way Forward most helpful.

“I put together a detailed budget with Bill. This is the first time I’ve done a proper, comprehensive budget, which is probably why I’ve lived well beyond my means.

“It made me realise where I was spending money that I hadn’t really thought about previously. It was good but also a bit confronting because you see where your money is going and how much you’re truly spending on things like interest repayments.”

Kelly describes being much more cautious with her spending.

“I will never have another credit card again. I do use Afterpay but it’s easier to pay that off.

“I definitely watch my spending and think much more about where it is going. I also make plans in a way I didn’t previously.”

Kelly describes having Way Forward provide an “objective point of view” provides accountability.

“Way Forward’s objectivity makes you face up to what you are actually doing. And then guides you to take control over your situation. It is invaluable.

Kelly describes learning about managing money, as a life skill that “everyone should learn”.

“Getting independent financial advice, before deciding, might give you some direction and at least provide the warnings if you’re unable to make repayments.”

“Learning financial life skills like budgets and saving should be taught at schools. It’s unfortunate that we’re sent into the world without any kind of course on managing money and budgeting because it’s so important to learn it.”

“Way Forward builds people back up to regain their independence and self-worth, solving an unsolvable problem”

16 August, 2022/in Stories, Separation/Divorce, Overcommitted

Emily knew she needed to leave her relationship, and that this was going to cost. She needed money to pay legal fees and something left over for her and her two children to live off.

After borrowing $15,000 to pay lawyers, she quickly spiralled, ending up with multitude of payday loans. She fell into a trap of borrowing to pay down the most pressing repayments.

“I was stuck in limbo and getting deeper into debt.”

“I would watch the amounts I needed to repay on those payday loans get bigger and bigger.”

At this point, Emily had tried a few different things to get on top of her debts.

She had spoken to a debt consolidation company, but after realising that the company would not guarantee an outcome and could advise she declare bankruptcy, even after she had paid their fees. Emily also did not want to be advised to declare bankruptcy.

“I didn’t want bankruptcy following me around and also meant I couldn’t pay off the debt and it’s important that I do that”.

“It was daunting to think of having a bad credit rating for 5 years, and that there is not really any way around it.”

“I also tried to pursue a debt consolidation loan with my bank, but they said no.”

Living instead of existing

Emily was referred to Way Forward from the National Debt Helpline.

“As soon as I contacted Way Forward, everything felt so easy.”

“Way Forward gives you the sense that they believe that you can do this, you can pay off your debts. They make you feel like they’re backing you.”

“They feel like they are advocated for you as a person, and that’s very heartening.”

“I spoke with Bill, who took the problem, and said, we’re going to look after this for you for a while.

“They offered me a solution and I felt good about that solution.”

“Everything has changed – where creditors were taking money out of my bank account, I can now save a little bit of money.”

Budgeting becomes easier

As a single parent on a fixed income, Emily has always used a budget.

“Recently, a medical bill came up and instead of asking to borrow money from family, I had $1000 in savings to put towards that.”

“I was able to buy birthday presents for the kids and do something special instead of buying something tokenistic.”

“I need to upgrade my car soon so I can potentially drive longer distances to a different job, and now I’m considering saving to buy that car rather than borrowing.”

Person-centred approach

Having recently started her repayments, Emily is relieved that the feeling of constant dread she had from not meeting her debt repayments is now gone.

“Way Forward seem to have a focus on trying to build people back up to regain their independence and self-worth to solving an unsolvable problem and resolve a crisis.”

“It’s so discreet, no one needs to know about this, it feels like it’s between me and Way Forward, and there’s a lot of respect attached to that”

She suggested that people who are struggling, would benefit from thinking beyond what they know about money and finances, because “when you’re in a debt trap, that’s all you know”.

“There often is a way out, we don’t know the right people to talk to.”

“My advice to anyone is is in trouble is to think beyond where you are now, unless you do something active, you won’t get out of it.”